So, I woke up in the morning and I read this….. 

Two village girls who went to relieve themselves early in the morning went missing and after a search of the whole day by villagers, they were been found dead hanged on a Banyan Tree. Later after the investigation was been done it was found that the girls were first assaulted sexually and then were hanged till death.

I literally got shaken while reading it and got goosebumps…..

The root cause of such incident was no toilets in their home and reason being they have step out each day for defecation. This news has gone so common these days it can be heard often times in a month or week. This tragic incident happened in Katra Sadatganj a small village located in Badraun Uttar Pradesh.

In a report, it was found that more than 7, 50,000 people die every year and defecation in open spaces is its ultimate reason.

Hygiene what’s that? 

In the open, defecation has got social recognition while the toilet is considered as a luxury or expensive item. The decision to build toilets is linked to the prestige which is less than the health concerns.

Thus, those who built toilets in their home were in a socio-economically high position. At the same time, they were aware of the related benefits of toilets. 

In open defecation, the behavior is different from age and gender. Rural open defecation in the open because it gives them an opportunity to interact, as well as a custom in the community. 

On the one hand, where old men and women use toilets, young, middle-aged and earning men like to go to the open. Comparison between men and women, it was found that most men's tendency is towards open defecation, so women prefer to use toilets to maintain their privacy.

We lack conversation on hygiene. Issues have been reduced drastically, while toilets are being constructed at a very large level. According to the recently released United Nations Millennium Development Goal Report, it was stated that Indian folks rank on the top in the list of countries where most of the folks go in open spaces for defecation. In rural India, 66 percent of the people go for open defecation.

Why are toilets in each home important?

Not only groundwater is polluted by the human waste lying in the open, agricultural products are also not untouched by this pollution. This waste also spreads germs of deadly diseases like diarrhea, cholera, typhoid. Toilets are not only necessary for restriction of pollution and diseases as it’s also integral to a clean community environment. Toilets are the place where disposal of human feces is possible in one place which leads to a neat, clean and healthy environment.

Now mindsets need to be changed especially the community which makes it taboo giving creepy reasons.

Government too has actively participated in the campaign of developing toilets in the rural areas and backward tribes. Through several schemes, projects government organizations and agencies are spreading awareness about hygiene and are providing toilets in the rural areas which lack such amenities.