Toilet v/s Temples!

I call it reality bites or simply the sting of truth! 
Otherwise there is no reason why a fact-based statement should draw so much criticism!!!
The Indian Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Jairam Ramesh was candid and outspoken when he said "toilets are more necessary in India than temples".
As a nation we are known for using pavements as spittoons and garbage bins, roadsides as universal urinals and open fields as the ideal place for defecation.
Any corner in any public building is decorated with a spray painting - courtesy paan and gutkha chewers. The boundary walls of any building are permanently soaked - thanks to pedestrians who use them for emptying their bladders. Dumps of garbage anywhere on the road is a common site feasting pigs, cows, dogs and flies.     
This is because using a toilet for nature's call doesn't come as a natural phenomenon, especially when there is so much open space and no tort in place.    
People claim to lack space for toilets whereas religious structures are erected anywhere, irrespective. It can be on government land, public land or neighbour's land. 

  

The issue had been addressed by the Indian Apex Court on a Public Interest Litigation by a resident of Gujarat state, in 2009. The petitioner had submitted the data of 1,200 temple and 250 mosques, which were erected on unauthorised land. 
The court had directed the states to identify all religious structures constructed illegally and take appropriate action on case to case basis by either removing, relocating or regularising them.
The state of Uttar Pradesh too had identified more than 45,000 religious structures. 
Ironically, Uttar Pradesh is also the state that records as one of the lowest as far as toilet are concerned. Only 22 per cent of people use toilets here, which is a little better than states like Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh where the percentage is as low as 20, 18 and 13, respectively. 

Now going back to the statement of Jairam Ramesh - what could have been  disputed is why segregate temples? The argument can be - he could have said "Construction of toilets is more important than construction of religious places."
However at the same time, if we think rationally, there are two basic points behind his statement - 
One - Temples outnumber any other religious place in India. So, it was  spontaneous.  
Two - There is an urgent need for toilets as the nation is losing its manpower and money due to lack of sanitation facilities.

Now a glimpse of sanitation status in India -
* India loses approximately USD 53.8 billion (More than 6.4% of India’s GDP) due to increased health costs, productivity losses, and reduced tourism revenue due to inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene (Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank, February 2011)

* 626 million Indians defecate in the open, making India the country with most people living without toilets in the world. (UNICEF/WHO).

*  More than 1,000 children die from preventable diarrhoea every day (UNICEF; India Water Portal).

* There are more mobile phones than toilets in India (2011 India Census). According to the Indian Telecom Regulatory Authority, there are currently more than 929 million mobile phone subscribers in the country. More than 300 million Indians have access to a mobile phone, but not to a toilet. 

* According to Public Health Association and UNICEF, only 53 per cent of the Indian population washes hands with soap after defecation, 38 per cent wash hands with soap before eating and only 30 per cent wash hands with soap before preparing food.

* Only 11 per cent of the Indian rural families dispose children's stool safely whereas 80 per cent leave it in the open and rest throw it in the garbage (UNICEF).

* Women suffer from reproductive tract infections and urinary tract infection caused by poor hygiene (Facts for Life).

* Women often use isolated places for defecation, making them vulnerable to getting molested or raped.

* About 23% of Indian girls drop out of school after reaching puberty because they do not get toilet facility in schools. (National survey conducted by AC Nielsen and NGO Plan India, 2012).

Now looking at these statistics can we say what Jairam is saying is wrong?

In my view no!

Consider this - Over 40 percent of children can be saved from diarrhoeal diseases if focus is shifted to sanitation and hygiene. Millions of women can be given dignity and self respect if they are provided with the privacy of toilets. Many girl students can be brought back to schools if there is facility of toilets. Hundreds of man-hour can be saved just by following proper sanitation and hygiene practices.

In that case why not have build toilets rather than building yet another religious structure and creating more differences among people!!!