Pulse readings: Public health and security, Infochange India, July 2009
Get the pdf version here.
Showing posts with label public health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public health. Show all posts
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Sanitation newswatch continues
How did I miss this one?
Yamini Aiyar, No toilets please, we’re Indian, Indian Express, November 20, 2007.
Yamini Aiyar, No toilets please, we’re Indian, Indian Express, November 20, 2007.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Somewhere, someone... cares!
2008 is the International Year of Sanitation, the UN Secretary-General has declared.
Do also check out WaterAid's report on The State of the World's Toilets 2007.
Finally, I propose that now that Ratan Tata is done with his one-lakh car project, he turn his attention and ability to get things done to another people's need: public toilets in India. I think that Shahrukh Khan, whose views resemble mine on this topic, join forces with him. Between them, we may actually solve this problem to my satisfaction: Tata will get things done, and SRK will convince people it is what they always wanted.
That may well be my Pongal wish for India! And if the two of them pay heed to my blog post, I will strongly recommend their names for the Bharat Ratna.
January 14 Postscript: Darn, someone else got to Ratan Tata first! Reeba Zachariah reports in the Times of India that he is going to work on clean water provision next. Just remember: I am next in line with my idea!
Do also check out WaterAid's report on The State of the World's Toilets 2007.
Finally, I propose that now that Ratan Tata is done with his one-lakh car project, he turn his attention and ability to get things done to another people's need: public toilets in India. I think that Shahrukh Khan, whose views resemble mine on this topic, join forces with him. Between them, we may actually solve this problem to my satisfaction: Tata will get things done, and SRK will convince people it is what they always wanted.
That may well be my Pongal wish for India! And if the two of them pay heed to my blog post, I will strongly recommend their names for the Bharat Ratna.
January 14 Postscript: Darn, someone else got to Ratan Tata first! Reeba Zachariah reports in the Times of India that he is going to work on clean water provision next. Just remember: I am next in line with my idea!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
If they're good enough for Kabul.....
...why can't we have more of them here?
How can I fail to link to this report that the Government of India is assisting with the construction of Sulabh Shauchalayas in Kabul?
Meanwhile, with the felling of trees and the excavation of roads in my neighbourhood, 
all in the name of building a flyover, I do not want to imagine what the state of the side-streets (aka public lavatories) will be when the rains come next month.
all in the name of building a flyover, I do not want to imagine what the state of the side-streets (aka public lavatories) will be when the rains come next month. Why does this not outrage those who are outraged by the nuclear deal and Sethusamudram?
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Swachchha Narayani: A Goddess We Need
Sometimes when friends initiate discussions on random statements by politicians or are incensed about matters of high politics, I express my irritation with a dismissive statement which I really mean seriously: I think the most pressing policy issue in India may be the lack of public toilets, or sanitation. So I read this old blog entry by Madhu Kishwar with surprise and joy.
But seriously, why do we not consider sanitation and the provision of clean, public facilities to be important? Sometimes my mother remarks that I have been very lucky in my life: all my jobs have been at places with good bathrooms for women. This is no laughing matter. When you walk from Pondy Bazaar on a parallel road to the one we live off, you can follow the stench of urine to find your way. The path has other names but I call it 'Moothram' (urine) Alley. Yuck, indeed, but I persist in doing so in the hope that it will continue to remind us of work we have not done. And all the polluters on Moothram Alley are male. So what do the women do? Women exercise supreme control to the point of illness and disease.
This is a serious issue. It impinges on public health, public decency, workplace conditions, tourism prospects and women's security. This last is not a trivial listing. Women cannot walk down public paths for seeing men line up against walls. That can bar many urban roads and paths forcing women to take the long route, walk further for the same purpose. In Delhi on the JNU road, men don't even see walls. It is disgusting! Men can 'go' free but women must avert their eyes at all times, just in case. And don't offer me street food anyone--I don't even sit by windows in cafes! (And let me underscore, I have choices, others don't!)
More treacherous are reports that come from conflict and disaster contexts, where displaced women are unable to safely access the toilet. They have to walk a long way to reach the toilet and then it may be dirty, lack water or privacy. Women also have to walk by men to reach the toilet and are subject to harrassment along the way. This means they end up waiting to gather a critical mass even to just relieve themselves or that they go out before sunrise or after sunset. Infection and disease follow not from the disaster, but from these secondary conditions.
Swachchha Narayani does not come a day too soon into our lives. And she is not the first divine entity to be summoned to this cause. Many walls in India bear tiled images of gods and goddesses in the good faith that their divinity will secure the wall from such abuse.
In my schooldays, we had a subject called Community Living in which civic values of many sorts were imparted as lessons--do not litter, observe traffic rules, say thank you and sorry and so on. With the introduction of television, we saw short Films Division products that reemphasised the same values. Where are these now?
In Tamil Nadu (and I am sure elsewhere in India), why is colour television more important than public health? And why is the right of males to urinate and defecate at their pleasure the most carefully protected civil right? Is this what will change if there were more women in government? I hope so. In this case, I am willing to start India's non-partisan version of Emily's List, the US organization that supports pro-choice Democratic female candidates' election campaigns.
In this country, there are many problems and many inequities, but in my view, this one stinks the most!
But seriously, why do we not consider sanitation and the provision of clean, public facilities to be important? Sometimes my mother remarks that I have been very lucky in my life: all my jobs have been at places with good bathrooms for women. This is no laughing matter. When you walk from Pondy Bazaar on a parallel road to the one we live off, you can follow the stench of urine to find your way. The path has other names but I call it 'Moothram' (urine) Alley. Yuck, indeed, but I persist in doing so in the hope that it will continue to remind us of work we have not done. And all the polluters on Moothram Alley are male. So what do the women do? Women exercise supreme control to the point of illness and disease.
This is a serious issue. It impinges on public health, public decency, workplace conditions, tourism prospects and women's security. This last is not a trivial listing. Women cannot walk down public paths for seeing men line up against walls. That can bar many urban roads and paths forcing women to take the long route, walk further for the same purpose. In Delhi on the JNU road, men don't even see walls. It is disgusting! Men can 'go' free but women must avert their eyes at all times, just in case. And don't offer me street food anyone--I don't even sit by windows in cafes! (And let me underscore, I have choices, others don't!)
More treacherous are reports that come from conflict and disaster contexts, where displaced women are unable to safely access the toilet. They have to walk a long way to reach the toilet and then it may be dirty, lack water or privacy. Women also have to walk by men to reach the toilet and are subject to harrassment along the way. This means they end up waiting to gather a critical mass even to just relieve themselves or that they go out before sunrise or after sunset. Infection and disease follow not from the disaster, but from these secondary conditions.
Swachchha Narayani does not come a day too soon into our lives. And she is not the first divine entity to be summoned to this cause. Many walls in India bear tiled images of gods and goddesses in the good faith that their divinity will secure the wall from such abuse.
In my schooldays, we had a subject called Community Living in which civic values of many sorts were imparted as lessons--do not litter, observe traffic rules, say thank you and sorry and so on. With the introduction of television, we saw short Films Division products that reemphasised the same values. Where are these now?
In Tamil Nadu (and I am sure elsewhere in India), why is colour television more important than public health? And why is the right of males to urinate and defecate at their pleasure the most carefully protected civil right? Is this what will change if there were more women in government? I hope so. In this case, I am willing to start India's non-partisan version of Emily's List, the US organization that supports pro-choice Democratic female candidates' election campaigns.
In this country, there are many problems and many inequities, but in my view, this one stinks the most!
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