Modi's New Slogan: "Pehle Shauchalaya, Phir Devalaya" (Toilets First, Temples Later)

By Jitendra, DownToEarth.org.  Oct 3, 2013

New Delhi, Oct. 3, 2013: Build toilets first and temples later -- that’s the message Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi gave the youth at a function organised in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Modi said he dared to say so even though his image as a Hindutva leader did not allow him.

"I am known to be a Hindutva leader. My image does not permit me to say so, but I dare to say. My real thought is -- Pehle shauchalaya, phir devalaya (toilets first, temples later)," he said.

The Gujarat Chief Minister's comment could well stoke a controversy from within his party and sister organisations, which are keen to rake up the "temple issue" again ahead of next general elections.

A similar comment on toilets from Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh that the country needs more toilets than temples had stirred a row with a large number of women organisations and NGOs protesting against the remark.

Touting the slogan of development that could take the country on the path of speedy progress, Modi said lakhs of rupees were spent on temples in villages, but there were no toilets there.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts, he lamented that it was ironic that women in the country had to go in the open for easing themselves in the absence of toilets.

Modi said it was the quality of a real leader to have the strength to handle all problems and lead the way forward.

He said that for good governance and speedy progress, it was necessary for planners to focus on outlay, outcome and social audit. (Source: PTI)

Background:

The 2008-09 NSS data shows nearly 49 per cent households had no latrine facility, and the rural urban divide was considerable: nearly 65 per cent of rural households had no latrine facility whereas only 11 per cent of urban households did not have any latrine (see table).

The NSSO surveys revealed that households in lower MPCE (monthly per capita expenditure) quintile (one-fifth) classes are more likely to be without a latrine facility than the households in higher quintile classes. In rural areas, about 85 per cent of the households in the bottom quintile class had no latrine facility against nearly 42 per cent of the households in the top quintile class. In urban areas, nearly one-third of the households in the bottom quintile class and less than one per cent of the households in the top quintile class had no latrine facility. In rural areas, low MPCE households mostly have no toilet facility (see table).

urveys also show that acceptability of toilets is lower in the traditionally deprived social groups with low MPCE, like Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes.

Government interventions so far

In 1986, the first national effort to improve sanitation coverage was launched in the form of Central Rural Sanitation Programme. But it failed to achieve its objective in 1990s. In 1999, MoRD initiated the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) that aimed to eradicate open defecation by 2017 by providing basic sanitation facilities.

In 2003, the Nirmal Gram Puraskar was introduced under TSC to reward local village, block, and district level governments that achieved full sanitation coverage for housholds and schools. In 2012, TSC was renamed Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) with aim to accelerate rural sanitation coverage so that 50 per cent of gram panchayats attain Nirmal Gram status by 2017 and Nirmal Bharat (clean India) by 2022. 

Given the progress made in sanitation, a clean India does indeed seem to be a highly ambitious aim.(Source: Jitendra, DownToEarth.org)