The Government’s tall claims on ODF status have fallen flat after the NSSO report reveals uncomfortable truths
Unfortunately, the thin line between truth and lies has blurred so much that we do not know where fact-finding ends and myth-making begins when it comes to government data. The resultant trust deficit has not only cost the Narendra Modi Government its image but some of its good intentions. There’s no gainsaying that the Swachh Bharat Mission did bring about a toilet revolution in the country but there are miles to go yet. So though Modi announced that 99 per cent of our villages had declared themselves open-defecation free (ODF), neither he nor us can overlook reality. And now his Government’s own figures belie his claim. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data shows that only 71.3 per cent of rural households had toilets built in their homes. Not only that, about one-fourth of them had no access to toilets till December 2018, indicating a tardy pace of implementation instead of mission-mode seriousness. Of much concern is the fact that respondents of the survey were coerced into giving out false figures in return for availing benefits of other Government schemes. Besides faltering on releasing inconsistent data, the Government committed a larger offence: Withholding the NSSO data, which ought to have been released before Modi’s announcement. Clearly, this was done to build up a propagandist swell before the Assembly elections and blow some trumpet before the international community. So the Government arrogantly decided to keep to its fables and bubbles of self-gratification. This even after it faced the heat of economists and statisticians for concealing crucial employment data, which was released only after the general elections were over. Actually the Swachh Bharat Mission was one project that did not need dressing up. Given the scale of its implementation, it must be accepted that it has achieved much more than any other drive aimed at improving rural sanitation. The Government could have harped on “significant progress” rather than exaggerating figures. Among those households that have access to toilets, 94.7 per cent males and 95.7 per cent females in rural areas regularly use them.
The pursuit of this mission should not be hasty but multi-pronged and there should be no rush for a tag until all parameters have been met. For example, the lack of water supply is the biggest hindrance. There is still insufficient knowledge about how to manage the faecal sludge in pits and sewer tanks, dispose them in the absence of an outlet or convert them to manure and biogas. In other words, a sanitary sub-structure that has been mandated by the Jal Shakti Ministry needs to be completed as a second-tier plan before we pin convenient tags. With the Government emphasising the construction of twin leach pit toilets, which can address the issue to an extent, only 30 per cent of our total toilets is of this variant. Sludge management itself is a complex procedure. To compound the problem, most States do not have sufficient sewage treatment plants (STPs). If the Government doesn’t want to live with another unfinished agenda, then it needs to first ensure a forward linkage of waste management and a uniform protocol that will help bring about attitudinal and behavioural change among the masses. Yet it continues to wear the blinkers, choosing instead to lambast the NSSO data and refusing to accept that eventually, no fudging is smart and will get detected. A robust solution comes only with the acceptance of reality, not its denial. Data collection needs to be transparent and a strict methodology must be adhered to. Otherwise, policy-makers will be flying blind as they grapple with our development goals. Should we be a winner or just pose as one? That is the question we need to answer as the world doesn’t exactly float on hot air.