The World Bank has approved $1.5 billion loan to India for a period of five years so that the country can eradicate open defecation by 2019.
As per the statistics, nearly 75 Crore people in India continue the practice of open defecation due to not having access to toilets. Around 50 Crore of these people live in rural villages where poor sanitation is witnessed mainly in low-income households. This open Defecation and poor sanitation is leading to rise of infections and many health related issues. As per this report, one in every 10 deaths in the country is result of poor sanitation.
The World Bank’s loan is expected to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated ‘Swachh Bharat’. Few Millions of toilets are expected to be built within a period of five years from now and a vast change in terms of sanitation is expected.
On the other hand, government alleges that despite they are giving money to poor people to build toilets they are wasting the money on other activities hence the schemes are not succeeding.
