Providing improved and more widespread sanitation facilities in urban India has become a major challenge for policymakers and implementers.
As the urban population expands massively, the task gets more difficult
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In order to ensure a comprehensive urban sanitation solution, policymakers and practitioners in India can take a cue from Brazil while framing sanitation policies and implementing them on the ground. Brazil has experimented with several models of financing and service provisioning in the sanitation sector, both in terms of levels of centralisation and decentralisation, besides public and private provisioning. India has launched many schemes such as Ganga Action Plan, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, National Urban Sanitation Policy and the recent Swachch Bharat Mission, in order to establish a successful and robust urban sanitation system. Unfortunately, there is still a major lack of functionality.
The urban sanitation success of Brazil can be an ideal benchmark for India. The basis of Brazil’s progress on the urban sanitation front is the City Statute, premised on the idea of ‘Right to City’ of citizens. This statute categorically states that the social function of land supersedes its economic function, which means that societal land use is prioritised over its commercial value. This has enabled Brazil to allocate land and give adequate priority to social projects such as sanitation programmes. In addition to this, Brazil has been able to frame its sanitation policies that are based on evidence. This has ensured that the policies could stand the test of time and were need based. Regular public funding too has played a critical role in the success of Brazil’s urban sanitation programme.
According to estimates, 38 per cent of South Asia defecates in the open, and India is responsible for a full 30 per cent, despite the Government’s toilet-building efforts. The problem lies in non-utilisation of these toilets. India can draw inspiration from Bangladesh, which has overcome this problem and has set an impressive example in freeing the country from open defecation.The Community-Led Total Sanitation approach, pioneered by development consultant Kamal Kar in Bangladesh, advocates a 180-degree mental flip. It rejects sanitation subsidies; instead, it mobilises communities through local empowerment and emotions like shame on and aversion for open defecation.
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