Indians don’t want free toilets, they want sewage systems.

                 

Stats

• India has far higher levels of open defecation than other countries of the same GDP (gross domestic product) per capita.
• For example, India has a higher GDP per capita than Bangladesh, but in Bangladesh only 8.4% households defecate in the open, compared to 55% in India.

Basic latrines are not that expensive, and people in countries far poorer than India build inexpensive latrines to avoid defecating in the open. Typically, as nations get wealthier, open defecation decreases. Despite increases in GDP per capita, and increase in latrine availability through the SBA, India has witnessed little decrease in open defecation.

Why do Indians, even with accessible toilets, go in the open?

The latrines provided by governments are often used for storage, washing clothes, and as play areas—everything except the intended use.

• The key reason for this is that basic latrines that need to be emptied out manually or pumped by simple machines are unacceptable to higher caste Hindus.
• It is considered polluting to the individual and the home, and historically associated with untouchability.

Solutions

Indian policymakers need to rethink the solution to this problem. It is not just a matter of access but a problem of perceptions of pollution, ritual purity, and caste.

• India needs to change perceptions of ritual purity through education and awareness in rural areas.
• To change the SBA from a scheme providing free toilets, to one encouraging and enabling local governments to construct sewage systems.

So if there is a functional sewage system, it is relatively low cost for households to build a toilet in every home that is connected to the sewage system. 

Why is it difficult to build Sewage System?

• It takes years to build sewage systems, and local politicians face all the costs upfront, and the benefits are far in the future.
• Disgruntled citizens and voters complain about the digging of neighbourhoods for years, causing much nuisance to their daily lives

So the government needs to rethink the solution to the problem of open defecation and focus on providing public goods like sewage systems instead of free toilets.