Water and sanitation are peoples' right!

Fresh water free from germs and contaminants is necessary for safe and healthy living of every citizen.

A toilet in the house or at least a shared toilet for a family or a community are necessary for dignified living.

But both these requirements are a distant reality for millions of people in the developing world, and  continue to be a very distant reality in India.

A large section of people in India are at the same position with respect to clean water and a need for a toilet, as it was before the country's independence.

Water needs have been met both in rural areas and in urban areas, but the question is the safety of water with respect to its quality.

In cities and other places you have a leaking pipe side by side a drain carrying filth, the leaking pipe sucks in filth when the supply goes off, and on its restoration the contaminated water is pushed into homes. It is more dangerous than the water collected from a polluted source.

The question is safe water, safe always, maintained according to specifications, and those standards being met always, consistently.

Cleanliness and sanitation is a big issue in developing world, and in India it is a major national need, except for the rich urban and rural living population, which have acquired these facilities.

A train journey in India gives a ghastly scene in the morning, people moving in all direction to find the best place to defecate in public view. A peep through the window, the railway tracks are littered with human excreta. Where this excreta will go?

Obviously, when dried the excreta will finds its place in dust and air, and the winds' swirl will help it to everyone mouth. So, we live in a larger home that are our cities, which we do not care about!

A tourist travelling to Agra to see Taj can not miss this morning sight on railway tracks as a contrast of sorts.

The rich buy land to build a house, and spend a lot of money on toilet, but the outside roads are dirty, littered with all sorts of dust, dirt, filth, human and animal excreta. The growing automobile traffic transfers the material far and wide at a high speed. It is no ones concern.

When some dignitary arrives to an area, roads are cleaned in a special way and lime is spread on both sides of road. But, gentlemen, bacteria and filth are air born, it will get into the closed car any way.

The place I live in, I see every morning, individuals in small and large groups, each with a plastic bottle in his hands, heading towards the forest to attend to nature's most urgent need, a necessity!

Born and retired post-Independence, I only feel sorry, with a sense of guilt as a citizen, for the negligence of this need of the people, for a healthy and dignified living.

What is the basic issue for failure we encounter in India. I believe we lack sincerity in our objective(s). As soon as we see a budget for development, what is our approach: to achieve or to appease?

Complex schemes and plans are put in place, with participants unwilling to focus on the achievement of developmental objective, but with focus on how the funds will benefit the chain, in position and finances, or achieve a political objective.

A road is made, in next few weeks it is dug to repair the water pipeline, followed by water logging at the place for months. This cycle is repeated year after year, and the roads level rises, and inhabitants have rain water entering their houses.

So how are we going to solve these problems of water and sanitation.

If we seriously intend to improve sanitation and water position in our cities and rural areas, what are the issues from the public point of view:

• An integrated national plan with policy, plans, tasks, quality systems, laid in advance for compliance uniformly throughout.
• Necessity for departments responsible for water, electricity, telephone, road, to evolve consensus for working together, and end product being a joint responsibility.
• Educating and training  people to become responsible in their jobs like  a dedicated soldier.
• Accredited third party units regularly checking quality and compliance, and reporting feedback.
• Prescribed time limits for operations.
• Some sort of built-in corruption cells to readily handle all cases within a rigid time frame, with objective of deterrence, rewarding efficiency and quality.

Though above measures are built in most programmes, they lack focus as much as each of these areas deserve.

The aim of this post is to raise among public a concern for the need for advocating for safe water and sanitation for all!