Health

With over 638 million people defecating in the open, India’s obsession with constructing toilets is not surprising. In a bid to arrest the number of people going out to answer nature’s call, successive governments have been pushing their total sanitation drive under different names.

Climate change has been predicted to have a tremendous impact on the health of populations leading to deaths as well as increase in the incidence of diseases such as dengue and chikungunya. Dengue and chikungunya have emerged as major public health problems making headlines in many states in India following the erratic monsoons.

A decade ago, Jamwadi village in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, was a famous tourist attraction due to its beautiful lake. Now, there is no lake to speak of thanks to the Raymond factory in Yavatmal. Wastewaster from the factory flows untreated into the lake, which is located 15 kms away.

A recent World Bank report on climate change has predicted a grim outlook for India by outlining its impacts that include:

Nandatai and her 16 year old daughter Phula creep out of their houses quietly in the wee hours of the morning into the dark fields to relieve themselves before everyone wakes up. It is an everyday story as this is the only time in the day that they have privacy. “It is so shameful to go out in the fields during the day”, says Nandatai. “We have to hold our urine till it gets dark.

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