As an anthropologist working on rural life in India, I find describing public defecation as “ingrained in India’s rural culture” an oversimplification of a complex problem of social life in country areas (Delhi council to shame people into using toilets, 21 December).
It is true that cities such as Delhi have experienced an influx of migrants from the countryside, but one cannot dismiss rural habits quite so simply. My research has shown that rural folks have not taken up the government’s idea of building modern enclosed toilets in their villages because the old practice of open defecation was to avoid carrying back the smell inside their house, which modern enclosed toilets do not allow.
In villages, people choose to defecate outside to be close to nature and traditionally follow this practice with a shower. With severe water shortages in the countryside, hygiene practices have had to adjust to preserve water while also avoiding disease. The defecation area in the village is not random – it is a selected location and the act has to be followed by taking a shower.
The debate on open v enclosed defecating is a debate on how Indians define themselves with respect to traditional methods of remaining disease-free, water conservation, and notions of bodily purities and impurities. This debate cannot be resolved by Delhi bureaucrats, far removed from the natural, environmental, hygienic and social debate that is taking place in India’s villages.
Dr Smita Yadav
Hove, East Sussex
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