Public urination: The ugly side of India

The government’s best efforts and drives in the name of Swachh Bharat, growing consciousness, high education levels, posh nature of living … nothing can change the unclean, unhygienic lifestyle and carefree lifestyles. Lot of people seems to show little regard to the rules and the public etiquette.

They never seem to worry or change their habits –- habit of recklessness, open defecation, urination, spitting and throwing rubbish on roads etc.

There have been so many campaigns and extension of financial help for construction of individual sanitary latrines, but this malady of open defecation is still ruling the roost in many towns and villages.

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Instead of becoming role models, a few political persons are not only ignoring these campaigns, but also still practicing these somewhat evil and age-old systems, may be due to their orthodox beliefs, innocence and/or semi-awareness that they have acquired through their illiteracy or adamant behaviour.

This shameless practice is still so rampant along the railway tracks elsewhere whatever the conglomerate it might be.

This has a telling impact when it comes to the behavioral modification among school-going children and educated youth, who try to catch the worst very easily despite repeated moral and ethical discourses in the educational institutions by their teachers.

Of late, Telugu or the other vernacular media of movies are, in the name of comedy, also portraying these versions of vulgarity and thus directly or indirectly encouraging such unbecoming practices.

The government providing Swachh, Bio, Sulabh and other types of toilets at railway stations, bus stands and other busy public terminals in cities and towns for the general floating public.

Instead, one may find it as a regular phenomenon that several civilized men folk, not to speak of the laymen, seem to have no worry or shamelessness in answering their nature’s calls very liberally behind and beside/on these posh toilet walls or elsewhere in broad public glare forgetting all the etiquette and thus most of the time polluting the environs around and causing some confounded nuisance to the fairer gender.

This has its own reason too. The contractors or the managements of such washrooms, where money has to be paid for using lavatories, are accustomed to collecting money even for urination also.

Sometimes the distant location or insufficient numbers of public toilets or most of the time, with the uncared-for behavior and availability of unrestricted open spaces for free encourages public for open urination.

In a sacred country like ours, these are not only the unbecoming practices but also are a cause for concern as they contribute to the wide spread epidemics and impact the public exchequer at the expense of honest tax payers.

By: Ram Kumar Akula, Sainagar, Hanamkonda