OPEN DEFECATION IN INDIA: CULTURE AND ECONOMIC FACTOR

Abstract

Open defecation (OD) in India is a deeply rooted problem influenced by the intertwined factors of poverty, culture, and economic inequality. The poverty limits access to toilets, while deeply ingrained cultural norms and the social hierarchy of the caste system discourage the use of toilet. . Landless people are the major contributor of OD, since to construct toilet there is need of land. India being a religious country people does not move out of the religious sentiment and this has bring in the purity and impurity related with toilet. Ultimately, people choose open defecation. Government has made efforts like the Swachh Bharat Mission aim to address this challenge by constructing toilets and promoting behavioural change, but they must also consider and address the underlying structural inequalities and complex socio-cultural beliefs that sustain the practice of open defecation. Nevertheless, the educated younger generation choose healthy and decent living over orthodoxy of religion and culture. Education also provides opportunity to come out of poverty allowing to have toilet.