Sanitation Without Dignity

India has built millions of toilets, but without maintenance, accountability and civic sense, sanitation remains an unfinished promise rather than lived dignity

- AMAL CHANDRA

A locked or unusable public toilet is not just an inconvenience—it is a quiet denial of dignity

India has invested heavily in sanitation.

From the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan to the Swachh Bharat Mission launched in 2014, the country articulated an ambitious goal: to end open defecation and make India clean. Governments have showcased impressive numbers, from millions of household toilets built to thousands of villages declared Open Defecation Free. Yet nearly a decade later, the lived reality remains sobering. Cleanliness is no longer just a policy target; it is a test of our civic sense, public priorities and commitment to basic human dignity.

What the broad trends reveal is unsettling. Public toilets have expanded in number across urban and semi-urban India, and visible littering has reduced in some prominent locations. But access does not automatically translate into usability. For millions of citizens, especially women, the elderly, children and persons with disabilities, public toilets remain spaces of anxiety rather than relief. Many facilities are poorly lit, inadequately cleaned, short of water, or simply locked. The result is a silent but widespread avoidance of public toilets, forcing people to seek private establishments or, worse, to delay relief at serious cost to health and dignity.

Why does this matter so urgently? Toilets are not luxuries. They are foundational to public health, human dignity, gender safety and environmental welfare. Improved sanitation has proven to help avert tens of thousands of infant deaths annually by reducing disease transmission. However, construction alone is not the whole answer. A toilet that is built and then left to decay, physically and functionally, serves merely as a civic embarrassment.