Human Interest

World toilet day!

Often when people are faced with a tragic fact they instantly attempt to shut it out because it makes them uncomfortable. In the same way Americans can walk past five homeless people a day and not bat and eye...its easier. Using comedy to address a dire situation such as India's sanitation standards, is an ingenious way to get people to actually listen

I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that all these statements are indeed true. Reading about the struggles India has endured with the lack of indoor plumbing many of its people must endure made me think of a previous article I had read about the "Two Mexico's." Rapid development in certain areas for certain people has revolutionized the standard of living for some, but the persistence of corruption has lead to economic lag for many of the people of both nations, meaning significant portions of the population are being left behind during this period of development. The sanitation and plumbing systems of inca are woefully inadequate for a country of over a billion people, subtracting from the leaps that have been made in other areas. The dangers faced by women as a result of the lack of indoor plumbing was a surprise, although it does make sense. Millions of Indian women have to resort to walking to communal bathrooms, oftentimes at night on solitary trips, which leaves them vulnerable to the kids of sexual assault that have plagued Indian media. I hope for the sake of the Indian people that improvements in the rates of indoor plumbing in the country continue to be made.

One thing about this issue is the fact that most of the people living in the area dont have the proper sanitation. Many of the issues that they face are a lack of government and funding and jobs. However the issue in India is the worst within the world. China has a huge lack of sanitation but in India the situation is much worse.

It was interesting to read about Modi's run for prime minister- I recently read a TIME magazine article about him, his original platform, and his subsequent work in office- and to see so much of Obama's run for office in Modi's struggle. Modi's support among his own caste, traditionally one that has been discriminated against in Indian society, is not at all different from Obama's support among the African American community. It goes to show that, for all our differences, people are a lot more alike then we'd care to think. Beyond that, it was interesting to see how much power the old caste system continues to hold in Indian society, much like the issues with race that Americans continue to struggle with within our own society. Appeals to different castes have been employed successfully by politicians and other forms of media; I once read that the most popular Indian films are often love stories revolving around "forbidden love" between two members of different, opposite castes. In a society that is so rich and complex, with hundreds of different languages and beliefs, it is so easy for lines to be drawn and for differences to be focused upon in a negative light. Happily for India, it has come a long way to address these problems and to move forward. While not perfect, India's future looks bright.

i dont understand how a country like india that is mostly modern and on the world scale can still have such an ancient system of labeling people be such a prominent practice in their society, i hope modi gets elected so he can start to eliminate this