If you are someone that has navigated the internet, there is surely no way you would’ve missed all the memes, generated from every corner of the world, about India’s persistent open defecation problem. • Globally, India has the largest number of people, close to 594 million which is 48 percent of population in India practices open defecation. Many toilets were built, particularly in rural India, where open defecation was a way of life for its people. As highlighted in the last paragraph above, India’s open defecation problem seems to be rooted in Hinduism’s caste (also called “varna” or “race and color”) system. It seems that, as long as India remains a Hindu-majority country, open defecation will continue to remain a persistent and enduring problem.

Source: The Hindu December 09, 2023 05:13 UTC