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Understanding Open Defecation in the Age of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan : Agency, Accountability, and Anger in Rural Bihar

Author

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  • Anoop Jain

    (Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA)

  • Ashley Wagner

    (School of Public Health, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 74707, USA
    Department of City and Regional Planning, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA)

  • Claire Snell-Rood

    (School of Public Health, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 74707, USA)

  • Isha Ray

    (Energy & Resources Group, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA)

Abstract

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, India’s flagship sanitation intervention, set out to end open defecation by October 2019. While the program improved toilet coverage nationally, large regional disparities in construction and use remain. Our study used ethnographic methods to explore perspectives on open defecation and latrine use, and the socio-economic and political reasons for these perspectives, in rural Bihar. We draw on insights from social epidemiology and political ecology to explore the structural determinants of latrine ownership and use. Though researchers have often pointed to rural residents’ preference for open defecation, we found that people were aware of its many risks. We also found that (i) while sanitation research and “behavior change” campaigns often conflate the reluctance to adopt latrines with a preference for open defecation, this is an erroneous conflation; (ii) a subsidy can help (some) households to construct latrines but the amount of the subsidy and the manner of its disbursement are key to its usefulness; and (iii) widespread resentment towards what many rural residents view as a development bias against rural areas reinforces distrust towards the government overall and its Swachh Bharat Abhiyan-funded latrines in particular. These social-structural explanations for the slow uptake of sanitation in rural Bihar (and potentially elsewhere) deserve more attention in sanitation research and promotion efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Anoop Jain & Ashley Wagner & Claire Snell-Rood & Isha Ray, 2020. "Understanding Open Defecation in the Age of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan : Agency, Accountability, and Anger in Rural Bihar," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1384-:d:323363
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dean Spears & Arabinda Ghosh & Oliver Cumming, 2013. "Open Defecation and Childhood Stunting in India: An Ecological Analysis of New Data from 112 Districts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-1, September.
    2. Sahoo, Krushna Chandra & Hulland, Kristyna R.S. & Caruso, Bethany A. & Swain, Rojalin & Freeman, Matthew C. & Panigrahi, Pinaki & Dreibelbis, Robert, 2015. "Sanitation-related psychosocial stress: A grounded theory study of women across the life-course in Odisha, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 80-89.
    3. Acey, Charisma & Kisiangani, Joyce & Ronoh, Patrick & Delaire, Caroline & Makena, Evelyn & Norman, Guy & Levine, David & Khush, Ranjiv & Peletz, Rachel, 2019. "Cross-subsidies for improved sanitation in low income settlements: Assessing the willingness to pay of water utility customers in Kenyan cities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 160-177.
    4. Susan Engel & Anggun Susilo, 2014. "Shaming and Sanitation in Indonesia: A Return to Colonial Public Health Practices?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 157-178, January.
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