>The government apparatus in the village is out in full strength since the crack of dawn, armed with whistles, torches and the occasional stick. Their daily mission is to locate those defecating in the open, blow whistles, shine torches and proceed to accost, shame and intimidate such people so that they would feel compelled to change their morning routine
>Verbal abuse, pictures clicked in compromising positions and degrading treatment are common One particularly disturbing video shows a government officer full of righteous indignation making a terrified youngster hold his ears, do sit-ups The young boy is then grabbed by the hand and moved into brighter light and made to repeat this act of dehumanising submission for the benefit of the camera
>This is the frontline of the government’s systematic assault upon those who stand inconveniently in the path of their march towards declaring the state free of open defecation.
>The nearly 100 families in Badagaon who are the victims of this daily intimidation are the poorest and most desperate residents of the village. They are almost all Dalits and daily-wage labourers with no land, no assets, no saved money and no steady source of income. Even a few minutes spent visiting their homes and speaking with them makes it quite obvious that they defecate in the open not because they are anti-social, unaware or criminal, but because the crushing circumstances of their lives leave them with no other option
>scientific advances >solid banter >no more poo >the only garbagecanistan that is actually trying to get better
Im proud of India.
Nicholas Long
>the crushing circumstances of their lives leave them with no other option
I mean, shit in a box behind a curtain. Problem solved. Or are they all homeless?
Luis Gutierrez
Who the hell are you quoting?
Chase Hughes
Who and where?
Christopher Clark
India's caste system is an even worse problem that their ginerly attitude about poo, and just as disgusting.
Kevin Kelly
But why?
Levi Ward
>>no more poo
Because surely beating street shittere with sticks will make them stop.
Leo Adams
>no other option If you can't nail 4 pieces of wood together and dig a hole then do you really deserve to live?
Brandon Ward
probably just feeling creative
Camden Lopez
is that what it takes to drag india to the first-world? A lot of poo-in-the-loo jokes
We just want what's best for you india.
Asher Adams
Now we need to stop americans from shitting in their pants and the world will be a better place.
Jace Taylor
this
Parker White
>Some, like a father who wakes his children before dawn and cycles many kilometres from the village, are trying to find a way around the intimidation. But for most, the daily abuse is having an effect.
>Desperate attempts to build a toilet are now common in every house. These toilets are usually without walls and share the tiny space inside the house with chullahs, stored drinking water, sleeping infants and scattered schoolbooks. The effluents from these toilets flow into a pit dug in the middle of the house that is covered with a cement lid.
>With government subsidy for constructing toilets drying up in the last two years, these efforts are being funded by loans from local moneylenders. These toilets might get these families out of the village fields but not with out damaging their health, finances and self-esteem along the way.
>In the enforcement of the writ, the state is viewing citizens who are forced by poverty into open defecation as unsightly and inconvenient aberrations who must be bent and broken if need be. Verbal abuse, fear, humiliation, intimidation and financial threats are being deployed as instruments in this subjugation of the most vulnerable people in society.
>Government servants are deploying these instruments to terrorise the very citizens they are meant to serve.
>It seems as if the Haryana government is seeking to wipe India clean with the ripped up pages of the constitution.
Jack Kelly
Can confirm this. I went to take a shit yesterday at the nearest designated street. Place was filled with 5-0.
