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R 270751Z NOV 07
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RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 005102 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/ENV, AND SCA/INS 
HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER, HICKEY AND VALDEZ 
NIH FOR GLASS AND MAMPILLY 
CDC FOR BLOUNT AND FARRELL 
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SENV TBIO SOCI KSCA IN
SUBJECT:  World Toilet Summit Puts Spotlight on Sanitation in India 
 
 
NEW DELHI 00005102  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  ESTHOff attended the 2007 World Toilet Summit from 
October 31 - November 3 in New Delhi.  The event was hosted by 
Sulabh International Social Service Organization and sponsored by 
the Government of India (GOI).  The conference brought together 
senior Indian government officials, NGOs and experts from 40 
countries to discuss sanitation in developing countries, although 
most presentations focused specifically on India.  The Indian 
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation used the summit to 
announce that the Planning Commission has submitted a new $150 
million low cost sanitation plan to the Cabinet for approval.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  Worldwide, 2.6 billion people do not have access to toilet 
facilities.  This translates to 700 million Indians practicing open 
urination and defecation, making it impossible to travel anywhere in 
India, including the major cities, without witnessing the practice 
countless times a day.  The lack of sanitation assists the spread of 
numerous diseases including cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, hepatitis, 
intestinal worms, and polio.  To combat the problem, the World 
Toilet Summit adopted the Delhi Declaration on Sanitation which 
includes numerous goals designed to provide improved sanitation 
facilities to all.  The text of the declaration can be found at 
http://www.worldtoiletsummit2007.org/delhi_dr aft.php. 
 
-------------------------------- 
INDIAN MINISTERS TALK SANITATION 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  MINISTERIAL PRESENCE:  The World Toilet Summit featured numerous 
speakers from the GOI and from several state governments.  The 
Ministries of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Health and 
Family Welfare, Rural Development, and Social Justice and 
Empowerment were all represented at the ministerial level for the 
inauguration ceremony.  The former President of India, Dr. Abdul 
Kalam, noted the significance of the presence of the four ministers, 
observing that cooperation between the ministries is critical since 
each holds responsibility for different aspects of improving 
sanitation.  The Ministry of Education was conspicuously absent, as 
one American speaker, Dr. Tom Keating of Project Clean, highlighted 
after much discussion about the poor condition or nonexistence of 
toilet facilities in most government schools. 
 
¶4.  NEW SUBSIDY PLAN:  Minister of State Kumari Selja of the 
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation announced that the 
existing system of loans and subsidies for constructing toilets was 
being "radically reformed" with a new $150 million program for low 
cost sanitation involving a 75% subsidy to families constructing 
toilets along with an emphasis on collaborating with NGOs.  The plan 
has been approved by the Planning Commission and now awaits approval 
by the Cabinet.  Minister Selja also noted all new houses built by 
the GOI are now required to have a toilet. 
 
¶5.  PUBLIC EDUCATION:  Insufficient public education regarding the 
health impacts of poor sanitation remains a key problem in driving 
the public demand for toilets.  In a follow-up meeting, WHO 
Sustainable Development and Environmental Health Officer A.K. 
Sengupta commented that he had visited households that were being 
paid by the GOI to show advertisements for India's Total Sanitation 
Campaign (introduced in 1999) that did not have toilets.  In such an 
environment he argued, no amount of subsidy will solve the problem 
until citizens speak out and demand improved toilet facilities. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
INDIA AND MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL 7, TARGET 10 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶6.  MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL (MDG):  The GOI has set a goal of 
meeting MDG 7, Target 10, by 2012, three years earlier than the 
originally anticipated 2015.  MDG 7, Target 10 aims to reduce by 
half from 1990 levels the proportion of people without sustainable 
access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation which is 
defined as facilities that are likely to ensure privacy and hygienic 
 
NEW DELHI 00005102  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
use.  As of 2004, 41% of India's urban population and 78% of its 
rural population did not have access to improved sanitation 
facilities.  While this is a substantial improvement from 1990 when 
the percentages were 55% and 97% respectively, it is still far from 
reaching the goal.  To address the issue, the GOI has increased 
funding for its Total Sanitation Campaign by 43% from the previous 
year to a total of INR 10.6 billion (approximately $271 million 
USD).  If the GOI can sustain this level of funding and if the 
program is properly implemented, India will be on track to meeting 
MDG 7, Target 10 by 2012, according to government estimates. 
 
¶7.  BEWARE STATISTICS:  Dr. Kulwant Singh, Chief Technical Advisor 
for the UN-HABITAT program Water for Asian Cities, warned officials 
to look beyond the simple statistics to make sure the services were 
actually being provided.  He warned that the official statistics can 
hide reality, such as when slums are considered to have sanitation 
coverage, yet huge lines of people have to wait to use a small 
number of toilets.  This issue tends to arise most often when 
toilets fall into disrepair and aren't fixed which is common.  In 
addition, Singh noted the figures represent the availability of 
infrastructure rather than actual usage which can be misleading 
considering the extraordinarily high prevalence of open urination 
and defecation in India. 
 
--------------------- 
MAKING TOILETS "SEXY" 
--------------------- 
 
¶8.  INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS:  Conference delegates repeatedly 
brought up the need to market sanitation, both to the end-users in 
developing countries and in developed (donor) countries.  Delegates 
were enthusiastic about using the UN's designation of 2008 as the 
International Year of Sanitation to increase awareness, with several 
organizations planning advocacy programs.  World Toilet Organization 
President Jack Sim told conference delegates they need to help "make 
toilets sexy," i.e., find ways to break down mental and cultural 
barriers that prevent people from discussing sanitation and taking 
the issue seriously. 
 
¶9.  MARKETING SANITATION:  Innovative marketing experiences were 
shared, such as UNICEF Indonesia's success in creating a "Clean 
Friday" movement, in which UNICEF worked with Muslim religious 
leaders to teach their followers about the importance of sanitation. 
 Another example utilized social pressure in the state of Orissa, 
where a village painted on its town walls, "We will not marry our 
daughters off to villages without toilets!"  In addition, programs 
that recognize village leaders who meet their sanitation targets 
were also praised. 
 
------------------------- 
THE SCOURGE OF SCAVENGING 
------------------------- 
 
¶10.  MINISTERIAL VIEWS:  Minister of Social Justice and Employment 
Meira Kumar noted the GOI had formally abolished manual scavenging 
(the process of manually removing human excreta) and stated the GOI 
aims to rehabilitate all scavengers by March 2009.  (Comment: 
Scavenging was banned by an Act of Parliament in 1993 but persists 
in much of the country and will continue until the use of improved 
sanitation facilities replace dry toilets. End Comment). 
Unfortunately Minister Kumar did not provide details on how the GOI 
would meet the fast-approaching deadline for this goal. 
 
¶11.  FAKE NUMBERS AND CONTRADICTIONS:  Former Member of Parliament 
Maneka Gandhi stated that the contradiction between the legal ban on 
scavenging and the circumstances as they really exist has 
unfortunate results such as discouraging district administrators 
from admitting that there are scavengers in their district. 
District administrators can be held personally responsible and 
punished if scavenging is occurring in their district, resulting in 
denial that scavenging is taking place or severe underreporting of 
actual figures.  According to Ms. Gandhi, the real tragedy is that 
 
NEW DELHI 00005102  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
funds appropriated for the rehabilitation of scavengers often go 
unused. 
 
------------------------------ 
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS FAIL HEALTH 
------------------------------ 
 
¶12.  FAILING GIRLS:  Conference participants repeatedly noted 
sanitation statistics regarding the approximately 760,000 government 
schools in India: 40-45% have clean water, 19% have urinals, and 
only 8% have toilets.  Boys typically practice open urination and 
defecation outdoors but girls are often forced to "hold it" through 
the day rather than risk the humiliation of being seen heeding 
nature's call.  (Comment:  There appears to be no corresponding 
stigma for boys or men who perform these acts constantly in public 
view.  End Comment).  This is a major factor contributing to the 
high dropout rate of girls from government schools and the low 
literacy rate among women (48% for women as opposed to 73% for men.) 
 However, Sulabh International noted student health clubs, which 
focus on sanitation, are now present in schools in 8-10 states and 
that some schools in Gujarat are now teaching their students about 
sanitation and the "dignity of labor" in an effort to address the 
social stigma surrounding the issue. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
CONSERVING RESOURCES AND RECOVERING WASTES 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶13.  CONSERVING RESOURCES:  There was consensus among the speakers 
that the developing world could not afford to widely adopt 
western-style toilets and would need to construct less 
resource-intensive facilities based on eco-sanitation processes in 
which resources in excreta and wastewater are recovered.  Both 
septic tanks and sewer systems were viewed skeptically as too 
expensive and/or unsustainable.  (Comment:  This view is supported 
by current conditions as less than 20% of all Indian households are 
connected to sewage systems and in total, 33 billion liters of 
sewage are produced in India each day despite current treatment 
capacity of 6-7 billion liters per day.  End Comment). 
 
¶14.  ECO-SANITATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES:  The lack of qualified 
local personnel in the sanitation field was repeatedly raised as a 
substantial hurdle.  Sanitation jobs have traditionally been filled 
by Indians of low social status who have little or no formal 
education.  An Indian organization, Ecosan Services Foundation, with 
support from the European Union's Asia Pro Eco Programme, will begin 
offering training courses on eco-sanitation in early 2008 to help 
address the shortage of skilled workers. 
 
-------------- 
PUBLIC TOILETS 
-------------- 
 
¶15.  MAINTENECE PROBLEMS:  Many Indians, especially those living in 
urban slums, have neither the money nor the space to build toilets. 
In these areas and in public places, public toilets are an important 
part of making sanitation facilities available.  Many 
government-built toilets are neglected and are subsequently 
abandoned.  The two primary reasons for this are poor management of 
the facilities or the non-availability of water - either because of 
erratic supply from municipal corporations or exhausted wells.  The 
Principal Secretary of Urban Development in Andhra Pradesh, S.P. 
Singh, stated community involvement is critical to avoid waste and 
mismanagement of government operated toilet facilities.  A retired 
government official from Tamil Nadu told the conference he had to 
personally visit the public toilets to discover they were in 
disrepair because he was "shielded from information" by his staff. 
 
¶16.  PAY AND USE FACILITIES:  Market-driven, pay and use toilet 
facilities have sprung up to address the need for quality 
sanitation.  Customers typically pay one or two rupees which go to 
an individual whose job it is to maintain and clean the facilities. 
 
NEW DELHI 00005102  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
Although there are concerns that some destitute families can't 
afford the fee, these facilities provide an important service and 
are typically well maintained and widely used, unlike many of the 
free public toilets.  A motion to include a clause in the Delhi 
Declaration on Sanitation stating that public sanitation facilities 
should be free met stiff opposition and was not adopted.  In a 
follow-up meeting, one WHO official informally suggested that 
government-issued cards with a small credit for use of toilet 
facilities could be given to families below the poverty line to 
speed the adoption of sanitary practices by impoverished families 
and subsequently improve health among these communities. 
 
¶17.  COMMENT:  Poor organization and inadequate screening of 
presenters led to an overloaded schedule with no room for discussion 
of the issues.  This left attendees disappointed with the overall 
quality of the conference.  However, many attendees emphasized the 
positive effect the summit would have by increasing awareness of 
sanitation issues among both the public and politicians and would 
help make the need for improved sanitation and toilets part of the 
national discussion.  END COMMENT. 
 
MULFORD