NEW DELHI: The country has made significant progress when it came to achieving behavioural change related to sanitation, said Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat who was speaking at the India Sanitation Conclave on Thursday.
The fourth edition of the India Sanitation Coalition- FICCI Sanitation Awards and India Sanitation Conclave focussed on hygiene and sanitation with the theme being ‘Getting India Back to Work’.
“At one point, it was considered uncivil to talk about sanitation. Now, blockbuster movies are being made on sanitation. There has been unprecedented success in terms of achieving behavioural change. States have been given circular on faecal sludge management,” said Shekhawat.
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said, “The expertise and resources of the private sector must be leveraged for solid and liquid waste management services. The intent is to focus on and promote scalable and commercially viable solutions to make the sanitation economy attractive for private businesses. Multiple avenues need to be identified.”
Arun Baroka, additional secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, said there is a need to continue to promote the use of toilets.
Experts said safely managed services were essential for preventing and protecting human health during infectious disease outbreaks, including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic at a webinar on postpandemic preparedness. It is important to understand links between diseases, said Pankaj Bhardwaj, professor, Department of Community Medicine, AIIMS, Jodhpur.
“From the point of public health, two areas need to be invested in - behavioural change and providing an enabling environment. People will change, will adopt behaviour but the most important point is to provide that environment. Covid-19 has provided an important lesson - that one can be safe when others can be safe. Each citizen needs access to WASH services,” said Bhardwaj.
Good hygiene and sanitation key
The fourth edition of the India Sanitation Coalition-FICCI Sanitation Awards and India Sanitation
Conclave focused on hygiene and sanitation.
Experts said safelymanaged services were essential for preventing and protecting human health during infectious disease outbreaks, including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic at a webinar on post-pandemic preparedness.