There's No Better Gift, Daan Toilet!

Assam’s Jorhat district inches closer to being open defecation-free, thanks to a novel initiative by the administration

- Pranjal Sharma

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, Swachh Bharat that envisages an open defecation-free India by the year 2019 has witnessed many local administrations take drastic measures to get people to build and use a toilet. From naming and shaming to coaxing people to use toilets and incentivising toilet use, the country has seen it all. But the idea of Assam’s Jorhat district administration to urge people to donate a toilet to those who cannot afford it certainly stands apart as a novel, altruistic concept. This concept has so far helped 400-odd families get a toilet in their homes in the last one year alone.

In 2017, the district water and sanitation committee of Jorhat started mobilising individuals and organisations to donate money to construct toilets for those who couldn’t afford to build one themselves. The initiative, named Daan Toilet, is the brainchild of Virendra Mittal, a 2007-batch IAS officer who was the deputy commissioner (DC) of Jorhat.

How the Idea Came About

The Swachh Bharat Mission aims to make the entire country free from open defecation by 2nd October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. To achieve this, states had conducted a baseline survey in 2012-13 to assess the status of sanitation facilities. It’s on the basis of this survey that households were identified to receive government help for the construction of toilets.