According to a recent report of the United Nations, people in India, the world’s second most populous country, have more access to a mobile telephone than to a toilet. The UN report terms this as a “tragic irony” of sorts and that though India is wealthy enough to show almost half of its population having phones, yet about half cannot even afford the “basic necessity and dignity of a toilet”. According to the Millennium Development Goals the target is for a 50% improvement in access to adequate sanitation by 2015. Recent UN research in India shows roughly 366 million people (31% of the population) had access to improved sanitation in 2008. Meanwhile, study show that 545 million cell phones are now connected to service in India's emerging economy. The number of cell phones per 100 people has exploded from 0.35 in year 2000-01 to about 45 today. The technology bug is obviously catching on fast and even the government seems to be caught up in this wave. A few days back news came out that the Central government will dole out computers on rent to spread IT literacy in the country. According to reports, the pilot program would cost the government about 45 lakh.
The concern that should be addressed is not so much about the technology boom in rural India but the failure to provide access to sanitation and clean drinking water. While telephone connectivity or for that matter computer literacy is important as it improves human communication and skills, nevertheless we should remember that without the basic necessities, people are more at risk to even lose their lives. For instance in India the casualty because of unhealthy living condition, unclean water is daily on the rise especially among children. Improving technology must go hand in hand with improving the living conditions of people. Obviously basic needs such as sanitation, water etc are not getting the priority that it deserves. In this regard one should welcome the recent landmark resolution wherein the United Nations General Assembly has recognised access to clean water and sanitation as a human right.
The U.N. resolution although it is non-binding is a vital step towards recognizing the need for access to safe water as essential to human survival and dignity. It is a time to do some reality check on the problems facing a majority of people especially in poor countries where access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation remains unfulfilled mainly because of poor governance, corruption and lack of political accountability. It is well known that despite more than five decades of Nagaland Statehood many of us even in urban centres do not have proper access to clean drinking water. One can just imagine the condition of countless more in less privileged places across the State. Several crores of public money has poured in for the last few decades. A small State like Nagaland should have been able to take care of our sanitation problem by now. However this is not the case and instead in Nagaland we see high consumption of the latest cars, mobile phones, hi-fi tech toys etc. Not only mobile phones as the UN report states, but in the case of Nagaland we may even boast of having more vehicles than toilets. Let’s hope this is not the case. Government priority must remain on delivering the basic essential needs such as water and sanitation.
