India: Designated Superpooer By 2020

Keydog · #1 ● 02-02-2017, 04:37 PM

Far from his dwelling let him remove urine and excreta
–The Laws of Manu (Hindu sacred text), Chapter 4 verse 151

Over a billion people worldwide (15 percent of people in the world) practice open defecation, generally this is attributed to extreme poverty, however in India, the differences between the Hindu and Muslim demographics show that cultural practices play a larger role.

More than half of the Indian population, over 600 million people, defecate in the open, without the use of a latrine or toilet. The prevalence of open defecation is particularly high among India’s Hindu majority.

Data from the most recent wave of the National Health and Family Survey of India show that as of 2005, 67% of Hindu households defecate in the open—e.g. near roads, on beaches, railroad tracks, in fields and behind bushes.

In comparison, only 42% of the relatively poorer Muslim households do so. 

In India, Muslim children are substantially more likely than Hindu children to survive to their fifth birthday, despite Muslim parents being poorer and less educated on average than Hindu parents.

More than half of Indian households defecate in the open without using a toilet or latrine, introducing pathogens into the environment that cause disease. Bacteria and worms contained in feces get transmitted via contact with skin and via ingestion, leading to both acute and chronic illness.

Recent medical and epidemiological research suggests that consistent exposure to the disease environment created by open defecation can result in chronic intestinal problems that block the absorption of nutrients in food.

In India, Muslims are about 40 percent more likely than Hindus to use latrines, which serve to safely dispose of excreta. More importantly, Muslims are more likely to have Muslim neighbours who follow the same practice. Differences in these sanitation behaviours can account for the entire mortality gap between Hindus and Muslims.

Muadh reported God’s messenger as saying,“Guard against the three things which produce cursing: relieving one self in watering-places, in the middle of the road and in the shade.”
–Mishkat-al-Masabih (Muslim sacred text) P:76

The Hindu tradition views excreta as something to be kept away from one’s home. The persistence of open defecation among Hindus in India is attributable to the persistence of the Hindu caste system: the ritual avoidance of excreta is maintained not only be keeping defecation away from the home, but also by relegating its cleanup to the untouchables.

The low-caste find employment in “scavenging”– manually removing human waste from open places. This link between human waste and the “polluted” castes reinforces the desire to defecate away from the home among higher caste Hindus, with the ironic implication that public places are everywhere soiled by human waste.

Therefore, perhaps contrary to intuition, the prominence of open defecation among Hindus is not merely a matter of the affordability of toilets. Instead, there is apparently little demand at any price to relieve oneself in or near the home. And toilets constructed or paid for by the government often remain unused or repurposed by Hindus.

Statistics show that Hindu–but not Muslim– households are much more likely to have electricity than to own use a public or private latrine. Estimates also show that even relatively wealthy Hindus who own large assets often choose to openly defecate.

Keydog · #2 ● 02-02-2017, 04:40 PM

In 2014, due to out-of-control pollution and sanitation issues, UNICEF India initiated the "Take the poo to the loo" campaign. They came up with this catchy jingle:

spudigitti · #3 ● 02-02-2017, 04:42 PM

A legacy left behind by the British

Keydog · #4 ● 02-02-2017, 04:52 PM

.

Keydog · #5 ● 02-02-2017, 05:45 PM

Unsurprisingly worldwide attention has been gained by India's sanitation crisis. This has lead to widespread online ridicule and the spawning of "designated shitting streets" trolling in response to India's "superpower by 2020" aspirations.

About

“Designated Shitting Streets” is a catchphrase used to mock India’s open defecation issues, which is employed on some online communities like 4chan in order to make fun of Indian users, also being used as shitposting practise. An associated catchphrase, “Poo in the Loo”, has been used in similar way.

Origin

The earliest use of the phrase comes from a 4chan’s international board /int/ thread submitted on July 13th, 2015, where an Indian user complained about the “India smells bad and is dirty” jokes, claiming that people only defecates on “designated shitting streets” and not everywhere. That statement was consequently mocked in the thread and several compilations of reactions from users were made. The earliest archived use of the phrase can be found on a post from the politically incorrect board /pol/ from July 22nd, 2015.

Background

India is the lead country in open defecation, with near half of the population not using toilets in order to defecate. During recent years, government from India has tried to find a solution to the issue.

Spread

During the following days, the catchphrase started gaining traction on /pol/, being used as reply to Indian posters and any post related to India, and shitposting practises like vertical posting or Lankyposting. In late July 2015, a Mehmet, My Son version mocking the catchphrase and a post claiming India would be a “superpower by 2020” started circulating on /int/, being the first archieved use on /pol/ a post from July 25th, 2015. On September 16th, 2015, reddit user binaryballsbikers submitted to /r/4chan a reaction compilation from the original thread, gaining near 500 points and over 60 comments in the following months. On December 26th, 2015, reddit user butthole-scientist asked about the meaning of the catchphrase, gaining over 2,200 points and 360 comments in two weeks.

Poo in the Loo

On February 14th, 2014, UNICEF India released a song titled “Take The Poo To The Loo” and launched a campaign by the same name in order to fight open defecation in the country, with the music video of the song receiving over 900,000 views in less than two years. However, the campaign was mocked on several online communities like /pol/, gaining traction in early July 2015, the time when “designated shitting streets” started being used. Since then, it has become an equivalent catchphrase, being used to mock India too.