India Inc has swiftly answered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for improving sanitation facilities in the country, especially for girl students.
Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Enterprises have announced plans to invest ₹100 crore each for building more toilets.
TCS intends to erect sanitation facilities for girl students across 10,000 schools. N Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, said the move will “have a tangible impact on the level of education achievement and development of India’s next generation.” The country’s largest software exporter is in the process of identifying schools for this programme. The development arm of Bharti Enterprises has adopted Punjab’s Ludhiana district — home to the group’s founder —for constructing toilets over the next three years. “It is our commitment that no single household or school in rural Ludhiana will be without a toilet by the end of this tenure,” said Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Foundation.
Under its ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ initiative, the group will also aim to improve sanitation facilities for girls in rural Ludhiana’s government schools. Group companies — Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel — would support these initiatives, according to a press statement.
Coca-Cola India runs the ‘Support my School’ campaign to build toilets for school kids. PepsiCo India runs a solid waste management initiative in partnership with the NGO Exnora and local municipalities. While thousands of schools in India have toilets, they either do not have running water or lack proper maintenance. According to the Annual Status of Education Report 2013, published by education non-profit Pratham, the percentage of usable toilets for girls stood at 53.3 per cent in 2013. The lack of separate and functional toilets for girls increases their chances of dropping out.
According to the 2011 census, about 600 million or half of India’s citizens do not have access to a toilet either at home or in their communities.
Modi had devoted a substantial portion of his Independence Day speech to the need for a greater sense of cleanliness. He exhorted companies and Parliamentarians to take the lead in this direction.
(With inputs from New Delhi bureau)