GS Paper 2 Governance 28 June 2022

Discuss the problem of water and sanitation in rural India and its consequences. Also brief the role of state government and PRI in this regard. 15 marks.

Est. writing time: 12–15 min

Word count: ~301 words

Water and sanitation are the two most important services associated with quality of life and survival.

Water and sanitation are state subjects and their quality is very important for livelihood or health related security and prevention.

In spite of these provisions, there are many related problems:

Still large amount of people of upper caste does open defecation in rural areas.
There are lack of flush toilets in rural areas resulting into open defecation. Example- Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan.
Same open defecation results into contamination of surface water as well as ground water resulting into diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea and other water borne diseases.
Funds allocated under Housing For All, Swachh Bharat Mission are not utilized properly. Even allocation of funds is not up to the mark.
Over-exploitation of ground water results into fluoride and radioactive contamination.

Example – Mansa district in Punjab, Hisar district in Haryana.

[Map of India drawn showing regions of contaminated water in western India]

In western part of India, the semi-arid regions, women travel in search of water to far distances resulting into criminal activities. Also, the water collected by them is contaminated.