Shit Matters !?.

Matters of health in the urban context have always been close to me, personally. 

Professionally, what started as public policy, research support to an advisor to the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI, in 2012- the past 7 years working on urban sanitation and public health have solicited responses of- "Why do you want to study such a subject matter?", "There are several other subject matters and niche areas you should look into- say land- market, money & economics of it", "I bet you will not even write terms like open defecation on the cover of a work that is going to stick with you for a long long time".......

Listening to all these and several other unsolicited bits of advice, I have two words, three punctuation to say- 

Shit Matters !?.

1. Provision of a toilet- was, is and will never be enough.

2. Matters of shit, open defecation or sanitation deprivation is not confined to India or other "developing" (rudimentary world division of "us" and "them" nations- do not even get me started on this subject!) nations. 

3. Mere criticism of government or politics perpetuates an attitude of- "their problem, not mine!" 

- Picture: Inside a community toilet of a basti (officially identified as jhuggi jhopri cluster) in a part of Delhi. (Credits: Mahak Agrawal)

As a #LocalPathways Fellow to the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network-Youth, I am working on #sdg6 in Delhi, where open defecation is a mundane reality for thousands of #disadvantaged

#urban #publichealth #economics #urbanplanning #Fellow #UnitedNations #SDSNYouth #India #Sanitation #HumanRight