Index IntroductionCausesConsequencesAnswersRecommendationsIntroductionThe title of the book "Where India is Going" is a joke in itself. When you pick up this book and read the title and then the synopsis at the back, it's very clear what the book is about. The authors have literally explained with simple statistics what the slogan of Swachh Bharat Mission “Swachhata is everyone's business” means. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The book's authors Diane Coffey and Dean Spears initially set out to understand the reasons behind India's abysmal Human Development Index (HDI) and infant mortality. Rate (IMR), under-5 mortality rate and stunted growth of Indian children. They kept coming back to one important factor in their research: India's open defecation problem. They then focused their research on finding the reasons behind this pertinent issue. They founded the Research Institute for Compassionate Economy in India to take the research to its logical conclusion. The book begins with a foreword by eminent Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton explaining how despite the Indian economy being a GDP star On the per capita front, adults in India are still among the lowest in the world. He says “it is an intellectual conundrum for the economy and global health, but for Indians themselves it is an ongoing catastrophe.” (page xi, paragraph 2) The book is introduced by the story of one of the inhabitants of the village where the authors began their research. It sets the stage for the rest of the book and in a sense provides the reasoning for the research. The introduction briefly details what the book is about, in terms of chapters. The book is divided into three parts, causes, consequences and answers.CausesIn the second chapter the authors expose the puzzle of the cause of open defecation in India. List the general perceptions about the cause of people choosing to continue defecating in the open, being: It could be due to poverty It could be due to lack of drinking water It could be due to illiteracy It could be due to poor governance It is surely due to lack of access to a latrine The reasons listed above were demolished one after the other by showing in a descriptive graph how countries in similar positions fared in terms of open defecation. All the research pointed towards the caste issue and the idea of ​​purity as a driving factor behind open defecation. The third chapter further states the point about how the idea of ​​purity is what drives people to continue defecating in the open. The authors refer to an article by Anand Teltumbde who states that “Indians throw garbage on the ground not only out of laziness but also to assert their superiority over Dalits. After all, it is Dalits who should clean public spaces.” (chapter 3, page 59, paragraph 1) Chapter four addresses the logistics of building a dry latrine and cleaning one when it is full. The chapter explains the difference between the latrines recommended by the World Health Organization and the latrines commissioned by the Swachh Bharat Mission, where the latter were much more expensive and much larger than the specifications of the former. The authors realized that in other countries, dry latrines were physically cleaned by hand. In India, this would mean returning to the days of manual emptying. If anyone was caught involving Dalits in such work, it would attract punishment. Most people, despite having latrines under the Swachh Bharat Mission and thehis previous scheme, they refuse to use them because, in the long run, they don't want to worry about cleaning out the pit. Although the authors were incredibly surprised when they met this individual who took the effort to clean out his dry latrine himself. He said a very pertinent phrase: “When untouchability is gone, the country will be free” (chapter 4, page 90, paragraph 2). One of the authors reported the quantitative data noting that “…in fact those villages where a higher percentage of people said that someone in their family practices untouchability are the same villages where a higher percentage of families defecate openly. open” (chapter 4, page 91, paragraph 2).ConsequencesThe fifth chapter talks about the results of people who continue to defecate in the open. It is someone else's fecal matter that causes disease in a person. They talked about germ theory and how the world has evolved from then to now and people live longer lives. In India, people are also living longer thanks to medical advances, but children who survive do not necessarily experience optimal growth. Their height is stunted, their cognitive abilities are stunted. The authors again compared children from West Bengal and Bangladesh and showed how the height graph of children who are in a similar economic situation fare differently, where Bangladeshi children are taller. They also clarified how the parasites present in the fecal matter when they enter the child's body attach to the intestine and consume the nutrients that ideally should have been used by the child for his physical and mental growth. The sixth chapter deals with the economic consequences of open defecation. They cited research that showed taller people are much smarter and tend to earn more as a result. If the government invests in addressing the problem of open defecation, it will in return get more money into its coffers as the general population will earn more. In the seventh chapter we talk about the people who really need latrines: the disabled, the elderly and young women (who would otherwise be admitted only in the dark or in company). Women welcome open defecation, otherwise they would remain confined within the confines of their homes. People cling firmly to the idea that open defecation is beneficial as they think that open air will cure all ailments. Responses The eighth chapter delves into the feasibility of the Swachh Bharat Mission, right from its inception. They also discussed previous projects to tackle open defecation and the commitment made by the current Prime Minister. Although the plan looks very good on paper, its actual translation into action is far from reality, as there is a huge gap between what the government has planned to invest for results and what is happening at the ground level. The authors also mentioned how the government focuses on the construction of toilets and provides data about it and not on the actual use of toilets. Most village-level stakeholders responsible for building such toilets are more interested in bribes than in achieving meaningful results. Furthermore, there is no convincing data collection, since there is no investment to equip people with the tools necessary to digitize data. The authors identified that the real need was the dissemination of the “why” of the need to address the problem, for which there was no real investment. Recommendations In the final chapter, the authors conclude with some recommendations and predictions..