Asif Dowla, professor of economics and Landers Endowed Chair in the Liberal Arts, had a review of the book, “Where India Goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste” (HarperCollins, 2017) by Diane Coffey and Dean Spears, published in South Asia @LSE blog hosted by the London School of Economics (LSE).
Dowla describes in the review how authors Coffey and Spears show that the attempt by the government of India to lower open defecation by building toilets for 123 million poor households across India will not be successful. The reason for the failure is because of the concern by rural Indians, about the ritual purity of one’s home when in close proximity to human waste contained in a toilet, which is impure.
The full book review can be found here: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2018/08/08/book-review-where-india-goes-abandoned-toilets-stunted-development-and-the-costs-of-caste-by-diane-coffey-and-dean-spears/
