New Delhi played host to the World Toilet Summit 2007 a fortnight ago. There is nothing as unglamorous as the vision of dozens of people locked up in a conference room discussing toilets. Yet, the World Toilet Summit is far more vital to India’s future prospects than the Fortune Global Forum that took place in the same week and hogged all the attention.

India’s sanitation record is extremely poor. According to the United Nations Human Development Report, 2006, a mere 33 per cent of India’s population has access to improved sanitation facilities. And this is the cause of over 500,000 infant deaths annually and cost India Rs 5 billion every year in medical treatment and loss of work.

Unfortunately sanitation has always been accorded very low priority by government. But more importantly, even where money has been spent, it has addressed the wrong problem. Take the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) for instance. Started in 1986, the CRSP aimed to construct toilets in every village through the provision of subsidies. There was little traction for the programme and coverage remained low — at 20 per cent in 2001. Worse, when toilets where built, they were rarely used. In Himachal Pradesh alone, of the 4 lakh toilets constructed, a mere 3 per cent where being used. In Maharashtra, 1.7 million toilets were constructed with less than 50 per cent usage. Most of the time, the toilets were used for reasons other than latrines — in Maharashtra there are cases reported where toilets where converted into puja rooms since they were the only concrete structures in the village! In states like Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, there is inadequate understanding about the links between sanitation and health.

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