{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-query-tsx","path":"/blog-post/shashi-tharoor-writes-about-sanitation-and-r-i-c-e-research/","result":{"pageContext":{"post":{"slug":"/blog-post/shashi-tharoor-writes-about-sanitation-and-r-i-c-e-research/","title":"Shashi Tharoor writes about sanitation and r.i.c.e. research!","date":"Oct 05, 2014","timeToRead":1,"description":"","body":"function _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"Shashi Tharoor writes about sanitation and r.i.c.e. research!\",\n  \"date\": \"2014-10-05\",\n  \"template\": \"post\",\n  \"slug\": \"shashi-tharoor-writes-about-sanitation-and-r-i-c-e-research\",\n  \"postedLink\": \"https://riceinstitute.org/blog/shashi-tharoor-writes-about-sanitation-and-r-i-c-e-research/\",\n  \"old-tags\": [\"media-coverage\", \"sanitation-2\", \"swachh-bharat-mission\"],\n  \"description\": \"\",\n  \"tags\": \"Blog Post\",\n  \"banner\": \"\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, [\"components\"]);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Author, diplomat and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor recently wrote\\xA0\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://www.ndtv.com/article/opinion/shashi-tharoor-on-pm-s-invite-to-join-clean-india-campaign-601839\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"an NDTV blog\"), \"\\xA0on sanitation quoting liberally from r.i.c.e. research! Here\\u2019s what he says:\"), mdx(\"blockquote\", null, mdx(\"p\", {\n    parentName: \"blockquote\"\n  }, \"As Health Minister Harshvardhan has pointed out, poor sanitation breeds infections and leads to major public health problems; studies have proved a correlation between poor public hygiene and the stunted growth of many poor Indian children, while better sanitation leads to lower infant-mortality rates. A study by scholarsDean Spears and Sneha Lamba proves that children using toilets have better cognitive skills than those who don\\u2019t. \\u201COur results suggest,\\u201D they conclude, \\u201Cthat open defecation is an important threat to the human capital of the Indian labour force.\\u201D\"), mdx(\"p\", {\n    parentName: \"blockquote\"\n  }, \"But our government has discovered that even when toilets are built, people continue to defecate in the open, most out of sheer habit. An estimated 53 per cent of Indians still do so: one survey across several north Indian states learned that 47% found open defecation \\u201Cpleasurable, comfortable or convenient\\u201D.\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Dr. Tharoor is refering to the paper \\u201C\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://riceinstitute.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/07/Spears-Lamba-TSC-cognition-May-2012.pdf\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"Effects of early-life exposure to rural sanitation on childhood cognitive skills\"), \"\\u201D by Dean and Sneha, and to the\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://squatreport.in/\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"SQUAT survey\"), \".\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The rest of the Dr. Tharoor\\u2019s blog is quite nice, too. He thinks sanitation is an issue that everyone should be concerned about, moving beyond tokenism, and why cultural habits. Do read the\\xA0\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://www.ndtv.com/article/opinion/shashi-tharoor-on-pm-s-invite-to-join-clean-india-campaign-601839\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"blog\"), \"!\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","tags":[{"name":"Blog Post","slug":"blog-post"}],"banner":null}}},"staticQueryHashes":["318001574","3787687951","3787687951"]}