India accounts for 58 per cent of all open defecations in the world and the problem needs to be addressed on a war footing to improve public health, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said this while addressing a workshop of state secretaries in-charge of Rural Water Supply and Sanitationy in New Delhi on Monday. Mr. Ramesh said sanitation programmes are the “most severely under-funded” programme in India.

Seeking an increased fund allocation to address the issue, the Minister said there are “pitfalls” in the existing model and called for public investment in sanitation.

Claiming he is going to make a “fundamental” change in the way government looks at sanitation, Mr Ramesh said his personal view is that Government must do away with individual toilet approach to Nirmal Gram approach to address the issue.