Roshni Valmiki, 12, and her 10-year-old nephew, Avinash, were attacked at about 06:30 in the morning on Wednesday, in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. Police have arrested two men identified as Hakam Singh and Rameshwar Singh in connection with the heinous murder. The killers had the blessings of the police was evident from the stance of the law maintainer resenting the crime and demanding strict action against the perpetrators, the s.

Just after the gruesome crime the police came out the version that they having some mental. Later with the people resenting the crime and demanding action the two killers the police accepted the fact that they were mentally stable and had committed the crime. This was in fact revealed by Rajesh Chandel, the superintendent of police of Shivpuri.

This attitude of the police is really deplorable. And unfortunately it is on the rise. In the case of lynching the police is always found to be holding the brief of the saffron vigilantes. Police even resorts to the mechanism of twisting the legal procedure and laws. Their loyalty is not to the people. Instead they owe their allegiance to their political masters and to the upper caste people.

Killing two kids for open defecation has really been disgraceful and shocking. It’s not that the family has facility of toilet. Manoj Valmiki, father of Avinash said that the children had to defecate in the open because the family didn't have a toilet at home. The murders followed an altercation between the two families, where "casteist slurs" were used by the accused. He said the attackers tried to flee from the spot, but were caught by the villagers who handed them to the police. Interestingly, while the village Bhaukhedi where the two families live, had been declared ODF in 2018, Valmiki's house did not have a toilet.

While Modi had promised to make India ODF by October 2, 2019, the BJP chief minister of MP Shivraj Singh with the only motive to trounce him had announced, “urban areas of the state were declared open defecation free last year on October 2, 2017. Now, taking the cue from its counterparts, rural areas aim to achieve ODF tag by October 2, 2018.”

The murder of the two kids taking place after one year of the deadline underscores that Shivraj had resorted to lies and misleading the people with populist promises. According to the statistics till date, in rural areas, more than 56 lakh toilets have been constructed, and the sanitation coverage has moved up from mere 27 per cent in 2014 to 87 per cent now. Obviously it implies that 13 per cent of the target is yet to be achieved.

Currently, the state is focusing on constructing additional 11 lakh toilets to attain the ODF tag and improve sanitation coverage of areas that still are lagging behind in their swachh targets. Madhya Pradesh not the state to lag behind. The situation is quite worrying.

Significantly last week the Prime Minister Modi was felicitated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at a ceremony in New York for his role in building millions of toilets across the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people. While a large number of social and international human rights activists and intellectuals have criticised the award to Modi, the foundation defended it by saying that Modi's efforts have helped millions to have access to safe sanitation. IN protest against this step of Foundation a senior executive of it has also quit.

A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019 but unfortunately the mission has become money minting operation. It is sure the manner in which the work on the mission is moving ahead Modi could not claim to have fulfilled Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean and hygienic India.

No doubt Swachh Bharat is a well-intentioned programme but it is an open secret that Modi has not succeeded in providing a distinct dimension and dynamics. Contrary to official claim, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is yet to acquire the character of ‘Jan Andolan’. Leaders and citizens turning out on streets is purely an act of tokenism.

Government statistics show significant resource allocation and progress under the programme. Budget documents show an expenditure of more than Rs 56,000 crore under the programme by the central government. 87 per cent of the spending has been done in rural areas. The actual spending would exceed this amount as the central funding is supposed to be 75 per cent of the total expenditure, with state governments contributing an additional 25 per cent of the funds. This ratio has been kept at 85 per cent-15 per cent in north-eastern and other special category states. State governments can also add/ generate funds for municipalities as additional incentives over and above its minimum 25 per cent share to make projects viable.

As of Feb. 01, 2019, the Modi government claimed to have constructed 9.2 crore toilets to serve 132 crore people. It declared 5.5 lakh villages and 28 of India’s 36 states and union territories had become open defecation-free. But access to toilets does not mean open defecation has ended, as the government claims. The RICE survey found 23 per cent of people who own a toilet continue to defecate in the open, including people in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which have been declared open defecation-free states. (IPA Service)