No use launching Agni missiles if there are no toilets: Jairam Ramesh

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Launching green toilets very close to country's missile test-firing facility, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said there is no use blasting Agni missiles if the sanitation problem is not solved.

Ramesh, who recently said he spends 18 hours speaking on toilets daily, stressed that one of the biggest challenges before the government is to ensure that all people get toilets.

"It is more important than the launch of Agni missiles. If there are no toilets then Agni is of no use," he said, suggesting that the eco-toilets can be named ‘Bapu’ as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, who had led cleanliness drive in the country.

"Biotoilets can do to rural sanitation what Agni has done to external defence of the country," Ramesh said after launching eco-toilets using Bio-Digester technology of DRDO, the defence agency for missile development.

Dhamra town in Odisha is about 15 km from Wheeler Island from where the Agni-V ICBM with a range of 5,000 km was successfully test-fired a couple of months ago.

Ramesh said an amount equal to what is spent on security should be allocated for public welfare activities. "The budget of rural development department is Rs 99,000 crore while we spent double the amount on defence with a budget of Rs 193,000 crore,” he said.

Maintaining that he did not want any decrease in the budget of the Defence Ministry, he said it should be ensured that an equal amount be spent for public welfare.

"There is no difference of opinion on this with me and the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). Even they want this," he said.

Aiming at discouraging open defecation and improving sanitation conditions, bio-toilets are based on DRDO's Bio-Digester technology. It has been developed by its Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior and Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Tezpur.

Bio-Digester technology was used to decompose biological waste generated by soldiers deployed in high altitude regions like Siachen and Ladakh, they said.