Context

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U), has partnered with Google to launch the Loo Review campaign, to encourage all local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google Maps.
• The campaign will run throughout October and November 2018 in an effort to increase awareness and ease of locating public toilets across India.

About

• It is a part of feature which allows all citizens to locate public toilets in their cities on Google Maps, Google Search and the Google Assistant and also provide feedback on the same.
• While reviewing, #LooReview will be used to popularize the process. It will also give chance to users to be featured on Google Local Guides’ social channels.
• 500 plus cities in India with more than 30,000 toilets with name of “SBM Toilet” are currently live on Google Maps.

Significance

• One of the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban is to provide sanitation coverage through public toilet facilities across cities in India for achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.
• There is now a need to ensure that the ODF status is sustained through continuous usage and proper maintenance of public toilets given the fact that around 3400 cities across the country have already achieved ODF status and other cities are now gearing up towards same. Loo Review campaign will address the need for ensuring ODF status is sustained.
• The ‘Public toilets near me’ feature will benefit citizens, particularly women and senior citizens, who often find it difficult to find access to clean toilets in the public space.
• The feedback provide by local guides through the Loo Review campaign will press upon the Urban Local Bodies to take proactive steps to improve public toilet facilities across the country.

Learning Aid