Sanitation

No data, no compensation: Injured sewer workers slip through legal cracks

On a cold February morning in 2020, Sanjay, a sanitation worker, in his forties, from Delhi's Seemapuri, was called in a hurry by a local contractor. A political rally was scheduled nearby, and the sewer was overflowing. He was promised Rs 300. It was urgent and the money was good, so we went, Sanjay said. Three men climbed down that day, but only one made it out alive. Inside the narrow pit, thick with the stench of toxic gases, Sanjay's co-workers fell unconscious within minutes. Then they pushed me to go inside and check, Sanjay said. He remembers nothing after that but only waking up, 13 days later, in a hospital bed with tubes running through his nose and throat. Sanjay's medical records from the Lok Nayak Hospital mention acute sewer gas poisoning and pneumonitis lung inflammation caused by inhaling toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide and methane. He suffered seizures, needed mechanical ventilation, and narrowly survived. And the scars of that day remain etched in his bod

95.1% rural households have access to toilets: Govt tells Lok Sabha

According to a government survey, about 95.1 per cent of rural households have access to toilets, 92.7 per cent have arrangements to dispose of organic waste and 78.7 per cent have systems in place for greywater disposal, Minister of State for Jal Shakti V Somanna said on Thursday. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the minister quoted findings from the Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2023-24 conducted by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which covered 17,304 villages across 729 districts in the country. The survey included feedback from 2,60,059 households and 85,901 public places such as schools, anganwadis, health centres and markets. In terms of waste segregation, only 39.9 per cent households reported segregating waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories, it said. At the village level, 45 per cent have exclusive or shared vehicles to collect and transport solid waste, and 29.4 per cent have designated sheds for storage and segregation. For plastic waste

Delhi cabinet clears sanitation, dust plan to cut road pollution: CM

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday said the cabinet has approved a comprehensive sanitation and dust control plan for the Public Works Department (PWD). Under this plan, the cabinet has approved the procurement of advanced cleaning machines to reduce pollution on Delhi roads. In a statement, she said under this initiative, a range of equipment will be deployed on PWD-maintained roads to combat dust pollution. They include 250 water sprinkler machines integrated with anti-smog guns and 70 Mechanical Road Sweeping (MRS) machines integrated with 210 water sprinkler machines and anti-smog guns, 18 dump vehicles and 18 water tankers. All these machines are expected to be fully operational on Delhi roads before the onset of winter. The Environment Department will provide the necessary budget to the PWD under the 'Pollution Control and Emergency Measures' scheme for the deployment of the machines, she said. These machines will be used exclusively for dust cleaning on roads and c

Budget 2025: Outcomes keep outlay for drinking water and sanitation intact

Given the transformative effect the two schemes have had on infant mortality and other health indicators, government has decided to keep the momentum going with similar levels of Budgetary allocations

Swachh Bharat Mission revolutionised sanitation landscape: Economic Survey

The Swachh Bharat Mission signifies a fundamental transformation in India's pursuit of universal sanitation access and has revolutionised the hygiene practices of a substantial portion of the population, the Economic Survey said on Friday. The latest Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Friday underscored significant strides in water management and rural sanitation, with a focus on community participation, technological interventions, and sustainable practices. The Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen Phase II, operational from 2020-21 to 2024-25, transitioned villages from Open Defecation Free (ODF) to ODF Plus status, it said. As of November, 3.64 lakh villages have achieved ODF Plus status, ensuring solid and liquid waste management and maintaining cleanliness standards. "The Swachh Bharat Mission, launched in 2014, signifies a fundamental transformation in India's pursuit of universal sanitation access and has revolutionised the hygiene practices of a substantial portion of the Ind

Improved sanitation reduces child malnutrition: NITI Aayog working paper

Need to develop state-level grids for sewage and solid waste, says Aayog

Sustainability summit: Six water sanitation startups win Rs 25 lakh each

For 29-year-old Shilpa K Nayana, nothing, not even her four-month-old baby son, Rio aka Rayan Nayana Arjun, could come in the way, as she pitches her already award-winning project Jalam, at Karnataka Water and Sanitation Sustainability Summit held in Bengaluru. She was among the 20 startup social entrepreneurs shortlisted from 119 applications to pitch their project at the summit on October 29. As the summit wound up late in the evening, six of the 20 were announced as winners of a grant of Rs 25 lakh and a chance to pilot their innovations in collaboration with the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR). Nayana's project Jalam, a low-cost water filtration technology that can be used at household level as well as community level, was among the six chosen projects. "The working cost for decontamination of water with my filter that uses nanotechnology is as low as Rs 2 per litre," said the social entrepreneur who envisioned Jalam as her final year project when she w

Kejriwal hails early Diwali pay for Delhi sanitation staff, first in 18 yrs

The AAP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that earlier salaries would be withheld for seven to eight months

Diarrheal diseases kill 1.2 million annually; 28% casualties are children

An Oxford-backed report says diarrheal diseases caused 1.2 million deaths in 2021, comparable to all violent deaths around the world. With 340,000 fatalities, it's also a leading cause of child deaths

Better access to water, sanitation but only 63% use clean fuel: Mospi

Goa (99.2%) has the highest share of households with access to clean cooking fuel

Swachh Bharat campaign to focus on complete sanitation, waste management

With the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan marking its 10th anniversary, the government is now planning to expand its efforts, focusing not only on eliminating open defecation but also on more comprehensive sanitation and waste management strategies, a senior official has said. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a country-wide campaign initiated by the government in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create open defecation free villages. Asked about the road ahead, Vini Mahajan, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, said they are now planning to expand its efforts. "Sanitation began as a journey to free the country from open defecation, recognising that this practice was a significant curse we needed to eliminate. While progress has been made, there is still an ongoing need to identify families who lack toilets and ensure they receive them. It's equally important to keep existing toilets functional," the official ...

UK man, held as 'slave' for 26 years, awarded Rs 3.75 cr in compensation

The man, only known as Victim A, was beaten, given scraps of leftover food and forced to live in filthy conditions in a caravan

SC raps Assam govt over 'sorry state' of detention centre for foreigners

A Supreme Court bench asked the Assam Legal Services Authority to visit the detention centre to establish sub-par facilities and assess the quantity and quality of food and kitchen hygiene

Finolex Industries Oct-Dec quarter net profit grows 24% to Rs 89.21 cr

Agri-focused pipes maker Finolex Industries on Friday reported nearly 24 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 89.21 crore for the third quarter ended December 2023, despite a decline in income from operations. The Pune-based company said its sales revenue declined by 9.3 per cent to Rs 1,019.69 crore during the reporting quarter and also saw its finance cost rise to Rs 7.7 crore from Rs 5.13 crore year-on-year. The company's profit margin rose to 8.7 per cent from 6.4 per cent in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. Overall sales declined as PVC resin sales plunged 43 per cent to 2,759 MT from 4,863 MT, while pipes and fittings declined 10 per cent to 81,312 MT from 90,396 MT. Finolex executive chairman Prakash Chhabria said the marginal decline in volume was due to a high base, as FY23 saw a huge pent-up demand for agri-pipes and fittings, leading to highest-ever sales in the country. But this is taken care of by the soaring demand for plumbing and sanitation

Bombay HC calls hospital conditions in Maharashtra 'unacceptable'

Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital in Nanded reported 31 deaths, including 16 children, within 72 hours

Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International passes away at 80

Bindeshwar Pathak established the Sulabh International Social Service in 1970, to resolve the country's sanitation problems

ADB, India Sign $200 million loan to expand urban services in Rajasthan

The Asian Development Bank will provide additional financing to support the Rajasthan Secondary Towns Development Sector Project to improve water supply, sanitation systems, and urban resilience

Kerala sanitation workers pool money to buy lottery ticket, win Rs 10 cr

The women pooled in the money to purchase a lottery ticket a few weeks ago and won the jackpot

Kerala gets ODF Plus status for proper sanitation, waste disposal

Kerala has been bestowed with the 'Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus' status by the Centre for making all the villages in the state meet the parameters prescribed under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the state government said on Sunday. The southern state gained the coveted status as all the villages have been equipped with modern facilities for sanitation and waste disposal as per the parameters set by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, a release issued by the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP) said. Kerala is targeting to achieve 100 per cent ODF Model status by December 2023 and is expected to become the first state in the country to achieve that goal, it said. According to the KSWMP release, the criteria for declaring a village as ODF Plus includes its sustained ODF status along with implementing either solid or liquid waste management systems. "The focussed efforts by all villages and grama panchayats in meeting the yardsticks in this regard helped Kerala attain the status

Internationally-acclaimed Sulabh sanitation project to be taken to S Africa

The internationally-acclaimed Sulabh sanitation project established by Dr Bindeshwar Pathak across India is to be extended to South Africa to bring these facilities to rural communities. Dr Pathak was a guest speaker at the Gandhi-King-Mandela International Conference 2023 in Pietermaritzburg last week because the model he developed that brought not just sanitation but also dignity to women in India was based on Gandhian principles. "Gandhi spoke about sanitation. In 1919 he said in India that he wanted a clean India and education first; independence later. So, I have invented a technology which has helped to have toilets inside the house. Because of the support of the government of India, every house has a toilet now," he said. Pathak said that they have also put up public toilets at places like railway stations, bus stops and police stations to solve the sanitation problem of India. Those can be applicable and implemented in South Africa because it is a technology that can be ...