Health

Government of India’s development programmes are aimed to bring in much required inclusive development and pave a way towards an equitable and socially just society. With this motive the Centre had introduced several programmes in social sectors and allocated a fixed amount for achieving the set goals.

An analysis on the performance of the programmes shows how far the targets have been achieved, the shortcomings and the steps that are to be taken to strengthen the programmes. 

As a result of rapid urbanisation, majority of migrated population is forced to settle in places which are not legally recognised by state authorities. These areas thus lack in basic services like water supply and sewerage. Consequently, the slum dwellers often resort to illegal methods to avail these services.

The report released at UNDP, New Delhi on February 14, 2013 attempts to consolidate the significant amounts of information available on water and sanitation in India and also aims to examine the key current challenges in the sector; both the threats and opportunities for the water sector in India.

Dr Aidan Cronin, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist, UNICEF gives a sneak preview to the report

Video courtesy: UNICEF

Subsidy proponents believe that the poor need economic incentives while shaming proponents contend that to bring out lasting behavioural change, intrinsic motivation is required; people are more likely to use and value things they have had to pay for.

The role of sanitation in girl child education - A documentary film by HEEALS

HEEALS is a vibrant civil society organization that aims to safeguard health, environment, education and livelihood to promote sustainable development of society. Through the medium of documentary film and art it is trying to create awareness among the masses about girl child education, menstrual hygiene, sanitation and safe drinking water and attempting to relate how girl child education directly suffers due to bad sanitation facilities, unsafe drinking water and lack of knowledge to obtain the same.

This document by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation provides guidelines for the low cost sanitation scheme. The main objective of the scheme is to convert the existing dry latrines into low cost flush latrines and to construct new ones.

The number people practicing open defecation in India is more than 600 million. Though the access to improved sanitation has increased since 2000 the pace of change has been slow. If the current trend continues then it will be difficult for the country to meet its Millenium Development Goal for sanitation. Thus accelerating access to and use of toilets and hygiene practices have become a national priority.

The Himalayas are inhabited by 40 million people, most of whom are dependent on agriculture and animal husbandry. The prevalent water scarcity also means a lack of water for sanitation. In this case, both open defecation and conventional sewerage pose a health risk. Conventional toilets not only consume a lot of water, but the effluent also pollutes groundwater.

This paper 'Wastewater irrigation in Hubli–Dharwad, India: I