-PTI Kolkata: West Bengal's Nadia district is poised to complete building toilets for all its residents by next March, under a programme which has been shortlisted for the United Nations global award for public service. Nadia district magistrate P B Salim told PTI that 95 percent of the people had already stopped defecating in the open and by this March they would achieve a 100 percent open defecation-free status. His scheme "Sobar...
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Is Swachhata only about litter? -Ruhi Saith
-The Hindu The programme needs to retain the momentum of a movement than that of a litter-cleaning project "Slum districts... consisted of poorly built houses, a deficiency of ventilation and toilets, unpaved narrow streets, mud, and stomach-turning stenches due to the presence of decaying refuse and sewerage. In such conditions, ill health was observably endemic." This is not a description of Indian cities today (though it may well be), but of Britain around...
More »‘Napkin man’ on a mission to empower women -R Ramabhadran Pillai
-The Hindu Kochi (Kerala): Majority of women in India do not use Sanitary napkin because of the high cost of the product, says Arunachalam Muruganantham, an entrepreneur who was named one of the 100 most influential persons by Time magazine last year. The school dropout who started his life as a welder at Pudur in rural Coimbatore, has revolutionised the Sanitary napkin making industry by developing an innovative machine that costs less...
More »CAG takes ‘Aswachh’ Gujarat to task
-The Times of India GANDHINAGAR (Gujarat): Though Gujarat claims to be the vanguard of Indian states working for the swachchta revolution championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has discovered an untidy record. In its report, 'Local Bodies of Gujarat' - released on Tuesday and covering the period till year ending March 2013 - the CAG points out failures of the state in the execution of the...
More »GM Crops and Global Agri Trade -Sukhpal Singh
-Economic and Political Weekly The cultivation of geneticallymodified crops, especially food crops, is not just a domestic issue; it has an impact on global food trade as well. Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iimahd.ernet.in) is at the Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM, Ahmedabad. There is no doubt that the application of biotechnology can lead to yield improvement, cost cutting and lower crop losses, besides providing more processable raw materials and designer products. That is why...
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