-Business Standard Around 71.3 per cent of rural households and 96.2 per cent of urban households had access to toilets during 2018, according to the survey More than one-fourth of households in villages have no access to toilets, according to the latest official survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Around 71.3 per cent of rural households and 96.2 per cent of urban households had access to toilets during 2018, according to...

-The Indian Express In Guwahati, students under the banner of the All Assam Students’ Union marched from its office to the Governor’s residence and submitted a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting why they oppose the Bill. Guwahati: The Northeast saw several protests on Monday against the citizenship amendment Bill, scheduled to be tabled in Parliament this session, with students’ bodies staging sit-in demonstrations and marches against the proposed...

-The Indian Express Delhi, Punjab and Haryana asked to send enforcement teams: Top official With Air pollution levels increasing to ‘severe levels’ in the National Capital region and Air Quality Index measuring an alarming 494 Sunday, with at least 37 flights diverted between 9 am and 1 pm because of poor visibility, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Sunday called a review meeting on air pollution in Delhi and its surrounding areas. A...

-Down to Earth According to high-level government sources, the survey results contradict the government’s open-defecation free status claim A copy of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)’s latest survey on the state of toilet coverage and use at the household level in India was doing the rounds among officials. The ‘draft’ report, accessed by Down To Earth, pegged toilet coverage in India at only 75 per cent. Close to 80 per cent of...

-The Hindu Patience and perseverance are required to get information under the RTI When journalists seek information under the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, there are many surprises in store: the information is often denied or responses to queries are partial because the “information is not available”, or “doesn’t pertain” to the department contacted, or is stated to be under the category of exemptions (any information which could affect the sovereignty...