-The Hindu Talking openly about menstruation is the only way to transform the lives of girls and women. Barriers to women's achievement are falling in every sphere. Women lead countries, corporations, and households. Globally, more girls are entering school, earning family income, and participating in public life. But one big taboo stands in the way of women's full equality: safe, hygienic and private menstruation. For most women in wealthy countries, menstruation is...

-Outlook Sikkim has become the only state in the country to achieve more than 100 per cent sanitation in rural and urban households, schools, Sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres. All 6,10,577 inhabitants in Sikkim have latrines with high sanitation and hygiene standards. The Himalayan state has constructed 98,043 individual household latrines against the target of 87,014 till January, thus achieving 112.67 per cent target under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme implemented by Union Ministry...

-Frontline The latest NSSO estimates put the number of slums in India at a much lower level than Census 2011. The latest National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey estimates the number of slums in India at 33,510 with 8.8 million households in them. The study, "Key indicators of urban slums in India", was conducted between July and December 2012. Census 2011's "Housing stock, amenities and assets in slums" puts the number of...

-The Business Standard 8.8 million households live in 33,150 urban slums   It might be difficult to believe but there were less numbers of slums in urban India in 2012 than three years earlier. The number came down by 32.3 per cent to 33,150 in urban parts in 2012, compared with 49,000 in 2009, official data issued on Tuesday show. However, at least 12 per cent of the urban population...

-Press Information Bureau (MoSPI) The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the key indicators of urban slums in India, generated from the data collected in its 69th round survey during July 2012 to December 2012. The last survey on slums was conducted as part of the 65th round of NSS (July 2008- June 2009). Slums are part of urban environment and they are identified by...