-TheWire.in The survey found that 83% of 636,699 households sampled had access to toilets, with greater accessibility in urban areas than in rural areas. New Delhi: Nearly one in five households in India practise open defecation, according to a health ministry report released on May 5, nearly two years after the Union government declared the country ‘open defecation free’. The report is part of the fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey...

-Down to Earth A lot needs to be done to ensure faecal sludge is treated before reaching water source Are we losing focus of the Prime Minister’s dream project Swachh Bharat Mission (grameen)? Whatever the answer is, the fact is we cannot afford to do so.  In October 2019, rural India was declared open-defecation free. By this, the department of drinking water and sanitation under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti meant that...

-Newsclick.in The migrant labourers face absolute hardship and exploitation while working outside their native states and face economic turmoil after returning home, forcing them to leave again. Kolkata/ Baharampore: Samrat Karyi (18) of Madhupur gram panchayat of Coochbihar had gone to Rajasthan to work as a migrant labourer in the construction sector. He boarded the Bikaner Guwahati express to return home with his brother. When he was nearing the Coochbihar Junction, he...

-Down to Earth Pond-based greywater treatment systems in Kurak Jagir village in Karnal district, Haryana, absorb greywater  More than 70 per cent of freshwater across rural households in India gets converted to greywater. With the Union water ministry’s Jal Jeevan Mission providing tap water connection to every rural household at the rate of 55 litres per capita per day, the problem is set to intensify. Greywater refers to wastewater from non-toilet systems, that...

-The Hindu Posthumous honour for Abdul Jabbar who fought relentlessly for the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak Abdul Jabbar, a gas victim, waged a lonely and seemingly never-ending battle for the welfare of the survivors of 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy. His relentless struggle for over three decades brought medical and economic rehabilitation to the scores of victims. He will be awarded the Padma Shri posthumously on Monday at the Darbar...