-Outlook A controversy has arisen over directions to school teachers in certain Bihar districts to dissuade people from defecating in the open and click pictures of those who refused to pay heed. Orders issued by block education officers asked teachers to do rounds in various wards and panchayat areas in the mornings and evenings and ask people to use toilets. They were also directed to click photographs to shame those who insisted on...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Almost one in every three toilets built in rural areas are unsafe on health and sanitation parameters, a sample survey on the technologies under the Swachh Bharat Mission has shown. It has also found that nearly 60% of these toilets are twin-leach pits, which the government has been promoting under Swachh Bharat Mission considering that these are safer. The survey by WaterAid, an international non-profit- published...

-The Indian Express The report recommended specific provisions in the ministry’s version of the transgender Bill, to safeguard their rights, protect them against discrimination, and provide quotas in government colleges and jobs. The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has decided to junk the recommendations of a parliamentary committee report which was the first ever government document to recognise the rights of transgender persons to partnerships and marriage, so that they...

-The Hindu Studies on the Swachh Bharat Mission don’t confirm the government’s claims On October 2, 2017, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) completed its third year. Over Rs. 60,000 crore has been spent on the programme, but despite its scope and importance, there is very little objective evidence about its performance So far the numbers that have been widely cited by the government are from its own administrative data and the Swachh Survekshan...

-The Telegraph Damoh (Madhya Pradesh): Students of a government-run primary school at a village in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, were allegedly made to clean a toilet using their mid-day meal plates, prompting the district authorities to order an inquiry. The school staff have denied the allegation. A group of parents went to the school in Doli village on Thursday after their children complained that on Wednesday they were asked to clean the toilet...