In a macabre act of caste violence, a Dalit youth in Saniyana village was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon and had his arm nearly chopped off for drinking water from an earthen pot belonging to an upper caste family. While doctors have stitched up his arm, the police arrested one Rajender of Daulatpur village and booked him under SC/ST Act. Police sources said that Pappu first inquired about the caste of the...

The new draft National Water Policy (NWP) circulated by the Ministry of Water Resources to water experts suggests that the government is poised to withdraw from its responsibilities of water service delivery, and that multinational corporations and financial institutions might have too big a say in water allocation and policy. At first glance, it appears as if the policy takes a holistic approach to water resources management, with a clear recognition...

The Centre plans to remove the distinction between below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) and bring all the needy under the Total Sanitation Scheme (TSC). It would be renamed as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan to send home the message that its implementation would be a people's movement rather than a bureaucratic programme. The new scheme will be part of the structural changes to be introduced from April. Union Minister...

-The Business Standard Moving forward on sanitation will require big ideas National shame” is how most people, including some senior government functionaries, often refer to the pervasive practice of open defecation. Yet, the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), launched in 1991 with the noble objective of providing access to hygienic toilets for all by 2012, receives only scant attention from the government. The latest assessment indicates that as many as 22 states will...

“It never reached anywhere except in the pockets of the officers, contractors” “Bundelkhand package? It never reached anywhere except in the pockets of the officers and contractors.” This is the standard reply one gets on queries over the ambitious Rs. 7,266 crore special package announced by the Planning Commission for this backward drought-prone region of Uttar Pradesh. Announced in 2009, the package was meant for the overall development of the region spread...