In its latest report, the Statistical Year Book, India 2014 conveys that India is clearly on track to attain the MDG-2 (achieve universal primary education) and MDG-8 (develop a global partnership for development). However, the results are either mixed or poor in terms of India's performance in achieving the rest of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The chart below provides the MDG scenario from a bird's eye view.   The new...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Two government agencies - the census office and the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) - have come up with two completely different estimates of India's slum population, leaving both policy makers and the aam aadmi puzzled. The difference is so big that it can't be papered over by any technical jugglery. It has again raised suspicions of India's statistical system floundering, especially when it comes...

A new report from Right to Sanitation Campaign in India entitled: In Deep Shit paints a gloomy picture about the position of India's sanitation, and simultaneously draws our attention to the case of ‘missing' and ‘dead' toilets. The report has questioned the claims made by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) that India is making great strides in availing toilets to its rural population through the Nirmal Bharat...

-Down to Earth CAG audit may be sought if states fail to disclose correct information, says secretary for drinking water and sanitation The secretary of Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) has set up a high-level committee to look into the huge discrepancy between its data on toilets built under its sanitation programme and what exists on ground. The discrepancy came to light following the 2011 Census findings that...

-Governance Now Data on ‘missing' or ‘dead' toilets - that is, toilets that exist on paper but not in reality - is a wake-up call for policymakers, says study 3,75,76,324 is the number of missing toilets in rural and urban India, according to a report collated by the Right to Sanitation Campaign based on government figures in the report titled ‘In Deep Shit'. What is a ‘missing toilet'? As the phrase suggests, it is...