-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of HRD As per the District Information System for Education (DISE), the average annual drop-out rate among girl students at upper primary level has decreased to 4.01% in 2013-14 from 6.08% in 2011-12. The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme provides for a multi-pronged approach to check drop out amongst girls through inter-alia, enhancing access to primary & upper primary schools by opening schools within one kilometer and three...

Two political leaders from rival camps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, have brought the spotlight on rural sanitation and have rooted for defecation-free India by investing in toilet construction on war footing. But a recent study by a group of eminent development economists led by Prof. Dean Spears-a visiting economist at the Delhi School of Economics - has concluded that when it comes to...

-Down to Earth Union ministry issues orders to all states to meet target of constructing 5.2 million Toilets by end of August The Ministry of Drinking water and Sanitation on Friday finalised its 100-day plan, under which it has decided to construct one toilet every second by the end of August this year. Sarswati Prasad, joint secretary for sanitation, issued an order to each state, giving them their respective targets for the next...

-Live Mint Sanitation in India has come a long way from being no one's priority to a politically salient issue Our politicians are finally talking Toilets. From former minister Jairam Ramesh's infamous statement that India needed more Toilets than temples to becoming a campaign issue in the recent elections, sanitation in India has come a long way from being no one's priority to a politically salient issue. On becoming Prime Minister, Narendra...

-The Times of India   One month after the horrific Badaun gang rape exposed how gravely at risk women and minors lacking domestic Toilets are, India's sanitation scenario remains dire. Social worker and Padma Bhushan awardee ​Bindeshwar Pathak is founder of Sulabh Sanitation Movement, an organisation that helps build low-cost Toilets across the country. Speaking with Fozia Yasin, Pathak discussed the socio-economic costs of lacking proper sanitation, practical ways to correct this...