-The Business Standard Ending open defecation by 2019 will require changing minds, not just allocating money to build latrines for people that will either go unused or not be built at all During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, we learned that his Swachch Bharat Mission to eliminate open defecation in India by Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, would begin in less than two months on October 2. What was...

-The Hindu Orders 50 percent of works taken up must only be for water conservation Union Minister for Rural Development Nitin Gadkari has "ordered sweeping changes" in the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), mandating that 50 per cent of all the works that are taken up at the district-level under the scheme should only be for water conservation, according to an official statement released here. The Minister has taken...

-The Hindu The right to good healthcare must be addressed using modern technology, innovative approaches and by involving tribals in developing solutions for their problems In his address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about inclusive development, with food security, safe housing and Sanitation being the rights of every citizen. Health is intimately linked to these essentials of living. The health status of India's tribal communities is...

-AFP Katra Shahadatganj: Decorated with marigolds and ribbons, 108 toilets unveiled in a tragedy-hit village are a small step in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to end open-air defecation for impoverished Indian women. The spotlessly clean toilets were donated on Sunday to the village in northern Uttar Pradesh, where scared and vulnerable women had long been forced to trek nightly into the fields to relieve themselves. "I believe no woman must lose...

-The Hindustan Times Lucknow: Women in Katra Sahadatgunj village of Badaun district will no longer have to wait for darkness to attend the call of nature in the open. Low-cost Sanitation NGO Sulabh International on Sunday dedicated 108 toilets built in the village - which has a population of 4,000 people. After the alleged rape and gruesome murder of two sisters who had gone out at night to attend the call of nature,...