Society, Culture, Religion and History

Guest post by: Amita Bhaduri

The drafting of a new legislation on these issues was taken up by a Group of Ministers in May 2007 and this is the second draft bill presented by the UPA Government.

Human faeces and urine (toilet manure) are a serious waste disposal problem especially in areas with high human population density. At the same time they are rich in nutrients that are essential to plants.

This presentation by Sekhar Raghavan, Director, Rain Centre, Chennai, India highlights the experiences and the challenges faced by Rain Centre in introducing ecological sanitation in the coastal town of Kovalam near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India along with Coastal and Rural development Trust (CRDT), a small non profit centre based in Kovalam .

The coastal town of Kovalam was selected as a case because of its peculiar situation with its location in a fast developing  peri-urban area in proximity to Chennai city characterised by good groundwater situation, adequate land and housing facilities, but with a glaring and urgent need and demand for toilets.

The Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India has developed draft guidelines expanding the scope of works under schedule 1 Para 1 (ix) of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to include access to sanitation facilities. This has been prompted by demands from several States/quarters for ensuring sanitation facilities in rural areas with the main goal of ensuring a clean environment, thereby bringing about an improvement in the general quality of life and strengthening the livelihood base.

The paper notes that there are large opportunities for gains from adaptation and new investments in water management for meeting the targets under the proposed National Food Security Act.

This standard operating procedure developed by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation includes all functions pertaining to disaster prevention, institutional mechanism, preparedness, early warning, relief, recovery and rehabilitation. It will apply to RWSS Department/ PHED/ PRED/ Sanitation Departments/ Board dealing with rural water supply and sanitation for natural disasters that the State is prone to. The standard operating procedure will not be applicable to nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.

This paper in Current Science attempts to establish a missing stream link between the Markanda river and the Vedic Saraswati river in the plains of northern Haryana based on geoelectrical resistivity surveys. Resistivity surveys in the Gangetic Plains around Pehowa region in Haryana, have revealed different subsurface geological formations composed of fine, medium and coarse sand with gravel. Resistivity section between the lower part of the Markanda basin and the Saraswati river around Pehowa region indicates the presence of buried sand bodies connecting the two rivers.

Content courtesy: India WASH Forum

This report is a part of Stimson’s Regional Voices: Transnational Challenges project and provides valuable cross-regional and multidisciplinary insights into the complex issues surrounding transboundary water resources and climate change. It examines the environmental dangers and policy dilemmas confronting the sustainable management of shared water resources in a warming world.

The aim of this program is to provide an overview of both the theoretical and practical aspects of conventional and advanced technologies to the practitioners/educators for a better understanding and growing ability of applying knowledge.

The module specifically targets professionals in companies, consulting agencies, ministries, education and research institutes having BTech degree from AICTE approved institute.