Toilets and Urinals

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September 26, 2022 This study found that the sanitary quality of neighbourhood drains, in addition to toilets, affected sanitation and hygiene and incidences of ill-health in rural households.
Dirty drainages, harbingers of illhealth. Image for representation only (Image Source: SuSanA Secretariat via Wikimedia Commons)
December 2, 2021 Public toilets and choice of work for women
Separation between women and men’s toilets (Image: Rajesh Pamnani; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
July 6, 2021 If trends persist, billions will be left without critical, life-saving WASH services, says a SDG monitoring report

Between 2016 and 2020, the global population with safely managed drinking water at home increased from 70% to 74% (Image: Pxhere)
May 11, 2021 Bathing spaces and not toilets alone, aid women in maintaining health and hygiene. It is time the Swachh Bharat Mission pays attention to bathing spaces as well!
A temperory bathing space with no water and privacy in a fishing village in Tamil Nadu (Image Source: India Water Portal)
December 20, 2020 The cost and revenue projections for both on-demand and scheduled desludging scenarios were elaborated upon in the faecal sludge management plan for Dhen­kanal Municipality.
Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant at Dhenkanal, Odisha
December 18, 2020 Project Nirmal helped Odisha to become a front runner among states with a comprehensive policy framework on faecal sludge management.
Odisha is trying to fa­cilitate adoption of FSM by Urban Local Bodies so that sewage, septage/ faecal sludge, and liquid waste is safely managed, treated, and dis­posed. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Handbook on technical options for on-site sanitation by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
This handbook provides information on sustainable technological sanitation solutions for different regions Posted on 09 Jun, 2012 06:00 AM

This handbook by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation provides sustainable technological options for on-site sanitation for different hydro-geological conditions. The hand book is divided into six chapters and a bibliography. 

Septic tanks or death tanks! We need to improve sanitation facilities to eradicate the inhuman practice of manual scavenging
Today India is looking at permanent membership in the UN, and is already a prominent member of several international organisations like SAARC and BRICS.Many big MNC’s have already made their homes in India and many are in the process to do so. India is also achieving great heights in industries and in the defence sector.
By looking at these developments we can say that indeed India is progressing at a very fast pace! But to an extent it is a artificial or illusion.
Still India is thousand years behind if we compare it with the developments of western countries , A country which is in 21st century is still bound by the shackles of caste & religious atrocities, honour killings , manual scavenging for thousands of years, then how can we say that this country is developing in a true sense?
Posted on 05 May, 2012 03:18 PM

Author : Gagandeep

“We have to end the biggest dehumanising activity called manual scavenging”

Occupational health hazards in sewage and sanitary workers - A paper published in the Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
This paper published in the Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine sheds light on the occupational health hazards among sewage and sanitary workers. The paper informs that manual scavenging still persists in our country and the situation of the manual scavengers has continued to remain unchanged, despite the fact that the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, is in enforcement. This Act provides for the prohibition of the employment of manual scavengers as well as construction or continuance of dry latrines and for the regulation of construction and maintenance of water-seal latrines for assuring the dignity of the individual. Posted on 04 May, 2012 03:59 PM

Working conditions of the sanitory workers have found to remain unchanged over the years and pose a considerable risk to the dignity and health of the workers.

National level workshop on appropriate toilet technology, May 9-11 2012, Tiruchirappalli
Posted on 24 Apr, 2012 10:39 PM

Organisers: Gramalaya, Arghyam, UNICEF

Venue:    Pinnacle Hall,
               Hotel Breeze Residency,
               Tiruchirappalli

GramalayaArghyamUNICEF

The sanitation crisis in India - An urgent need to look beyond toilet provision
Recent evidence indicates that India is heading towards a major sanitation crisis in the coming years. Efforts made at meeting the sanitation challenges have been found to have very limited results, with as high as 65% of the population not having toilet facilities coupled with very low use of existing toilets in urban and rural areas.
It is perhaps the right time to critically evaluate and move beyond the excessive focus we have on 'provision' and pay attention to the underlying complexities of the mechanisms involved, that influence sanitation behaviour among people. If we dont do so, we stand the risk of "missing all the trees for the forest", i.e. missing the social and economic dimensions of the sanitation needs of the people, in the hurry to count the number of toilets provided ! Aarti Kelkar-Khambete writes about the issue.
Posted on 18 Apr, 2012 12:14 PM

Guest post byAarti Kelkar-Khambete

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

The sanitation crisis and the recent evidence on lack of toilet facilities 

Government of Rajasthan prepares a working draft of a rural sanitation and hygiene strategy (2012 2022)
The Government of Rajasthan (GoR) has recently come up with a strategy for rural sanitation based on its experience of implementing Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in the state. In Rajasthan, TSC was initially launched in four districts in 1999 and scaled up in all the thirty two districts in 2004-05.
Posted on 04 Apr, 2012 09:46 PM

Although significant progress has been made in terms of individual household toilet coverage in the state, usage by the population is still low at 12.9 per cent (DLHS 2007-08). Access to toilets for schools and angawandies has seen a marked increased but rural solid and liquid waste management has seen little or no attention.

Lessons for rural water supply - Assessing progress towards sustainable service delivery - India - IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, The Hague
This report by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre describes the findings of a study that was conducted in India as a part of a 13 country study that aimed at reviewing and better understanding the trends within rural water supply and identifying factors that appeared to contribute to or constrain the delivery of sustainable services at scale. The study also aimed at identifying organisational incentives and barriers that shaped the way in which sector institutions approached rural water services. Posted on 10 Mar, 2012 04:24 PM

The study looked beyond a simple description of the situation towards broader processes of decentralisation and political leadership, in an attempt to unpack what has gone right or, as in many cases, what has gone wrong, within the rural water sub-sector.

How valuable are environmental health interventions? - Evaluation of water and sanitation programmes in India - Paper published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation
This paper published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation presents the findings of a valuation study that estimated the economic value of the average “treatment effect” of a community demand driven water and sanitation programme. The study employed a unique combination of propensity-score “pre-matching” and large panel data to estimate the economic impacts of a multi-dimensional environmental health programme. Posted on 21 Feb, 2012 06:11 PM

The paper informs that a number of epidemiological studies on the benefits of water and sanitation interventions have shown that diarrhoea can be reduced by 30–50%.

Community managed sanitation in Kerala - Tools to promote governance and improve health - A Report by the World Bank Institute
This report by the World Bank Institute describes the Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project. Posted on 16 Jan, 2012 01:14 PM

It also deals with the efforts made by the Government of India to revolutionise sanitation services in the state of Kerala, with the aim of improving public health. Earlier experience had shown that significant governance problems had hindered water and sanitation reforms in local and national programmes in the state.

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