Back to toilet school
On August 15, the government announced it had achieved the target of building toilets in all schools in India. But are these toilets functional?
Housing and toilets: exclusions
Who gets access to toilets, and how, is linked to their position in the hierarchy of citizenship
Despite having toilets at home, many in rural India choose to defecate in open
Programmes launched to promote use of latrines have failed to influence sanitation behaviours of many people
Lack of toilets, how much it costs India
Inadequate sanitation has economic impacts across sectors like health and tourism; cost the country 53.8 billion USD in 2006
Doubts dog toilet-building campaign
Over half a billion, which is nearly half of the country’s population, defecate in the open
Flushing down its traditions
A good society knows how to clean its rubbish. But instead of setting an example for the world through its traditional handling of human excreta,…
As told to Parliament (February 6, 2023): India produces around 30 million tonnes of recycled steel
List of companies that produce recycled steel in India is not maintained centrally, says Faggan Singh Kulaste, Union minister of state for …
New mobile app under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to collect data on use of toilets
Details asked by the app not sufficient to give information on proper use of toilets, says expert
Bihar elections 2020: Who is talking about safai karmacharis?
The Bihar govt refuses to identify manual scavengers; the latter continue to face abuse and death threats
India does need toilets more than temples
Modi’s toilet remark has sparked a political row, but no one is paying attention to India’s sanitation challenge
Blind spot in Namami Gange
By 2019, when Swachh Bharat Mission comes to an end, some 30 million septic tanks and pits would have been dug along the Ganga. It's time the …
Usage of toilets in India is over 95 per cent, reveals new NSSO survey
This finding is, however, from a two-month rapid survey, considered too short by experts
Churu says yes to hygiene
The district is all set to become the first in Rajasthan to completely stop open defecation. Will others follow?
Fixing old houses on Himalaya
German architect Andre Alexander has been restoring old buildings in the Tibetan capital Lhasa for 15 years now. Over the past few years he has …
Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II guidelines released
Safe toilets, with well managed black and grey water, are the need of the hour, particularly in rural areas
Is India really open-defecation-free? Here’s what numbers say
15% of the total population in India defecates in the open in India, according to WASH report 2021
Why alluvial flood plains of north Bihar need alternative sanitation system
Flood is a recurring threat to the sustainability of open defecation free status in Bihar. Unique toilets, built on elevation, can show the way ahead
Sanitation workers on COVID-19 front lines: How to save the warriors?
Several incidents in the last few months have shone spotlight on abysmal conditions under which sanitation workers function — without …
MGNREGS won't subsidise rural toilets, says Gadkari
New study shows the small improvement achieved in sanitation between 2001 and 2011 not enough to improve health outcomes
Kitchen strike for toilets
Women of a Maharashtra hamlet give husbands an ultimatum-build toilets or go without food
No sops for rural Indian
No extra funds for MGNREGA, sanitation; allocations reduced for rural roads and housing programme
New Age Approach
We need to go back to the drawing board to reinvent a green toilet. If necessary, to go back to our past and find technological innovations that …
Drowning In Human Excreta
Sanitation for urban India means building flush toilets and linking them to sewer systems. But the price of chasing this dream is leading to an …
"Subsidy culture has killed local agriculture"
Thupstan Chhewang, Chief Executive Councillor and chairperson of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) speaks to Down To Earth.
Ladakh on the move
Ladakh is the one region in India where sustainable development is the only way ahead. Dry toilets, water efficient crops, cooperative farming, a …