Wednesday 28 March 2012

" A Big Challenge For India To Achieve MDG's Goal On Sanitation "


India will achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on Sanitation only by 2054 .
Some state such as Madhya Pradesh & Orissa will reach the target in 2105 & 2160 means Next Century ! 
"Unhygienic Condition of Toilets " 

According to JMPWSS report which track the progress on drinking water and sanitation status that 17 states had already achieved the MDG target .

In India 51% or 626 million people in the country defecate in the Open , accounting 60% of the worlds total open defecation 
we achieved some good results on safe drinking water but it is limited to some section of people .

In Rural areas ,91% had no access to sanitation in 1990as against 67% in 2010 . 
In rural areas rich had more access to sanitation as compared to economically poor & dalit section of society which had less access to safe drinking water and sanitation .

4 out of 10 people whi have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990 lives in china or India .
About 2.5 billion people without improved sanitation too live in these two countries .

A Recent world bank report indicate that economic impact of Inadequate Sanitation in India in 2006 was Rs1.7 trillion and in 2010 Rs 2.4 trillion .


Sunday 25 March 2012

A World Without Water


As less and less water is available, you have yet another problem being added and that is the problem of privatization. There are companies now saying why don’t we bottle it, mine it, divert it, sell it, commodify it. That greed of privatization, I believe, will be much worse than climate change and everything else that has left us with the water crisis. The world is running out of its most precious resource. True Vision’s timely film tells of the personal tragedies behind the mounting privatisation of water supplies.
More than a billion people across the globe don’t have access to safe water. Every day 3900 children die as a result of insufficient or unclean water supplies. The situation can only get worse as water gets evermore scarce.
Watch the full documentary now

Friday 23 March 2012

Solve Water And Sanitation Challenges.


We need  an active participation of  general public  , local leaders from across the globe. who are working in solidarity so everyone can access to  safe water and sanitation . 
The United Nations Development Programme UNDP.. has facilitated the formation of a global platform to unite local actors to solve water and sanitation challenges, including encouraging water authorities in developed countries to support the improvement of services in poorer regions through donations.
The Global Water Solidarity Platform was launched on Wednesday at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France, where 20,000 participants from the private, public and non-profit sectors gathered this week to address global water challenges.
UNDP led a group of 25 institutions, including local, regional and national authorities, international and multilateral organizations, water operators, non-governmental and private organizations, as well as prominent figures to assess, design and constitute the new international tool to promote decentralized cooperation in water and sanitation.
“This UNDP initiative is important because 11 per cent of the planet’s population still lacks access to potable water, and 2.5 billion people do not have adequate sanitation services.
Through the Platform, which is supported by the Governments of France and Switzerland, municipal water authorities in developed countries can, for example, take direct action to support the improvement of water and sanitation services in developing nations by contributing one per cent of their revenue or budgets.
www.heeals.org
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003404483756 


Tuesday 20 March 2012

Only 10 percent Indian villages fully sanitized: Jairam

Only 10 percent Indian villages fully sanitized: Jairam



Only 10 percent Indian villages fully sanitized: Jairam
New Delhi: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday said that while only 10 percent of Indian villages have full sanitation coverage, the government is dedicated to tackling the issue with both rail and union budgets paying special attention to sanitation.

Speaking at an award function organised by Sulabh International, an organisation working for better sanitation in the country, Ramesh said: "It is sad that out of 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country, only 25,000 are "Nirmal" gram panchayats."

"Nirmal" gram status is given by the government of India to those villages which have full sanitation coverage and have completely abolished open defecation.

Ramesh presented the Sulabh Sanitation Award of Rs.5 lakh to Anita Bai Narre, a tribal woman from Madhya Pradesh who had revolted against the lack of toilets in her in-laws` home and returned to her parents, demanding a clean toilet as the condition for her return.

The government has also made Narre a brand ambassador for its sanitation campaign.
Describing Narre`s action as "bold", Ramesh said that the government is aiming to abolish open defecation completely in 10 years, with "special focus on sanitation and clean toilets, in both rail and union budgets."

"The government`s target is to ensure that all the village panchayats become Nirmal Gram Panchayats in 10 years," he said.

Claiming that a behavioural change was needed, Ramesh urged that "(the) women have to play a leading role in this social revolution."

Sulabh International founder and social activist Bindeshwar Pathak hailed Narre`s action as "brave" and applauded Narre`s husband Shivram and journalist Sanjay Shukla who first broke Narre`s story.

"So far, the government`s sanitation programmes have almost no media coverage except a small ticker on Doordarshan. If Narre`s story gets good coverage, the sanitation programmes can get a huge boost," Pathak told IANS.






Sunday 18 March 2012

No Substitute for Breastfeeding

There should be complete ban on all those company's who are producing and promoting Infant milk substitute .We have to protect breastfeeding which is crucial for healthy development of infant's in the country.

The United Nations Children’s Fund kicked off World Breastfeeding Week today by calling for strong leadership to promote a practice that is the most effective and inexpensive way to save a child’s life.less than half of all children under the age of six months benefit from exclusive breastfeeding, despite the many advantages it provides for both children and mothers.World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated annually from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by UNICEF and the World Health Organization in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Both UNICEF and WHO recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life and continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond. Children who are exclusively breastfed are 14 times more likely to survive the first six months of life than non-breastfed children, UNICEF stated, adding that starting breastfeeding in the first day after birth can reduce the risk of newborn death by up to 45 per cent.
Breastfeeding also supports a child’s ability to learn and helps prevent obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Recent studies in the United States and United Kingdom point to large health care savings resulting from breastfeeding, given that breastfed children fall ill much less often than non-breastfed children.
In China, breastfeeding rate of only 28 per cent, To boost such low rates in the world’s most populous country, UNICEF and the National Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health in May launched a “10m2of Love” campaign to locate, register, certify and publicize breastfeeding rooms to raise awareness and support for breastfeeding.
Only 1 in 5 countries fully implement international guidelines about the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.
Breastfeeding, WHO stressed, is “the best source of nourishment” for infants and young children and one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. People who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight or obese later in life, less prone to diabetes and may perform better in intelligence tests.

However, globally, only an estimated 38 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed for six months.

source :U.N.N.C.

www.heeals.org

Tuesday 13 March 2012

An app to fight sanitation problems


Six teams of IT experts and professors supported by the Water and Sanitation Program presented mobile applications or 'Apps' that can help support consumers and governments surmounting the water and sanitation problems in India. The event took place at Vigyan Bhawan on Tuesday.
The prototypes were presented to private firms such as Nokia, Vodafone and Accenture.






The waterhackthon event is one of many promoted by the World Bank and its partners. Its aim is to promote the use of ICT tools in solving water issues. The project has come up with suggested solutions that are beyond the imagination of most people.
Each of the six teams made their presentations and also emphasized the importance of serving the poor and making the applications simple to use.
For example, Team PeeQ demonstrated their application that helps mobile phone users to help locate the closest public loo.
US-based Tribal Technologies demonstrated how schools in Orissa have been provided with a cheap android phone that records students school attendance data and gives them points for attendance.
Parents, in turn, can redeem these points for food like dal and rice.
During the event, the government presented its latest mobile initiatives in e-governance and mobile technology.
Participants noted that mobile technology is just one aspect of e-governance, and data on water quality and sanitation should be made available to people openly.
"For hackers, this is a great opportunity to get information about government initiatives, like the government app store and other interactive ways to participate in better water supply and sanitation," said Yashas Shetty of the hacking team Jugaad Sensors.
"One aspect slowing down development of e-governance is the current procurement process, which is not flexible enough for new inventions," claimed Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma, Director of the Uttar Pradesh-based Midday Meal Authority.
"We already have the prototypes. We have the private sector to help us create a market for the solutions. And, we have the Government of India hungry for mobile solutions. Now, we are finally all gathered around the same table. So, this is a good start for discussions," said Shetty, whose team has created a kit for water quality testing and monitoring.




(Six teams of IT experts and professors supported by the Water and Sanitation Program presented mobile applications or 'Apps'.)



Friday 2 March 2012

Why India has more cell phones than toilets

Talking about revolution is easy. But try discussing sanitation in the same animated way, and watch jaws drop.
Polite society will sniffily walk away. Submerging or emerging, India has traditionally treated sanitation like a taboo subject, much like sex. Even today, we speak about it mostly in whispers or in lingo that is so jargon-laden that it obfuscates more than it reveals. Net result: report after report confirms that India is a world leader in ‘open defecation.’ We still don’t say clearly or loud enough that we are in deep shit.
Which was why I was delighted when minister for rural development and drinking water and sanitation Jairam Ramesh tossed a teaser, ‘Why do women want mobile phones more than toilets,’ before an august gathering during the launch of the UN’s 2011-12 Asia Pacific Regional report on Millennium Development Goals.
Article continues below the advertisement...
Ramesh has been hauled over the coals for that remark. Fuming activists have accused him of being insensitive and for blaming women for poor sanitation in India. But the good thing is that the brouhaha has brought the toilet-cell phone debate back in the spotlight and we are discussing sanitation in the run-up to the budget. I suspect that was exactly what the media-savvy minister intended.
More Indians have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet. Everyone knows that. The issue became a major talking point in 2010 when a report by the Ontario-based UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health pointed out that while India had roughly 366 million people with access to improved sanitation in 2008, a far greater number, 545 million, had cell phones.
Today, nearly 74% of India’s population, over 880 million, own mobile phones. The latest figure for toilets is not available but all reports including those from the UN and other agencies indicate that India lags woefully behind in sanitation.
Why do so many people feel the urgent need for a mobile phone but not a toilet? Why do so many of those who have toilets not use them? Why don’t they wash their hands with soap before a meal and after defecation though the authorities have been asking everyone to do so, and are pointing out the link between water, sanitation, hygiene and health?
The Total Sanitation Campaign has been a bit like a token sanitation campaign, inRamesh’s words, because of the ‘pittance’ it received in government funds.
This leads to several problems. The government doles out Rs3,000 to poor people to build a toilet. But a proper one costs at least Rs8,000, as Ramesh himself noted. There is little support from banks to lend the rest.
But it is not just the money. The crucial reason is the perception of ‘need’. Today, every Indian feels he or she ‘needs’ a mobile phone, something that cannot be said for toilets.
In the early days of the TSC, officials focused on increasing the number of homes with toilets. But they found this did not lead to a proportional increase in toilet use.
There are pockets of progress in the country. For example, Sikkim does not have ‘open defecation.’ But there are millions who are still not aware of how strong the link between toilet use, health, and development actually is. As the UN report points out, ‘countries that offer better access to safe sanitation are likely to have lower levels of maternal mortality… and sanitation is also seen to be associated with a lower proportion of underweight children.’
So like the mobile phone, having and using a toilet at home is also a tool for progress. Why is it not seen as such? The major problem, of course, is the tradition by which toilets are seen as unclean, which should not be inside the house. Associated with that is the social acceptability of open defecation. Rising literacy and exposure have significantly helped change such attitudes. But vast numbers of people in this country remain illiterate and the challenge of ‘selling’ sanitation to them is harder.
Studies show that there is a link between high income and ownership of toilets. But significantly, ownership does not always mean usage or maintenance. The key factor is effective communication, taking the gender and caste dimensions into account. Just because there is a toilet at home does not mean everyone at home gets to use it. Maintenance of community toilets hinges on who is tasked to clean it.
Far too often, official communication campaigns do not make these points strongly enough. Nor do they draw the link between open defecation, diarrhoea and medical bills as clearly as they can. That may be the only way to make people think they need a toilet as desperately as they need a mobile phone.
The author is a New Delhi-based writer


Half of India still defecates in the open

 
Half of the country's population still defecates in the open even after 60 years of independence, the Planning Commission has admitted. 

Faced with the harsh reality of open defecation by a vast majority, affecting the dignity of women and girls the most, the plan panel is revamping its strategy and is set to raise spending on government programme on sanitation and drinking water. 

"Around 60 crore people defecate in the open," plan panel member Mihir Shah said, admitting to the need for a change in government's approach. The panel is of the view that toilets should be constructed for hamlets too, apart from aiming to build toilets for households. The thinking is also to build bathrooms along with toilets. 

Shah said government's existing Nirmal Gram Puraskar to award villages that promote hygiene and sanitation undermine the demand-driven sanitation programme. He hinted at a dramatically higher plan allocation for sanitation. 

The government can afford to pump more funds into sanitation schemes as the rural development ministry has found that around Rs 10,000 crore allocated for demand-driven national job guarantee scheme (NREGA) was lying unutilized. 

Under its flagship Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) launched in 1991, the government had set a target of universal household sanitation coverage by 2012 which is unlikely to be achieved. While the scheme is being implemented in 606 districts of 30 states and UTs, a recent review report said 22 states will not be able to meet the target. 

In fact, only five states - Tripura, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Mizoram - will be able to meet the 2012 target, according to a report 'A Decade of the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC)' of World Bank's Water and Sanitation Programme and the rural development ministry. 

The report found an increase in coverage from 21% in 2001 to over 65%. In the 1990s, only one in five rural households had access to a toilet. It also ranked the performance of states on a scale of 100. Only three states - Kerala, West Bengal and Maharashtra - have shown a score of above 75. 

Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Sikkim, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Tamil Nadu were among the states whose performance was above average (50-74). Rest of the states were ranked below average (below 25).


Source:- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/half-of-india-still-defecates-in-the-open/articleshow/11818364.cms

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