Bio-Toilet Developed By DRDO Praised .

Bio—toilets developed by DRDO today earned praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said that these could go a long way in solving the problem of open defecation in rural India.

He said if these “green, cost effective flush and forget technology is successfully implanted, it will give a big boost to our Total Sanitation Campaign.”

“I was very happy to learn that DRDO in collaboration with FICCI has developed a bio—toilet that promises to solve the problem of open defecation in rural India,” the Prime Minister said addressing a DRDO awards function here. Singh said, “Application of technology to social benefit programmes should be expanded further.”

Recently, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that India had emerged as the world capital of “open defecation” and this was a “matter of shame, anguish, sorrow, anger.” He had said that the government intended to rid the country of open defecation in the next 10 years and added that the bio—toilets would also help in curbing manual scavenging which was still prevalent in about 15 lakh insanitary latrines.

DRDO’s bio—toilet is based on anaerobic biodegradation of organic waste by unique microbial consortium and works at a wide temperature range. The consortium has been made through acclimatisation, enrichment and bioaugumentation of cold—active bacteria collected from Antarctica and other low temperature areas.

The Defence Ministry and the Rural development Ministry have also signed MoUs for installing these toilets in over one lakh gram panchayats in next few years.PTI

source : The Hindu  

" 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 .

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