India "missing" 3.75 crore toilets: sanitation activists

 Sanitation activists today observed 'World Toilet Day' and alleged that 3.75 crore lavatories in India as claimed by Ministry for Rural Development did not exist and were "missing".

Activists of Right to Sanitation (RTS) Campaign's India chapter demanded an inquiry into the "huge gap" in the number of toilets existing on the field and the number provided in the data by the Rural Development Ministry and Census 2011.

On the occasion, the activists organised a range of programmes across 14 states around the theme of 'missing toilets' and 'crisis of sanitation' in the country.

Various groups including Action India, Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan, National Confederation of Dalit Organisations, Safai Karmchari Andolan, etc also demanded for the enactment of the law to provide constitutional status to the Right to Sanitation so that it becomes a legal civil right.

They also stressed that special focus should be accorded for the availability of toilets for women, disabled and aged in public spaces. "The socially excluded communities such as Dalits and adivasis should be covered totally as an emergency," the activists said.

Volunteers organised signature campaigns around metro stations in the central part of the city and highlighted the accessibility of toilets by the disabled people.

Representatives from the slums and resettlement colonies demanded the maintenance of existing toilets and construction of new toilets. Women from some colonies also shared that they have just 44 seat public toilets for a population of 29,000.

According to the activists, the women shared with them the "incidents of violence" that they face when they go for open defecation or use public toilets.

"These women demand sanitation services for their dignity, health and development," a sanitation activist said.

A group of children also staged a play on their problems related to availability and accessibility of toilets.

Campaigns were organised in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu.

India is the global capital in terms of people going for open defecation. Rural sanitation coverage is still around 30 per cent (Census 2011) and the budget allocation is about 0.04 per cent of our GDP

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-19/news/44242708_1_toilets-open-defecation-sanitation

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  

HUMAN WASTE TO LIGHT UP BIO-TOILETS DEVELOPED BY DRDO

HUMAN WASTE TO LIGHT UP BIO-TOILETS DEVELOPED BY DRDO

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Kolkata, July 4, 2012: Methane gas generated from human waste could be used to light up bio-toilets developed by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Acting on suggestions made by the Union minister for rural development, Mr Jairam Ramesh, the premier research agency is now working to provide lighting solution for the convenience of those who will use bio-toilets in darkness.

“We are finding out the means to do it as the rate of production of methane gas will be very small and it will be difficult to concentrate it at one place,” DRDO's head of research and development Dr W Selvamurthy said.  Mr Ramesh had recently inaugurated DRDO's project at Odisha's Dhamra coast where they are installing 1,000 bio-toilets to prevent open-defecation.

The minister had also asked officials there to increase the width of the eco-friendly toilet, named 'E-LOO' by DRDO, and also provide cross-ventilation.  “We will immediately incorporate these two changes in our external structure,” the scientist said.

The rural development ministry has announced plans to install these eco-toilets in 1,000 gram panchayats with a budget of Rs 400 crore. The bio-toilets use bio-digester technology wherein a bacteria feeds upon the fecal matter inside the septic tank, through anaerobic process which finally degrades the matter and releases methane gas and water.

“You can use this water for irrigation. We have demonstrated this by cultivating vegetables,” Dr Selvamurthy said, adding they have found the water to be safe even for animals. (Source: PTI)