From Aparna Das, UNDP, New Delhi

Posted 11 January 2007

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, large investments are to be made for modernizing and upgrading sewage and solid waste management facilities in cities (See http://www.urbanindia.nic.in/moud/programme/ud/jnnurm.htm for details).

From Lizette Burgers, UNICEF, New Delhi

Posted 20 October 2008

The South Asia Conferences on Sanitation (SACOSAN) are high-powered regional ministerial conferences that discuss sanitation. They help develop a regional agenda on sanitation, enable learning from experiences and plans for the future. The objectives are to accelerate sanitation and hygiene coverage, and enhance peoples’ quality of life in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 1992. Till date, two conferences have been held at Bangladesh (2003) and Pakistan (2006).

From Pramod Dabrase, Urban Administration and Development Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal

Posted 12 March 2009

I work with the Urban Administration and Development Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The Department has launched an Integrated Urban Sanitation Programme in Madhya Pradesh with the goal to achieve totally sanitized and healthy cities and towns. The programme was launched on 13 February 2009 in Bhopal.

Providing environmentally-safe sanitation to millions of people is a significant challenge, especially in the world’s second most populated country. The task is doubly difficult in a country where the introduction of new technologies can challenge people’s traditions and beliefs.

“Experiences with Ecosan Systems to Provide Sustainable Sanitation for Schools in Kenya and India” written by Rahul Ingle, Christian Rieck and Elisabeth v. Münch published in 2009 by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and Ecosan Services Foundation (ESF), paper describes the experiences and lessons learnt from using ecosan systems in some schools in Kenya and India.

“Burden of Inheritance” published in October 2009 by WaterAid India, report is an outcome to understand the complex and shameful practice of manual scavenging which unfortunately still exists in our country.

This report tries to seek answers to the question: Why have we not been able to eradicate manual scavenging? To get to the bottom of this scourge, the report has first explored the question: why are people continuing in this occupation despite availability of other dignified livelihood sources? Why is manual scavenging in practice in towns and cities where other cleaner options for survival exist? When there are feasible and viable technological alternatives to dry toilets, one of the drivers of this occupation, why does the practice continue?

This paper presents an analysis of the baseline surveys of 12 UNICEF-DFID-Assisted districts under the Child’s Environment Project in 2001. The selected districts were in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The key parameters considered were the use of toilets within households, communication strategies used and improved hygiene practices at home.

The Third South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN 2008), organised by Government of India, was held in New Delhi, during November 16-21, 2008, with the theme as "Sanitation for Dignity and Health".

The Third South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN 2008), organised by Government of India, was held in New Delhi, during November 16-21, 2008, with the theme as "Sanitation for Dignity and Health".

“Low-cost toilets put Bengal on path to total sanitation", is an article by Nitya Jacob have been made available on the website of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), highlights that due to Low-cost toilets all households now have toilets in East Medinipur District in West Bengal which helped to achieve its target of total sanitation in September 2006.

"Beyond Construction: Use by All" is a collection of case studies from sanitation and hygiene promotion practitioners in South Asia, published in 2008, by WaterAid and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.

This document has the following four case studies from India:

Sl. 10. India's national sanitation and hygiene programme: From experience to policy, West Bengal and Maharashtra models provide keys to success - Pg 126: This paper analyses the progress of the Total Sanitation Campaign being implemented in rural India, with a focus on West Bengal and Maharashtra, and draws lessons from these two states (apart from Kerala) which are in the forefront in this national campaign for total sustainable sanitation.