From Vimala Ramachandran, ERU Consultants Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

Posted 16 January 2009

I am Vimala Ramachandran working with the Educational Resource Unit at ERU Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

My colleagues - Bharat K. Patni and Nishi Mehrotra - and I are working on a field-based study to explore the inter-linkages between water, sanitation and school participation, with specific reference to adolescent girls. We are conducting this study for UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia and UNICEF India Office. We plan to commence our fieldwork in Uttar Pradesh in February 2009.

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.

“Results-Framework Document” has been developed and published in 2009-10 by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), is a manual about the rural households have access to and use safe and sustainable drinking water and improved sanitation facilities by providing support to States in their endeavour to provide these basic facilities and services.

In 2006, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report highlighting the most common cause of death among children. The purpose was to raise the profile of that neglected disease. This report is written with the intent to focus attention on the prevention and management of diarrhoeal diseases as central to improving child survival.

“ARE THEY BEING SERVED?” written by Dr. Sita Sekhar, Dr. Meena Nair and Venugopal Reddy published in 2005 by the Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) and Public Affairs Centre (PAC) with support from the WaterAid India, is citizen report card on public services for the poor in peri-urban areas of Bangalore.

“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?

"Right to Water and Sanitation", is a briefing paper (draft) written in March 2009, by Indira Khurana and Richard Mahapatra of WaterAid India, based on secondary research. It reviews the current status of drinking water and sanitation in India and concludes that viewing the issue of water and sanitation as a fundamental human right, is necessary to ensure the provision of these basic facilities of the majority of the population in the country.
Read the study