ALLAHABAD/LUCKNOW: Swami Chidanand Saraswati of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram has earned sanitary distinction for the campaign he is running during the ongoing Maha Kumbh to provide clean toilets in

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Low Cost Sanitation for Liberation of Scavengers started from 1980-81 initially through the Ministry of Home Affairs and later on through the Ministry of Welfare.

Around the world, access to clean drinking water is a daily struggle; with one in eight people lacking safe water. As a result of these contaminated water sources, a child is more likely to contract diarrhoeal and other pathogen based diseases or infections.

The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation has installed nine public toilets for the exclusive use of women in the city.

The new “she-toilets” have been installed at the Government Women’s College; the Women and Children Hospital, Thycaud; the Government Ayurveda College; the Veli tourist village; the Kaimanam polytechnic; the Sreekanteswaram temple, University College; the homoeopathy college, East Fort; and opposite the Hindu Prachara Sabha, Vazhuthacaud. They will start functioning by December-end, P. Kulsu, Chairperson of the corporation, said.

The Railways are facing technical hitches in installing environment-friendly bio-toilets in trains, forcing an extension of the deadline for implementation of the project.

All new passenger coaches will have bio-toilets by 2016-17, but retrofitting of the existing coaches are expected to be completed by 2021-22. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation will fund 50 per cent of the retrofitting cost of two lakh units in the existing 50,000 coaches.

Jairam Ramesh's ministry offers to share half the installation cost for the entire system. Toilets in Indian Railways coaches will soon witness a makeover.

There is some good news for activists who have been asking the Indian Railways to sort out the problem of manual scavenging due to the existence of conventional toilets in trains.

If Northern Railway officials are to be believed, all trains maintained by the Delhi Division will have bio-toilets, or green toilets as they are popularly called, by the end of this financial year.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has stated his ministry is ready to share half the cost of introducing eco-friendly toilets in Indian Railways coaches.

More such units to be set up across the city within three months

Mayor K. Chandrika has said the newly installed e-toilet unit at the Kowdiar Park a significant step in improving the sanitation and health facilities in the city. She was speaking during the inauguration of the first e-toilet set up by the city Corporation , in association with Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (KELTRON) and city-based Eram Scientific Solutions that designed the unit.

Washington An Indian tech-firm has won a whopping grant of over USD 450,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to set up eco-friendly and hygienic "eToilets", making public conveniences more accessible to the urban poor.

Thiruvananthapuram-based Eram Scientific Solutions Private Limited was awarded the grant as part of the foundation's second round of 'Reinvent the Toilet Challenge' grants totalling nearly USD 3.4 million.

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