The ‘Nirmal Bharat Yatra’ to promote the message of making the country open defecation-free and ensuring proper sanitation in rural areas will begin from October 3, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.

Accompanied by actor Vidya Balan, the brand ambassador of the Ministry’s campaign for improving sanitation, Mr. Ramesh said the 2,000-km yatra will rope in people from all sections, including school children, to pass on the message.

Statistics and reality are often vastly different in India and to address this issue Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Rural Development, announced the plan to set up an NGO Forum for independent evaluat

As many as 103 gram panchayats will be presented with the Nirmal Gram Puraskar award by Governor H R Bhardwaj on Saturday.

The gram panchayats have been selected for the award as they were “100 per cent defecation free”, said Sanjeev Kumar, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. Addressing the media along with RDPR Minister K S Eshwarappa, Kumar said three districts in Karnataka, including Dakshina Kannada had been declared completely free of defecation.

SHILLONG: Even though West Garo Hills district is the highest achiever in the State having done away with open defecation, it is still lagging behind in making schools ‘open defecation free’.

According to available statistics, 45 per cent schools in the district still lack sanitation facilities although during the year 2011 a total of 216 villages in the West Garo Hills were awarded the ‘Nirmal Gram Puraskar’.

Jairam Ramesh, Union Rural Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister, on Thursday described the Railways as the world’s largest open toilet as his ministry signed an MoU with the Defence

Ranchi, July 24: The Saranda villagers’ wish of getting piped water and toilets at their houses may actually get fulfilled.