The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) has ordered the closure of 318 health facilities in the state over improper biomedical waste disposal, highlighting a national pollution and sanitation issue. “These healthcare units earlier disposed their biomedical wastes through the CBWTF [common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facility], but later got dissociated from this system, […]
sanitation
The hunger of a nation: What the GHI tells India
India has slipped on the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Global Hunger Index (GHI), ranking 102nd out of 117 countries. Countries are scored by the GHI between zero and 100, with India scoring 30.3 – worse than the score for the South Asia region as a whole, which the GHI puts at 29.3. India fares […]
Proper handwashing matters for your health
Proper handwashing may seem trivial to some, but it is more important than many realise – in schools, in healthcare facilities, and in the home. Global Handwashing Day, observed on October 15th, is an important reminder of an often neglected practice. UNICEF India points out the importance of handwashing, noting its connection with diarrhoea – […]
Medical waste pollution gets a Rs 50,000 price tag in Nainital
To address the issue of medical waste pollution, a fine of Rs 50,000 will be imposed in Nainital. The announcement came from Nainital district magistrate Savin Bansal following the dumping of medical waste near Naini lake earlier this month, for which a medical shop was forced closed by the district administration whilst two others were […]
Homelessness: An Indian crisis
Homelessness is a crisis in India where, despite decades of development positioning the country as one of the world’s largest economies, wealth inequality is present in staggering proportions. In fact, India is the second most unequal country in the world. Its high rate of homelessness stands as a testament to this grim reality. Approximately four […]
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Five years on
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan – the NDA government’s flagship sanitation scheme – reached its five-year anniversary yesterday, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Indian independence figurehead Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. “An ideal village will be so constructed as to lend itself to perfect sanitation,” the Mahatma once reflected. “The cause of many of our […]
Climate strike: Students protest across India
The youth climate strike hit India once more yesterday, with students missing school to protest for their future across Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi among other cities. “We know climate crisis is real, it’s a fact and not a myth or a belief,” 29-year-old Mumbai-based climate activist Pooja Domadi told CNN. “We’re having multiple events through […]
Child and maternal mortality: India still a leader
“Thirty years ago, the world made a commitment to protect and fulfil children’s rights as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Among the most fundamental of these rights is the right of every child to survive.” So reads the introduction of the latest Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, a joint […]
Modi launches single-use plastic campaign
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again appealed for India to end the use of single-use plastic for the good of the environment. Attending an event in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Modi joined a group of trash collectors and sorted through waste with them, separating plastic from other refuse. The day saw the launch of a ‘Swachata […]
Death in the sewers: Manual scavenging continues to kill
In the first six months of 2019, at least fifty people died because of manual scavenging – in just eight states. This is according to data collected from the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) from Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. The fatalities offer a snapshot of a much […]