Toilets hit the headlines again – courtesy Swatchh Bharat campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the call of Swatchh Bharat during his Independence Day speech last year and, while everyone is struggling to make the dream come true, a centenarian woman of Raipur has taken a lead for others to follow. She has sold off her goats and constructed a toilet.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 6 September 2015.

The corporate sector is still trying to build toilets in schools across the country and, a 102-year-old woman in a remote village in Chhattisgarh has beaten them to the punch.
She has set an example of sorts by selling off her goats for Rs 22,000 and use the money to build a toilet. And, she has made it her mission in life – she is seen moving door to door in Kotabharri village in Dhamtari district to motivate people to switch over from open-defecation. The village has a population of 450 residents and they have taken a pledge to construct toilets at their homes.
The local administration has agreed to provide subsidy to meet the tasks under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and, it has already, been declared an open-defecation free village.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Toilets hog the limelight in New Delhi – men to women ratio would be 50-50

The heart of the Delhi Development Authority DDA bleeds for toilets – instead of the existing ratio of 60-40 for men to women, it would be enhanced to 50-50. The policy would come into effect immediately for new projects that would be undertaken by the housing authority.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 4 September 2015.

The decision has been taken by DDA because of the fact that the number of working women has increased, and they now enjoy increased presence in public places like markets and restaurants.
The existing Building Bye Laws 1983 and the National Building Code 2005 had adopted 60:40 male-female ratio for public toilets. As per revised norms, in shops or commercial offices where earlier one WC per 15 females was prescribed it would now be one WC per 10 females.
Similarly, in restaurants also the number of WCs for women prescribed has been doubled - earlier it was a single WC per 50 women and it is now modified to two WC per 50 women norm.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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