India is world's capital for open defecation: Ramesh

July 27, 2012
ramesh

New Delhi, July 27: Terming India as world's capital for open defecation, Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said that 100,000 "bio-toilets" will be installed in about 300 backward gram panchayats in the next two years at a cost of Rs 150 crore.

"We are the world's capital for open defecation. It is a matter of shame, anguish, sorrow, anger," Ramesh said, noting over 60 percent of all open defecation takes place in India.

Speaking at a a function where a memorandum of understanding on bio-digester-based eco-friendly toilets was exchanged between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the ministry in his and Defence Minister AK Antony's presence, Ramesh said the government intended to rid the country of open defecation in the next 10 years.

Ramesh, who is also rural development minister, said DRDO-developed bio-toilet had immense use for Indian Railways. He said his ministry had offered to equip it in all new railway coaches and share half the cost of retrofitting it in all the existing 50,000 coaches in the next four to five years. The project will cost about Rs 500 crore.

The minister said bio-toilets will also help curb manual scavenging which was still prevalent in about 15 lakh insanitary latrines.

He said the ministry intended to provide bio-toilets to 1,000 gram panchayats over the next four-five years. The minister said that funds for setting up bio-toilets will be provided by his ministry and DRDO and its private partner will be responsible for technology.

Ramesh said of 240,000 gram panchayats, only 28,000 had achieved the status of "nirmal gram" and his ministry intended that all panchayats achieve the status over the next 10 years.

Antony said that bio-toilet was a spin off from technology developed by DRDO for eco-friendly disposal of human waste for armed forces deployed in high altitude locations.

Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Jena said he would write to MPs for keeping apart money from MPLADS scheme for installing bio-toilets in their area.

DRDO bio-toilet is based on anaerobic biodegradation of organic waste by unique microbial consortium and works at wide temperature range. The onsortium has been made through acclimatisation, enrichment and bioaugumentation of cold-active bacteria collected from Antartica and other low temperature areas.


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News Network
June 15,2020

New Delhi, Jun 15: Two officials working with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad have reportedly gone missing, sources said.

The two officials are untraceable for the last few hours.

Recently news agency reported on how Pakistan 's spy agency ISI has been tailing and harassing Indian officials and also increased their presence at the residence of Acting High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia.

This incident came in the backdrop when two Pakistani officials were caught red-handed and sent back trying to collect classified information and spying in Delhi.

South block is watching the developments closely, the Indian mission has also launched a complaint with local authorities and taken up the matter Pakistan Foreign Ministry.

This incident can cause a further dip in the already tense India-Pakistan relations.

Earlier in the month, India deported two Pakistani officials for espionage activities in India.

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Agencies
July 23,2020

Jaipur, Jul 23: Four days after the Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the purported audio clips indicating his alleged involvement in horse trading of MLAs in Rajasthan, a city court has directed the Rajasthan police to probe a complaint alleging Shekhawat's role in a credit society scam worth Rs 840 crore.

The additional district judge Pawan Kumar, on Tuesday, directed the additional chief judicial magistrate's court to send the complaint against Shekhawat to the SOG.

Shekhawat, his wife and other partners have been named in the complaint in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam in which around 50,000 investors allegedly lost about Rs 840 crore.

The Jaipur unit of the SOG has been probing the scam since last year after an FIR was registered on August 23, 2019.

Now, Jaipur ADJ Court-8 ordered a fresh inquiry in the case against Gajendra Singh accepting the revised application filed by Lagu Singh and Guman Singh and said that "this is a serious matter and hence SOG should investigate this".

Both the applicants had invested a huge amount in Sanjivani credit cooperative society.

It is alleged in the complaint that a multi-storey building has been built with the money instead of a theatre which was proposed earlier and many properties were also bought in Ethiopia with the money.

An SOG investigation also reveals that a large amount of money has been deposited into accounts of Shekhawat and his wife at different time spans, said sources.

Earlier, Shekhawat was not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the SOG in connection with the case. Later, a magistrate's court also rejected the application to include him in the chargesheet. The applicants then approached the additional district judge's court with a revised application.

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News Network
February 24,2020

New Delhi, Dec 24: The Delhi Police said that a head constable was killed during clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in northeast Delhi today.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shahdara, Amit Sharma was also injured during clashes, a senior official said. Sharma suffered injuries to his head and hand. He was hospitalised and is doing fine, the official added.

Tension escalated in northeast Delhi with protesters torching at least two houses and a fire tender in the Jaffrabad and Maujpur areas, where pro and anti-CAA groups clashed for the second consecutive day on Monday and hurled stones at each other.

Violence was also reported from the Chandbagh area in Jaffrabad.

Police fired tear gas shells and also resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters.

According to officials, a fire tender was damaged by the protesters after it responded to a fire call in the area.

The Delhi Metro closed entry and exit at the Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur stations as an uneasy calm prevailed in the area.

"Entry & exit of Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur are closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said in a tweet.

Entry and exit were closed at the Jaffrabad metro station for over 24 hours.

Clashes broke out on Sunday evening between pro and anti-CAA groups near Jaffrabad after a large number of people protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) blocked a road, while similar sit-ins were launched in several other parts of the national capital.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged lieutenant governor of Delhi and the Union home minister to restore order.

Nobody should be allowed to orchestrate violence, he said.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal instructed the police commissioner to maintain law and order in the national capital in the wake of violence.

"Instructed @DelhiPolice and @CPDelhi to ensure that law and order is maintained in North East Delhi. The situation is being closely monitored. I urge everyone to exercise restraint for maintenance of peace and harmony," Baijal tweeted.

Delhi minister and Babarpur MLA Gopal Rai on Monday urged the people in the area to maintain peace, saying some people were purposely trying to disturb the atmosphere.

"With folded hands, I request people in Babarpur Assembly to maintain peace. Some people are purposely trying to spoil the atmosphere. I have spoken to Delhi LG and he has assured me that more policemen will be deployed to bring the situation under control," Rai said in a tweet.

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