ODF+ status? Ahmedabad's 14% slumdwellers defecate in the open: HDRC survey

By A Representative
The Government of India may have “upgraded” Ahmedabad to “open defecation free (ODF) plus” status, following a third party audit “certifying” that the city has “hygienic and usable public toilets”. But a recent survey by the civil rights organization, Human Development and Research Centre (HDRC), has revealed that 13.71 of the slum-dwelling families – 1,030 out of 7,512 – are forced to go out in the open to defecate, allegedly because there are no public toilets for them.
Carried out among 24 slum pockets across the city, individual testimonies suggest that at several of the places there are no public toilets, and if public toilets are there they are non-functional, and representations to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials have elicited replies like the AMC has “no money” to lay down gutter lines, and that the complainants should do is to “go and represent to the elected representative.”
Talking with newspersons in Ahmedabad, two slumdwellers – 35-year-old Jyotsnaben Maheshbhai Dantani from Laxminagar Chapra in Chandkheda and 25-year-old Komalben Bhikhubhai Patni from Ghodacamp in Asarwa – testified that they had to suffer miscarriage because they fell down while going for the call of nature in the open during monsoon.
Sumarben Somaji Thakore, 50, and Hansaben Jayantibhai Thakore, 44, reported that at least 30 families from the slum settlement where they live – Kolsanu Deru in Asarwa – are forced to defecate in the open, something they are doing for more than two decades, and “none in the authorities cares to listen” to their representation for having a public toilet.
An HDRC note on the survey gives the examples of Nileshbhai Dolatsinh Chauhan, 39, from Kolsanu Deru in Asarwa, and Manjulaben Ratanbhai Patni, 60, from Asarwa talav area. Both are physically challenged, yet are forced to defecate in the open. In yet another example, 85-year-old Dhaniben Arjanbhai Solanki is forced to go out in the open with the help of two other women, because she cannot walk longer distance.

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.

PIL seeks suspension of school-based HPV vaccination over consent violations

By A Representative The Universal Health Organisation (UHO) has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court of India seeking judicial intervention to ensure that the country's nationwide Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Programme complies with constitutional guarantees of informed consent , bodily autonomy, transparency, and accountability.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha* In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.

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