Health & Sanitation

Only 10 private companies and two industry bodies contributed towards building toilets in schools under the famed Swacch Bharat Mission till March 1, 2016 from the private sector. The number of toilets these companies built don’t constitute for even one per cent of the total toilets built. Public Sector companies played a rather noticeable role...

From the middle of nowhere a few years ago, transgenders today are going places. In April 2014, India's Supreme Court recognised transgenders as people falling under a third gender, granting them legal rights to identify themselves as neither male nor female, and directing the central and state governments to provide quotas in jobs and...

Standard Chartered Bank announced the launch of five new eye care projects to bring in innovation and strengthen the delivery of eye-care to the underprivileged between 2016 and 2019, with a donation commitment totalling to $1.6 million. These projects will be delivered in partnership between the Bank, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)...

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Infosys, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Asia Heart Foundation, to enable the adoption of robotics in healthcare. As part of the MoU, the Foundation has granted INR 8 crore to the Asia Heart Foundation. The grant will be used to purchase high-end equipment – namely the...

India’s leading nonprofits, foundation heads and philanthropists came together to discuss, debate, build awareness and spark collaborations for India's critical development issues to improve the life chances of those living in poverty. The 7th edition of the conference revolved around the theme of ‘Collaborative Giving: The Next Frontier for Indian Philanthropy’ and presented innovative...

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Rules of April 2014, followed soon after by the National Democratic Alliance government’s Swachh Bharat push, gave corporate India the opportunity to spend on a cause with high visibility. Two years down the line, the companies that got involved with a fair bit of gusto take stock of their...

Mark Balla, a resident of Melbourne, Australia has been raising funds since 2013 for constructing toilets in Indian schools. A visit to a school in Dharavi (Mumbai) troubled him about the lack of toilets for girls in schools, which resulted in a large number of them dropping out when they reach puberty. ‘We can’t wait’,...

A day-long conclave of social activists organized here saw participants laying emphasis on the use of sanitary napkin by women. The conclave was organised by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) cell of Vadodara district Collectorate, in collaboration with the Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI). "Several important prominent figures like social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, former MP...

One of the new buzz words currently in our country today is Swach Bharat. A variety of individuals, NGOs, organizations, private players, start-ups and more are pledging their hours and money into it.  With the Prime Minister inviting people to participate in the drive, the Swachhta Abhiyan has turned into a National Movement. A...

The Bombay High Court on Thursday suggested corporate companies to allot 2% of their profits towards settling hospital bills of patients who cannot afford to pay. The suggestion was made by a division bench of justices V M Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere while hearing a petition filed by a man named Sanjay Prajapati urging...

GONDA, UTTAR PRADESH:  In a move to curb open defecation in Gonda, District Magistrate Ajay Kumar Upadhayay announced that government employees and officials without a toilet in their homes will be denied salaries from next month. Taking part in a workshop conducted in association with the World Bank, Mr Upadhayay said he has asked government employees...

The CAG has pointed out that while the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014 with an aim of 100 per cent open defecation free India by 2019, before this similar targets for eradication of open defecation were set for 2012, then to 2017 and again for 2022.