Swachh Bharat Mission can avert up to 3 lakh deaths: WHO
New Delhi, Aug 3 : Lauding India's effort towards safe sanitation services, World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said that Swachh Bharat Mission can avert up to 3 lakh deaths due to diarrhea and protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) by October 2019.
"As the initial results of a WHO modelling study on the health impact of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) outline, India's accelerated coverage of safe sanitation services, and its determination to end open defecation, will have a substantial effect on the burden of diarrheal disease and PEM by reducing mortality and accumulative Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)," said WHO quoting Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for South-East Asia.
According to WHO, the Swachh Bharat Mission could result in over 14 million more years of healthy life in the period measured, with the benefits accruing yearly thereafter.
"That is especially remarkable given that before 2014 unsafe sanitation caused an estimated 199 million cases of diarrhea annually, with modelling showing the problem will almost be eliminated when universal use of safe sanitation facilities is achieved," she added.
According to ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, sanitation coverage in rural India, under the Swachh Bharat Mission rose to 85 per cent with 7.4 crore toilets built across rural India. As a result over 3.8 lakh villages and 391 districts were declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) this year.
"India pursues WHO South-East Asia's Flagship Priorities and strives to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals, including Sustainable Development Goal 6, which obliges countries to ensure access to safe water and sanitation for all, and Sustainable Development Goal 3, which obliges them to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages," Singh said.
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Cong cites Kangana's purported remarks to accuse BJP of wanting to bring back repealed farm laws
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.
The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.
"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."
In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."
Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.
"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."
"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".
"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.
The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.
The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.
“तीनों किसान क़ानून वापस लाये जाने चाहिए” : BJP MP कंगना रनौत
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) September 24, 2024
जिन तीन काले किसान विरोधी क़ानूनों की मुख़ालिफ़त करते 750 से ज़्यादा किसान शहीद हो गए
उनको दोबारा से लाने की कोशिश की जा रही है. हम ऐसा कभी नहीं होने देंगे
सबसे पहला जवाब हरियाणा देगा pic.twitter.com/kRAkRuE2cc
