Transgenders continue to wait for gender-neutral public toilets in India
The Supreme Court of India accorded the third-gender status in 2014. Along with it came a directive to ensure separate toilets for transgenders. However, the community is still waiting for gender-neutral public toilets. So far, Mysuru is the only city in the country to have a single third-gender public toilet. The community has been facing all-round discrimination, more so with respect to sanitation access. The 'e-toilets’ which lock automatically once occupied are recommended as a secure alternative for use by the transgender community.

Chennai corporation to segregate and compost meat waste separately
In a bid to reduce the foul smell emanating from landfills, the Corporation of Greater Chennai has decided to compost the 40 metric tonnes of meat waste the city generates on a daily basis, separately. The plan is part of an overall strategy to improve the city's environment through the Odour Free Chennai (OFC) project. The corporation is also considering segregating wet waste and composting it in city burial grounds. The administration is trying to fix issues relating to solid waste management to make sure the city performs better in the upcoming Swachh Survekshan.

Senior DRDO scientists raise voice against bio-toilets
The bio-toilets designed by Defence Research and Development Organisation have sparked a heated debate with some scientists claiming that the anaerobic bacteria used to digest the waste are incapable of surviving in extremely high temperatures. Controversy has erupted over the use of cow-dung to multiply bacteria as some scientists feel that the organisation and the contractors it employs to manufacture and maintain these toilets are fleecing the government in the name of improved technology.

Rural India still chooses open fields over toilets
Though the Swachh Bharat Mission aims to make India open defecation free, little has changed in India's rural pockets. A government survey has revealed that 47 per cent of rural households spread across five states still prefer to go out in the open, mostly out of convenience and habit. Despite the government’s effort at sanitation behavior change, villagers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana consider open defecation to be healthy.

More toilets at Delhi's Jhuggi-Jhopri slum clusters by March next year
The Delhi state government has decided to construct 17,000 toilets in the capital’s Jhuggi-Jhopri (JJ) slum clusters at a cost of Rs 150 crore to eliminate open defecation by March next year. Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board has identified 211 locations for it. Apart from new construction, defunct urinals and toilets will also be renovated.

This is a roundup of important sanitation related news publishes between August 6 and 12, 2016