Why expenditure on 'Swachh Bharat' is worthy and needs to be increased

Nearly half of global deaths from diarrhoea occur in India – and most of these 800,000 annual deaths are due to a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation, according to a comprehensive global study. But what policies will do the most to help? New research by Bjorn Larsen, Environmental Economist, and Independent Consultant points the way.

Clean drinking water is essential since its scarcity is to blame for more than 500,000 deaths each year. For Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, Larsen examines boosting the treatment of household drinking water by providing point-of-use water filters and launching a behaviour change campaign.

Just 10 per cent of households in Rajasthan and 23 per cent of households in Andhra Pradesh practice appropriate point-of-use water filtering. Based on experience abroad, the policy could feasibly encourage 15 per cent more households to start filtering"

Read more about the research in the Business Standard.