3rd South Asian conf on sanitation from Nov 18

New Delhi, Nov 17: The Ministry of Rural Development will organise a third South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-III) here from Nov 18.

The four day long conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

Besides, the members of different UN and International Agencies, International and National NGOs, State officials, members of Panchayati Raj Institutions, local organizations, self help groups, women groups, community based organizations and the like are expected to participate in the conference.

Issues related with sustainable sanitation, making it people-centric, addressing gender issues, sanitation for nomadic and landless communities, economic gains of good sanitation, aspects of emergency situations, legal aspects relating to clean environment are likely to be discussed at length.

The theme of the conference is "Sanitation for Dignity and Health". Under it issues like Sanitation and Sustainability, Sanitation and Development, Sanitation Beyond Toilets and Institutions and Partnerships for Sanitation will be discussed at length.

The objectives of such the conferences are, to accelerate the progress of sanitation and hygiene in South Asia and to enhance peoples' quality of life in fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments made in the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Till date two conferences (SACOSANs) have been held at Bangladesh in 2003 and Pakistan in 2006 respectively.

ANI