Safety of sanitation workers remains an often-ignored aspect in Fecal Sludge Management. While shifting workers from manual to mechanical means of de-sludging remains a priority, this paper highlights that there are a number of safety issues, including exposure to sludge, faced by sanitation workers, even in a mechanised context, where de-sludging trucks are utilised to provide de-sludging services. Based on a detailed analysis of observation of stakeholders and extensive process documentation (of de-sludging process), and expert interviews, the study identified three key safety concerns: inhalation of harmful gases, contact with sludge, and physical injury, and determined the underlying cause for the same, using a systems thinking approach. These causes are varied including behaviours and practices by households such as non-compliance of septic tank construction to design standards, irregular cleaning, improper disposal of inappropriate items in toilets; inappropriate or inadequate design of decanting stations, tools and equipment, and inadequate awareness and knowledge among all stakeholders. Using the hierarchy of controls framework, a set of measures are described to increase the safety of workers. These proposed interventions go beyond the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and range from behaviour change campaigns, improvements in decanting stations, better access to appropriately designed tools. The study highlights the need to place emphasis on eliminating, substituting and controlling the hazards as necessary steps for PPE to be relevant. Finally, the paper places the issue of occupational safety within the larger context of the informal nature of de-sludging occupation and the overall vulnerability of workers. It posits that this makes safety more complicated to address as several factors need to be taken into account, and actions are required by multiple sets of actors.

Urban sanitation in India faces many challenges. Nearly 60 million people in urban areas lack access to improved sanitation arrangements, and more than two-thirds of wastewater is let out untreated into the environment, polluting land and water bodies. To respond to these environmental and public health challenges, urban India will need to address the full cycle of sanitation, i.e. universal access to toilets, with safe collection, conveyance and treatment of human excreta. This paper outlines these concerns, and highlights the need for focusing on access to water and the full cycle of sanitation for the urban poor, as fundamental to addressing the sanitation challenge. Priorities for policy and financing for urban sanitation in India are discussed, and the paper concludes with an examination of key policy initiatives in the last decade, assessing the extent to which these priorities are gaining attention.

Fecal Sludge Treatment or Septage Management is increasingly being recognised as an effective and appropriate method to scale urban sanitation systems to achieve safe sanitation, particularly in small towns and cities. As implementation progresses, data-based evidence is emerging, highlighting the challenges faced on the ground, and the requisite planning necessary to address them. This paper presents the findings, challenges and possible ways ahead from a study conducted to provide data for Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) planning for a small town in a state in southern India. With the objective of understanding the nature of containment structures and on-ground desludging practices, 8,001 households and 1,667 establishments were studied in Periyanaicken-Palayam (PNP), a non-sewered Town Panchayat in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, to provide evidence for effective decision-making. The study showed wide variations in the sizing and design of the containment systems, which, when combined with the irregular frequency of desludging, has implications for FSM planning by municipal bodies. This study also highlights the methodological difficulties in studying containment systems, exposes a significant response bias given the limited understanding of containment systems within households, and spotlights the difficulty in physically verifying the reported data given the underground nature of these systems.

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and Dr. Govindan Raveendran for generously sharing their analysis of 1999-2009 NSS data on urban employment; Somik Lall and the World Bank team working on the India Urbanisation Review for sharing their results on India's economic geography and in particular the distribution of employment. Dr. Jyotsna Jha and Madhusudan B.V. of the Centre for Budgetary and Policy Studies, Bangalore provided intriguing data on Municipal Finance.