After 65 yrs, drinking water in all govt-schools pan India-ToI-6.12.11

Now Provide Separate Toilets For Girls & Boys: SC To Govts

New Delhi: India on Monday crossed a major milestone by being able to provide drinking water in all government run schools, though it took 65 years since independence and a lot of persuasion followed by coercion from the Supreme Court. 
    The case started in the apex court in 2004 with an NGO ‘Environmental and Consumer Protection Foundation’ through advocate Ravindra Bana complaining about lack of drinking water facility in the national capital. It had cited an instance of a boy being crushed to death by a vehicle while attempting to cross the road in front of the school to get some water for himself. 
    Later, the court expanded the scope of the PIL and asked all state and Union Territories to give status report about availability of potable drinking water in all government run schools. Finding the facilities dismal, the court fixed deadlines, threatened officials with contempt and left nothing to doubt that it would not spare none if drinking water, which was linked to fundamental rights – right to education and right to life – were expeditiously not provided in the schools. 
    On Monday, a bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Dipak Misra was happy to announce that years of judicial activism, if one can call it that, has paid the desired dividend – all states have on oath told the apex court that they have provided drinking water facility in all schools. 
    The last two affidavits were filed by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. While UP said it had made available potable drinking water in the remaining 300 schools, the Omar Abdullah government said drinking water and chlorine tablets were made available in all its schools. The bench recorded in its order, “In this view of the matter and according to available records, all the schools in the country have been provided with drinking water.” 
    But the court did not stop with drinking water being made available in the schools. Even before the counsel for the states could heave a sigh of relief thinking the order would bring to an end thestringent monitoring of basic facilities available in schools, the court asked for status report about toilet facilities in the schools. 
    It asked all state governments and the Centre’s ministry of drinking water and sanitation to file affidavits in four weeks detailing the status of toilets in the schools and whether separate toilets for girls had been provided or not. It was earlier giving two weeks to the respondents, but extended it by another two weeks saying, “If any government wants to do it, it will do so in two weeks.” The bench said, “It is imperative that all schools must provide toilet facilities. Wherever separate toilets are not provided, parents are reluctant to send their daughters to schools. It clearly violates the girl child’s right to education guaranteed under Article 21A of the Constitution.”