Heat in the Rural Kitchen
[Date: 24/07/06 Source: Jansamachar]
Life in the kitchen is made easier to the womenfolk in 86 households in the Navalgadh village of the Dhangadhra taluka of the Surendranagar District of Gujarat. The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has assisted the women groups to establish two community gobargas plants, at a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs. The brain-child of R. Vinod Rao, Chairman DRDA, the biogas plant with a capacity of 85 cubic metres and networked with every household of 86 beneficiaries has proved to be economical than LPG cylinders used by some households in the past and is more reliable according to the villagers.

Voice Your Concern on Progress Towards the MDGs
[Date: 20 July  Source: UK parliament site]
The International Development Committee of the UK is to begin an inquiry into Water and Sanitation. The main purpose of the inquiry will be to examine how donors ? notably the UK?s Department for  International Development (DFID) - can support progress towards  MDG no.7, which aims to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking  water and adequate sanitation by 2015, and support progress towards  other MDGs through achieving outcomes in water and sanitation.   The Committee invites interested organisations and individuals? especially those from developing countries to send evidence to the Clerk of the Committee by Friday 20th October 2006.

Compact Biogas Plant Making Waves
[Date: 10 July 2006, Source: India Together]
Biogas plants are not new, but their size, relative unwieldyness and reliance on large quantities of cattle dung have held back their potential attractiveness for the domestic cooking sector. That may change soon, thanks to the ingenuity of Dr Anand Karve. Vinita Deshmukh reports about Karve's new award-winning compact plant.