Despite the significant efforts by the Government of India and other actors in this sector, the scale of the problem with poor sanitation and hygiene continues to be one of the major causes of sickness, death and lack of human dignity in the country. Today around 632 million people in India alone have no access to sanitation. Recently, the Indian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) hosted a meeting in New Delhi with the aim of entering partnership on sanitation with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Iindustry (FICCI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the meeting, we at FICCI, shared a bit about our work in the domain. We have been actively participating in water and sanitation initiatives in the country both through state level and national level programmes. FICCI has brought technologies developed by DRDO including eco-friendly bio digester toilets for public use as part of our clean sanitation drive. FICCI’s Corporate Water Stewardship programme as well FICCI water awards have successfully created awareness for water management and conservation amongst corporate India. We envisage our partnership with IFRC and WHO as crucial for scaling up the clean sanitation effort. We believe our partnership with IFRC will further strengthen private sector collaboration with civil society and organisations like IFRC and ensure access to clean water and sanitation for all. This is the presentation we made during the meeting.

1. WATSAN INITIATIVE
Vinita Sethi, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI

2. Fact sheet - India
97 million people without access to improved sources of drinking
water, second only to China
1250 people die each day from Diarrhea related diseases
Almost 70 % of surface water resources and a growing percentage of
groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and
inorganic pollutants
Organic and bacterial contamination continue to be
critical in water bodies

3. Fact sheet - India

4. Fact sheet - India
Over 600 million people practice open defecation
India accounts for 90 % (approx) of the people in South
Asia who practice open defecation
Census 2001, 36.4% of the households had access to latrine, which increased
to 46.9% in Census 2011
Only 53 % of the population wash hands with soap after
defecation
Only 38 % wash hands with soap before eating
Only 30 % wash hands with soap before preparing food
Only 6 % of rural children less than five years of age use toilets

5. Fact sheet - India

6. About FICCI
Established in 1927 as an apex Chamber of Commerce & Industry in
India
Membership from corporate sector: private and public
Direct & Indirect membership of over 2,50,000 business entities and
associations
To be the thought leader for industry, its voice for policy change and its guardian for
effective implementation
To carry forward our initiatives in support of rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth that
encompasses health, education, livelihood, governance and skill development
To enhance the efficiency and global competitiveness of the Indian industry and to expand
business opportunities both in domestic and foreign markets through a range of specialized
services and global linkages

7. Graduating role of Private Sector with
International Agencies such as IFRC
Building the resilience of communities
Support humanitarian activities via its investments in socio-economic landscape
Environmental and social concerns have increasingly been mainstreamed on the
agendas of businesses
Increasingly willing to establish cross sector partnerships for making their
specific capabilities available to the international community
Humanitarian organizations are also recognizing that the private sector has more
to offer in terms of material and human resources, know-how & technological
innovation

8. FICCI Members in CSR
Aspires to facilitate a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society by working
in education and related development areas
Focused primarily on creating iconic institutions of excellence in learning across
the education spectrum
Aims to provide education to the weaker sections of the society, so as to make
them employable

9. FICCI Members in CSR
Working towards ensuring drinking water security in villages through water
sufficiency for each household programme
Community led sustainable approaches for improving access to water and
sanitation in rural and urban areas

10. FICCI Members in CSR
Created to help meet the needs of families when their child faces a fight for their
life
Create a high quality, compassionate healthcare awareness , prevention and
support system for the underprivileged sections of the society

11. Engaging private sector with organisations
such as IFRC
We propose greater engagement between organisations such as IFRC
and private sector to:
Leverage on each other’s strengths and create a virtuous cycle of growth
and development agenda reinforcing each other by mainstreaming
private sector initiatives in development & human welfare initiatives of
Humanitarian organisations
Concretize an agenda for development that addresses issues related to
human development, especially in a young country like India where
demographic dividend can become a crises if not nurtured well
Contribute to peoples’ welfare by universalizing access to basic
services at affordable costs and promote equitable growth that trickles
down to the bottom of the pyramid

12. FICCI’s contribution to development agenda
To provide a platform to leverage Indian creativity, expertise, and resources to identify and
scale innovative solutions being developed and tested in India for the benefit of Bottom of
the Pyramid (BoP) Population.
A joint initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India; Lockheed Martin
Corporation; Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, FICCI; Stanford Graduate School of
Business and the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas , is aimed to accelerate innovative
Indian technologies into the global markets
Working in areas of Skill development, Affordable Housing Projects, Geo Spatial
Technologies and Clean Water & Sanitation for Uttarakhand Rehabilitation and is working
closely with the State Government and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in
identifying and implementing the rehabilitation work

13. FICCI’s contribution to development agenda
FICCI Water Awards
FICCI Water Risk Study
FICCI and Earthwatch Institute Urban Freshwater Programme
Corporate Water Stewardship programme
Clean Ganga Initiative
Clean Yamuna Initiative
As DRDO’s partner, FICCI is nurturing socially impactful
Innovations through incubation and mentoring programs
such as the Bio-Digester Eco-Friendly Sanitation and
RO Drinking Water