Meera Mehta | CEPT University (original) (raw)

Papers by Meera Mehta

The World Bank and Water and Sanitation Program, 2004. The main report provides a full discussion... more The World Bank and Water and Sanitation Program, 2004. The main report provides a full discussion of these issues, along with numerous examples drawn from global experience.

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Gates Open Res, Oct 14, 2019

Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, May 30, 2018

In 2014, the Indian Government embarked on a major programme to end open defecation. The governme... more In 2014, the Indian Government embarked on a major programme to end open defecation. The government allocated significant public funds to ensure that the goal is reached by the year 2019. The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) programme for rural sanitation is ambitious and probably no government has ever attempted to tackle sanitation at this scale and with such a large financial commitment. The main objectives of this paper are to assess sufficiency of financial commitments for SBM and to review efficiency and effectiveness in fund utilization against its stated objectives. In a large country like India, the programme achievements are not even. Some states are on track while others will need more attention and more funds to ensure that the goal is reached by 2019. An important challenge is to ensure sustainability of open defecation free (ODF) villages and communities. Supplementing public finance with innovative financing is needed to ensure that lack of finance does not become a constraint in achieving the ODF status and to ensure sustainability.

The consultants included: Rachel Cardone (South Africa and Kenya), Chimere Diop (Burkina Faso and... more The consultants included: Rachel Cardone (South Africa and Kenya), Chimere Diop (Burkina Faso and Senegal), and Abdelaziz Limam and Jomaa Habib (Tunisia). Antti Inkinen of WSP also contributed to the Kenya case. WSP would like to commend Rachel Cardone for her efforts in developing the case studies into their present format for this volume.

International Journal of Water Resources Development, Jun 1, 2005

Economic and Political Weekly, 2010

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission adopted a reform-linked funding approach, the... more The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission adopted a reform-linked funding approach, the culmination of two decades of active debate and experimentation in the urban development sector. Yet, progress of both fund utilisation and reforms under the ...

This review has been developed over the past year-and-a-half and has benefited from the insights ... more This review has been developed over the past year-and-a-half and has benefited from the insights of many colleagues and friends who have provided feedback and helped generously with information. Acknowledgments are due to many. Excellent research support was provided by the two students who worked under the World Banks Knowledge Interns Program: David Lam and Richard Chandler, and the two consultants Helena Tirfie and Nathaniel Paynter. The report was edited by John Dawson, Nathaniel Paynter and Elizabeth Goodrich. Vandana Mehra and Shamis Wainaina provided production support. The paper was peer reviewed by John Briscoe, Aldo Baietti, and Jan Janssens. Their feedback has helped to improve the overall structure and basic reasoning of the analysis. A special word of thanks is due to the many colleagues and friends who have helped generously with feedback on the initial concept, information and insights regarding experiences from different countries, or feedback on specific sections:

Environment And Planning B: Urban Analytics And City Science, Mar 25, 2022

The common practice for desludging of septic tanks is ‘demand-based desludging’ rather than a reg... more The common practice for desludging of septic tanks is ‘demand-based desludging’ rather than a regular service. Such practices have adverse social and environmental impacts. Scheduled desludging is advocated to maintain the performance of septic tanks and avoid adverse effects on the environment. Wai, a small town in the state of Maharashtra, India, is the first city in India to implement scheduled desludging. This paper discusses impact of scheduled desludging on water quality. The quality of water before scheduled desludging and after scheduled desludging is assessed. It describes monitoring the quality of groundwater, river water, effluent from drains and supernatants from septic tanks. It reflects the linkages of scheduled desludging and improved supernatants and drain water quality which as a result improves the river and groundwater quality. The results suggest positive impact of regular desludging on the performance of septic tanks. This has led to improvement in the quality of drain water, ground water and river water.

The paper draws on presentations and discussions from a Practitioners' Workshop held in Pretoria,... more The paper draws on presentations and discussions from a Practitioners' Workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2006 as well as six utility case studies and 14 utility questionnaires. The authors would like to thank a number of people who have provided feedback on the paper: Kameel Virjee of the Water and Sanitation Program, Africa, and Chimere Diop and Johan Kruger, consultants to WSP-Af. We would also like to acknowledge the financial assistance of PPIAF and the DfID-funded global program on Unlocking the Potential of Domestic Private Sector, which is being managed by the Water and Sanitation Program. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to The World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the companies they represent.

The imporlance of water supply and sanitation for poverty reduction is inadequatly represented in... more The imporlance of water supply and sanitation for poverty reduction is inadequatly represented in the development of poverty reduction stategy papers (PRSPs) in Sub-Sahaman Afrca. This is especlaly true of sanitation. This paper provides an assessment of the ooverage of water and sanitation in PRSPs In Sub-Saharan Africa through a reiew of 12 countries: Benin,

Economic and Political Weekly, 1987

The authors of the government's Draft National Housing Policy (DNHP) are not troubled by dou... more The authors of the government's Draft National Housing Policy (DNHP) are not troubled by doubts that the housing market may not cater to the poor. The emphasis on'affordable shelter'also makes it clear that the draft policy views housing in the context of the present ...

New approaches to poverty reduction developed during the last decade are reflected in two new glo... more New approaches to poverty reduction developed during the last decade are reflected in two new global initiatives - debt relief through the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and development of poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs). These are especially relevant in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) as 32 of the 41 countries initially identified for such support is in this region. This note provides the main findings of a preliminary desk review of the water supply and sanitation (WSS) component in these exercises. The main objectives of the review are to develop a framework for WSS integration within the PRSP process and identify key areas of focus and directions for possible support from the Water and Sanitation Program - Africa Region (WSP-AF) in this activity. Key areas of inquiry include: coverage of WSS sector in poverty diagnostic and priority strategies, inclusion of WSS in macro financial planning, and overall monitoring and evaluation (M&E) within the PRSP process....