ABSTRACT
The mapping of sanitation programmes and policies over time in India shows that from independence up until the middle of 2000, rural sanitation received greater attention from policymakers than urban sanitation, with a slew of programmes and schemes by the Government of India targeted at villagers to build and use toilets since the 1980s. Other than civil society organisations, social innovations have been ideated and driven by the government, social entrepreneurs, for-profit organisations and academia as well. For social innovations to be scalable, they should be based on principles of economic, environmental and social justice. Social innovations are a continuous process as new unmet needs emerge with time. They can help mitigate some intractable problems; but as new challenges emerge, they promote social innovations to grow and adapt to meet the unfulfilled needs of the people.
