About Khandel

With a still increasing population of more than one billion, India remains one of the poorest nations on earth.

Worldwide, over two billion people (around one third of the world’s population) lack adequate sanitation, more than one billion people live without access to safe drinking water (Source: World Bank).

In India, only 14% of the population has access to clean sanitation, a lower proportion than almost anywhere in the world.

Life expectancy is nearly 20 years less than in the UK.

Within the Khandel area, adult literacy is only around 36% (with an especially low rate among women).

There is a primary/middle school, but children have to travel up to 15km for secondary education.

There is no provision of medical care in the small villages. With more than 80% of the population depending on agriculture for survival, the recent droughts have imposed particularly severe hardship, and increased pressure on the young to leave.

The annual rainfall in Rajasthan has fallen over the last eight years from the expected 250-300mm to 76mm in 2002 when a state of emergency was declared. It was a little better last year.