Morning Briefing

India's minister of development is promoting a campaign on public hygiene, after a UNICEF report found "that India accounts for 58 percent of the world's population practicing open defecation," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. "Jairam Ramesh says the revelation is a source of national shame and a 'sad commentary' on society's failure to address the issue through education and better sanitation," the AP writes. According to the AP, the Indian government "says it spends $350 million a year to build rural toilets, but some 638 million still rely on fields or quiet corners" (10/2). The public awareness campaign is expected to last one month, according to Xinhua (10/2).