India

Appointment of young professionals as Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows - Some questions
There has been quite a bit of news and excitement about the Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows recently appointed by selecting young professionals from top professionals institutions like IITs, IIMs, TISS and others. It is a welcome idea that large numbers of professionals have been attracted to be such Fellows. It is to be seen if they will deliver what is expected out of them, especially while working in the districts affected by left wing extremism. I wish them all success but the history of such ideas and experiments have failed globally and we should have deeper analysis of them, says Achyut Das of Agragamee, Orissa.
Achyut Das
Posted on 23 Apr, 2012 11:19 AM

The critics of the PMRDFS have already started asking questions as follows:
Interlinking of rivers project: A disquieting judgement - Ramaswamy Iyer's perspective in the EPW on the recent Supreme Court decision
The Supreme Court judgement of 27 February 2012 directed the executive government to implement the river inter-linking project through a special committee which will take precedence over all other administrative bodies. In this article, first published in the Economic and Political Weekly, Ramaswamy Iyer explains why this backing of a 'potentially disastrous' project is disturbing. The article then calls for a reconsideration of this judgement.
Ramaswamy Iyer
Posted on 20 Apr, 2012 10:52 PM

 

1. Introduction
Two writ petitions were filed in 2002 on the subject of interlinking. The judgement finally passed in 2012 directs the implementation of this project. This judgement is disturbing for the following reasons:
A framework for rural drinking water quality management, based on experiences from the voluntary sector - A learning document by Arghyam
Arghyam, Bangalore, a non-profit foundation focusing on domestic water and sanitation, has published a document highlighting a water quality management (WQM) framework for rural areas. The framework lays out a phased and process-driven approach to WQM in rural areas and is based on work done by 12 prominent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who have been working on water quality (WQ), from across the country. Ayan Biswas of Arghyam writes about this.
Arghyam
Ayan Biswas
Posted on 20 Apr, 2012 04:33 PM


The phases that have been identified for a sustainable WQM programme are: 

(1) Assessment of baseline situation

(2) Participatory planning

(3) Water quality monitoring

(4) Implementation
The sanitation crisis in India - An urgent need to look beyond toilet provision
Recent evidence indicates that India is heading towards a major sanitation crisis in the coming years. Efforts made at meeting the sanitation challenges have been found to have very limited results, with as high as 65% of the population not having toilet facilities coupled with very low use of existing toilets in urban and rural areas.
It is perhaps the right time to critically evaluate and move beyond the excessive focus we have on 'provision' and pay attention to the underlying complexities of the mechanisms involved, that influence sanitation behaviour among people. If we dont do so, we stand the risk of "missing all the trees for the forest", i.e. missing the social and economic dimensions of the sanitation needs of the people, in the hurry to count the number of toilets provided ! Aarti Kelkar-Khambete writes about the issue.
Aarti Kelkar-Khambete
Posted on 18 Apr, 2012 12:14 PM

Guest post by: Aarti Kelkar-Khambete

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

The sanitation crisis and the recent evidence on lack of toilet facilities 
Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson of Arghyam announces transition in leadership: Jayamala Subramaniam to take over from 1st June, 2012
Taking up the leadership from the 1st of June, 2012, will be Jayamala Subramaniam.
Ashis
Posted on 13 Apr, 2012 05:44 PM

She comes to Arghyam with a background in the corporate and not for profit sectors, both in India and abroad. She has a record of achievement in taking initiatives to scale in the financial and education sectors and  substantial experience as a coach and mentor.
Toolkit for integrated urban water management, developed by Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy
This toolkit published by the Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy (IRAP) is an outcome of a study that involved exhaustive review of research undertaken all over the world on various aspects of urban water management by scholars and practitioners. It is not only relevant for water managers of urban local bodies, but also senior policy makers, scholars and practitioners concerned with water resources, particularly urban water.
Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy (IRAP)
Posted on 12 Apr, 2012 11:24 PM

The review included, but was not limited to urban hydrology, management of water supply infrastructure, water resources management, water quality management (WQM), groundwater management, technical and economic instruments for water demand management, technical and economic aspects of leakage reduction, environmental and economic aspects of wastewater treatment and reuse, storm water management
A student uses India Water Portal on Twitter (@indiawater) for research
Pranietha Mudliar, a student in the United States recently connected with India Water Portal on Twitter.
Pranietha Mudliar
Posted on 12 Apr, 2012 04:10 PM

She found Twitter to be a useful place to conduct her research on issues of governance and institutions in watershed management programs in India and the U.S., because it enabled her to pick the resources she found useful without having to go through lots of articles and research papers.
Central Water Commission and ISRO launch Water Resources Information System (WRIS), a comprehensive solution for accessing data on water in India
Guest post by: Dr. J.R. Sharma, Indian Space Research Organisation
India-WRIS
Posted on 11 Apr, 2012 02:36 PM

Dear India Water Portal readers,
PPP models for irrigation projects – Why and why not?
Last month India’s Finance Minister announced that henceforth irrigation projects shall also be considered for the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme. VGF is provided by the Government of India in form of grants (one-time or deferred) for infrastructure projects which are commercially unviable and where the private sector is encouraged to participate. Governments support in the form of VGF is expected to bring action in this area, which has see lackluster response in the past where states have tried to initiate some sort of PPP projects and which have largely been considered unfeasible by the private sector.
Rasika Gokhale Athawale
Posted on 10 Apr, 2012 11:17 AM

Author : Rasika Gokhale Athawale
Scientific and technological approaches for sustainable use of water resources: Summary of the Global Indian Scientists and Technocrats Forum convention held at Pune, in December 2010
The Global Scientists and Technocrats Forum (GIST) organised a convention on ‘Scientific and technological approaches for sustainable use of water resources’ in Pune on the 27 and 28 of December 2010 . The keynote address was presented by Hon. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, and the conference was attended by about 600 delegates.
AB Pandya
Anil D Mohile
Anupam Prasad
Anuradha Bajpayee
Arun C Mudgerikar
Asit K Biswas
Avinash Tyagi
BD Kulkarni
BSK Naidu
CD Thatte
Chetam Pandit
CK Agarwal
Deepak Kantawala
Deepashree Raje
Dinesh Kumar
DS Kulkarni
JP Mahale
JT Kshirsagar
JT Nankar
Kaustubha Mohanty
Madhav Chitale
Manohar Arora
MD Pendse
ML Shaikh
NB Desai
NR Deshpande
PB Deolalikar
PK Tiwari
Pradeep Mujumdar
Rajan Nair
Rajendra Hollani
Rakesh Kumar
RC Jha
RD Singh
Rishi Srivastava
RR Kelkar
RR Sonde
SA Kulkarni
Sally T Panicker
Sanjay Belsare
SB Varde
SD Chitaley
SG Koli
Shahid Ali Khan
Shankar Mahro
sP Bagade
SP Jadhav
SR Shukla
Subimal Ghosh
Sudhir Thakre
Ulhas K Kharul
VC Shelke
YVV Satyanarayana
Posted on 09 Apr, 2012 11:17 PM

The sessions were as follows:
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