India

Training module at block level

Dilemma facing NGO action

Watershed development is not merely a matter of harvesting rainwater. Its success crucially entails:

• working out collective protocols of equitable and sustainable use of surface and ground water

This study is a part of water and democracy programme initiated by the Centre for World Solidarity (CWS) as a joint initiative with Church Development Service (EED) in 2007 involving more than 50 partner organisations in South Asia.

CEPT University has received a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research urban water and sanitation issues. The aim of this programme is to develop better information on water and sanitation performance at the local level. This in turn will be used by the state and local governments for extending services to the poor, strive for financial viability, and improve reliability and quality of services.

The research will focus on the use of performance indicators and benchmarks to facilitate consistent reporting, monitoring, planning, budgeting, and investing in water and sanitation services in all urban areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra states. Lessons from the project will be disseminated to other states and at the national level.

CEPT University with its partners will work with state and local governments to develop a reliable and sustainable Performance Assessment System (PAS) for urban water and sanitation services. The PAS envisaged in this project includes: Performance Measurement, Performance Monitoring, and Performance Improvement.

Indicorps invites young Indian professionals interested in committing their time and skills to India to apply for its new sabbatical program: The Young Professionals Initiative (YPI). YPI is a pilot program designed to encourage young working professionals to contribute their skills and knowledge to the land of their heritage in a meaningful way. The core fellowship program aims to inspire a new generation of global Indian leaders through structured grassroot public service opportunities. Indicorps projects embody a firm and demonstrated commitment to promoting peace, inclusiveness, secularism, and the empowerment of Indians.

The objective of the India Innovation Initiative project is to create an innovation eco-system in the country by sensitizing, encouraging and promoting innovators and facilitating commercialization of the innovations. DST and CII jointly launched the Young Inventors initiative "Steer the Big Idea" in the year 2004. It was aimed at capturing the innovative ideas from young innovators for the benefit of Industry & society. In 2005, CII & DST joined hands with Industry to form IRIS - Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science. IRIS has been focused so far on school students i.e. innovators below the age group of 18 years. Agilent has been organizing the Agilent Engineering and Technology Awards through which it has been encouraging engineering students towards hands-on engineering in India and recognizing innovation. CII & DST have now joined hands with Agilent in a combined effort to launch a nation-wide innovation competition for all innovators above the age group of 18+: "India Innovation Initiative - i3". i3 aims to capture the innovative ideas from the Indian innovators in the age group of 18 years and above, including students, innovators from R&D Institutes & Labs, Industry professionals and individual innovators / Entrepreneurs, grassroots innovators etc. The topic for the 2009 event is "Technology Innovation for Masses and Global Impacts".

  Nitrate/Nitrite contamination is a potentially serious problem for India today, after flouride and arsenic. This contamination occurs largely through the mixing of fertiliser run-off and sewage with water meant for human use. New research reveals that Nitrate/Nitrite contamination can cause severe human health problems including cancer. Below are two research papers from the Environment Health Perspectives (EHP) Journal, written in the context of the United States, that give an idea of Nitrate/Nitrite contamination and their impact on human health. Workgroup Report in the November 2005 issue: "Drinking Water Nitrate and Health - Recent Findings and Research Needs". Read the paper here: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/tt/dwm/res/Drinking_Water_Nitrate_and_Health_Nov%202005_EHP.pdf "A Review of Nitrates in Drinking Water: Maternal Exposure and Adverse Contents Reproductive and Developmental Outcomes", appeared in the March 2006 issue. Read the paper here: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/tt/dwm/res/A_Review_of_Nitrates_in_Drinking_Water_Mar_2006_EHP.pdf

Images and Content Courtesy: Changemakers.net

Ashoka is a global non-profit network and support system for social entrepreneurs—people who devise innovative solutions to the social problems that plague society. To further this goal, two theme-based competitions, have been announced! The first is to encourage innovations across the entire agriculture chain. The other competition seeks to identify success stories in the field of geotourism.

"Cultivating Innovation: Solutions for Rural Communities" Entry Deadline: May 13, 2009.

Prizes: a) Three top winners get $5,000 each; b) Early Bird Prize: If you enter by April 13, 2009, you could win a cell phone and digital camera (equal value of USD $1000); c) Nominator Prize: If you nominate people/organizations who could enter the competition, you stand to win a special prize!

"The Geotourism Challenge: Power of Place." Entry Deadline: May 20, 2009. Prizes: Three top winners get $5,000 each.

Water flows without regard to political and administrative boundaries. Water planning with respect to rivers should therefore be done for the river basin (or sub-basin) as a whole. River basin planning also has to look in an integrated way at all the relevant parameters like urban and rural populations, water usage patterns, water pollution, wastewater flows.