Rajasthan

As per a new study conducted by the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) and IIMPACT, an NGO loss of income and livelihood are among the top concerns for rural communities struggling to cope with the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic.

With increased urbanisation, India is experiencing acute air pollution in its urban centres.

According to a 2006 report by the Inter-Agency Task Force, titled ‘Gender, Water and Sanitation’

Groundwater levels across India have been falling rapidly, affecting the livelihood and wellbeing of village communities. Top-down approaches to groundwater management have not worked.

It has been four years since Anupam Mishra Ji, the stalwart environmentalist who had worked his entire life promoting the water harvesting techniques of Rajasthan, left. In his book, Anupam Ji extensively talks about how the water tankas (structures) were historically valued by the communities and were maintained regularly and governed through community participation.

Radha Devi, the sarpanch of Bhadsiya, Nagaur tehsil, Rajasthan dissuaded the principal of the government school from forcing girl students to fetch water for mid-day meal preparation during school hours and sent these girls back to their classrooms.

India’s national lockdown to curb the fast-expanding community transmission of coronavirus led to life coming to a standstill across the country. The long pause of over three months is starting to ease, and the new shift towards “normal” gives health and hygiene ultimate attention.

The COVID-19 crisis has brought the world to a standstill. Government, civil society and volunteers are rallying to ensure that social and economic inequalities do not dictate how this crisis draws lines between the “haves” and “have-nots”. Nonetheless, the crisis seems to have deepened the existing divide.

The ‘Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention’ (MARVI) project is being undertaken since February 2012 with the overall aim to improve the security of irrigation water supplies and enhance livelihood opportunities for rural communities in India.

The exodus of migrant workers from urban areas back to their villages in the wake of country wide lockdown has brought rural poverty into sharp focus. Reconstruction of rural economy therefore needs policy and planning attention.