Interviews

Damned by pollution, doomed by beautification
The River Front Development project planned by the PMC is nothing but a cosmetic makeover for the already choked Mula Mutha river in Pune, argues Dr Gurudas Nulkar while speaking to the India Water Portal. Posted on 15 Jun, 2022 12:58 PM

Pune has been a water rich city and the Mula and the Mutha rivers that flow through the city are tributaries that join to form the Mula Mutha river in the city that joins the Bhima and then later, the Krishna river.

The highly polluted and encroached Mula Mutha river in Pune (Image: Alexey Komarov via Wikimedia Commons)
Breathing life into the dying rivers of Pune!
Jeevitnadi continues with its mission to breathe life into Pune’s rivers and has been awarded the prestigious Bhagirath Prayas Samman 2020 this year! Posted on 25 Jan, 2021 10:45 PM

In this year’s India Rivers Week (IRW), Jeevitnadi, an organisation working on rivers in Pune city received the prestigious Bhagirath Prayaas Samman for its exemplary work on spreading awareness and undertaking steps to change the situation of rivers in the city!

Mutha, the lifeline of Pune city (Image Source: India Water Portal)
In conversation with Rohini Nilekani: Water, societal platform thinking and COVID-19 response
We are in conversation with Ms. Rohini Nilekani, a committed philanthropist, author and social activist. She founded Arghyam almost two decades ago and has been a key ideator in the water sector. Posted on 06 May, 2020 03:28 PM

Listen to the interview here:

Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson, Arghyam
Providing safe drinking water, in difficult times!
How does Piramal Sarvajal plan to deal with the water crisis in the country? Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 03:36 PM

Piramal Sarvajal, seeded by the Piramal Foundation in 2008, is a mission driven social enterprise which designs and deploys innovative solutions for creating affordable access to safe drinking water in underserved areas.

Safe drinking water, in difficult times (Image Source: PIramal Sarvajal)
Vulnerable, in the time of Covid-19!
Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM), Pune has designed a Covid-19 response programme for vulnerable communities. Posted on 21 Apr, 2020 09:30 AM

The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide and India continues to be in the line of fire. While cases continue to rise, India is also experiencing a crisis of another kind, that of the lockdown affecting the livelihoods of a large number of workers from the informal sector.

Meeting the basic needs of vulnerable communities during Covid-19 (Image Source: SOPPECOM)
Springing back to life
Jal Jeevan Mission can go a long way to promote springshed management and ensure source sustainability of spring based piped water supply. Posted on 20 Apr, 2020 11:45 PM

Springs are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.

Image: Flickr Commons
Out of the frying pan into the fire
The Covid pandemic has worsened the condition of migrant women farmers, who have been left with no food, water, shelter and means of subsistence while cities have come to a standstill. Posted on 11 Apr, 2020 06:35 PM

While the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide, India continues to be in the line of fire. While cases continue to rise, India also is experiencing a crisis of another kind, that of the lockdown affecting the livelihoods of a huge number of farm migrants working in cities.

Farm women, the worse sufferers of the Covid 19 pandemic (Image Source: Seema Kulkarni)
The Karnataka State Water Policy 2019
The Karnataka Jnana Aayoga (KJA) set up a Task Group to draft a new water policy for Karnataka in December 2017 and the report is now in public domain. What are the suggestions that the report makes? Posted on 20 Jan, 2020 11:42 AM

The water crisis in Karnataka has not only led to severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains region but also created an acute shortage of domestic water, in both rural and urban areas. The 21st century has seen significant changes in demography, economy and agriculture, increasing the demand for water in the state.

Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge (Image Source: India Water Portal)
In conversation with K. J. Joy of SOPPECOM
In this interview, Joy talks about his work as an activist working in rural Maharashtra, and how he came to work on water conflicts in India. Posted on 21 Oct, 2019 10:41 AM

To many in the water sector, K. J. Joy needs no introduction. An activist at heart, Joy is known for his untiring rights based work in mobilising communities in rural Maharashtra, and for his research work on water and water related conflicts including inter-state riparian water conflicts.

KJ Joy speaks at a felicitation for the late Professor Ramaswamy Iyer.
Solving the energy conundrum
Some lessons for transition to small scale solar energy in rural areas from the work of MAJLIS, a collective of dalit and adivasi women in Madhya Pradesh. Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 08:10 PM

Access to electricity is a key metric in development. In rural areas, getting on to the grid is a major step forward, improving literacy rates, agricultural productivity and overall household income. However, providing access to power derived from traditional sources like coal, diesel and hydropower, are proving unsustainable in the short and long term.

There has to be a policy shift for decentralised off grid or distributed generation catering to small communities. (Image: MAJLIS)
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