News and Articles

The monsoon has become active in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Lakshadweep and parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh. There are also reports of heavy rainfall in parts of Karnataka. At the same time, news from the north in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir includes reports of a cold wave and rains and the first snowfall of the season.

Northeast monsoon

The Madurai Symposium organised by the

This article published in the discussion section of the Economic and Political Weekly is a critique of the National Water Policy: An alternative draft for consideration, proposed by Ramaswamy Iyer, published in the Economic and Political Weekly, June 25th 2011.

Author: Jayanta Bandyopadhyay

This article published in the Seminar 626, October 2011 argues that our current state of knowledge of water systems and ecological modelling related to flows of water, which includes projecting a single quantitative figure of water requirements, is inadequate. Such a unilateral prescription of environmental flows or water requirements of aquatic systems as a method for the resolution of water conflicts may actually become the source of many new conflicts.

This report by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra discusses the concerns around the private water supply augmentation project in Khandwa town in Madhya Pradesh under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), a Government of India scheme for infrastructure development in small and medium town. 

Khandwa is the first town in Madhya Pradesh to execute a private water project under this scheme, hence the findings of this project would be important for other towns as well which are looking for implementing private water projects under UIDSSMT.

This report basically focuses on the issues related to the new private water supply augmentation project from Chhoti Tawa, a tributary of Narmada River, and a part of the backwaters of Indira Sagar Project on Narmada. It gives a brief picture of the existing water supply system in Khandwa. It also discusses in details the impacts of the new private water supply project and question marks on the project efficacy.The report looks into the alternative systems that could have been operated instead of the current private, long distance and expensive project.

Article Courtesy : Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO)

Author : Ranjan Panda

These large structural engineering solutions not only are obsolete but undermine the importance of ‘integrated flood management’. Time we grow up and design ways to live with floods again.

We all know the statistics: 2.6 billion people around the world are without access to a basic toilet. Diarrhoea – the vast majority of it due to poor sanitation and hygiene – is the second biggest killer of children worldwide.

Between us, we also have many of the answers. We have experiences of low-cost technologies that are acceptable and affordable for poor communities in rural areas. We have been involved in designing communications programmes that have contributed to sustained behaviour change.

We have seen governments and civil society working together to set up policies and programmes that ensure access to better sanitation in challenging settings, such as crowded informal settlements in fast-growing megacities. We have also seen businesses grow up around sanitation and hygiene, allowing individuals to make a dignified living and clients to buy the sorts of products and services they want and need.

The work of repair and rehabilitation begins now. Assessments are being done of the assistance –and funds- needed in these two states.

Sikkim is beginning to assess the full extent of the damage caused by the 18th September earthquake. In addition to the loss of life, livelihoods have been severely impacted. The earthquake is also raising questions about the safety of the many dams planned on the Teesta.

Orissa was hit by two spates of flood in September 2011, the first one being caused by heavy rains in the Mahanadi catchment and release of huge discharges from Hirakud dam. The second one was caused by heavy rains and flooding of Brahmani, Baitarani and Budhabalanga rivers. These floods point to the loopholes in river basin planning and management and calls for urgent attention of planners and policy makers.