Citizens' Rights and Duties

Featured Articles
July 7, 2022 PMAY needs policy commitment to rehabilitate slums in small and medium cities of Gujarat
Need for legal framework for land rights in small and medium cities of Gujarat under PMAY (Image: Homes in the City)
December 6, 2019 A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
November 21, 2019 A report by NIUA brings to light the chinks in Jaipur's sewage system and suggests some solutions.
Routine check done by the sewage treatment plant staff in Delawas, Jaipur. The plant is part of the ADB best practices projects list. (Image: Asian Development Bank, Flickr Commons)
November 18, 2019 Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 15, 2019 On World Toilet Day, we bring to light the labour of India’s sewer workers - those who do the unclean work that a Clean India relies on.
Photo credit: Sharada Prasad
River conservation efforts need to be prioritised
Healthy forests are necessary for healthy rivers and prosperous communities that depend on the river, say experts. Posted on 05 Apr, 2019 02:06 PM

Odisha is home to 11 major rivers of which many are interstate rivers such as the Mahanadi. As climate change makes extreme rainfall events more frequent in the state, there is an urgent need to better manage the rivers and their basins.

Engagement with indigenous communities in protecting natural forests and rivers is vital (Image: Priya Ranjan Sahoo)
How mining ruined lives and livelihoods
Illegal stone quarries have changed the face of Birbhum district where villagers are finding it difficult to survive due to contaminated water and pollution. Posted on 03 Apr, 2019 10:13 AM

Koley Kisku, a primary school student at Ranipur village at Rampurhat block in Birbhum district of West Bengal suffers from a thyroid gland related ailment that has partially affected his ability to speak. His school mates say that the 11-year-old could speak normally till a few years ago but he began to lose his voice.

Labourers crush stones at illegal stone quarries. (Pic: Gurvinder Singh)
UN Environment Assembly adopts India's two resolutions
Policy matters this week Posted on 20 Mar, 2019 12:37 PM

UN Environment Assembly adopts resolutions on single-use plastics, nitorgen management piloted by India

Recycling of single-use plastic is a global challenge. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
An integrated approach to water quality management
Chemical contamination of drinking water is a significant health concern in India, one we haven’t realised the magnitude of. Practitioners across sectors must come together to tackle this issue. Posted on 18 Mar, 2019 03:58 PM

Fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, and other chemicals in drinking water pose significant health risks (such as fluorosis and arsenicosis) to o

Photo courtesy: Arjun Swaminathan
Dumping waste effectively
Three environment-friendly ways of disposing of human waste have proven effective in various districts of Chhattisgarh. Posted on 16 Mar, 2019 03:51 PM

According to the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) website, access to toilets has improved in India and 28 out of 36 states and Union Territories are now open defecation free (ODF). While that’s good news, managing faecal sludge in ODF states in an eco-friendly way continues to be a big challenge. 

Evapotranspiration community toilet at Shankarnagar, Kumhari (Source: India Water Portal)
Protecting Surajpur wetland
Surajpur wetland faces the threat of habitat loss because of the proliferating real estate development in the area. Posted on 13 Mar, 2019 05:29 PM

The migratory bird season is in full swing and avid bird watchers have flocked to Surajpur wetland to sight the charismatic Common Teal, Red-crested Pochard, Ferruginous Pochard, Bar-headed Goose, Greylag Goose, Northern Shoveler and Gadwall.

The forest department and local activists discuss the threats on Surajpur, an urban wetland encroached upon by private real estate as well as the government. (Image: India Water Portal)
SC orders forced eviction of tribals, forest dwellers
Policy matters this week Posted on 27 Feb, 2019 01:31 PM

Forced eviction ordered for more than one million tribals and forest-dwellers

Tribal women in Chhattisgarh (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Can we gain from changing rains?
While changing rainfall patterns, increased frequency of cyclones, droughts and floods threaten food and water security in India, adaptation strategies to cope with these changes are crucial. Posted on 07 Feb, 2019 12:30 PM

India is undergoing a major transition with changes in rainfall patterns leading to increased frequency of droughts, floods, heat waves amidst fear of a major water crisis in the years to come. Why are these threats increasing?

Changing rainfall patterns in India (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Leading a movement to revive a river
The work of river conservationist Mustaquim Mallah with help from local people to revive the Katha river is a good example that river conservation is possible through local participation. Posted on 30 Jan, 2019 04:21 PM

People of Ramra, a village in the Kairana block of Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh have warm recollections of river Katha that joins the Yamuna below Ramra. Mustaquim Mallah, a 30-year old river conservationist recalls how his grandfather held many pleasant childhood memories of the river. "My great grandfather fished in this river.

A “one house, one pot” symbolic water donation movement was conducted over the years for river Katha. (Image: Mustaquim Mallah)
Operating community toilet complexes
Project Raahat has developed a guide to replicate the best practices to standardise the operations of a community toilet complex. Posted on 29 Jan, 2019 03:42 PM

Launched in 2015, Project Raahat, an initiative by students of a management institute, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), Delhi University has been working on eradicating open defecation and providing safe sanitation in urban slums of India.

Project Raahat is a fully sustainable project under the umbrella of Enactus SSCBS in collaboration with the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board. (Image: Project Raahat, Enactus SSCBS)
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