Citizens' Rights and Duties

Featured Articles
July 7, 2022
Slum land rights: A necessity for success of PMAY
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
Holistic approach needed to clean the Ganga
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
Jaipur’s wastewater conundrum
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
Manual scavenging persists in India due to weak enforcement of laws
News this week
manual_scavengers
November 18, 2019
BWSSB’s workforce woefully inadequate, says Chairman Tushar Girinath
Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 15, 2019
When the sewers get blocked: sanitation labour in urban India
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
"In search of old ideas" - A discussion of the draft national water policy 2012, by Jayanta Bandopadhyay in The Telegraph
In this article published in the Telegraph Jayanta Bandopadhyay discusses the draft national water policy 2012.
Jayanta Bandopadhyay
Posted on 22 Feb, 2012 05:05 PM

Author: Jayanta Bandopadhyay

Article and image courtesy: The Telegraph
New water policy more contentious; least helpful in tackling existing issues
The new water policy (NWP) draft 2012 is reportedly replete with more contentious issues and least helpful in tackling existing issues. The formulation of new draft policy has been facilitated in an undemocratic way sans participation of all stakeholders. Undoubtedly the draft explicitly states that water needs to be managed as a community resource held by the state under public trust doctrine, but concurrently it underscores the need to treat water as an “economic good”. Instead of treating water as ‘economic good’, it should be treated as sustainable development instrument.
Arvind Kumar
Posted on 22 Feb, 2012 12:34 PM

Author : Dr. Arvind Kumar
Towards greener development: EIA sector specific manuals brought out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests
This article collates and presents 26 of the 37 environment impact assessment (EIA) manuals brought out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI)
IL&FS Ecosmart Limited
Posted on 19 Feb, 2012 07:20 PM

These manuals are aimed at expert appraisal committees, and hope to improve the quality of appraisal of projects. These will also provide a template for use by organisations and consultants developing the EIA reports.cover page of the EIA guidance manual-ship breaking yards

Understanding governance in WASH sector in Andhra Pradesh - A study by WASSAN
The paper examines the issue of water governance- its key elements, applicability, and influence on service levels.
MV Rama Chandrudu
R subramanyam Naidu
Safa Fanaian
Posted on 18 Feb, 2012 03:38 PM

Problems in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector have their roots in socio-political issues rather than in technology. This paper presents the report of a survey in 107 villages in rural Andhra Pradesh to illustrate the influence of governance systems.

contrasting pictures of a well maintained hand pump and one that is standing in a pool of dirty water

"Water management in Mumbai: Prospects and challenges" - Videos from a round table organised by Observer Research Foundation
These videos from a round table organised by Observer Research Foundation deal with the issue of water management in Mumbai.
Observer Research Foundation
Posted on 16 Feb, 2012 03:51 PM

These four films include details of speeches made by the Municipal Commissioner of Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mr Swadhin Kshatriya, who delivered a valedictory speech and Mr Sandeep Acharya, senior journalist from Loksatta, who expressed his views on the water crisis in Mumbai, as a part of a round table organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), on "Water management in Mumbai: Prospects and challenges", on the 10th of January 2010.

Multi-stakeholder dialogue is messy, but necessary
Presentations made at the workshop on "Understanding and resolving water conflicts in the North East India", organised in January 2012.
Chandan Mahanta
KJ Joy
Partha Das
Rushabh Hemani
Suhas Paranjape
Posted on 16 Feb, 2012 01:32 PM

A workshop on ‘Understanding and resolving water conflicts in the North East India', was organized by Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India (Forum), in collaboration with Aaranyak (Guwahati), Centre for the Environment, IIT (Guwahati), Arghyam (Bangalore), SaciWATERs-CapNet Network (SCaN) and Cap-Net to discuss emerging issues related to water conflicts and their resolution in the region. This workshop was held in Guwahati on January 23-26, 2012. It aimed at presenting concepts and theory related water conflicts as well as issues especially relevant to the North East Region.

Conflict flow chart

Water conservation, sustainable agriculture, challenges for rural development in Maharashtra and possible solutions - Talk by Popatrao Pawar, Sarpanch, Hivre-Bazar
These four video films cover a talk by Shri Popatrao Pawar, Sarpanch of Hivre-Bazar (Ahmednagar), Maharashtra.
Observer Research Foundation
Posted on 09 Feb, 2012 04:49 PM

Shri Popatrao Pawar is an inspiring promoter of the 'Ideal Villages Movement' on "Integrated Agriculture and Rural Development for Tomorrow's Maharashtra" on the occasion of the inauguration of Observer Research Foundation's Maharashtra@50 Study Centre on 24th June 2010.
Governing the urban poor - Riverfront development, slum resettlement and the politics of inclusion in Ahmedabad - A paper published in EPW
This EPW paper by Renu Desai describes the case of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development (SRD) project in Ahmedabad.
Renu Desai
Posted on 08 Feb, 2012 11:58 AM

Sabarmati Riverfront Development (SRD) project, an urban mega-project in Ahmedabad has been proclaimed as a case based on “flexible governing” of the residents of the riverfront informal settlements.
Mining poisons South Goa waters: The case of the Salaulim reservoir shown in a film
This film describes the impact of excessive mining on water resources in South Goa .
Video Volunteers
Posted on 04 Feb, 2012 05:05 PM

Content and Media Courtesy: Video Volunteers
Community monitoring in water and sanitation projects - A facilitators manual by PRIA
This manual published by Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) aims at creating a basic understanding of the concept, principles and steps of community monitoring.
Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
Posted on 02 Feb, 2012 11:59 AM

This manual is based on the work that PRIA was involved in that included facilitating the process of social development and monitoring, and for guiding the process of developing models for community monitoring linked to community action, for child survival and development in six project sites in India.

This manual is divided into three key sections:
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