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
300 million people will be vulnerable to annual coastline flooding by 2050
The number of people vulnerable to floods triggered by climate change by 2050 is triple that of previous estimates, according to a new study. Posted on 06 Nov, 2019 12:28 PM

A new research study by Climate Central, a US-based non-profit research group has projected that 300 million people could face annual coastal flooding triggered by climate change by 2050.

Aerial view of Chennai during floods 2015 (Image: Veethika, Wikimedia Commons, CC-SA 4.0 International)
Unregulated e-waste hotspots operating in Delhi with no safeguards
Study identifies 5,000 illegal e-waste units in Delhi operating without health and environmental safeguards. Posted on 28 Oct, 2019 02:11 PM

A study by Toxics Link, a Delhi-based environmental research and advocacy non-profit identified 15 e-waste processing hotspots in Delhi operating with impunity without safeguards. These hotspots house over 5,000 illegal e-waste processing units directly and indirectly employing over 50,000 people.

Most of the operations in these units were found to be manual and rudimentary (Image: Toxics Link)
Drinking water availability should be a top priority, concrete action should be taken against water wastage: NGT
Policy matters this week Posted on 23 Oct, 2019 10:35 AM

Drinking water availability should be a top priority: NGT

Queuing up for water (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Conflicts over land on the rise in India
A forum discusses the need to stop illegal land transfers and land alienation of the poor. Posted on 22 Oct, 2019 11:42 AM

Land-related conflicts in India are on the rise despite some of the most progressive legislations to protect people’s rights over land and forest.

The maldharis from kutch on their own road trip (Image: Malay Maniar, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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.
Manipur’s floating lake at risk
A study using remote sensing techniques assesses significant changes in land use in Loktak lake. Posted on 18 Oct, 2019 12:37 PM

Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in North East India is also known as the ‘floating lake’ for the numerous phumdis or masses of vegetation it supports. The phumdis float around on the lake’s surface due to decay from the bottom.

A home on Loktak lake in Moirang, Manipur (Image: Sharada Prasad CS, Wikipedia Commons)
Saving Aarey, the last lungs of Bombay
Mumbai’s citizens came out in droves to save trees from being felled in Aarey to make way for the metro. Collective action is crucial to save the green lungs of India's rapidly urbanising cities. Posted on 11 Oct, 2019 06:30 PM

Last week saw protests of a different kind in Mumbai. Activists and citizens from all walks of life came together to protest the cutting of trees in Aarey Milk Colony, one of the few surviving green lungs of the fast growing and polluted city of Mumbai.

Aarey, the green lungs of Mumbai (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Goa fights to protect its khazans; Coonoor cleans its river; Punjab gov scrambles to clean Kali Bein River before Gurupurab
News this week Posted on 10 Oct, 2019 11:36 AM

Goa government, farmers against MoEF for proposing re-designation of the state’s low lying lands

Aerial view of a Khazan in the Zuari river, Goa.
Towards a new horizontal water federalism
Where do the aspirations of riverine ecosystems and communities fit in a federalist set-up? Posted on 09 Oct, 2019 08:04 PM

The execution of India’s institutional framework for preventing and solving conflicts over river water is still evolving. A new thinking on federalism in the field of water management to meet local aspirations and national ambition is needed.

Odisha and Chhattisgarh have locked horns over the distribution of waters of the Mahanadi river at Hirakud dam (Image: Makarand Purohit, India Water Portal)
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