Equity
Can Budget 2016-17 breathe life into the public health system?
Posted on 15 Feb, 2016 11:00 AMPer a report by the Planning Commission, India’s burden of water borne diseases remains grossly underestimated. The improvements in access to drinking water has not been matched by a proportionate decline in deaths and illnesses from waterborne diseases.
Gender and water use: Looking beyond pure data
Posted on 05 Feb, 2016 12:36 PMGrowth and development indicators at the policy level many a times demand the need for factual data that is often standardised and expressed as numbers in order to make each local context comparable to other and allow data to be aggregated to higher geographical scales.
Water and sanitation sector needs a budget push
Posted on 30 Jan, 2016 12:56 PMWhile the WatSan sector has been prioritised in the country’s policy agenda through the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission, last year’s budgetary outlay was way below desired levels.
Alarm bells ring for Delhi’s groundwater
Posted on 25 Jan, 2016 01:19 PMDelhi, home to 16.75 million people, is in the grip of a major water crisis. Statistics by the Delhi Jal Board for the year 2011 suggest that the water deficit stands at about 250 million gallons per day with the supply being 830 million gallons per day.
Can recurring droughts in Maharashtra be offset by participatory groundwater management (PGWM)?
Posted on 20 Jan, 2016 09:02 AMMaharashtra is the fourth state following Karnataka, Chattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh to seek out relief from the Union government thanks to more than 15,000 of its villages across Marathwada and parts of Western Maharashtra reeling under drought in 2015 [1].
The importance of women in natural resources management
Posted on 16 Dec, 2015 12:40 PMAlthough the state of Uttarakhand is rich in water and forest resources, its watersheds are under threat of wasting and erosion due to decreased forest cover, faulty agricultural practices, hydrologic imbalances and natural calamities. The growing population is further increasing the pressure on natural resources.
Ultratech Cement mines limestone (and villagers) in Chhattisgarh
Posted on 13 Dec, 2015 03:38 PMParaswani village in Balodabazar district, Chhattisgarh contains vast reserves of limestone, a sedimentary rock that is a primary ingredient in the cement manufacturing process. Since 1992, Ultratech Cement Ltd. (UTCL) followed by four other similar companies, have begun excavating this rock within a 30 km radius of the village.
Choppy waters and a calm river voyager
Posted on 06 Dec, 2015 12:31 PMThe epic voyage--Nadisutra--along the Ganga may have been the high point of Emmanuel Theophilus’s recent work, but there have been many more peaks and valleys for this fervent mountaineer cum ecologist. Theo lives in a remote village near Munsiyari in Uttarakhand.
Water vending machines: How equitable are they?
Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 02:34 PMA water ATM, as the name implies, is a sort of a water vending machine similar to bank ATMs except that in a water ATM, money goes in to the machine in return for water. These machines, which run on a cash as well as a prepaid card or smart card system are built, owned and operated by private companies that have rights over public resources such as land and water.