Equity

This seminar paper submitted for the UGC Summer Programme at the Jamia Millia Islamia University describes the findings of a study that explored the quantity of water used in domestic households vis-à-vis the recommended quantity of water consumption in seven major Indian cities, n

This report by the Task Force, constituted by the Planning Commission, Government of India in April, 2008, is an outcome of the need expressed by the Prime Minister of India for a fresh analysis of the problems of the hill states and hill areas of the country in a manner that suggests that these areas do not suffer in any way on account of their peculiarities.

Opinions have been expressed that the pace of development of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) has been slow when compared to the rest of the country. At the same time, its fragile nature and difficulty of taking up conventional development initiatives has not been appreciated. In this report, arguments have been presented recommending reshaping of policies to bring in the “mountain perspective” for the IHR, in the national planning. Emphasis has also been laid on developing norms for good governance and for harnessing social capital at the grassroots.

This working paper by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), UNICEF and WaterAid highlights the fact that a staggering 716 million men, women and children defecate in the open every day, in South Asia, contributing to the most appalling concentration of poverty and disease and the poorest standards of hygiene in the world.

This report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, is the outcome of the deliberations conducted by the committee on slum statistics/census constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in the context of the realisation that there continues

This hand book on Indian science and technology was produced at the end of a project entitled “Science, Ethics and Technological Responsibility in Developing and Emerging Countries” (SET DEV) by Knowledge in Civil Society (KICS). The project aimed at:

• Activating processes of building institutional capacities and skills on science,ethics and STR socialization
• Defining and understanding perspectives of socialization of science and technology that take into consideration local needs in a multilateral dialogue.

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.

This research monograph on Thirupporur and Vadakkuppatu: Eighteenth Century Locality Accounts, prepared jointly by the Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai and Tamil University, Thanjavur, presents a graphic picture of the society and polity of eighteenth century Tamil Nadu.

Content courtesy: OpenSpace

Organization: Agragamee

Agragamee, which means, "pioneer", is a group of activists and thinkers committed to working with marginalized and underprivileged communities in the tribal districts of Orissa, in India. Our efforts at initiating a people-centred development have combined an issue-based approach with programmes for socio-economic development.

It does this in the context of the new decentralised  governance structures that are based on the assumption that domestic water supply is the legitimate domain of women and thus power and authority needs to be granted to women to manage water resources.

However, there is a very little understanding of how this has benefited women and what are the challenges experienced during the process of implementation or the outcomes gained from these processes, in the context of the Indian society that continues to propogate patriarchal values and is based on structures that are inherently hierarchical and inequitable.

Some of the papers dwell on and explore the inherent biases in the literature and make an attempt to understand their implications for women in managing water resources, while some of the papers share case studies on the outcomes of the implementation of the decentralised water management policies at the village level.

Author: Anupam Mishra

"The water in springs of my hills is cool, Do not migrate from this land o my beloved.”