Governance

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November 6, 2022 In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
October 22, 2022 Role of MGNREGA in the year after the 2020 lockdown: Survey findings from Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh
MGNREGA provided income support or security to vulnerable households during the pandemic (Image: UN Women)
October 14, 2022 Arthan organizes a fireside chat to highlight the need for more data talent for social impact
There is a need to integrate data science into the existing education system (Image: Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, Public Domain Pictures)
September 9, 2022 Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST
An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
July 14, 2022 The river is faced with the dual problem of flood plain encroachment and growing levels of water pollution
Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
July 10, 2022 People in India fleeing disasters like drought more likely to have experienced trafficking or modern slavery than those fleeing floods or cyclones
The country's climate change assessment suggests things are only going to get worse (Image: Saurav Karmakar, India Water Portal Flickr)
Experiments with 'community wells'
Mobilized farmers in Dhule, Maharashtra, show how communities can use groundwater as a common resource in an organised and collective manner. Posted on 10 Sep, 2014 05:13 PM

Rapid increase in the use of groundwater and its declining availability has threatened the existence of this important resource. A community experiment by Desh Bandhu and Manju Gupta Foundation (DBMG), which involves implementing water resource development and mobilising farmers to use groundwater as a common resource through group wells, is showing good results.

Community wells: A shared groundwater resource
50% of MGNREGS reserved for water conservation work
Policy matter this week Posted on 08 Sep, 2014 10:18 PM

50% of MGNREGS work should be for improving water conservation: Government

Labourers building check dams under MGNREGS
Furious Jhelum claims 160 lives
News this week Posted on 08 Sep, 2014 06:19 PM

J&K reels under the worst flood in 60 years

Floods wreak havoc in Jammu & Kashmir
A road less travelled: The Waghad project
A group of farmers in Maharashtra overcame challenges posed by a community-based irrigation system, to manage their water and their livelihoods. How did they do it? Posted on 07 Sep, 2014 04:18 PM

Waghad Dam in Nashik, Maharashtra, constructed in 1984-85, irrigated less than 1% of its total irrigable command area, while farmers in the tail area did not receive any water. Bapu Upadhye of Samaj Parivartan Kendra organised the local farmers, mobilized them to come together and fight for their water quota.

Waghad Project:Community managed irrigation system
An oasis of hope in the land of suicides
Since the implementation of Phad irrigation, a low cost and eco-friendly system that works without electricity, agricultural production has increased improving the situation of farmers in Yavatmal. Posted on 07 Sep, 2014 10:05 AM

Yavatmal, a district in Maharashtra, has gained popularity more for the number of farmer suicides than anything else in recent years. Since 2001, more than 2700 cases of suicide have been registered in this district alone. Poor water availability, low agriculture production and increasing debts are the major causes for suicide. 

A check dam constructed by Dilasa in Dhangarwadi
Coastal coal plants choke Chennai water resource hub
Dead fish floating on the Ennore water creek are the least of the locals worries. Toxic metals, which are poisonous, radioactive and cancerous are a far greater concern. Posted on 07 Sep, 2014 01:03 AM

Chennai's Fort St.George, built in 1644, was the first English fortress to be built in India. It laid the foundation for further settlements around it and the city of Madras gradually expanded around the fort over the years. 

The NTPC Power Plant in Ennore
Well revival effort sees many other benefits
A community drive to revive wells in Mokhla talab near Udaipur results in water security for longer periods of time as well as making leaders out of women. Posted on 05 Sep, 2014 12:59 PM

The name of a place can tell one much about its history. Take Mokla talab, a village 62 km southeast of Udaipur for example. Mokla means sufficient in Rajasthani and talab means pond. The village was named after its overflowing talab. But what happens when the talaab is overflowing no more?

Well lining has improved water availability
Sparkle in the mountains: The indigenous 'Hydroger'
Villages of Nagaland that aren't connected to the electricity grid have been given hope by a new source of power. Posted on 04 Sep, 2014 10:50 PM

It is a labour of love. For 10 years, the team at Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development (NEPeD) held this experiment close to their hearts- a daunting task that is lighting up lives in far-off villages in the mountains of Nagaland today. The hydroger has made way for many to diversify their income through new activities and reduced women’s day-to-day drudgery.

Hydroger machine at Logwesunyu village, Nagaland
Ken-Betwa river link to divert 6,000 hectares of Panna Tiger Reserve
News this week Posted on 01 Sep, 2014 10:06 PM

Ken-Betwa river link to take away 10% of MP's Panna Tiger Reserve

Map showing Ken-Betwa river link (Source: Shannon)
Increased subsidy for toilet construction
Policy matters this week Posted on 01 Sep, 2014 03:33 PM

Higher monetary incentives for toilet construction and delinking sanitation mission from MGNREGS

Toilet under construction in Karnataka
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