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)
Maharashtra reels under hail storms and unseasonal rainfall
News this month: Maharashtra faces the impact of climate change; Developing El Nino raises fear of a weak Indian monsoon; India's water crisis to worsen in the coming years, says UN. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 11:23 PM

Maharashtra reels under hail storms

Unseasonal rainfall in Mumbai (Source: Wikipedia)
Abolish manual scavenging: SC
Policy matters this month: SC directs all states to abolish manual scavenging; MoEF reduces ESA in its new draft notification on Western Ghats; Maharashtra all set to clean its rivers. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 11:14 PM

Abolish manual scavenging: SC

A manual scavenger in Chennai (Namathu Blogspot)
A picture paints a thousand words? So do comics!
Local jokes, dialogues and narratives from issues of community quarrels over water tanks to rainwater harvesting came alive in a Grassroots Comics workshop in Sikkim to mark World Water Day. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:31 PM

As a run up to World Water Day 2014, India Water Portal conducted a Grassroots Comics workshop with Field Facilitators, Barefoot Engineers and other field workers of the Dhara Vikas Programme.

A better, bluer Bangalore
The Green Bazaar, which brought together local communities and businesses as well as water experts, provided a fitting end to India Water Portal's celebrations of World Water Day 2014. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:26 PM

In honour of World Water Day 2014, the theme at the Green Bazaar, a community event run by The Alternative, was water. India Water Portal collaborated to add some 'blue' to the 'green'.

Green Bazaar in Bangalore
The water-energy nexus
Meerut celebrated World Water Day with speakers talking about the connection between the two topics. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:20 PM

The theme of this year’s World Water Day was “energy-water nexus”. It was almost as if the topic was chosen keeping Western Uttar Pradesh in mind because the conflict between water and energy users in agriculture and industry has heightened here in the recent past.

Rise of tubewells in western UP (Source: DTE)
The importance of transparency and data management
World Water Day was celebrated in Raipur by bringing together many speakers who talked on the importance of sharing and disseminating information to truly serve society well. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:17 PM

On 22nd March 2014, Raipur celebrated World Water Day with senior government officials and officials from NGOs and other organisations presenting on the importance of NGOs in disseminating information to the people. They also highlighted the discrepancies in data collected between organisations and the need to improve on this if they were to make a difference to society. 

World Water Day at Raipur
And the 2014 UN ‘Water for Life’ award goes to …
... IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program, a project that focuses on water and energy, and throws light on how the fortunes of groundwater and energy economies are intertwined. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 09:52 PM

IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program (ITP), a project that focusses on policy research in the co-management of energy & groundwater, has been awarded the 2014 UN ‘Water for life’ award!

Project leader Tushaar Shah with the award
When it rains, it stores!
In the four years since a programme called 'Mazhapolima', meaning bounty of rain, was launched in Thrissur, Kerala, the district has seen an increase in the quality and quantity of water in its wells. Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 09:03 PM

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Rainwater diverted into an open well in Thrissur
Deepor beel: Entangled in a net of dangers
Banning fishing in the beel has not only affected the sustenance of the Keot fishing community in Guwahati but it is also threatening the beel's very existence. Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:52 PM

“Posua botah”, he said. “The wind is blowing from the west now so we cannot take you to the beel to show you how we catch fish. This wind cleans the water and we won’t get fish. 'Bhatial botah', when the wind blows from the east, the water turns muddy and the fish come up to the surface to breathe. That’s the best time to fish”, he explained.

Deepor Beel awaits a fresh gush of life
Prevention is better than rehabilitation
Commonly understood steps in disaster management are response, relief and rehabilitation but there is no mention of prevention. Awareness and education is the key to bringing about this change. Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:50 PM

The Himalayas were born of continental shift when the Indian subcontinent challenged the larger Asian landmass. This tortured birth still continues making the region susceptible to landslides and earthquakes.

A room overlooking the Gori Ganga, Uttarakhand
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