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)
Guidelines to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste are out
Policy matters this week Posted on 08 Apr, 2020 01:10 PM

CPCB releases guidelines to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste

Biomedical waste. Image for representation only (Source: Vivien Rolfe via Flickr)
Online session on COVID-19 by NIMHANS Bangalore and ECHO India
This interaction is targeted at NGOs and should broadly help their staff to deal better with the stress levels during the lockdown.
Posted on 04 Apr, 2020 02:47 PM

What is the session about?

In these difficult and uncertain times, misinformation and inadequate resources are hitting the rural communities the most. The preventive lockdown itself brings several difficulties like those of livelihood loss and mental stress.

Advisory on how to prevent Covid-19
Those who need to work to survive cannot stay home. What can they do during such times? Posted on 02 Apr, 2020 06:50 PM

COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease), an acute respiratory disease emerged in late 2019 and has been spreading rapidly across the globe. The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. It is marked by respiratory problems that are usually mild (coughing, fever) but can be severe (pneumonia, trouble breathing).

The fear is that Covid-19 would almost certainly spread within communities in India, just as it had started to do in Italy, South Korea, and Iran. (Image: Trinity Care Foundation)
Joining the battle against Covid-19
As corona virus 'travels' to rural areas, PRADAN ramps up its response by training tribals and marginalised women. Posted on 02 Apr, 2020 10:48 AM

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease a pandemic. Originating from Wuhan in China, it has traversed almost the entire globe, and claimed more than 41,000 lives, while over 8 lakh people are infected already. That’s largely the urban population.

Keeping the communities abreast of best practices for a safe and healthy living (Image: PRADAN)
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Jal Jeevan Mission
All you need to know on Jal Jeevan Mission, a time-bound mission-mode programme that was launched in 2019 to provide water to all by 2024. Posted on 31 Mar, 2020 03:12 PM
On 15 August, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a time-bound mission-mode programme, to enable all rural household to have functional household tap connection (FHTC) i.e. Har Ghar Nal Se Jal by 2024.
Women benefit the most, when potable water reaches straight to their homes (Image: Shree Padre via IWP Flickr photos)
Enabling a transition to responsive forest governance
NGOs involvement in implementation of the FRA provides an extremely valuable support system, study says. Posted on 31 Mar, 2020 02:08 PM

The Forest Rights Act or FRA was enacted in 2006, following collective pressure from a massive social movement to correct the historical injustices imposed since the colonial takeover of India's forests.

The state needs to be highly responsive to the needs of communities during the post-rights recognition phase (Image: Gramvaani)
Clean drinking water: Still a pipe dream for Maharashtra?
While water supply coverage has improved over the years in Maharashtra, why does safe and continuous water supply still remain a distant dream for the state? Posted on 30 Mar, 2020 04:34 PM

Latur in Maharashtra has been facing acute drinking water scarcity over the last month and has been in news again, and that too, inspite of having piped water connections and a good monsoon this year!

Har nal me jal, a pipe dream? (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Community-led piped water supply initiative in Bihar
For Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal to succeed, the state needs to look at water harvesting to augment groundwater availability. Posted on 28 Mar, 2020 12:34 PM

Water is a precious natural resource that ensures human well-being. However, across the globe there is a severe water crisis, which is heightened by issues of inaccessibility and contamination.

The community at the ward level of the panchayat is supposed to have complete ownership of the system created. (Image: GG Vogman, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Democratization of data through use of GIS technology
How technology enables monitoring and evaluation, or comparative analysis of developmental data from village to state level. Posted on 26 Mar, 2020 11:55 AM

Developments in geographical information systems (GIS) in India, both in policy and law, have thus far empowered to a greater extent government and business at national and regional level. The real challenge in this sector is to extend this technology to local communities for self-governance and to enable them to participate on an equal footing in regional and national development.

A view of a village in Almora district of Uttarakhand (Image: Raja Harjai, Flickr Commons)
Vulnerability in the times of Corona
When a pandemic strikes, it pushes the burden on the weakest in an unequal society. Posted on 25 Mar, 2020 10:54 AM

Disasters have the ability to disrupt everyday life. However, it is not often that we probe about what constitutes a disaster? How do we define it? Well, a disaster varies in definition for different agencies.

Image: Muffinn, Flickr Commons
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