Informal Sector

Featured Articles
October 17, 2022 While informal groundwater markets cater significantly to the needs of smallholder farmers in India, they continue to be unacknowledged and understudied.
Groundwater, a finite resource (Image Source: TV Manoj via Wikimedia Commons)
December 7, 2020 The new farm related bills will spell doom for women workers who form the bulk of small and marginal sections of Indian agriculture, warns Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
October 21, 2019 In this interview, Joy talks about his work as an activist working in rural Maharashtra, and how he came to work on water conflicts in India.
KJ Joy speaks at a felicitation for the late Professor Ramaswamy Iyer.
September 24, 2019 Policy matters this week
Despite the ban, manual scavenging continues. (Image courtesy: The Hindu)
September 13, 2019 Arecanut farmers in Karnataka are reeling from dipping groundwater levels and infrequent water supply for irrigation. In this article, some solutions are proposed.
Young arecanut trees grown in drylands of Tumkur region (Gubbi Taluk, Hodalur Village) Pic Credit: Chandana Eswar
In the business of transformation
A toilet complex managed by college students sets an example of a sustainable model for accessing sanitation. Posted on 02 Aug, 2018 04:11 PM

Pramod Kumar Singh, the caretaker of a community toilet complex in northwest Delhi’s Sultanpuri area is proud about its upkeep. The complex, built by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and inaugurated in 2016, is well maintained with beautiful landscaping, posters and wall art.

Delhi Street Art has painted cartoons and caricatures on the walls to attract people to the community toilet complex at Sultanpuri. (Image: Project Raahat, Enactus)
Down in the dumps: Delhi’s waste pickers’ saga
A study by Action India provides insight into Delhi’s recycling nightmare and its unacknowledged waste pickers. Posted on 10 Apr, 2018 04:05 PM

Eight-year-old Meera (name changed) got ill after eating filthy food remains from a dump at Mansarovar park in Delhi. Children like her work in filthy environments, rummaging through hazardous waste with bare hands and feet. They play in these dumping ground strewn with syringes, scrap iron, rotting waste, solid and liquid household waste.  

Waste pickers face harrowing occupational hazards and are exposed to toxins in the absence of protective gear. (Image: Ted Mathys, 2009)
Harvesting rainwater effectively
An innovative project makes rainwater harvesting easier and more effective in certain areas of Mewat village with increased groundwater salinity. Posted on 15 Feb, 2018 01:25 PM

One of the major causes of deterioration of water quality is the increase in overall salinity. Total hardness and the presence of materials like fluoride, nitrate, iron, arsenic, and toxic metal ions determine salinity levels in groundwater. With the demand for groundwater growing rapidly, its exploitation is also accelerating which causes depletion.

The innovation was introduced in a government school building in Untka village located in Mewat district of Haryana.
Alternative Futures: India Unshackled
A remarkable, first-ever collection of 35 essays on India’s future, by a diverse set of authors – activists, researchers, media practitioners. Posted on 22 Jan, 2018 10:39 AM

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a book that brings together scenarios of an India that is politically and socially egalitarian, radically democratic, economically sustainable and equitable, and socio-culturally diverse and harmonious.

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled
Protest in Chennai to save the Ennore Creek
News this week Posted on 09 Jan, 2018 08:59 AM

Saving the Ennore Creek: Chennai fisherfolk stage Jal Satyagraha

The Ennore creek smothered on all sides by thermal power plants. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
MGNREGA failed to curb migration: Survey
Policy matters this week Posted on 20 Dec, 2017 11:44 AM

Survey reveals MGNREGA failed to curb migration

Labourers build check dams under MGNREGA. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
For a better Bandi
Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai was awarded the Bhagirath Prayas Samman at the India Rivers Day 2017 for his valiant effort to safeguard the integrity of the Bandi river in Pali. Posted on 01 Dec, 2017 05:12 PM

A seasonal river in Pali, Rajasthan, the Bandi is nothing short of a sewer. The textile town has witnessed rampant industrial growth, raw sewage discharges and toxic contamination of its waters. The river, which is devoid of lean season flow, is polluted up to 55 km downstream. The river water is unfit for drinking as well as irrigation.

Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai speaks at the India Rivers Day.
Where there are no sewers: The toilet cleaners of Lucknow
On this World Toilet Day, let's turn the spotlight behind the scenes of the sanitation chain, on those who clean out latrines where there are no sewers to carry away the waste. Posted on 20 Nov, 2017 03:41 PM

November 19th is World Toilet Day. Enormous progress has been made in the global effort to provide safe and affordable toilets for the world's poorest citizens since World Toilet Day was first declared in 2001.

The toilet cleaners of Lucknow (Image source: CS Sharada Prasad)
Wages delayed to MGNREGA workers in 19 states
News this week Posted on 07 Nov, 2017 07:46 PM

States freeze payments to MGNREGA workers

Labourers build check dams under MGNREGA. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
India Industry Water Conclave on Nov 28, 2017 at FICCI, New ??Delhi
The third edition of India Industry Water Conclave and fifth edition of FICCI Water Awards on Theme : ‘Water Use Efficiency- An Imperative for India’
Posted on 07 Nov, 2017 10:12 AM

The theme for the Conclave this year is “Water Use Efficiency: An Imperative for India” to highlight the imperative of water use efficiency in the industry, agriculture and urban contexts

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