Panchayati Raj Institutions

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April 6, 2021 Significantly reduced the daily drudgery of women in rural areas
The water requirement for the scheme is being fulfilled through borings, submersible pumps, and distribution pipelines implemented by the Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Bihar. (Image: Sehgal Foundation)
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 24, 2019 An intern with Watershed Organisation Trust narrates his field experience from the villages of Madhya Pradesh, where farmers are using farm ponds to conserve water.
A farm pond constructed by Sheshrao Dhurve in Karaghat Kamti village of Madhya Pradesh
October 22, 2019 A forum discusses the need to stop illegal land transfers and land alienation of the poor.
The maldharis from kutch on their own road trip (Image: Malay Maniar, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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 30, 2019 The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.
Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
A hard look at the strategy of fighting open defecation
Does reducing open defecation have any significant improvement in health outcomes? Sumeet Patil of NEERMAN discusses this in an interview with India Water Portal. Posted on 05 Mar, 2015 10:31 PM

With over 620 million defecating in the open in India, do we need a new approach to curb this practice? The force of habit is such that even households with toilets have around forty percent of adults defecating in the open. But, does curbing open defecation necessarily lead to significant improvements in child health outcomes like diarrhoea, anaemia, parasite infection and growth?

School sanitation at Mysore
Budget 'asks' for food and nutrition security
With the budget round the corner what are the asks from the standpoint of food sovereignty? A Convention on Budget 2015-16 by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability looks at these. Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 04:19 PM

Children at an anganwadi centre at Mysore
Climate change: Slow it down or deal with it?
Climate change is for real and there are two responses – mitigation or adaptation. What does the Union Budget need to do about climate change adaptation? Posted on 15 Feb, 2015 02:38 PM

Should the next Union Budget go all-in on climate change? Should clean energy, state incentives, mitigation and adaptation all emerge as priorities? How will the administration deal with extreme weather events that become more common with climate change?

Climate change adaptation (Source: VSK, Palamau)
Citizens charter on drinking water and sanitation before Union Budget
Ahead of the Union Budget, Civil Society Organizations ask for policy strategies to support drinking water and sanitation for vulnerable sections. Posted on 13 Feb, 2015 02:24 PM

A National Convention on Union Budget 2015-16 by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, New Delhi held on 8th and 9th January 2015 brought together around 200 Civil Society Organisations from more than 20 States to discuss the policy asks for water and sanitation sector.

Water facility by WASMO in Gujarat
State Action Plans for climate change analysed
5 states, which submitted Action Plans on how to tackle climate change in a decentralised manner, have made limited progress due to many reasons including a lack of clarity in recommendations made. Posted on 21 Jan, 2015 06:20 PM

Recent years have shown a growing awareness on the relevance of climate change for India within the government as well as civil society, business and media. India has prepared its National Action Plan on Climate Change amidst growing international pressure to devise domestic climate adaptation strategies.

Mountains in the catchment area of Khadakwasla dam
Science-based changes to cope with water crisis
A business-as-usual approach isn't enough to bridge the gap between water supply and demand. So what must water management policies focus on to cope with the water crisis in India? Posted on 09 Jan, 2015 08:35 AM

India has almost 17% of the world's population and 4% of the global water resources – a situation that threatens to push it towards a water crisis in the coming years. To add to this, are other reasons such as:

Girls carrying water (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Poisonous encounters in Maharashtra
The water in Jamwadi village, Yavatmal has been severely contaminated by the Raymond Company but quality tests only confirm this when the villagers changed the name of the village on the test sample. Posted on 23 Nov, 2014 03:32 PM

A decade ago, Jamwadi village in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, was a famous tourist attraction due to its beautiful lake. Now, there is no lake to speak of thanks to the Raymond factory in Yavatmal. Wastewaster from the factory flows untreated into the lake, which is located 15 kms away.

Contaminated water from the Raymond factory
Tribals in Jharkhand plan for water security
To let people make their own decisions and to understand that the best solution doesn't always work are two big lessons that have come from meetings with Jharkhand's tribals. Posted on 14 Oct, 2014 03:15 PM

"Clean water", emphasized the woman. "'Close to the house. Whenever it is needed", she added. She was speaking at a village meeting organised to determine what was needed to make the village water secure. The discussions had begun with an attempt to define water security.

A planning meeting in Bhawani Chowki
Holi-Bajoli hydropower project shifts banks
A group of women in Himachal protest the shifting of a hydel project from the right bank to the left of the Ravi river. While it may seem like a simple 'side' issue, the truth is far more complex. Posted on 21 Jul, 2014 04:59 AM

I could just about see a small makeshift shelter with a yellow canopy. As I made my way through the small stream and climbed uphill, I saw a JCB machine trying to clear a path. Further up the road, female voices speaking the local dialect started to emerge. A small hearth surrounded by utensils and jars of tea, sugar and lentils greeted me at the entrance.

Himachal women protest Holi-Bajoli hydel plant
A water supply system that even Delhi would envy
Indwalgaon in Uttarakhand harnessed available government resources to move from a water-deficit to a water-adequate state, thanks to its Pradhan Madanlal. Posted on 06 Jul, 2014 08:28 PM

 Visitors and the Uttarakhand Tourism Department liken the mountain to 'devbhoomi' or the heavens but it isn't often that a villager of the area echoes those sentiments. Most of them are weary of the unending struggle to live in harmony with those steep slopes that make all manner of infrastructure difficult.

Madan Lal gazes at a water supply scheme
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