Panchayati Raj Institutions

Featured Articles
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.
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)
In deep water
Will the World Bank honor its commitments to the poor in an Indian water project? Posted on 22 Mar, 2020 08:05 PM

In the wake of a scandal revealing that the World Bank may have suppressed knowledge of money for the poor being siphoned off by elites, all eyes are on the Bank to see whether its commitments to the poor hold water.

A water scheme violates Adivasi rights, threatens community water access and sacred spaces (Image: Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel)
Tap water to all
What can be learnt from past experiences on scaling up coverage of piped water supply? Posted on 20 Mar, 2020 01:47 PM

Efforts are underway by both state and central governments to improve access to safe and adequate drinking water to people, and nationally, as on 31 December 2018, 79% of rural habitations had been covered at 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) but only 47% at 55 lpcd.

Child drinks water from a tap (Image: Imal Hashemi/Taimani Films/World Bank, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Jal Jeevan Mission: Will piped water to every household no longer be a pipe dream?
There is a need to focus on the “first mile” i.e. communities across rural India to be able to ensure sustainability and scalability for piped water supply. Posted on 14 Mar, 2020 04:26 PM

Millions of Indian women can take up to six trips a day to gather and transport water, which takes up a major part of their day. During scorching summers when many sources dry up, their drudgery gets even worse.

A school boy from Tilonia in semi-arid region of Rajasthan drinks from a tap from a rainwater harvesting tank that provides clean drinking water. (Image: Barefoot photographers of Tilonia)
Women lead the way in water quality surveillance
Why women need to be trained and engaged in monitoring and surveillance of water quality at the community level in rural India? Posted on 06 Mar, 2020 01:45 PM

Historically, water is a gendered burden, with women being the primary caregivers responsible for cooking, washing and cleaning chores in the house and in modern times in institutions (teachers, anganwadi and healthcare workers). Women have traditionally been associated with various water related tasks - be it collecting, fetching, or purifying water.

Organised under WaterAid India’s partnership with GAP, water testing workshop (2019) held in Indore district aimed at training women and youth to lead the entire process of community water management – from planning to supply, operations and maintenance and to educate communities on water-quality issues. (Image: WaterAid India/Ashima Narain)
Unravelling Kuttanad’s drinking water paradox
Floods such as in 2018 could take the situation downhill causing severe drinking water crisis. Posted on 24 Feb, 2020 12:55 PM

Surrounded by vast expanses of water, the Kuttanad region in Alleppey district, Kerala faces severe drinking water scarcity due to infrastructure failure and civic body inaction.

Lack of sufficient quality water, poor pipe connectivity and frequent breakdown of existing pipelines are common in the area (Image: Jayasree Vaidyanathan)
Decentralised groundwater governance to deal with the groundwater crisis
Decentralised groundwater governance frameworks that integrate democratic institutional mechanisms are needed to deal with the current groundwater crisis in India. Posted on 17 Feb, 2020 05:43 PM

The challenges to sustain groundwater dependency in India are many where groundwater over extraction is not only leading to rapid depletion of the resource, but also giving rise to water quality issues in a situation where the response at the level of policy continues to be lukewarm.

The need for decentralised governance to deal with the current groundwater crisis (Image Source: ACWADAM)
Decoding budget 2020
Is the budget a bummer? Experts speak at a panel discussion organised by CBGA. Posted on 10 Feb, 2020 04:35 PM

“Every single number in the budget, be it receipts or expenditure is a lie. The budget numbers can no longer be trusted, as the difference between actual expenditure and budget estimates are off by around 25 percent.

Woman farmer sifting grain (Image: Ray Witlin/World Bank CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Budget 2020: Is the allocation enough to meet the piped water dream
Experts discuss if the budget has enough funds for water access and security. Posted on 09 Feb, 2020 09:25 PM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget announcement on February 1, 2020 made a push for piped rural drinking water supply and promised full coverage of all households by 2024.

Just 21.4 percent of India’s households have access to piped water, as per NSSO data (Image: Niyantha Shekar, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC 2.0)
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