Public Infrastructure and Services

Raghunath Lakhpat is a terrified man. He can only watch warily as the land on either side of his modest home is being dug up by huge earthmovers. “We are stuck in the middle. Sooner or later, we will have to leave. But where will we go? What will we eat?” he asks helplessly.

The Marathwada and Vidarbha region of Maharashtra have been witnessing drought and drinking water crises for a long time. A drought situation always makes headlines for its impact on human lives, but rarely for the effect it has on the livelihoods of these farmers. Livestock are their lifeline and extreme climatic variations are bound to affect them adversely.

Despite the severe water management crisis India is going through, hydro energy continues to be the second leading source of power, next only to thermal-based energy in the country. Hydropower generates over 16 percent of India’s electricity.

The management of water resources in India has always been a challenge. From the British era till now, the various governments that ruled India have grappled with the fundamental issue of water equity. 

"If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking to villagers who were to be displaced by the Hirakud Dam in 1948.

The chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, called for the decommissioning of the Farakka barrage recently.

The pitiful state of some of the water bodies in the country, coupled with the sheer apathy of the government, have forced some well-meaning citizens to come out of their comfort zones and make a difference. Some of these efforts, like the Puttenahalli lake in Bengaluru that is now overflowing with clean water, have been successful, while others are ongoing.

In the field of environmental justice, compliance is one of the least understood and researched topics. Since compliance may involve scientific and technological aspects of the environment, it is mostly left to technical experts, regulatory bodies and members of the industry. It has seen almost no public engagement or community action at the field and at policy levels.

Ajit Tiwari is Deputy Commissioner, Swachh Bharat Mission, Madhy

For almost two decades, the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act of 1993 was a paralytic occupant of the statute books. The Act prohibited the construction of dry toilets which required faeces to be removed manually and outlawed manual scavenging.