Society, Culture, Religion and History

Featured Articles
January 13, 2022
Water management in the times of Gonds of Central India
The water structures constructed during the Gond period continue to survive the test of time and provide evidence of the water wisdom of our ancestors.
Kundeshwar lake, Kundam in Jabalpur (Image Source: K G Vyas)
January 2, 2021
The fast disappearing traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan
Lack of community ownership and local governance are spelling doom for the once royal and resilient traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan.
Toorji Ka Jhalara, Jodhpur (Image Source: Rituja Mitra)
December 7, 2020
Not in the interest of women farmers!
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)
December 11, 2019
Scientists intervene to save dry toilets
Dry toilets have long been hailed as a sustainable solution to the sanitation and waste management crisis facing India today, but have been overshadowed by more modern toilet designs.
A traditional dry toilet. Image: India Science Wire
December 4, 2019
In wake of climate change, prioritise and invest in water security and clean drinking water
To adapt well & build resilience, climate change strategies need to factor in efforts towards water security, writes Vanita Suneja, Regional Advocacy Manager (South Asia), WaterAid.
Image credit: WaterAid/Prashanth Vishwanathan
December 2, 2019
Water stewardship approach to minimizing risks for businesses
Water stewardship is an approach predicated on the concept that water is a shared resource and so water risks are also shared risks that everyone in a catchment will face
Picture credit: Romit Sen
Elected women leaders of gram panchayats: Critical roles in Covid-19 response
Women leaders of gram panchayats have ideated and executed solutions innovatively and instinctively on dealing with Covid-19 pandemic.
Debika Goswami
Posted on 17 Jun, 2020 01:33 PM

Radha Devi, the sarpanch of Bhadsiya, Nagaur tehsil, Rajasthan dissuaded the principal of the government school from forcing girl students to fetch water for mid-day meal preparation during school hours and sent these girls back to their classrooms.
Women are emerging as effective leaders who can play constructive roles in containing the Covid-19 spread (Image: UN Women/Gaganjit Singh; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Pollution in Ganga: Understanding culture and climate justice
Using culture as a tool to base the narratives to push the agenda of climate action.
Aswathy S
Posted on 12 Jun, 2020 10:27 AM

Climate change affects societies mainly through water – its availability, quality and quantity. Water pollution adds fuel to the fire to the effect of climate change and needs to be addressed immediately. Optimal use of water and improving the quality of available water are the need of the hour.
Blessing or Curse? It's time for you to choose! (Image: Swapnil Saundarya as part of the Save Ganga Movement (Dec, 2016) http://swapnilsaundarya.blogspot.com)
Battling Covid-19 in Jharkhand
While tribals in Jharkhand continue to struggle with the impacts of Covid-19, WOTR has been on the frontlines helping them cope with poverty and hunger.
Sujaya Dangwar and Shyna Dudeja
Posted on 11 Jun, 2020 04:07 PM

Jharkhand is a state dominated by tribal communities located in eastern part of India. Agriculture, NTFP (Non-timber forest produce) collection and daily wage laborers are the prime source of income for rural Jharkhand.
Distribution of ration to cope with the impacts of the pandemic (Image Source: WOTR)
Northeast fights Covid-19
While Northeast appears to be better off than the rest of India in the number of Covid cases, how are migrants from the North East coping?
Christopher Rego
Posted on 09 Jun, 2020 11:34 PM

While Covid-19 has left many countries including India in the line of fire, the situation in India is now getting particularly alarming with the number of people infected by Covid-19 rising at a rapid pace.
Ration distribution to the migrants (Image Source: Sunbird Trust)
Need to protect the unique geological features in the Upper Ken basin
An attempt to document the geological features, water potential, and traditional wisdom around them in the Upper Ken basin.
Seema Ravandale
Posted on 07 Jun, 2020 12:52 PM

Kathayi, a scheduled tribe (ST) dominated village in the midst of the forested stretches of Shahnagar block in Panna district faces acute water scarcity during the 3-4 summer months. Through the government schemes, three wells and two hand pumps were installed in this 75 household village in the last 10-15 years, but most of them are dysfunctional now.
Panghata Kund in village Aloni, Panna (June 2014, after initial monsoon) (Image: Seema Ravandale)
Living through Cyclone Amphan and Covid-19: Climate change and water security
In the face of frequent cyclones and floods in the region, investment and long term planning is needed on making basic services of drinking water resilient.
Vanita Suneja
Posted on 07 Jun, 2020 11:33 AM

The nomenclature of cyclones and hurricanes is developed much in advance through multilateral processes in the region. The name Amphan (Sky in Thai and Akash in Bangla) was chosen from a long list of potential disasters long back.
Millions of people in India and Bangladesh lost their means of employment, food, water and homes in one go during the cyclone (Image: Srikanth Kolari/ActionAid India)
Covid-19 hits women’s access to menstrual hygiene products
The lockdown has adversely impacted access to menstrual hygiene information and products, reveals a survey by the Menstrual Health Alliance India.
Menstrual Health Alliance India
Dasra
Change.org
Posted on 04 Jun, 2020 08:49 AM

In an effort to raise concerns around effective menstrual health, Menstrual Health Alliance India (MHAI), a network working on menstrual health and hygiene in India, Dasra, a philanthropic organisation and Change.org, a technology platform for social change hosted an online workshop recent
Menstrual cycle and personal hygiene items (Image: Marco Verch, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0); Flickr Commons)
Lockdown puts citymakers at risk
The forced exodus of the migrants who built our cities indicates how they were shortchanged on every front.
Impact and Policy Research Institute
Posted on 28 May, 2020 01:22 PM

Suddenly thrown out of work by a nationwide lockdown, the migrants who built our cities and our economies were forced to take the torturous walk away from the cities to their homes in rural India.
A worker at a construction site (Image: ILO/ Joydeep Mukherjee; NC-ND 3.0 IGO License)
5-star rating for garbage free-cities to Navi Mumbai, Rajkot, Indore
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 27 May, 2020 08:26 AM

Swachh Survekshan for urban India: Navi Mumbai, Rajkot, Indore among the top
Clean road near Pardesipura, Indore. (Source: India Water Portal)
Flushing away Covid-19, the Mumbai way!
While Mumbai slums have emerged as Covid-19 hotspots, Triratna Prerna Mandal (TPM) is moving ahead with conviction, to tackle the sanitation situation and ‘flush the virus’!
Aniket Jadhav
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 23 May, 2020 11:55 AM

Slums, fast growing Covid-19 hotspots!
Training safai and cremation workers on safe practices during the corona pandemic (Image Source: Triratna Prerna Mandal)
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