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
Under Har Ghar Nal Se Jal, states to open water testing labs
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 12 Mar, 2020 02:39 PM

DDWS orders states to open up water testing laboratories to the public
Residents of a village testing their water (Source: Arghyam)
Women’s involvement in participatory water institutions in Eastern India
A study finds that women’s participation in water management institutions continues to be low in India in spite of the important role that they play in agriculture and irrigation.
Varsha Khandker
Vasant P. Gandhi
Nicky Johnson
Posted on 10 Mar, 2020 06:42 PM

Women, major contributors in agriculture and irrigation
Women, neglected stakeholders in water management (Photocredit: Makarand Purohit for India Water Portal)
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?
Nirma Bora
WaterAid 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)
Mahadayi river water dispute receives final award
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 05 Mar, 2020 02:05 PM

Karnataka allowed to implement Kalasa-Banduri project
The Mandovi river disputed between Karnataka and Goa (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
The miserable plight of sanitation workers
A report highlights the dangers for the millions of people who clean toilets, sewers and septic tanks the world over and calls for urgent action.
World Bank
International Labour Organization
WaterAid
World Health Organization
Posted on 29 Feb, 2020 06:01 PM

Many of the challenges sanitation workers face, stem from their lack of visibility in society, says a report ‘Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers’ produced jointly by The World Bank,

A latrine emptier is lifted out of a pit in Bangalore, India (Image: WaterAid/CS Sharada Prasad)
Suffering in silence: Migrant cane cutters of Maharashtra
Overworked, poorly paid and deprived of any rights, migrant cane cutters, especially women are most vulnerable and continue to suffer from a number of health and security risks.
Pooja Adhikari
Vani Shree
Posted on 27 Feb, 2020 10:04 PM

Maharashtra is the second largest sugar producing state in India, after Uttar Pradesh where as high as 1.6 million farmers cultivate sugarcane on 0.7 million hectares of land. The sugarcane industry provides direct employment to about 0.16 million workers while 1.5 million workers engage in sugarcane harvesting and transport operations every year.
Women workers suffer the most (Image Source: Azhar Feder, Wikimedia Commons-CC-BY-SA-3.0)
Parasite – the film and India’s disaster management
How different populations face different levels of risk and vulnerability during disasters?
Chetna Verma
Posted on 25 Feb, 2020 02:36 PM

Parasite, the South Korean movie released in 2019 has gained attention worldwide especially after its historical win at the Oscars 2020. The film takes on two different worlds co-existing in a country but set apart by class and wealth.
A still from the movie Parasite (Image: Christiano Betta, Flickr Commons: CC BY 2.0)
Unravelling Kuttanad’s drinking water paradox
Floods such as in 2018 could take the situation downhill causing severe drinking water crisis.
Jayasree Vaidyanathan
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.
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Harshavardhan Dhawan
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)
Overcoming heavy odds to emerge as a WATSAN model
How women came together in a Junagadh village to tackle drinking and domestic water shortage effectively.
Bharat Dogra
Posted on 17 Feb, 2020 04:18 PM

Kotda village provides an inspiring example of how a village suffering from teething troubles in the critical areas of water and sanitation can emerge as a model water and sanitation village. Located in Mangrol block of Junagadh district, from a distance this village presents a lush green appearance because of an abundance of coconut trees.
AKRSP has promoted rainwater harvesting to address the issue of scarce potable water at Mangrol. By encouraging households to collect rainwater using pipes on their roofs which then drain into an underground tank they have been able to promote water security. (Image: Aga Khan Foundation Flickr)
Subscribe to Society, Culture, Religion and History
×