Sustainability

Featured Articles
December 6, 2022
The water that you eat
Need to shift to a more sustainable diet without compromising on major nutrients and calories
Historically, India has been a net exporter of virtual water (Image: PxHere)
November 6, 2022
Protecting children from climate change impact not child's play
In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
April 26, 2022
Making the invisible, visible
The water stewardship initiative by WOTR that developed a tool to visualise aquifers has not only helped farmers understand groundwater as a shared resource, but also led to a behavioural change among water users and helped implement groundwater laws and policies.
Groundwater, a fast disappearing resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
December 6, 2021
Leaving no one behind!
Will it be possible to ensure equity and justice while balancing climate action goals with economic progress?
Taking everyone along while achieving a balance between economic growth and climate goals is crucial (Image Source: Good Energies)
March 22, 2021
Water governance standard and certification system – An answer to the water problems of agrarian India
The recent 'Water governance standard and certification system' developed by WOTR can greatly help villages to develop good governance practices and manage their water needs equitably and sustainably.
Long queues waiting for tankers are common in different parts of Maharashtra during water scarcity (Image Source: WOTR)
December 29, 2020
Challenges to India’s urban water security and future growth patterns
Water resources in most Indian cities are overworked and overused, and not adequately replenished.
Cities in India are marked by unequal distribution of water, lack of access, outdated infrastructure and minimal enforcement of rainwater harvesting and other means of supply. (Image: Anish Roy, Pixabay)
Lockdown to cause severe water stress in summers
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 11:27 AM

Summer of 2020 could suffer from severe water stress due to lockdown
Women bringing water from distance sources in summers (Source: IWP Flickr photos))
From policy to practice: Can National Water Policy 2020 bridge the gap?
The new policy needs to build context specificity and have enabling mechanisms for equitable resource allocation.
Manisha Shah
Harshvardhan Dhawan
Bishwadeep Ghose
Posted on 11 Apr, 2020 07:46 PM

The way water as a resource has been viewed in the policies of India has evolved significantly over the years. Reduction in per capita availability over the years (5177 to 1463 cubic metres between 1950-2015) has forced every new policy to change the way it has approached its management. It was considered an economic commodity in the second National Water Policy (NWP) drafted in 2002.
Women extracting water from the riverbed, Gaya (Image: ICIMOD/ Prasanta Biswas; Flickr Commons)
Combating Covid-19 collectively: DHAN’s way
DHAN Foundation has been responding to the crisis, reaching out to the most vulnerable communities.
DHAN Foundation
Posted on 10 Apr, 2020 12:21 PM

As the Covid-19 pandemic reaches new corners of the country, the NGO community in India has been preparing itself to respond to the unexpected needs that the crisis is producing. DHAN Foundation, a professional development organisation working in several states of India with the communities has begun to develop a strategy.
Creating awareness about the pandemic as well as about the measures essential to be safe (Image: DHAN Foundation)
Advisory on how to prevent Covid-19
Those who need to work to survive cannot stay home. What can they do during such times?
Jan Swasthya Abhiyan
Posted on 02 Apr, 2020 06:50 PM

COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease), an acute respiratory disease emerged in late 2019 and has been spreading rapidly across the globe. The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. It is marked by respiratory problems that are usually mild (coughing, fever) but can be severe (pneumonia, trouble breathing).
The fear is that Covid-19 would almost certainly spread within communities in India, just as it had started to do in Italy, South Korea, and Iran. (Image: Trinity Care Foundation)
Joining the battle against Covid-19
As corona virus 'travels' to rural areas, PRADAN ramps up its response by training tribals and marginalised women.
Souparno Chatterjee
PRADAN
Posted on 02 Apr, 2020 10:48 AM

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease a pandemic. Originating from Wuhan in China, it has traversed almost the entire globe, and claimed more than 41,000 lives, while over 8 lakh people are infected already. That’s largely the urban population.
Keeping the communities abreast of best practices for a safe and healthy living (Image: PRADAN)
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Jal Jeevan Mission
All you need to know on Jal Jeevan Mission, a time-bound mission-mode programme that was launched in 2019 to provide water to all by 2024.
Swati Bansal
Posted on 31 Mar, 2020 03:12 PM
On 15 August, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a time-bound mission-mode programme, to enable all rural household to have functional household tap connection (FHTC) i.e. Har Ghar Nal Se Jal by 2024.
Women benefit the most, when potable water reaches straight to their homes (Image: Shree Padre via IWP Flickr photos)
Enabling a transition to responsive forest governance
NGOs involvement in implementation of the FRA provides an extremely valuable support system, study says.
Divya Gupta
Sharachchandra Lele
Geetanjoy Sahu
Posted on 31 Mar, 2020 02:08 PM

The Forest Rights Act or FRA was enacted in 2006, following collective pressure from a massive social movement to correct the historical injustices imposed since the colonial takeover of India's forests.
The state needs to be highly responsive to the needs of communities during the post-rights recognition phase (Image: Gramvaani)
Clean drinking water: Still a pipe dream for Maharashtra?
While water supply coverage has improved over the years in Maharashtra, why does safe and continuous water supply still remain a distant dream for the state?
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 30 Mar, 2020 04:34 PM

Latur in Maharashtra has been facing acute drinking water scarcity over the last month and has been in news again, and that too, inspite of having piped water connections and a good monsoon this year!
Har nal me jal, a pipe dream? (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
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.
Amit Saxena
S M Sehgal Foundation
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.
Development Centre for Alternative Policies
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)
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