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Cities in India are marked by unequal distribution of water, lack of access, outdated infrastructure and minimal enforcement of rainwater harvesting and other means of supply.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)
Villagers in Rajasthan show resilience during national lockdown
Continuing to prepare rural communities for the most unprecedented events in Alwar.
Jincy Chacko
Posted on 16 Jun, 2020 09:40 AM

India’s national lockdown to curb the fast-expanding community transmission of coronavirus led to life coming to a standstill across the country. The long pause of over three months is starting to ease, and the new shift towards “normal” gives health and hygiene ultimate attention.
Repairing the school infrastructures before students return to their classrooms (Image: Sehgal Foundation)
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)
Agricultural crop substitution can bridge rural and urban water needs
Rural and urban water crisis in India can be addressed through adaptive changes in current agricultural practices, as per a study in Maharashtra by the Indian School of Business.
Sakshi Singh
Shamil Khedgikar
Arun Murali CM
Indian School of Business
Posted on 01 Jun, 2020 02:51 PM

With 85 percent of water being utilized for agriculture in India, a gradual shift in agriculture towards water-intensive crops have exposed the country to an increased threat of water crisis. The erratic nature of monsoons adds to this exposure and calls for judicious use of water resources, especially in the dry regions.
Cropping pattern in Maharashtra over the past 40 years has shifted towards water-intensive crops like sugarcane (Image: Terry Sunderland/CIFOR)
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)
Cyclone Amphan wreaks havoc in West Bengal
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 27 May, 2020 08:33 AM

Cyclone Amphan causes widespread destruction in West Bengal
A cyclonic storm that hit India in 2016 (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Covid-19 threatens to worsen India's water crisis
Regulations for water use, innovation for treating antimicrobial resistance and monitoring of infected plastic leakage needs to be prioritised to curtail the water crisis.
Ishani Palandurkar
Posted on 24 May, 2020 12:50 AM

While the world has got a reprieve from pollution with emerging wildlife, cleaner air and clearer water bodies during lockdown, Covid-19 might actually be worsening the present water crisis in an inconspicuous manner. The world is still developing more clarity on safeguards that can prevent transmission, treatment and post treatment complications.
Marine litter. Plastic bottles on a beach. (Image: Bo Eide, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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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