Voluntary Citizen or Civil Society Sector

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October 11, 2022 In an effort to inform the general public, especially citizen activists, policymakers, researchers, and students, about the current status of the Vrishabhavathi river, Paani.Earth has created the necessary maps, data, analysis, and information to drive conservation awareness and action around the river.
Vrishabhavathi river (Image Source: Paani.Earth)
October 1, 2021 Community videos as a tool to influence behaviour change and adoption in rural communities
Community videos are produced by farmers themselves and feature local participants and agents from the rural communities themselves (Image: Digital Green)
September 17, 2021 Benefits of well-managed commons on livelihoods
Collective efforts revived the canal structure of Bichhiya dam bringing water to the village (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
September 4, 2021 Committed to use the power of all forms of communication to bring about behavioral change and transformation at scale
Villagers participating in shramdaan for making watershed structures (Image: Paani Foundation)
September 3, 2021 Safe water learning cards being used to train a wide spectrum of stakeholders
Different combinations of safe water learning cards can be customised for a session based on the target audience (Image: INREM)
June 4, 2021 Meet these real-life heroes, who with their consistent and tireless efforts created an impact and turned their local areas into examples to follow.
Meet the water warriors who made a significant change in their own unique way (Image Source: Environment Club)
India Water Portal is looking for Content Editors
Posted on 21 Aug, 2010 07:27 PM

The India Water Portal is an open, collaborative, web-based initiative, anchored by Arghyam, for sharing water management knowledge amongst practitioners, experts and the general public. Through its content and services, the portal aims to inspire, catalyse and support water/environment development initiatives on the ground, across the country.

Leh cloud-burst: A first-hand account
Climate change and its impact on Leh-Ladak: an account by Linkesh Diwan Posted on 16 Aug, 2010 11:44 AM

Midnight, August 6, 2010: "Link, wake up!  Water is coming in from the roof!"  My mother and I were in Leh, Ladakh, staying at "Eco-Homestay," the house of Mr. Sonam Gyatso and family, in Lower Sankar.  The house was made in a hybrid of traditional and modern construction techniques: the main hall in the house was concrete, while rooms surrounding it were made of sun-dried mud bricks, and roofed with Poplar beams, a mesh of willow branches, and a thick pad of fine clay-like mud.  The house incorporated passive solar building techniques, such as a direct-gain room, and a Trombe wall, and had solar-powered lighting.  It had been raining since evening, and by midnight the clay roof was saturated and began to leak.  

We were in Leh for the express purpose of meeting with Helena Norberg-Hodge, the founder of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, co-founder of the International Forum on Globalization, founder of the Ladakh Ecological Development Group, and founder of the Women's Alliance, Ladakh.  We had learned of her online, seeing an article of hers in CounterCurrents.org, and watching her video "Ancient Futures."  She is the only person who has critically witnessed the "development" of Ladakh, from complete self-sufficiency in an exceedingly fragile eco-system, to the disaster under which it writhes today.  She has seen how "development" pulls people into a money economy, increases the distance between production and consumption,  brings reliance on fossil fuels (especially apparent in Leh where fuel and commodities are trucked in over a hazardous two-day journey from lower altitudes), results in urbanization and rural-urban migration, and brings psychological impoverishment to the people it is inflicted upon.  For 35 years, she has been working to bring safe, stable, and ecologically sound development to the region through her organizations.  Her work today, no longer limited to Ladakh, is focussed on spreading economic literacy among people throughout the planet, educating about the deeper impacts of globalization and today's consumer mono-culture.  Garnered from her years of observation and research, she has an important message for humanity today, which is what prompted us to go and meet her.

Increasing groundwater dependency and declining urban water quality – A comparative analysis of four South Indian cities
The quality of water and the dependency on groundwater in four South Indian cities Posted on 15 Aug, 2010 07:18 AM

This paper by the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC) examines the extent of groundwater dependency and quality status in four South Indian cities viz., Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum and Kolar cities. Widespread water shortage problems have resulted in increased dependency on groundwater with tapping the resources to unsustainable levels. In Karnataka, out of 208 urban local bodies that come under Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board, 41 depend on groundwater.

Power finance: Financial institutions in India's hydropower sector - A report by SANDRP, Urgewald and IRN
What is really at stake in the two most important power projects of India? A background into India's power and financial sectors Posted on 12 Aug, 2010 05:01 PM

This report published by SANDRP, Urgewald and International Rivers Network (IRN) provides a brief background on India's power and financial sectors and illustrates the issues at stake by giving examples of two important power projects in India, the Dabhol project and the Maheshwar project.

The next part of the report describes the role that the domestic and international financial institutions have played and continue to play and the controversies that have been associated with the functioning of these institutions in the implementation of the hydropower projects in India.

The report emphasises the importance of the role of NGOs and civil society movements in making these institutions accountable to the common people whose lives are affected by the projects/ interventions.

Inviting nominations for 7th Manthan Award South Asia 2010
Posted on 12 Aug, 2010 04:08 PM

Article and Image Courtesy: Manthan Award

The Manthan Award South Asia

Nominations  are open now for the 7th Manthan Award 2010 supported by Govt. of India's Department of Information Technology.

As you are aware, Manthan Award is an unique award to recognise the best practices which use ICT tools in all sectors like business, health, agriculture, entertainment, culture, governance, rural development, and so on.

Mountains of concrete: Dam building in the Himalayas - A report by International Rivers Network
Building several hundered dams on the Himalayas, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan. What this entails? Posted on 11 Aug, 2010 07:38 PM

Mountains of concrete - IRN reportThis document by International Rivers Network provides a background for the recent plans initiated by India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan to build several hundred dams on the Himalayan mountains, which store vast amounts of water and with their high slopes and fast moving rivers, present a huge potential for generating hydropower.

India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan have been facing the increasing challenges of meeting their rising elecricity and energy needs and hydropower dams in the Himalayas are being proposed as solutions to meet a considerable part of these requirements.

The document examines the various arguments that have been put forward against the building of the dams as against the proposed advantages that the dams are claimed to have for these four countries, which share common geographical, topographical and eco-climatic features but have starkly different political and economic contexts.

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation: People don't matter - A dossier by Urgewald
A brief overview on the role of India's premier dam building agency, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, as the aggressive business player expanding its business, i.e. dams in the country. Posted on 11 Aug, 2010 01:24 PM

This document by Urgewald provides a brief overview on the role of India's premier dam building agency, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in the construction of dams in India and is highly critical of the mode in which the NHPC has been aggressively expanding its operations of building dams across rivers in the country. 

It aims to inform the public, investors and financiers about NHPC’s track record and expansion plans and presents compiled information from three regions where NHPC has been actively involved in the construction of dams namely:

  • Narmada Valley in Central India
  • Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeastern India
  • The lands of the Kuki people in Northwestern Burma, where NHPC is building a dam for the military junta.

Water Initiatives Orissa dated on 5th August 2010
Water Surplus: a Myth. A demand for White paper on Orissa and its availability status of water resources in the state Posted on 11 Aug, 2010 12:18 PM

WIO Urges the Government of Orissa to come out with a While Paper on state and availability status of water resources in the state. The demand comes in the wake of the government's consistent claim that the state is water surplus even though water scarcity hits us all every day.

Sambalpur, 5th August 2010 -  As the industrial overdrive of Orissa continues with signing of MoU after MoU with water guzzling industries, there is no clarity on the exact water available in the state.  The government has been propagating that Orissa is a water surplus state. However, statistics used by the various reports of the government are dated to 2001, from when the real industrialization boom has taken off in the state.  It is time that the government comes out with a transparent position paper on the exact water availability in the state or else water conflicts will aggravate.

UNDP & GoI invite proposals - Innovation Pilot Initiatives: NREGA
Posted on 11 Aug, 2010 10:30 AM

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Government of India is inviting proposal from Non-Government Organisation (NGOs)/professional institutions for intiating pilot project on Leveraging NREGA for Human Development through inter sectoral convergence or other innovative idea to strengthen implementation of NREGS and rural livelihood resource base of the rural poor.

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