Voluntary Citizen or Civil Society Sector

Featured Articles
October 11, 2022
Visualizing the Vrishabhavathi river to keep it alive
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: By the community, for the community
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
Villagers’ shramdaan revives canal, enhances area under cultivation
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
How Paani Foundation harnesses the power of communication for social transformation
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
Learning about safe water practices and solutions
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
Not all heroes wear capes, some fight amongst us
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)
SC stops further cutting of trees at Aarey; Idol immersion in Ganges to attract fine of Rs. 50,000; Household appliances to be rated on water consumption efficiency
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 10 Oct, 2019 12:05 PM

SC comes to the rescue of Aarey trees in Mumbai
Ganesh Visarjan (Source: Wikimedia Commons via Chetan Gole)
Goa fights to protect its khazans; Coonoor cleans its river; Punjab gov scrambles to clean Kali Bein River before Gurupurab
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 10 Oct, 2019 11:36 AM

Goa government, farmers against MoEF for proposing re-designation of the state’s low lying lands
Aerial view of a Khazan in the Zuari river, Goa.
Towards a new horizontal water federalism
Where do the aspirations of riverine ecosystems and communities fit in a federalist set-up?
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 09 Oct, 2019 08:04 PM

The execution of India’s institutional framework for preventing and solving conflicts over river water is still evolving. A new thinking on federalism in the field of water management to meet local aspirations and national ambition is needed.
Odisha and Chhattisgarh have locked horns over the distribution of waters of the Mahanadi river at Hirakud dam (Image: Makarand Purohit, India Water Portal)
Deadly chemicals from detergents end up in rivers
India needs to come up with a regulation on use of toxic chemicals in detergents.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 06 Oct, 2019 10:18 AM

It’s ironic that detergents, which are meant for cleaning, flow into water bodies and pollute them with chemicals.
Nonylphenol, a toxic chemical found in detergents is known to enter the water bodies and even the food chain, where it bio-accumulates and can pose serious environmental and health risks (Image: Toxics Link)
Monsoon withdrawal delayed; more extreme weather events the new trend
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 02 Oct, 2019 11:01 AM

Monsoon’s withdrawal likely to begin around October 10: IMD
Image used for representational purposes only. Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr
River as a cultural mosaic
A dialogue that highlights the cultural essence of rivers
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 02 Oct, 2019 10:41 AM

"River conversations are critical to re-evaluate histories, reconnect civilisations, cultures and peoples, ideas and regions and open streams of thought for a future with exciting possibilities," says Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Associate Professor and Vice Dean, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication who has conceptualized a new series of quarterly river conv
Yamuna near Taj Mahal (Image: Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Solving the energy conundrum
Some lessons for transition to small scale solar energy in rural areas from the work of MAJLIS, a collective of dalit and adivasi women in Madhya Pradesh.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 08:10 PM

Access to electricity is a key metric in development. In rural areas, getting on to the grid is a major step forward, improving literacy rates, agricultural productivity and overall household income. However, providing access to power derived from traditional sources like coal, diesel and hydropower, are proving unsustainable in the short and long term.
There has to be a policy shift for decentralised off grid or distributed generation catering to small communities. (Image: MAJLIS)
The Water Future Conference in Bangalore: Towards a Sustainable Water Future
The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.
Priya Desai
Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 12:38 PM

The Water Future Conference in Bangalore last week, saw many from the scientific community, academia, research, civil society and the media come together to discuss the state of water resources across the world and in India, as well as future pathways and scenarios, and different technological a
Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
Applying ethics to water management, to ensure equity in access to all
A workshop in Bangalore explored water ethics and how it can be applied to water management.
Priya Desai
Posted on 26 Sep, 2019 03:57 PM

At a workshop on Water Ethics leading up to the Water Future Conference in Bangalore in September 2019, the idea of, and the need for an ethical framework for water management and legislation was discussed.
From left to right - Siddharth Krishnan (ATREE), David Groenfeldt (Water Culture Institute), Sara Ahmed (University of Cambridge), Veena Srinivasan (ATREE), KJ Joy (SOPPECOM)
Water wisdom in times of a climate crisis
New report documents India’s rich traditions of water harvesting and sustainable use.
Shailendra Yashwant
Oxfam India
Posted on 26 Sep, 2019 12:15 PM

A recent report by Shailendra Yashwant for Oxfam India looks at India’s ingenious ways of harvesting, storing and distributing water from the Kuhls in Himachal Pradesh that channel water from Himal
Bandhara (in Nashik, Maharashtra), a low masonry weir of 1.2 to 4.5 m height, which is constructed across a small stream for diverting the water into a small main canal taking off from its upstream side (Image: Shailendra Yashwant, Oxfam India)
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