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)
Heavy rain and floods hit North India
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 22 Aug, 2019 12:00 PM

Rains wreak havoc in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab

Following the southern states witnessing heavy rainfall and floods this monsoon, the northern parts of India are now also experiencing incessant rains.
Gori river in Uttarakhand in spate during 2013 floods (Source: Chicu Lokgariwar, India Water Portal)
Beyond the death toll: The everyday violence of Assam’s floods
Mitul Baruah from Ashoka University narrates personal experiences of people affected by floods in Majuli, Assam.
Mitul Baruah
Posted on 19 Aug, 2019 12:53 PM

Floods are an annual phenomenon in Assam. They are as integral to the state as the Brahmaputra River is, and each monsoon, we are reminded that Assam exists (or is drowning). As I write this piece, Assam is slowly recovering from the first wave of flood this monsoon.
Floods in Majuli Assam. Photo credit: Mitul Baruah
P Sainath: The water crisis is not caused by drought
Magsaysay award winner & founder-editor of PARI, P Sainath analyses India's water scarcity, the agrarian crisis & farmer suicides, before asking: what can we do about it?
India Development Review
Posted on 13 Aug, 2019 11:47 AM

P Sainath has been documenting stories from rural India for over three decades now.
Picture: The semi-arid regions of the Moyar-Bhavani River basin in Tamil Nadu. Picture credit: Prathigna Poonacha, Tanvi Deshpande; Indian Institute for Human Settlements from India Water Portal on Flickr. Picture used for representational purposes only
Jolted by water shortage, Chitlapakkam RWA takes up roadside rainwater harvesting.
Chennai residents take matters into their hands in a novel initiative
L Sundararaman
Citizen Matters
Posted on 07 Aug, 2019 05:54 PM

Chennai had a severely deficient monsoon in 2018 with 40% less rain than normal. Since then, the city has been bracing itself for a water crisis. But clearly not enough had been done and the severe water scarcity this summer has been a wake-up call for people, highlighting the urgency of finding ways to use their water resources better.
Residents of Muthulakshmi Nagar in Chitlapakkam came together to inaugurate the pilot roadside rainwater harvesting project in their area. Pic : L Sundararaman for Citizen Matters
"Digging recharge wells is the only way Bengaluru won’t run out of water"
A million recharge wells for Bangalore
Manasi Paresh Kumar
Citizen Matters
Posted on 07 Aug, 2019 02:29 PM

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, popularly known as the 'Rainman', has been in the news recently for his ambitious project to build one million recharge wells in Bengaluru. Given the dire situation we find ourselves in vis-à-vis water, the initiative could not have come at a better time.
Ramakrishna Bovi is a traditional well-digger in Bengaluru. Image credit: Citizen Matters
All work and some play
Collective action games trigger conversations around the nature of the invisible and immeasurable common pool resource - groundwater.
Aditi Sajwan
Water Practitioners Network
Posted on 02 Aug, 2019 12:11 PM

India is, by far, the world’s largest groundwater economy. India’s annual withdrawal of fresh groundwater (253 Billion Cubic Metres in 2013) amounts to one fourth of the global total and is more than that of China and the US combined. Over 80% of water extracted is used in agriculture. The share of tubewells in net irrigated area rose from a mere 1% in 1960-61 to over 40% in 2013-14.
Villagers in Magradeh, Madhya Pradesh watching neighbouring farmers play a game. Image credit: Water Practitioners Network
Is the Jalayukt Shivar Abhiyan just a quick fix to manage droughts?
A research paper argues that quick fix solutions to drought management will not work unless they are backed up by proper planning, implementation, monitoring and regulation of water use.
Neha Bhadbhade
Sarita Bhagat
KJ Joy
Abraham Samuel
Kiran Lohakare
Raju Adagale
Posted on 02 Aug, 2019 10:29 AM

Maharashtra is reeling under drought this year too, with the situation in Marathwada particularly bad.
Quick fix solutions to droughts will not work (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Spending a summer building scalable water access in rural India
A young college graduate shares his experience working with Tata Trusts in Assam on water issues.
Rohit Sar
Posted on 25 Jul, 2019 04:08 PM

This summer I had the incredible opportunity, to work with the Tata Trusts and their Tata Water Mission (TWM) initiative, exploring avenues to provide scalable water access to stakeholders in rural communities.
Stream Network in Tezpur, Assam. Image credit: Rohit Sar
Springing back to life
CHIRAG in Uttarakhand works with communities to revive local springs to achieve water security.
Aditi Sajwan
Water Practitioners Network
Posted on 25 Jul, 2019 12:48 PM

In popular imagination, steeped in consumer culture, the hills are exotic and aesthetically sublime places to find solace away from busy urban life. This kind of imagination conveniently ignores and de-contextualizes the hills and the problems they face today. The Himalayas, often known as the Water Tower of Asia, are revered because many of the world's important rivers originate from them.
Image source: Water Practitioners Network
Water Future Conference: Towards a Sustainable Future
At Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, September 24 to 27 2019
Posted on 22 Jul, 2019 11:56 AM

A Future Earth Conference

Opening new frontiers in water system diagnostics and innovative solutions to mitigate the 21st-century global water crisis
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