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)
Polavaram--solution or problem?
Dam history will be repeated with the construction of the Polavaram Dam. Unfortunately, other options that could have been looked into such as reduction of height, were ignored.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 21 Sep, 2015 11:13 AM

Papi kondalu, a scenic gorge located on the lower stretches of the Godavari, will soon be engulfed within the controversial Polavaram Dam. The river serves as a visitor’s delight as it winds through the hills--the same hills that are home to primitive tribal groups such as the Kondareddys.
Papi kondalu gorge on Godavari (Source: Pranay Raj, Wikimedia Commons)
Piped water scheme changes the lives of Odisha villagers
Bandhabhuin village went from having 1 handpump for 400 people to 7, toilet facilities in 55% of the houses and had an overall improvement in its social and economic fabric.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 19 Sep, 2015 05:55 PM

In India, about Rs.70,000 crore 
Anup Munda showing his functional toilet at Bandha Bhuin
Godavari, Krishna rivers are interlinked
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 14 Sep, 2015 10:21 PM

Godavari, Krishna rivers interlinked
Prakasam Barrage across Krishna river (Source: Subhash Chandra via Wikipedia)
Bisalpur revisited--10 years after protesters were shot, killing 5
Despite many plans, neither rural nor urban are water secure thanks to the Bisalpur Dam since it was constructed in 2007.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 10 Sep, 2015 01:20 PM

Ten years ago five farmers were shot protesting the diversion of waters from Bisalpur dam to Jaipur city, located about 130 kms away.
Kisan Sewa Samiti, Chaksu struggling for drinking water allocation from Bisalpur dam (Source: CECODECON)
Nepal earthquake affected women more than men
Disadvantaged groups suffered greater death, injury and livelihood asset losses. Dr Bimala Rai Paudyal, Hon’ble Member Planning Commission of Nepal says it is possible to reduce this vulnerability.
Amita Bhaduri
Sabita Kaushal
Posted on 05 Sep, 2015 12:32 PM

April 25, 2015 dawned as any other ordinary day in Nepal. Until 11.56. Then, a massive earthquake of magnitude 7.9 rattled the country and shook its very foundation. The tremors travelled outwards from the epicentre at Barpak Gorkha district moving the earth, distorting buildings, causing convulsions on the ground and creating panic and mayhem all around.
A family beside a damaged house near Naglebhare, Nepal (Source :Asian Development Bank)
Water problems with quality and access plague Sambalpur, Odisha
Groundwater in Talabeda village in Sambalpur, Odisha has high concentrations of iron but more urgently, its water supply system is dysfunctional for the last 2 weeks due to electricity issues.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 27 Aug, 2015 04:00 PM

It's been more than 15 days and the drinking water crisis in Talabeda village in Sambalpur, Odisha is yet to be addressed. The water supply system of the village collapsed due to a fault in the transformer located within the premises of the Talabeda pump house, and no one has the time to fix this and restart the water supply system. 
The colour of the tiles around the public stand-post at Talabeda, Odisha have changed from white to red due to iron contamination.
The curious case of Kolkata's missing water bodies
The city which has close to 5000 water bodies has lost 44% in the last two decades, says Mohit Ray of Vasundhara, a group working on environmental and human rights issues in an interview.
Mohit Ray
Posted on 25 Aug, 2015 12:26 PM

Mohit Ray of Vasundhara has written two books--"Five Thousand Mirrors: The Water Bodies of Kolkata”
Bhukailash - a water body in Kolkata; Image: Mohit Ray
Catching rain in the land of "too much water"
Rainwater harvesting in a school in Jorhat, Assam helps address water quality issues, improves attendance and serves as an example for others in the area to fight arsenic and fluoride contamination.
Usha Dewani Das
Posted on 23 Aug, 2015 08:16 PM

Even in the remotest village of Assam, you would often find one saying ‘paanir nisina daam’ (meaning as cheap as water) or ‘paanir nisina xorol’ (as simple as water) over a good bargain or an easy task. Water is, almost always, associated with simplicity and abundance.

But those were the good old days.
Children drinking rainwater collected in tanks at Melamati Government Junior Basic School, Jorhat (Assam).
Colourful fabrics lead to murky waters
The textile printing cluster at Sanganer near Jaipur presents a Catch-22 situation on the right to pollution free water versus the right to livelihoods.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 17 Aug, 2015 09:55 PM

Amanishah nallah flowing through Sanganer, a town located 15 kms from Jaipur, is getting murkier by the day as the the textile hand printing industry in the area is getting more prosperous.
Bleaching, dyeing and printing of cottons causes water pollution at Sanganer
Delhi’s Bhalaswa landfill contaminates groundwater
The landfill, which was supposed to be shut down in 2010 once the trash reached a height of 22m still remains functional at a height of 41m, polluting groundwater and areas around it.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 17 Aug, 2015 09:51 PM

With more than 8360 tons of trash created daily in Delhi, the city has three trash pile sites at Bhalaswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. In these sites technically known as landfills, garbage is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying lands.
Pushpa has been leading the struggle of Bhalaswa residents to clean water
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