Poverty

Through these three papers, the authors argue that the solutions to the global water crisis do not lie in investing more and more money into the water sector or in the introduction of better technology. Nor is the introduction of the private sector and the reduction in the role of the government going to help. Rather, the time has come to introduce changes at the basic or the fundamental level in the way in which the water sector functions.

There is an urgent need to bring about reforms in governance by moving towards decentralisation and democratisation, leading to  involvement of people from all the sections of the society, who know and understand that they are responsible for the system and its functioning, as well as by introducing principles of equity and social justice. The papers demonstrate the successful implementation of this approach by describing the experience of Tamil Nadu at democratising water management through introduction of reforms at the level of governance, through involvement of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD).Read More

A large part of the state of Maharashtra continues to face acute scarcity of water due to scanty rainfall, which has had a serious impact on the livelihoods of people who live in these areas. This article "Ajuni Kordech Aad" meaning "The wells are still dry" published in the magazine Anubhav highlights the extreme hardships, lack of employment opportunities, forced migration due to negative impact on agriculture and livestocks, and poverty and deprivation that people living in these areas have to face due to this water scarcity. Read More

This seminar paper submitted for the UGC Summer Programme at the Jamia Millia Islamia University describes the findings of a study that explored the quantity of water used in domestic households vis-à-vis the recommended quantity of water consumption in seven major Indian cities, namely, Delhi, Kanpur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Madurai. The study also attempted to find out equity in consumption of water across various socio-economic groups, sources of water supply, perception of households about quality of municipal water, and duration of municipal water supplyRead More

This working paper by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), UNICEF and WaterAid highlights the fact that a staggering 716 million men, women and children defecate in the open every day, in South Asia, contributing to the most appalling concentration of poverty and disease and the poorest standards of hygiene in the world.Read More