Articles

Towards data-driven district rural drinking water planning framework
Current rural water planning approach in India lacks important data considerations. Data is not mapped and prioritization is not transparent.
A new planning framework focused on democratizing village water data collection is needed (Image: Snappy Goat from Pixabay)
Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan a low impact, high expenditure scheme: CAG
Policy matters this week
Deepening work in progress under the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan (Source: Ravindra Pomane)
Overexploitation of groundwater highest in Punjab: Government
News this week
Overexploitation of groundwater highest in Punjab (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Who is the thirstiest of them all?
A study evaluating the water use efficiency of sugarcane, curry banana and paddy among borewell irrigating farmers finds paddy to be the most inefficient and thirstiest of the three.
Paddy, a thirsty crop (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Gendered impacts of COVID-19
The pandemic affects rural women disproportionately with damaging impacts on their employment, health and security.
The time-use survey indicates that women are now spending more time on unpaid domestic and care work (Image: Sunita, Pixabay)
MNREGA helps a village in Bihar become flood proof
United action of locals, wisdom of the village head and MNREGA help to deal with waterlogging in a village in Bihar.
MNREGA comes to the rescue of Harpur Bochha (Source: Umesh Kumar Ray)
Decision Support Space: A concept
Are we wired to make bad decisions and how can a Decision Support Space (DSSpace) facilitate better decision-making about water systems in India?
Decision-making on water is a multifaceted and cognitively overwhelming process (Image: Lolame, Pixabay)
Farm ponds need pondering
While farm ponds have often been depicted as magic wands to deal with water scarcity, experiences in Maharashtra show otherwise.
Farm ponds, often touted as magic wands to tackle water scarcity, have raised a number of concerns (Image Source: Ninad Sargar)
Improving city-wide sanitation service delivery in small towns of Odisha
Project Nirmal demonstrates appropriate, low-cost, decentralized, inclusive and sustainable sanitation service delivery solutions for two small towns (Angul and Dhenkanal) in Odisha.
Community meetings in the slums of Dhenkanal under Project Nirmal (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Sanitation empowered her
Community response to the slum sanitation improvement project hinges on grassroots leadership in a slum settlement in Dhenkanal.
As a part of Project Nirmal, community structures including Slum Sanitation Committees (SSCs) and Ward Sanitation Committees (WSCs) were constituted at the slum and ward level (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Satyagrah by the river calls for action against erosion
River erosion, so intense, that the whole village is in danger. As the government’s help seems a distant dream, locals carry out Satyagrah to expose their plight to the authorities.
Satyagrah by the river (Image source: Umesh K Ray)
Uttarakhand: Reaching the unreached
PSI addresses the shortage of safe drinking water in remote Uttarakhand villages through a participatory community-based approach to springshed management.
Women trudged long distances daily to fetch water for their basic household needs in Rupail (Image: People's Science Institute)
The fast disappearing glaciers of Kashmir
The glaciers located in the Kashmir Himalayas are melting at rapid rates posing a threat to water security in the region!. How is Kashmir coping?
Kolahoi glacier in Kashmir (Image Source: Irfanaru via Wikimedia Commons)
All hopes lost for the flood-hit in Bihar
People in Bihar are struggling with the floods for a month now, while the government has turned a blind eye to their plight.
Havoc of floods in Saharsa (Source: Umesh K Ray)
Agriculture and food security challenges amid Covid-19
The pandemic has bared our vulnerabilities and shaken our collective consciousness to focus on agriculture and rural economy.
Women farmers produce vegetables through innovative farming practices in Banka, Bihar. They can sell their produce at regional markets, and earn a better income for their families. (Image: USAID, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Government to get strict against wastage of groundwater
Policy matters this week
A resident in Delhi with her extracted groundwater (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Nashik civic body frees Godavari using riverfront development funds
News this week
Godavari river (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Empowering, involving local communities crucial for reviving Yamuna: Study
A user-friendly water quality index could be created to help riverine communities take informed decisions.
To improve the participation of the riverine communities in river clean-up activities, a platform can be set up as a governance mechanism. (Image: Thommen Jose, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Swollen rivers engulf houses and erode banks wreaking havoc in Bihar
Swollen rivers engulf houses and erode banks in Bihar while the government turns a blind eye to this annual misery.
Erosion due to floods in Ganga river (Source: Umesh Kumar Ray)
Ganga's riverine communities in troubled waters
The fishing community is the most vulnerable as its members come into direct contact with the river water and thus, suffer the maximum impact of pollution.
There is a need to formalise the traditional occupation of riverine fishing by providing proper licensing facilities to allow for targeted policies for the community in order to mitigate the livelihood challenges being faced by it. (Image: Pikrepo)