Articles

Plundered rivers, vanishing ecosystems: Sandmining in India’s west
While sandmining is increasingly killing rivers in India, what is the state of rivers in western India?
River sand continues to be plundered for the construction industry (Source: P Jeganathan/Wikimedia Commons)
Embracing planning for faecal sludge management: The tale of two towns
How to plan for and implement FSM related initiatives in small towns?
Project Nirmal demonstrates appropriate, low-cost, decentralized, inclusive and sustainable sanitation service delivery solutions for two small towns (Angul and Dhenkanal) in Odisha. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Mobile technology for non-profits
What are the factors that need to be considered when procuring mobile devices?
Nonprofits generally operate on a tight budget and the right technology solution can be of great help. (Image: Pixabay)
Study using geo-tagged bottles unravels plastic pollution
News this week
Plastic pollution by a river (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
New packaged drinking water rules to apply from January 1, 2021
Policy matters this week
Filtration plants in a packaging water units (Image source: Tushar Trivedi)
Connecting the dots: Reimagining water security at scale
Can digital technology aid in bringing samaj, bazaar and sarkar closer to solve water and livelihood issues? What do learnings from the ground show?
Connecting the dots (Image Source: www.kudumbshree.org, kudumbashree via Wikimedia Commons)
District development, data and diversity: Lessons and the way forward
Though we have highly sophisticated ways of depicting data nowadays, we have gone backwards on linking data with decision making.
The quality of the government data for schematic reporting has improved as compared to 20 years ago, that does not necessarily mean that planning has improved (Image: Pikist)
Not in the interest of women farmers!
The new farm related bills will spell doom for women workers who form the bulk of small and marginal sections of Indian agriculture, warns Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Illegal sand mining led to 193 deaths in two years, says report
News this week
Sand mining on the banks of Tapti (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
NGT orders states to designate nodal agencies for restoring water bodies
Policy matters this week
Gharisar lake in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Madhya Pradesh’s recurring droughts: Measuring, responding and reducing the vulnerabilities
Drought vulnerability in agriculture has been recognised as a key development issue in the state.
Rugged, rocky terrain of Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh (Image: Shweta Prajapati)
Sustainable mobility amid COVID-19 pandemic
There is a need to address the wider challenge of development pattern and infrastructure provision to deal with the issue of sustainable mobility.
Though during the COVID-19 lockdown, people’s interest for non-motorised transport has witnessed a rise, the lack of infrastructure such as separate cycle tracks etc. among other reasons is likely to adversely affect this. (Image: Needpix)
Reviving traditional tanks to control floods in Chennai
A study finds that desilting and reviving traditional tanks in Chennai can greatly help in mitigating the impacts of frequent floods in the city.
A small tank near Thalambedu in Kanchipuram (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Patterns of social exclusion in watershed development in India
How have watershed development projects fared in India? Have they helped in better distribution of benefits among the poor and marginalised?
Watershed development: Towards equitable outcomes (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Helping nature take its course: Composting!
While urban areas are being engulfed by a sea of garbage, the need of the hour is to think about recycling waste that we generate at the source, so as to avoid sending it to the landfills.
From waste to value: The miracle of composting (Image Source: India Water Portal) at h
Increasing water security for the urban underserved
A pilot study with Composite Water Vulnerability Index tool designed for ranking of slums shows that 30% households are Beyond the Pipe (BtP).
Piramal Sarvajal and Center for Water and Sanitation launch the Composite Water Vulnerability Index Tool (Image: Piramal Sarvajal)
Illegal river bed mining continues unabated in north India
Need effective sand mining governance and law enforcement to address the plundering of the rich river ecosystem.
Law enforcement is missing on the ground causing immense environmental damage to the river ecosystem (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Administrative reforms towards Atmanirbhar Bharat
Accountable and efficient governance should reach the last mile.
Bracing for data reporting challenges
Why is your field team slack about data reporting? How can they be involved in the reporting processes?
The data capture happens as a part of the users’ workflow instead of being batched together as a separate activity, to be done later (Image: Geralt, Pixabay license)
Bespoke software vs. platform: Choosing between the two
The essential tradeoff between these two options is of cost, time, risk, and requirement match.
The term platform has a specific meaning which differentiates it from technology/software applications. (Image: Needpix)