Citizens' Rights and Duties

In a corner of the Kathagada locality in the Parhatiya Sahi slum of Dhenkanal stands a small neat house. Surrounded by a well-tended garden that is planted with fruit trees, flowers and grass, this is Reena Rani Singh’s home. She is a multi-purpose local leader, self help group (SHG) member, Mahila Arogya Samiti Member and Slum Sanitation Committee (SSC) member. Reena is a motivated woman who keeps her home and garden well-tended. The lanes around her house are clean with narrow drains to carry away wastewater from houses. There is no garbage scattered in corners.

Since last week, people of Birjain village have been protesting against erosion by the river bank. They are demanding that the government should put in efforts to prevent river erosion and save their houses, otherwise they will continue with their Satyagrah and perform Jal Samadhi (suicide by drowning). Sattore, a flood-prone Panchayat has about 3000 houses. According to the locals, erosion was not present in the panchayat till 2019, when it was first reported. The problem intensified this year.

India has seen large scale rural-urban migration of people trying to escape rural distress in the last few decades. “The urban areas are looked at as the centre of India's development trajectory and urbanism has become synonymous with development, as rural masses drift into the glitter and grind of the urban life,” said Prof RS Deshpande, an honorary visiting professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore.

Economic development and creation of jobs have been India’s most critical challenges, and continue to be an overriding priority for the government. India’s rise in the World Bank’s global ranking on the ease of doing business is complemented with a successive downturn in its position on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) from 2014 to 2019. According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2020, India is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change.

Panchayats have been the core of India's rural governance even before they received the constitutional mandate through the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992, forming the basis of decentralization in the country. There are 2.5 lakh gram panchayats; over 6 lakhs villages; around 4500 urban local bodies and 4000 census towns in the country.

National Water Mission’s (NWM) has launched a campaign ‘Catch the rain’ on a pan India basis to nudge the states and stakeholders to create appropriate rainwater harvesting structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata before the onset of monsoon.

Through no fault of their own, migrants were forced to leave the cities after the government imposed a Covid-19 induced national lockdown in late March. After losing their work, fearing they would run out of cash and food they trudged back along with their families to the villages in search of humanity, food, and a place to live.

A recent national study on farmer producer’s organisations (FPOs) supported by Tata Trusts investigates gaps looming in business transactions between FPOs and market players and recommends interventions to bridge these. The study titled ‘Identification of vibrant FPO clusters for effective market integration’ attempts to strengthen the linkages of FPOs with markets at scale.

As per the findings of an NREGA tracker launched by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) the lockdown saw a record spike in jobs under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Due to intermittent rains in the Terai region of Bihar and Nepal, the water level of Mahananda, Kosi, Kamla and Bagmati rivers of North Bihar is continuously increasing and flood conditions have started to build in the region.