Governance

Featured Articles
January 4, 2021
Should we bet more on historians than engineers to sort flooding?
How the historian's method is invaluable in developing an understanding of floods.
Need to consider the perspective of the historians who see floods as a naturally occurring event. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
January 1, 2021
Delhi smog can’t be blamed on crop fires
There is more to Delhi's air pollution than stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
The small window of a fortnight between rice harvesting and wheat sowing compels farmers to burn the crop residue (Image: Neil Palmer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA-4.0 Generic)
December 29, 2020
Challenges to India’s urban water security and future growth patterns
Water resources in most Indian cities are overworked and overused, and not adequately replenished.
Cities in India are marked by unequal distribution of water, lack of access, outdated infrastructure and minimal enforcement of rainwater harvesting and other means of supply. (Image: Anish Roy, Pixabay)
December 12, 2020
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)
December 8, 2020
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)
December 7, 2020
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)
Data, a reusable asset
Can we design capabilities to ingest, protect and use water data in ways that amplify value for its users? Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 2 weeks ago

A quick search for the word data on India Water Portal results in a flood of queries - people are looking for water data - for specific villages, cities or for the entire country. 
Water data needs to be liberated from the custody of one set of users and a single programme making it a reusable asset that each programme and actor builds on. (Image: Needpix)
The women sanitation champions of Angul
Residents confronted with poor sanitation conditions come together and organise for effective sanitation service delivery in crowded, low-income neighbourhoods in Angul, Odisha. Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 2 weeks ago

Sita Behera, the 35-year-old mother of two lives in the Radhamadhavapura unauthorised slum in Angul. She is the President of the Ward Sanitation Committee (WSC) that is leading the work on making the slum open defecation free. Driven by the desire to improve the living conditions for her children and the neighbourhood at large, she prompted 140 families to construct latrines over two years.
Women come together in multi-layered sanitation institutions in Angul set up under Project Nirmal to improve the sanitation chain. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan a low impact, high expenditure scheme: CAG
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan had a low impact in making Maharashtra drought free: CAG
Deepening work in progress under the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan (Source: Ravindra Pomane)
Overexploitation of groundwater highest in Punjab: Government
News this week Swati Bansal posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Punjab no.1 in overexploitation of groundwater 
Overexploitation of groundwater highest in Punjab (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Gendered impacts of COVID-19
The pandemic affects rural women disproportionately with damaging impacts on their employment, health and security. Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

COVID-19 has unleashed one of the greatest human tragedies of the contemporary era demonstrating our fragility and has laid bare severe and systemic inequalities at all levels. It provides several lessons in the conduct of all aspects of human personality, professional, societal, and institutional lives globally.
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. Swati Bansal posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Harpur Bochha is a village in Vidyapatinagar block of Samastipur district of Bihar. The village, which has a population of about 11.5 thousand people and  2349 houses, remained inundated with rain and floodwater throughout the year followed by waterlogging.
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? Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote that he who has a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how'. A strong reason, motivation (why) and curiosity lead to actions that pave the path (how) to achieve any desired goal.
Decision-making on water is a multifaceted and cognitively overwhelming process (Image: Lolame, Pixabay)
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. Amita Bhaduri posted 4 months ago

Tucked away in the slums of Dhenkanal, a small community offers a glimpse of how sanitation solutions have changed hundreds of lives for the better. Till recently, post rains in the absence of proper drainage, the clogged lanes were causing a lot of inconvenience to the residents of Parhatiya Sahi slum.
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. Amita Bhaduri posted 4 months ago

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 and is a member of the local Self Help Group (SHG), Mahila Arogya Samiti and Slum Sanitation Committee (SSC).
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. Swati Bansal posted 4 months ago

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.
Satyagrah by the river (Image source: Umesh K Ray)
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