Khandwa is a medium-sized town located in western Madhya Pradesh. The 'Khandwa water supply augmentation project' has been awarded to Vishwa Utilities Pvt. Ltd., a Hyderabad based company under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis for water supply augmentation to the town, for the next 25 years. The project has been under execution since October 2009. The private party would supply water to the town @ Rs 11.95 per KL. The raw water for this would be pumped from a reservoir 51 km, away from the town. This report by Gaurav Dwivedi and Rehmat, Manthan Adhyayan Kendra deals with the privatisation of urban water supply in the town.
This article criticises the Government of India’s proposal of addressing the twin problems of floods and water scarcity in the country by interlinking rivers
This article questions the logic behind the implementing of the river interlinking project by using dams, embankments and canals, which have failed in Bihar to control floods
This paper in the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) by Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed, University of Dhaka deals with the Supreme Court’s verdict directing the Government of India to implement the interlinking of rivers. The article opines that the judgement seems to have overlooked the regional and international implications of what the Indian Court strangely considers “the rivers of the country”.
This paper published in the magazine Science highlights the importance of the Himalayan glaciers, the current uncertainties in relation to the status of glaciers, their implications for water resources in the region and the prevailing public and scientific debate around them. Current evidence indicates that most Himalayan glaciers are losing mass at rates similar to glaciers elsewhere, except for emerging indications of stability or mass gain in the Karakoram.
This paper published in the journal Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology & Life Sciences describes the findings of a study that was carried out to check the effects of industrial and agricultural activities on the groundwater properties in terms of heavy metal concentration. Polluted groundwater is defined as groundwater that has higher concentrations of dissolved or suspended elements than the maximum permissible concentrations fixed by national or international standards for drinking, industrial or agricultural purposes. Sometimes natural groundwater pollution may also occur because of the presence of the respective substances above the prescribed limits.
Today India is looking at permanent membership in the UN, and is already a prominent member of several international organisations like SAARC and BRICS.Many big MNC’s have already made their homes in India and many are in the process to do so. India is also achieving great heights in industries and in the defence sector.
By looking at these developments we can say that indeed India is progressing at a very fast pace! But to an extent it is a artificial or illusion.
Still India is thousand years behind if we compare it with the developments of western countries , A country which is in 21st century is still bound by the shackles of caste & religious atrocities, honour killings , manual scavenging for thousands of years, then how can we say that this country is developing in a true sense?
This paper published in the Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine sheds light on the occupational health hazards among sewage and sanitary workers. The paper informs that manual scavenging still persists in our country and the situation of the manual scavengers has continued to remain unchanged, despite the fact that the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, is in enforcement. This Act provides for the prohibition of the employment of manual scavengers as well as construction or continuance of dry latrines and for the regulation of construction and maintenance of water-seal latrines for assuring the dignity of the individual.
