Manisha Shah
In conversation with Rohini Nilekani: Water, societal platform thinking and COVID-19 response
Posted on 06 May, 2020 03:28 PMListen to the interview here:
![Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson, Arghyam](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-09/Rohini_Nilekani_Cover2.jpg?itok=bp_ryHYH)
Springing back to life
Posted on 20 Apr, 2020 11:45 PMSprings are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.
![Image: Flickr Commons](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/spring-himalayas_0.jpg?itok=SZ4ZTkQH)
WASH in the times of COVID-19
Posted on 17 Apr, 2020 10:08 PMMaharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr.
![Students handwashing with soap (Image: World Bank, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/handwashing-soap.jpg?itok=EGI_3QFB)
From policy to practice: Can National Water Policy 2020 bridge the gap?
Posted on 11 Apr, 2020 07:46 PMThe way water as a resource has been viewed in the policies of India has evolved significantly over the years. Reduction in per capita availability over the years (5177 to 1463 cubic metres between 1950-2015) has forced every new policy to change the way it has approached its management. It was considered an economic commodity in the second National Water Policy (NWP) drafted in 2002.
![Women extracting water from the riverbed, Gaya (Image: ICIMOD/ Prasanta Biswas; Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/women_extracting_water_from_the_river-wa.jpg?itok=bloLlW_5)
Jal Jeevan Mission: Will piped water to every household no longer be a pipe dream?
Posted on 14 Mar, 2020 04:26 PMMillions of Indian women can take up to six trips a day to gather and transport water, which takes up a major part of their day. During scorching summers when many sources dry up, their drudgery gets even worse.
![A school boy from Tilonia in semi-arid region of Rajasthan drinks from a tap from a rainwater harvesting tank that provides clean drinking water. (Image: Barefoot photographers of Tilonia)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tap-water.jpg?itok=fRxWZL1R)
Managing commons: Need and challenges
Posted on 06 Feb, 2020 07:17 PMCommon pool resources, popularly known as “commons”, are those resources which are accessible to the whole community or village and to which no individual has exclusive ownership or property rights. Commons have two essential characteristics: non-excludability and high-subtractability.
![Plantation in Gomala (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/plantation_in_gomala_1.jpg?itok=GlBcRaZ1)
Perils, politics and prospects of groundwater in India
Posted on 05 Feb, 2020 03:15 PMAfter independence, India was largely food insecure but post Green Revolution around the 1970s, foodgrain production increased manifold consequently reducing food insecurity and poverty in the country, in spite of rapid population growth. Its ability to achieve targeted results was largely dependent on the explosion of groundwater abstraction mechanisms like tubewells.
![An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/groundwater_3.jpg?itok=OTSLWBTH)