India

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (www.cag.gov.in) is starting a performance Audit on "Pollution of ground water, lakes and rivers in India". CAG has invited citizens to point out specific problems / issue regarding water pollution affecting them or the environment.

Guest post by Mr. Chetan Pandit who works for the Central Water Commission, Government of India

This blog is a condensed version of the paper published in the 3rd Round Table on Sustainable Consumption and Production, organized by the Ministry of Environment and Forests jointly with UNEP, at New Delhi on 11-12 Feb 2010. The views expressed in this article are author’s personal views, and are not to be taken as the views of his employers.

In any discussion about Sustainable Development (SD) the quantity of consumption is invariably the main concern. Perhaps this stems from the original definition of SD as the “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs", which invokes the spectre of insufficient quantities of resources at some time in the future. This concern is invalid for water, because water is a dynamic and renewable resource. Every hydrologic year brings a fresh packet of water. There is no way to use in this year, the rainfall that is yet to occur in the next year, or next decade. Moreover, any unused water will flow away to the oceans. The storages capacities, whether in surface storages or in aquifer, are adequate for one year only, at the most a little carry over for the next year. With many basins already reaching “water stressed” status, the problem at hand is how to supply the needs of this year, and there is no question of storing the water for future generations. Thus, in the context of water, quantity of water used should not be the primary concern for SD.

This policy brief, prepared by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, provides a bird’s eye view of the privatisation and reforms processes in the country.

The India Water Portal is an open, collaborative, web-based initiative, anchored by Arghyam, for sharing water management knowledge amongst practitioners, experts and the general public.

The WateReuse Foundation is seeking preproposals for funding consideration under its 2010 Unsolicited Research Program. The total amount of funds approved for the Foundation's 2010 Unsolicited Research Program projects is $301,531.

Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts (Forum) in India, in collaboration with the Chalakudi Puzha Samrakshan Samiti and Kerala State Resource Centre of the Forum, is organizing a Training Programme on Understanding and Resolving Water Conflicts from 5 to 8 April 2010 in Kerala (the exact location in Kerala would be announced later).

In 2010, theatre continues to be one of our core areas of intervention – trainings, workshops, working with groups and communities, performances, post-performance discussions… The performing media initiative of media matters now has a repertoire of plays being performed by its youth theatre groups, the most recent being Main, Asha... (on sex selection) and Kataar! (on right to information).

Consolidating these experiences, we organize our annual six-day residential workshop – an opportunity to interact and work with both, 'development actors' and 'theatre activists'.

Our previous workshops have been attended by participants representing CBOs, NGOs, Government departments, theatre groups and educational institutions from across states – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

About the Book –

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are supposed to provide solutions to many of the existing problems related to infrastructure projects – in both execution and operation. Currently, there are PPP projects in almost all the sectors including roads, ports, airports, water, sewerage, solid waste management and transport among others. It is, therefore, important to do a reality check on PPP projects and their efficacy in addressing the problems faced by the public sector water supply services and other infrastructure sectors as well.

The report looks at various aspects of PPPs, beginning from why PPPs have come to be regarded as the major approach for infrastructure development in the country, the circumstances that lead to the change in approach from direct privatisation to public-private partnerships, the current status of the PPP projects that are being executed in India, especially in the water sector, to the current estimates and projections of investment requirements for infrastructure development in India by governments and International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship are designed to support and celebrate social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale positive influence in important areas often burdened by intractable imbalances -- tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity.

Small Grants and Fellowships Available for Work on Toxicity, Waste and Pollution in India

Environmental Equity and Justice Partnership (EEJP) announces the launch of second phase of its grant program. Over next three years the program will work towards ‘securing environmental justice, especially for poor and the marginalized who are often expected to bear more than their share of environmental burdens’.

Towards the attainment of this larger goal, EEJP strives to catalyse grassroots initiatives, trigger new imagination and perspectives, encourage crossover linkages, and provide greater opportunities to connect to environmental thinking. This it seeks to accomplish through its two components -- Environmental Small Grants (for organisations) and Environmental Fellowship (for individuals)