Maharashtra

With 85 percent of water being utilized for agriculture in India, a gradual shift in agriculture towards water-intensive crops have exposed the country to an increased threat of water crisis. The erratic nature of monsoons adds to this exposure and calls for judicious use of water resources, especially in the dry regions.

Anand Jagtap, ex Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the winner of the Lingaraja Memorial Award and a PhD scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai has been associated with the Slum Sanitation Programme (SSP) undertaken by MCGM with support from the World Bank since 1997 to 2005.

Deane De Menezes is the founder of Red is the New Green (RING) – an award winning social enterprise working towards reducing the social stigma attached to menstruation.

Slums, fast growing Covid-19 hotspots!

Even as I sat down to write this the Jeevan Raths have rolled out and are serving migrants essentials - food, water and sanitary

With an attempt to contain the spread of deadly Covid-19, Indian government had announced a complete nation-wide lockdown from March 25 onwards. For the first time, the provisions of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005, were invoked since the law came into being after the 2004 tsunami.

Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR) works with municipal schools in Mumbai with a focus on WASH and menstrual hygiene management and even a digital literacy programme.

While Covid-19 has brought forth the need for better access to water for WASH practices to the forefront, how India plans to bring water at the doorstep through the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) continues to be a challenge. This is especially in the context of not only access but also quality of the available water.

The exodus of migrant workers from urban areas back to their villages in the wake of country wide lockdown has brought rural poverty into sharp focus. Reconstruction of rural economy therefore needs policy and planning attention.