News and Articles

Climate change is leading to rise in extreme events world over, and developing countries such as India have been experiencing not only higher death rates but also greater economic impacts due to natural hazards.

How have watershed development projects fared in India? Have they helped in better distribution of benefits among the poor and marginalised? Why is it important to talk about watershed development at this juncture?

This book by Dr Eshwer Kale dwells on these questions and explores issues around social exclusion among resource-poor people in watershed development projects.

My cracked heels seemed to be incurable no matter how much they were  treated, until the lockdown happened! It came with a new norm - Stay home, stay safe. And it gave me my original feet back! This unexpected delight came with a realisation that my body was healing, and so was  Mother Earth, during the lockdown!

Piramal Sarvajal, the safe drinking water initiative of Piramal Foundation launched a tool named Composite Water Vulnerability Index (CWVI) at its recent webinar on ‘Sustainable water security for urban underserved’ hosted in association with Center for Water and Sanitation (CWAS) and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT).

In October this year, locals and river activists campaigned against illegal sand mining in Yamunanagar, Haryana. The authorities were compelled to take notice and the errant firms that had deployed heavy machinery to embank the river and divert its natural flow to extract sand were booked for violation.

Policies are seen as a political investment, and the executive and legislature have electoral pressures and considerations. Civil services and other government jobs have generated interests primarily for their job security, high salaries, and promotions.

In most field programs there is a time lag between data collection and data reporting as only periodic reporting is expected. The field staff compiles it manually at the end of the period and reports up in the hierarchy. There are two types of compilation - aggregation and data filtering.

In the last few years, we have suddenly seen a spike in usage of the term software platform. All types of software applications started getting called platform. But the term platform has a specific meaning which differentiates it from technology/software applications.

Langsymphut village in Meghalaya has ample water now. Gone are the days when the water starved village was barren with its streams dying a slow death. And that too when it is located only 22 kilometres away from Mawsynram village, known to be one of the wettest places on earth!

There are several uncertainties with technology endeavours of non-profit organisations. They pose significant risks to non-profits - wasted resources, inability to evolve with time, and obsolescence in the long term. Open source products offer a sustainable path.