Citizens' Rights and Duties

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July 7, 2022 PMAY needs policy commitment to rehabilitate slums in small and medium cities of Gujarat
Need for legal framework for land rights in small and medium cities of Gujarat under PMAY (Image: Homes in the City)
December 6, 2019 A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
November 21, 2019 A report by NIUA brings to light the chinks in Jaipur's sewage system and suggests some solutions.
Routine check done by the sewage treatment plant staff in Delawas, Jaipur. The plant is part of the ADB best practices projects list. (Image: Asian Development Bank, Flickr Commons)
November 18, 2019 Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 15, 2019 On World Toilet Day, we bring to light the labour of India’s sewer workers - those who do the unclean work that a Clean India relies on.
Photo credit: Sharada Prasad
From toilet to tap: Is that the future of drinking water?
Singapore's done it, and so has Orange County USA. Even astronauts do it. Drink recycled wastewater, that is! So will it become a reality in India? Posted on 09 Dec, 2015 12:47 PM

An article in India Today three years ago was titled ‘Beware Delhi!

Yogendra Singh, an operator, explains how the 'Toilet to tap' plant functions
Understanding the connect between caste and sanitation
De-linking the relationship between the two and not acknowledging the contribution of sanitation workers can limit the goal of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to clean India and achieve total sanitation. Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 11:14 PM

Of the one billion people defecating out in the open globally, 66% live in India of which as high as 92% live in rural areas.

Factors affecting sanitation outcomes (Source: Sourabh Phadke)
Water vending machines: How equitable are they?
Water ATMs have been in use in India for a decade but who are they helping and are they fulfilling their objective, which is to provide safe and clean drinking water to the poor at a low cost? Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 02:34 PM

A water ATM, as the name implies, is a sort of a water vending machine similar to bank ATMs except that in a water ATM, money goes in to the machine in return for water. These machines, which run on a cash as well as a prepaid card or smart card system are built, owned and operated by private companies that have rights over public resources such as land and water.

Water vending machines at work (Source:Sarvajal)
Undisposed toxic waste still haunts Bhopal’s groundwater
A report says that many locals in Bhopal are dealing with “high rates of birth defects, rapidly rising cancer rates, neurological damage, chaotic menstrual cycles and mental illness". Posted on 02 Dec, 2015 03:06 PM

“When cool air blows over the city and it rains in Bhopal bringing welcome respite to its people, I fear that toxic waste is spilling into its groundwater”, says Rajesh Kumar who shows me around the 68-acre plant site of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL).

A poem that describes how the city was left destroyed is written on a wall near a memorial for those killed & disabled by the Bhopal gas tragedy, 1984
India needs to radically overhaul its water institutions
Can India draw some lessons from the Singaporean water story? Prof Asit Biswas, founder of the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico, talks to India Water Portal. Posted on 23 Nov, 2015 09:53 PM

There was a recent report in the Times of India on how Singapore, listed among the 20 smallest countries in the world, made water management and conservation efforts over the years. What lessons can India, a mammoth country draw from this small but densely populated country?

India's water sector: Endemic corruption and public apathy (Source: K N Balraj, IWP Flickr Photos)
Right to water and sanitation: Looking beyond legal and policy frameworks to sites of entitlement
While research, policy and practice debates routinely talk about the human right to sanitation and water, there is little grasp of how these are translated into local understandings of entitlement. Posted on 16 Nov, 2015 03:09 PM

Increasing concerns over the consequences of inadequate urban sanitation and water with regard to poverty, health, livelihoods, and education have spurred global declarations on the human right to sanitation and water. However, the social and spatial heterogeneity of urban poverty is often missing in global policy debates.

An illegal settlement (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Let's not only blame Punjab's farmers for lighting up!
The current rice-wheat crop cycle and the cost of safe disposal of the straw push farmers towards burning, thereby causing them health issues as well as draining available natural resources. Posted on 13 Nov, 2015 11:35 PM

A few days ago, there were news items galore with NASA's images of the burning of rice straw in Punjab. The red dots were presumed to be the fields

Short period between rice harvesting and sowing of wheat forces farmers to burn straw. (Source: Neil Palmer Wikimedia Commons)
Adapting to floods and improving lifestyles could give us some clues to finding an alternative to embankments
Dr David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD, talks to Monoj Gogoi on his visit to flood-affected Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam and Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. Posted on 29 Oct, 2015 01:46 PM

Dr Molden, you have visited Dihiri in Dhemaji district and Borsala in Lakhimpur districts. Both these villages are the worst flood affected villages of the region. You also interacted with the communities in these two villages. What was the purpose of this visit? Please share your experiences.

In conversation with Dr Molden (Source: Monoj Gogoi)
Environment Ministry to review Critically Polluted Areas
Policy matters this week Posted on 26 Oct, 2015 09:57 PM

Environment Ministry gets strict towards the compliance of green norms

CSEB power plant in Korba (Source: IWP Flickr Photo)
These 'River View' apartments could get you in neck deep!
The increase in construction activity in and around the Kaliasot river in Bhopal is not only causing social unrest but also poses a danger to residents in the river's vicinity. Posted on 02 Oct, 2015 03:59 PM

At a time when the Central Government has stressed the need to protect our rivers, the Kaliasot river green belt in Madhya Pradesh has witnessed haphazard growth due to illegal constructions. Not only has the flow of the river which flows from the center of Bhopal been affected, but also community lives have been impacted.

Construction work in progress within the Kaliasot river basin area (Source: Shirish Khare)
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