/topics/citizens-rights-and-duties
Citizens' Rights and Duties
From toilet to tap: Is that the future of drinking water?
Posted on 09 Dec, 2015 12:47 PMAn article in India Today three years ago was titled ‘Beware Delhi!
![Yogendra Singh, an operator, explains how the 'Toilet to tap' plant functions](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/yogendra.jpg?itok=y-Nm9-a5)
Understanding the connect between caste and sanitation
Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 11:14 PMOf 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/toilets_7.jpg?itok=ZcAHXV_D)
Water vending machines: How equitable are they?
Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 02:34 PMA 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/girls_getting_water_from_atm.jpg?itok=K9iRQ_Ri)
Undisposed toxic waste still haunts Bhopal’s groundwater
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](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/memorial.jpg?itok=J53qD4BG)
India needs to radically overhaul its water institutions
Posted on 23 Nov, 2015 09:53 PMThere 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/damscorruption.jpg?itok=36Bl2i_M)
Right to water and sanitation: Looking beyond legal and policy frameworks to sites of entitlement
Posted on 16 Nov, 2015 03:09 PMIncreasing 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/slum_1.jpg?itok=alLNln4W)
Let's not only blame Punjab's farmers for lighting up!
Posted on 13 Nov, 2015 11:35 PMA 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/pic_by_neil_palmer.jpg?itok=Rpf3-L_x)
Adapting to floods and improving lifestyles could give us some clues to finding an alternative to embankments
Posted on 29 Oct, 2015 01:46 PMDr 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/dr_molden1.jpg?itok=TeSeZel0)
Environment Ministry to review Critically Polluted Areas
Posted on 26 Oct, 2015 09:57 PMEnvironment Ministry gets strict towards the compliance of green norms
![CSEB power plant in Korba (Source: IWP Flickr Photo)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/national_thermal_power_corporation_ltd._plant_in_korba_0.jpg?itok=kBlnqNZL)
These 'River View' apartments could get you in neck deep!
Posted on 02 Oct, 2015 03:59 PMAt 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/kaliyasot_001.jpg?itok=a2BTiNz-)