Equity

Guest Post by Himanshu Thakkar

New Delhi: A workshop organised yesterday on the sidelines of a South Asia civil society gathering under the banner of Assembly of a Union of South Asian Peoples at Jawaharlal Nehru University came up with a set of recommendations to address the question of conflict over shared rivers in the region. The key message from the meeting, which addressed issues pertaining to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and India, was that South Asia’s rivers should be a source of uniting peoples, not dividing them. The Assembly is being organised as a civil society counter to the official SAARC meeting to be held in Thimpu from 28-29 April 2010.

This report from the Right to Food Campaign traces the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in West Bengal and points to the failure of the State in guaranteeing basic entitlements. It asserts that West Bengal is way behind other States, in implementation of this scheme, as per the data on NREGS website.

Ariticle Courtesy: National Alliance of Peoples' Movements

Dear Saaathis,

You all must have got the word by now ...Narmada is in serious crisis ...Not just the people and the environemnt, but the very project itself today...And unjust politics is also at its peak again ...This is the last and critical leg of the SSP battle...

Thousands of us are to embark on an indefinite mass action of Narmada from April 11th and sit before the Narmada Control Authority from the 13th at Indore. The situation is very serious and highly politicized, since even as there are 2 lakh adiavasis, farmers, fish workers, labourers yet to be rehabilitated in the submergence area, only corruption has increased ten-fold and gross environmental non-compliance has been exposed by the latest Devender Pandey Committee.

This paper presents and explores the efforts of the Government of Rajasthan, in tackling the problem of fluorosis and in ensuring that the Rajasthan Integrated Fluorosis Mitigation Programme (RIFMP) impacts all segments of the target population, including dalits. 

Rajasthan has almost half of the total villages, with the highest levels of fluoride in the country. After the success of the UNICEF pilot project using Domestic De-fluoridation Units (DDUs) at household levels, the Government of Rajasthan in 2005 adopted this technology and implemented the Rajasthan Integrated Fluorosis Mitigation Programme (RIFMP), across the state.

Venue: Mumbai

Organizer's: TISS, SaciWATERs, SOPPECOM, GWA

The Fifth South Asian Gender, Water & Equity Workshop

Theme:"Gender, Water and Equity"

www.Water-Stocks.com, an investor and industry portal for the water sector within Investorideas.com, presents an interview with Jud Hill, Managing Partner, Summit Global Management, Inc., discussing ‘The Case for Water Equity Investing 2010’.

The Third Gender, Water, & Equity Training Workshop in South Asia, is being organised from Nov 23-27, 2009. WHAT WILL YOU GAIN BY ATTENDING? The programme will help in - • Understanding the larger political context of water where in gender and equity issues are placed at the centre • Strengthening participants’ perspectives on gender, water, and equity issues • Examining analytical frameworks that could incorporate gender in the planning and implementation of programmes in the water sector

Image and Content Courtesy: WaterAid

WaterAid India's WaterDrops newsletter is published quarterly. WaterDrops is an effort to showcase WaterAid India's work, ideas, issues and concerns with its partners, civil society organisations, international NGOs, UN agencies and other important players in the water and sanitation sector. The latest issue of WaterDrops focusses on issues of inclusion, including articles on Social exclusion in drinking water and sanitation, Caste based discrimination, Water as a tool for social control and Inclusive approaches in Bihar. The latest issue can be downloaded here: WaterDrops Issue - 12

Forwarded to the Portal by: Josh Paglia, SIWI

The UNDP Water Governance Facility (WGF) at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a unique initiative that supports developing countries in their efforts to strengthen water governance and reduce poverty through policy support and advisory services. The latest newsletter from the Water Governance Facility provides updates on activities initiated & much more.

Some highlights are: WGF in Action: From the World Water Forum

At the 5th World Water Forum, 15-22 March, Istanbul, WGF participated in several events. At the seminar Beyond Water Bribes: How to build a corruption-resistant water sector Dr. HÃ¥kan Tropp gave a key note presentation Corruption: The Missing Link in Water Governance. WGF also co-authored parts of the World Water Development Report, 2009: Water in a Changing World, and attended its launch 16 March.