Governance

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.

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.

Gyanchand Mishra is 65, the veteran of many a sanitation campaign that, he says, has ended successfully. Mixing politics and activism, his long association with sanitation resulted in Dhenkanal’s first ODF Ward-3.

In a span of a few months, COVID-19 has hit the world severely. At the same time, the water bodies are seeing more life, smog is giving way to blue skies, the air has become cleaner and many forms of pollution have plunged. However, coronavirus waste has emerged as a new form of pollution.

Radharamanpada is an unauthorised slum in Angul with 300 houses. The president of the slum sanitation committee Janaki Sahu, a 28-year-old mother of four, runs a street food stall on the main road. There are seven women in the committee of eleven, working on sanitation solution for populations that remain underserved.

Samanvay Foundation has developed a knowledgebase for leaders working in nonprofit organisations, on issues related to software technology and its use in community programs. It covers strategy, management, economics, and appropriateness of software technology.

A few of us did an exercise where we closed our eyes and thought of the first four words that came to our minds when we thought of water data in India. Here is what we came up with:

India is fortunate to have a rich tradition of public data collection and compilation.

This year, Global Handwashing Day (observed annually on October 15) is particularly significant given the COVID-19 pandemic. While vaccine trials are ongoing, protective actions such as handwashing with soap is a critical first line of defence and cost-effective public health intervention.