Governance

For a GIS zealot like me, this is breaking news on the Indian mapping front. Finally a GIS application for risk-mapping and management of floods in India!

The Flood Risk Mapping Study, funded by the Water Resources wing of the Public Works Department to a tune of Rs 2,17 crores, is an initiative of the Tamil Nadu State Government. It is supported by the Centre's Department of Science and Technology and Survey of India in the research component of the project. This one-year project is being handled by Anna University’s Institute of Remote Sensing (IRS), Chennai.

This report includes the findings of the ASHWAS  survey (A Survey of Household Water and Sanitation),  a participatory survey carried out by Arghyam, that  included  28 districts of Karnataka covering more than 17,200 households across 172 gram panchayats (GPs). This was a peoples' survey, and the surveyors were selected from the respective communities that included students, women from self help groups, local NGO partners and other volunteers.

Thinking about giving back to society? Looking for an opportunity to do something meaningful and use your skills and experience to contribute to the lives of the disadvantaged? Come and join a small team of like-minded individuals working together with people and groups across the country on the issue of water.

Everyday more than 1000 children die of preventable, water related diseases in India. At least 30 million people don’t have access to safe drinking water in urban India, and 40 million live in slums without adequate sanitation facilities. And the situation is only going to worsen. Water is likened to oil, only much more central to our very lives and well-being. Globally, it is increasingly being seen as the burning issue of this century.