Informal Sector

Climate Change

• Gujarat farmers fight against climate change: Adopt technology to conserve resources and maximize benefits
• Higher-than-normal temperatures in Ladakh pose a threat to its glaciers and thereby life in the region
• South Asia is the world's most climate-vulnerable: India ranks second

Please consider signing this online petition drafted by the Environmental Support Group, who have been AID's partner for 10 years now (esgindia.org). This letter is regarding a 'Draft Paper' on 'Monitoring Compliance of Environment/CRZ clearance Conditions – A New Approach' drafted by an in-house Review Committee constituted on 25th August 2010 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The paper by International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Challenge Programme for Water and Food (CPWF) and University of Arizona deals with energy supply and expansion of groundwater irrigation in the Indus-Ganges basin. Irrigation using groundwater has expanded rapidly in South Asia since the inception of the Green Revolution in the 1970s and it represents the largest source of irrigation in the basin.

• WIO demands the Government of Orissa to come out with a White Paper on water first and then decide on new allocations.
• No new industries should be allowed to draw water unless this White Paper prepared and made public.
• That Orissa is a ‘Surplus Water’ state is a ‘myth’.

This paper discusses the relevance of the process of decentralisation in water resources management. The paper argues that decentralisation is not about formulating a top-down reform package to transfer power from central government to other actors to manage water resources, nor is it about emphasising the existence of the bottom up agency.

Rather, the paper draws on "New Institutionalism" and argues that decentralisation is a complex adaptive process that involves natural as well as political actions of actors and agents who draw on existing structures to negotiate and renegotiate the existing unequal power relations to manage water.

The workshop was organised in response to the implementation of two water supply projects in Bangalore and Mysore as a part of the Water Sector Reforms under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and the increasing trend of privatisation under the water sector reforms in cities like Bangalore and Mysore.

It was felt that there was a need to raise awareness among citizens and groups in Bangalore and Mysore regarding the implications of privatisation and the mechanisms through which privatisation was being introduced in the cities in India. 

Image and Content Courtesy: Synergos

The Senior Fellows Network is comprised of distinguished international civil society leaders committed to collaborative efforts that address the underlying causes of poverty and inequity.

A special issue of the Livelihoods magazine (March 2010) brought out by the Akshara Network for Development Support Services, on Watersheds+.

Increasing productivity of dry lands is possible through soil and moisture conservation (SMC) efforts results in growth led by increases in the farm output. Separate efforts are required to include the land-less and the vulnerable in this growth, so that they also realize the benefits of improved food security, increased employment and diversification of livelihoods. Such activities are known as ‘Watershed Plus’ interventions, and ‘livelihoods’ explores these activities.

The Urban Development Policy, Karnataka has been developed, by the Department of Urban Development (Government of Karnataka), as a response to the challenges that are being faced by the state due to rapid urbanisation leading to:

• An increase in population in urban areas due to migration
• Increase in the number of poor residents in urban areas
• Infrastructural shortfall on several fronts
• Shortage of resources
• The challenge of ensuring the basic welfare of the poor in urban areas
• The increasing need for strengthening governance, planning and administration