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Panchayati Raj Institutions
Challenges of being a ‘Prerak’
Posted on 27 Jul, 2018 01:35 PMMost of Etawah, a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh, has plenty of stories to share about their favourite leader Daddaji or Mulayam Singh Yadav, one of the former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh. The area bordering the ravines near Chambal, on the other hand, resounds with tales of dacoits like Phoolan Devi, Seema Parihar and Nirbhay Gujjar.
![Divyanshu Seth and Aishwarya Mishra (second and third from left in the first row) during a menstrual hygiene management session. (Pic courtesy: Divyanshu Seth)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/padman_challenge_completed_by_district_etawah_by_sessions_on_mhm_across_villages.jpg?itok=QzWbZuJL)
No water security without water quality
Posted on 16 Jul, 2018 10:19 AMGroundwater is a major source of water for a large number of Indians with 66 percent rural households and 27 percent urban households directly depending on it for drinking purposes, as per Census 2011.
![Unsanitary conditions lead to groundwater contamination. (Image: SuSanA Secretariat, Attribution [CC BY 2.0])](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/susana.jpg?itok=ftnfFsai)
“Agriculture alone cannot provide for our teeming millions.”
Posted on 06 Jul, 2018 03:15 PMIn India, although we have approximately four months of monsoon (which is basically 45 days of effective rainfall), in drought prone areas, there are only 10-15 days of harvestable rain in the entire season. If you don't get enough rain during those days, it's a cause for worry.
![Watershed management. Image source: India Water Portal](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/9738707725_2fa601dd8f_z.jpg?itok=ZfuAsfRO)
Creating community leaders to tackle disaster
Posted on 25 Jun, 2018 05:01 PMTired from the Baidyanath dhamyatra (pilgrimage) in the nearby town of Deoghar, Nunlal Kamath is stealing a quick nap on a charpoy outside his house. His house is right on the western bank of Kosi, north Bihar’s river of sorrow, in a particularly flood-prone area where there are no high grounds or flood platforms nearby.
![Village disaster management committee has built sand and boulder spurs to deflect floods at spots where bank erosion takes place. (Pic courtesy: GEAG)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/porcupine_0.jpg?itok=06ysgjM6)
Palwal puts Game Theory to practice
Posted on 21 May, 2018 09:27 PMAt just 24 years of age, Abhinav Vats has learnt a lot as the chief minister’s Good Governance Associate (CMGGA) posted in Palwal district of Haryana. An economics graduate from Delhi University, he worked as a research analyst with McKinsey and Company at Gurgaon for two-and-a-half years before deciding to be a CMGGA.
![Women participate enthusiastically in the ‘Palwal super village challenge’ for last mile delivery of rural development schemes. (Pic courtesy: Abhinav Vats)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/women_led_mobilization_for_women_empowerment_anganwdi_shg_parameters.jpg?itok=wYUK7KtI)
Anicuts affect Mahanadi's flow
Posted on 26 Apr, 2018 01:02 PMGopal Nishad, a fisherman in his early 40s, is frustrated that there is hardly any fish left in the Mahanadi’s basin at Pitaibandh due to the lack of water in the basin. This basin is located near Rajim-Nawapara in Chhattisgarh, the proposed site for the fourth anicut on the Mahanadi.
![Anicut on the Mahanadi basin at Rajim-Nawapara (Source: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/41425163831_0d3d44336d_o.jpg?itok=6SrFogy4)
Arsenic-affected village gets water after two decades
Posted on 12 Mar, 2018 05:41 AMKaudikasa is a small village with a population of just 350 people in the Ambagad Chowki block of the Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh. Despite its small size, Kaudikasa village has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Severe health problems have been reported from the village, thanks to acute arsenic contamination in its groundwater.
![Yuvraj Singh, a former sarpanch of Kaudikasa near the tube well reported to have the highest level of arsenic contamination.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/38815330440_fb9d5c937f_z.jpg?itok=vO6sXoDQ)
Millions wait for toilets and water
Posted on 24 Feb, 2018 10:31 AMGoI allocations for the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is Rs. 22,357 crores
![The state of water supply and sanitation continues to be poor in India.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/wash_1.jpg?itok=WMhiPZqo)
How Kakaddara village won water cup
Posted on 19 Feb, 2018 06:33 AMEvery year, thousands of villages in Maharashtra get affected by droughts. Experts say that the reasons for recurrent droughts include a lack of policy framework, technical knowledge and community participation as well as poor implementation of government programmes.
![A farm pond in Kakaddara.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/_dsc0072tps.jpg?itok=pZ5lfMej)
What budget has for farm and rural sectors
Posted on 07 Feb, 2018 04:31 PMThis year’s budget was expected to be extensively farmer- and rural-sector oriented. And that is exactly what it turned out to be. The distress in the agrarian sector has intensified and its political implications were rife this year considering the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled next year.
![The budget has a slew of initiatives to revive the farm sector. (Image: Azhar Feder, Wikimedia Commons-CC-BY-SA-3.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/azhar-feder-cc-by-sa3.0.jpg?itok=JE98EU1f)