Panchayati Raj Institutions

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September 21, 2023 PESA Act unleashed: The Mahila Sangh's ongoing governance transformation
Women from the Mahila Gram Sangh (Image: FES)
April 6, 2021 Significantly reduced the daily drudgery of women in rural areas
The water requirement for the scheme is being fulfilled through borings, submersible pumps, and distribution pipelines implemented by the Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Bihar. (Image: Sehgal Foundation)
December 7, 2020 The new farm related bills will spell doom for women workers who form the bulk of small and marginal sections of Indian agriculture, warns Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
October 24, 2019 An intern with Watershed Organisation Trust narrates his field experience from the villages of Madhya Pradesh, where farmers are using farm ponds to conserve water.
A farm pond constructed by Sheshrao Dhurve in Karaghat Kamti village of Madhya Pradesh
October 22, 2019 A forum discusses the need to stop illegal land transfers and land alienation of the poor.
The maldharis from kutch on their own road trip (Image: Malay Maniar, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
October 21, 2019 In this interview, Joy talks about his work as an activist working in rural Maharashtra, and how he came to work on water conflicts in India.
KJ Joy speaks at a felicitation for the late Professor Ramaswamy Iyer.
Bisalpur revisited--10 years after protesters were shot, killing 5
Despite many plans, neither rural nor urban are water secure thanks to the Bisalpur Dam since it was constructed in 2007. Posted on 10 Sep, 2015 01:20 PM

Ten years ago five farmers were shot protesting the diversion of waters from Bisalpur dam to Jaipur city, located about 130 kms away.

Kisan Sewa Samiti, Chaksu struggling for drinking water allocation from Bisalpur dam (Source: CECODECON)
Kaun kitne paani mein: Movie review
A Hindi film set in a water starved locale in Odisha asks, "Can water be bartered for love?" Posted on 28 Aug, 2015 06:45 PM

Kitna shaant hai ye paani, aur iske liye yeh rajniti’ (the water is so still, yet there is politics around it).

Water scarcity becomes a source of conflict between two villages (Source: Facebook)
Kanhar: To be or not to be?
The May 7th Kanhar judgement by the National Green Tribunal validated the protesters' claims, but then also allowed the Government to 'complete earlier work'. Isn't the NGT contradicting itself? Posted on 17 May, 2015 07:20 AM

The last month has been one of great activity around the illegal construction of the Kanhar dam in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.

A destroyed tent after the lathi charge
Standing Committee Report: Safe drinking water and sanitation
The report is scathing and points at many gaps in the planning and implementing process of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) & the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) SBM (G) programmes. Posted on 15 May, 2015 08:49 PM

The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) SBM (G) are the two flagship programmes of the government implemented by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, a nodal Minis

Safe drinking water, a scarce resource
Women assert their space under the sun
The face of female labour is changing under MGNREGA, a programme where water conservation is given the highest priority in the choice of work. What are its implications? Posted on 05 May, 2015 02:12 PM

When Satya was asked by the Sarpanch to opt for the position of a worksite supervisor as a Mate, she was thrilled at the prospect of a better life. Brought up in Murayur village in Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu, she knew how tough agricultural wage labour work was. While her mother left her with grandparents, her father also took on menial jobs and errands from big farmers.

Satya’s position as a supervisor is valued by all
Niyamagiri hills get temporary respite from Vedanta
Violation of the Environment Protection Act, the Forest Conservation Act and the Forest Rights Act put an end to Vedanta's bauxite mining plans but for how long? Posted on 03 May, 2015 07:09 PM

The Niyamagiri hills in the Eastern Ghats is peopled by indigenous groups such as the Dongria and Kutia Kondhs -- or 'primitive tribal groups’ in official phrasing. For them, these hills which spread over 300 sq kms in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts in southwestern Orissa, is the sacred abode of Niyamraja, their God.

The hills and the streams are their soul
Facing uncertain rains, farmers dig in
Bankura in West Bengal receives 1000 mm of rainfall a year, yet thousands of adivasi farmers in the area were faced with irrigation issues -- until 'happas' came to the rescue. Posted on 20 Apr, 2015 12:40 PM

Amulya Soren couldn’t get stable yields in the kharif (monsoon) paddy in his farm. A member of the Santhal tribe, he was the beneficiary of a surplus land redistribution programme in Hirbandh block of Bankura, West Bengal. The undulating terrain in which his farm lies receives sufficient rainfall of about 1000 mm a year, yet sufficient irrigation was an issue.

Farmers constructing happa; Image: PRADAN
Unpacking the water and sanitation budget
While sanitation has been prioritized in the country’s policy agenda through the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission, has it been matched with a sufficient budgetary outlay? Posted on 30 Mar, 2015 07:50 AM

What does slashed funding for the water and sanitation sector in this year’s budget mean? Is the government’s claim that the states will get more money because of the latest Finance Commission recommendation, spot on? Sona Mitra and Kanika Kaul of the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CGBA) shed light on these at the All India Convention on the Right to Sanitation.

Handwashing at a Karnataka school
Can Madurai's dying tanks be revived?
Yes, say the authors, but not before these tanks are recognized in a manner befitting their past glory: as prized resources that provided water to the city even though it had no perennial rivers. Posted on 19 Mar, 2015 09:34 PM

Madurai, Tamil Nadu's second largest city, is now filled with buildings and roads which are eating into its age old network of tanks and canals. This change did not happen overnight. It began in the late 19th century by the British when they merged several hamlets to establish their headquarters in the region.

A tank on the outskirts of Madurai, Tamil Nadu
A hard look at the strategy of fighting open defecation
Does reducing open defecation have any significant improvement in health outcomes? Sumeet Patil of NEERMAN discusses this in an interview with India Water Portal. Posted on 05 Mar, 2015 10:31 PM

With over 620 million defecating in the open in India, do we need a new approach to curb this practice? The force of habit is such that even households with toilets have around forty percent of adults defecating in the open. But, does curbing open defecation necessarily lead to significant improvements in child health outcomes like diarrhoea, anaemia, parasite infection and growth?

School sanitation at Mysore
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