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Panchayati Raj Institutions
Clean drinking water: Still a pipe dream for Maharashtra?
Posted on 30 Mar, 2020 04:34 PMLatur in Maharashtra has been facing acute drinking water scarcity over the last month and has been in news again, and that too, inspite of having piped water connections and a good monsoon this year!
![Har nal me jal, a pipe dream? (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/nal_se_jal.jpg?itok=2SGH_lDA)
Community-led piped water supply initiative in Bihar
Posted on 28 Mar, 2020 12:34 PMWater is a precious natural resource that ensures human well-being. However, across the globe there is a severe water crisis, which is heightened by issues of inaccessibility and contamination.
![The community at the ward level of the panchayat is supposed to have complete ownership of the system created. (Image: GG Vogman, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tap2_0.jpg?itok=3j0y1m_U)
Democratization of data through use of GIS technology
Posted on 26 Mar, 2020 11:55 AMDevelopments in geographical information systems (GIS) in India, both in policy and law, have thus far empowered to a greater extent government and business at national and regional level. The real challenge in this sector is to extend this technology to local communities for self-governance and to enable them to participate on an equal footing in regional and national development.
![A view of a village in Almora district of Uttarakhand (Image: Raja Harjai, Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/almora-village.jpg?itok=3-hqvYFO)
In deep water
Posted on 22 Mar, 2020 08:05 PMIn the wake of a scandal revealing that the World Bank may have suppressed knowledge of money for the poor being siphoned off by elites, all eyes are on the Bank to see whether its commitments to the poor hold water.
![A water scheme violates Adivasi rights, threatens community water access and sacred spaces (Image: Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/ac4.jpg?itok=zwxsRD5O)
Tap water to all
Posted on 20 Mar, 2020 01:47 PMEfforts are underway by both state and central governments to improve access to safe and adequate drinking water to people, and nationally, as on 31 December 2018, 79% of rural habitations had been covered at 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) but only 47% at 55 lpcd.
![Child drinks water from a tap (Image: Imal Hashemi/Taimani Films/World Bank, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tap-water_0.jpg?itok=M9PCsVOw)
Jal Jeevan Mission: Will piped water to every household no longer be a pipe dream?
Posted on 14 Mar, 2020 04:26 PMMillions of Indian women can take up to six trips a day to gather and transport water, which takes up a major part of their day. During scorching summers when many sources dry up, their drudgery gets even worse.
![A school boy from Tilonia in semi-arid region of Rajasthan drinks from a tap from a rainwater harvesting tank that provides clean drinking water. (Image: Barefoot photographers of Tilonia)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tap-water.jpg?itok=fRxWZL1R)
Women lead the way in water quality surveillance
Posted on 06 Mar, 2020 01:45 PMHistorically, water is a gendered burden, with women being the primary caregivers responsible for cooking, washing and cleaning chores in the house and in modern times in institutions (teachers, anganwadi and healthcare workers). Women have traditionally been associated with various water related tasks - be it collecting, fetching, or purifying water.
![Organised under WaterAid India’s partnership with GAP, water testing workshop (2019) held in Indore district aimed at training women and youth to lead the entire process of community water management – from planning to supply, operations and maintenance and to educate communities on water-quality issues. (Image: WaterAid India/Ashima Narain)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/wai1.jpg?itok=FVFEjRSY)
Unravelling Kuttanad’s drinking water paradox
Posted on 24 Feb, 2020 12:55 PMSurrounded by vast expanses of water, the Kuttanad region in Alleppey district, Kerala faces severe drinking water scarcity due to infrastructure failure and civic body inaction.
![Lack of sufficient quality water, poor pipe connectivity and frequent breakdown of existing pipelines are common in the area (Image: Jayasree Vaidyanathan)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/pipe.jpg?itok=2mf1p4dU)
Decentralised groundwater governance to deal with the groundwater crisis
Posted on 17 Feb, 2020 05:43 PMThe challenges to sustain groundwater dependency in India are many where groundwater over extraction is not only leading to rapid depletion of the resource, but also giving rise to water quality issues in a situation where the response at the level of policy continues to be lukewarm.
![The need for decentralised governance to deal with the current groundwater crisis (Image Source: ACWADAM)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/img_5018_0.jpg?itok=1Axtr83L)
Decoding budget 2020
Posted on 10 Feb, 2020 04:35 PM“Every single number in the budget, be it receipts or expenditure is a lie. The budget numbers can no longer be trusted, as the difference between actual expenditure and budget estimates are off by around 25 percent.
![Woman farmer sifting grain (Image: Ray Witlin/World Bank CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/sifting_grain.jpg?itok=0rLjuCR3)