Society, Culture, Religion and History

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October 8, 2023 While the current push for legal personhood for rivers is facing obstacles and is stalled, it holds potential as a viable long-term strategy for the preservation of India's rivers
River quality deteriorates as demand for hydropower to support economic growth continues to expand. (Image: Yogendra Singh Negi, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)
June 16, 2023 Majuli serves as a symbol of both the delicate balance between human activity and the environment and the tenacity of its residents
Addressing various aspects of women's lives to enhance their social, economic, and political status (Image: Rebuild India Fund)
January 13, 2022 The water structures constructed during the Gond period continue to survive the test of time and provide evidence of the water wisdom of our ancestors.
Kundeshwar lake, Kundam in Jabalpur (Image Source: K G Vyas)
January 2, 2021 Lack of community ownership and local governance are spelling doom for the once royal and resilient traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan.
Toorji Ka Jhalara, Jodhpur (Image Source: Rituja Mitra)
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)
December 11, 2019 Dry toilets have long been hailed as a sustainable solution to the sanitation and waste management crisis facing India today, but have been overshadowed by more modern toilet designs.
A traditional dry toilet. Image: India Science Wire
Can GIS rescue South India's deteriorating tank systems?
Eris or tanks in Tamil Nadu, which once provided water for drinking and irrigation, are in disrepair today. Can technology help restore them? Posted on 21 Jan, 2015 10:28 AM

Several lakhs of farming communities in Tamil Nadu depend on the 39,202 tanks spread around the state. These tanks capture the runoff water from the monsoon rainfall that occurs in a short span of time, and also provide water for irrigation and other uses for the community.

However, these water bodies have been degenerating in the recent past due to reasons such as:

Eris/Tanks of Tamil Nadu
Social regulation as a key to sustainable groundwater use
While a knowledge-based approach to groundwater management improves awareness, it does not address issues of equity. Posted on 19 Jan, 2015 11:02 AM

Sustainable management of groundwater continues to be ignored in India although its hydrogeological and socieconomic aspects continue to be studied extensively. Despite recognition of its importance at the policy level, no clear plan of action exists for groundwater management in India. 

A well in Odoor farms, Mangalore
Water wars: Not what you think!
India has a role to play in trans-boundary water interactions in the South Asian region. Cooperation, not war, could be resulting outcomes. Posted on 09 Jan, 2015 09:31 AM

Since the 1990s, it has often been predicted that all the conflicts over this century will be over water and that they will be fought in the South Asian region, which is undergoing a rapid growth in population coupled with a gradual decrease in water resources.

The Brahmaputra river (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Science-based changes to cope with water crisis
A business-as-usual approach isn't enough to bridge the gap between water supply and demand. So what must water management policies focus on to cope with the water crisis in India? Posted on 09 Jan, 2015 08:35 AM

India has almost 17% of the world's population and 4% of the global water resources – a situation that threatens to push it towards a water crisis in the coming years. To add to this, are other reasons such as:

Girls carrying water (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Applications invited for internship with The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India
The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India (Forum to be brief) is happy to announce its second round of the internship programme.
Posted on 06 Jan, 2015 04:54 PM

The Forum has instituted an internship programme for students in its present phase of work. In the past many students – both from India and abroad – had approached the Forum to work as interns on water and more specifically on water conflict issues.

My disappearing land: Majuli
Majuli, a large river island in the Brahmaputra that is also a cradle of Assamese culture, is slowly shrinking due to the river's wrath, and the lives of the people ebbs and flows with it. Posted on 02 Jan, 2015 07:50 PM

The Brahmaputra, one of the mightiest rivers in the world, has many stories to tell as it journeys from Tibet through India and finally finds its way to the Bay of Bengal. Sadly, many of these tales are not happy. Known for its disastrous flooding, the monsoon season is play time for the river.

House on stilts (Chang ghar) in Majuli
Sulabh International welcomes the Prime Minister's call for a Swachh Bharat
Posted on 30 Dec, 2014 11:42 AM
Mahatma Gandhi called out for everyone to be his own scavenger in the early decades of the 20th century. Nearly 100 years later, 2014 saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulate his vision for a clean India, through the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Collective sanitation as practised by Mahatma Gandhi
Posted on 29 Dec, 2014 02:28 PM

By Shobhana Radhakrishna

Addressing the hygiene needs of pubescent kids
Posted on 29 Dec, 2014 11:53 AM

The rights and needs of the fairer sex being overlooked by a male dominated society is not something that is unheard of. Access to education, health services and sanitation are given a cold shoulder when it concerns women.

Get paid to poop: Musiri's Eco San adventure
Posted on 23 Dec, 2014 11:59 AM

Water is probably the worst medium to treat or transport human refuse. And that is exactly what we use when we flush our poo and pee with buckets full of water. Water only increases the size of the problem - bowl sized refuse gets converted into bucket sizes – and offers absolutely no help to treat the waste.

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