Society, Culture, Religion and History

Climate change and water scarcity in India

In 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.

The worst and most inhumane form of discrimination and untouchability is seen when it comes to water. Even today, many villages have a different source of water allotted for Dalits. Many a times, upper caste men and women forbid Dalit women from touching the public source of water fearing the source will be “polluted".

With the rise in frequency and intensity of unexpected disasters, the need for effective communication technologies such as the use of social and mobile tools seems to be growing for responding to disaster situations in emergency, rescue and relief efforts.

DDWS orders states to open up water testing laboratories to the public

Women, major contributors in agriculture and irrigation

Historically, 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.

Karnataka allowed to implement Kalasa-Banduri project

Many of the challenges sanitation workers face, stem from their lack of visibility in society, says a report ‘Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers’ produced jointly by The World Bank,

Maharashtra is the second largest sugar producing state in India, after Uttar Pradesh where as high as 1.6 million farmers cultivate sugarcane on 0.7 million hectares of land. The sugarcane industry provides direct employment to about 0.16 million workers while 1.5 million workers engage in sugarcane harvesting and transport operations every year.