Voluntary Citizen or Civil Society Sector

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August 11, 2024 Even in the face of daunting challenges like climate change, collective action and community engagement can lead to meaningful change
SeasonWatch tree walk at Rupa Rahul Bajaj Centre for Environment and Art (Image: SeasonWatch)
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)
October 6, 2022 In an effort to inform the general public, especially citizen activists, policymakers, researchers, and students, about the current status of the Vrishabhavathi river, Paani.Earth has created the necessary maps, data, analysis, and information to drive conservation awareness and action around the river.
Vrishabhavathi river (Image Source: Paani.Earth)
October 1, 2021 Community videos as a tool to influence behaviour change and adoption in rural communities
Community videos are produced by farmers themselves and feature local participants and agents from the rural communities themselves (Image: Digital Green)
September 17, 2021 Benefits of well-managed commons on livelihoods
Collective efforts revived the canal structure of Bichhiya dam bringing water to the village (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
September 4, 2021 Committed to use the power of all forms of communication to bring about behavioral change and transformation at scale
Villagers participating in shramdaan for making watershed structures (Image: Paani Foundation)
Alternative Futures: India Unshackled
A remarkable, first-ever collection of 35 essays on India’s future, by a diverse set of authors – activists, researchers, media practitioners. Posted on 22 Jan, 2018 10:39 AM

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a book that brings together scenarios of an India that is politically and socially egalitarian, radically democratic, economically sustainable and equitable, and socio-culturally diverse and harmonious.

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled
Waste away, Ambikapur shows way
A small city in Chattisgarh, Ambikapur implements a cost effective way to get rid of its waste and generates jobs in the process. Posted on 19 Jan, 2018 11:37 AM

Ambikapur has become a role model for all the urban local bodies (ULBs) in Chhattisgarh for its successful solid liquid resource management (SLRM). Thanks to Ritu Sen, former collector of Ambikapur and her team for taking the initiative to clean the city and for bringing the women's self-help groups (SHGs) together for this noble cause. 

A worker carries household waste to the SLRM centres at Ambikapur.
Protest in Chennai to save the Ennore Creek
News this week Posted on 09 Jan, 2018 08:59 AM

Saving the Ennore Creek: Chennai fisherfolk stage Jal Satyagraha

The Ennore creek smothered on all sides by thermal power plants. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Stubble burning banned, farmers stumped
While banning stubble burning is a positive step towards reducing air pollution in the Delhi-NCR sector, the farmers need support from the government to adopt measures to enable smooth crop rotation. Posted on 07 Jan, 2018 06:20 PM

Amar Singh sits in his huge courtyard at the centre of his home in the village of Atraula in Meerut. Lying in the far west part of Uttar Pradesh, this is a flourishing sugarcane belt. An important agricultural region, its demographic, economic and cultural patterns are similar to that of nearby Haryana and Rajasthan.

A large amount of crop residues are available in western UP and most of these are burnt in the field (Image: Ed Dunens, Flickr Commons)
Is it worth the salt?
Unregulated salt production near Sambhar lake is not just causing health problems among salt workers, it is also depleting groundwater and ruining the ecosystem of the wetland. Posted on 12 Dec, 2017 12:22 PM

The fields are silvery white with raw salt crusts in the vicinity of Nawa, a small town on the northwestern banks of Sambhar lake, India’s largest inland lake. Nawa lies about 90 kilometres east of Jaipur. Also an extensive saline wetland and a Ramsar site, the blinding white salt flats stretch as far as one can see.

Ramachander Singh, a salt worker who has been raking salt for decades now at this salt pan or kyari dotting the lake bed of Sambhar, Rajasthan.
Soil health is declining in India: Report
News this week Posted on 12 Dec, 2017 11:24 AM

Carbon content in India's soil decreases

India's soil health needs attention. (Source: IWP Flickr photo)
Saving Chorao through its people
A new project tries to save the ecologically diverse Chorao island by including the inhabitants of the island in conservation efforts. Posted on 10 Dec, 2017 12:37 PM

Located just 5 km away from the capital city of Panaji, Chorao island, along the Mandovi river, is one of the largest islands in Goa. The island has a unique ecosystem that is different from the other sanctuaries in the state.

Chorao island (Source:GIZ)
Does sanitation really matter to us?
Complete sanitation is important for everyone. A collective effort is needed to make it happen. Posted on 04 Dec, 2017 04:05 PM

Social media has brought the world to our desktop where information is available at the click of a button. The issues now are not just related to a particular community, region, state, or country; they are global. We get attached to them directly or indirectly and share our opinions on them, which is an easy and powerful way to contribute towards addressing issues we care about.

An initiative to prepare women to be sanitation ambassadors to provide strength to sanitation drives in their villages.
For a better Bandi
Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai was awarded the Bhagirath Prayas Samman at the India Rivers Day 2017 for his valiant effort to safeguard the integrity of the Bandi river in Pali. Posted on 01 Dec, 2017 05:12 PM

A seasonal river in Pali, Rajasthan, the Bandi is nothing short of a sewer. The textile town has witnessed rampant industrial growth, raw sewage discharges and toxic contamination of its waters. The river, which is devoid of lean season flow, is polluted up to 55 km downstream. The river water is unfit for drinking as well as irrigation.

Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai speaks at the India Rivers Day.
Palk Bay: Trawled and damaged
In the last of a two-part series on the importance of conserving the Palk Bay, a video shows how trawling is spelling doom to the ecology of the bay. Posted on 28 Nov, 2017 04:05 PM

The Palk Bay is an ecological paradise located between the island nation of Sri Lanka and the South East Peninsula India. The region separates the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu from the northern parts of Sri Lanka.

The Palk Bay (Source: GIZ)
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