Chhattisgarh is focusing on health care facilities seeds for which were sown last year in form of “Sanjeevani Express”, an emergency ambulance serviceAmita Bhaduri posted 12 years 5 months ago
This article sheds light on the dismal state of the schools in Bihar that lack even basic facilities such as drinking water and sanitationAmita Bhaduri posted 12 years 5 months ago
Inspite of strides made by India in development, the situation of rural villages in India, especially those lying on the borders of the country remains the worst of allAmita Bhaduri posted 12 years 5 months ago
This article by Amita Bhaduri describes the proceedings of a conference titled “Rural voices: Unheard to empowered”’ on the occasion of the World Press Freedom DayAmita Bhaduri posted 12 years 5 months ago
This article criticises the Government of India’s proposal of addressing the twin problems of floods and water scarcity in the country by interlinking riversAmita Bhaduri posted 12 years 6 months ago
This article questions the logic behind the implementing of the river interlinking project by using dams, embankments and canals, which have failed in Bihar to control floodsAmita Bhaduri posted 12 years 6 months ago
This paper in the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) by Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed, University of Dhaka deals with the Supreme Court’s verdict directing the Government of India to implement the interlinking of rivers. The article opines that the judgement seems to have overlooked the regional and international implications of what the Indian Court strangely considers “the rivers of the country”.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 6 months ago
The just released Citizens’ Seventh Report on the State of India’s Environment, “Excreta Matters: How urban India is soaking up water, polluting rivers and drowning in its own excreta” deals with where Indian urban centers get their water from and where their waste goes. The report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) calls for using correct technology, planning for cost recovery and resource sustainability, building and renewing local water resources and designing sewage systems differently. It also calls for a law on the right to clean water.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 6 months ago
Prominent experts, concerned citizens and neighboring countries have raised concerns over the recent Supreme Court judgement.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 6 months ago
Gary R Watmough’s PhD explored the spatial associations between socioeconomic variables like female literacy and employment in the non-agricultural sector derived from a subset of the 2001 Indian National Census and environmental metrics. The study was based on freely available remotely sensed satellite sensor data - Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) in Assam.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
There has been quite a bit of news and excitement about the Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows recently appointed by selecting young professionals from top professionals institutions like IITs, IIMs, TISS and others. It is a welcome idea that large numbers of professionals have been attracted to be such Fellows. It is to be seen if they will deliver what is expected out of them, especially while working in the districts affected by left wing extremism. I wish them all success but the history of such ideas and experiments have failed globally and we should have deeper analysis of them, says Achyut Das of Agragamee, Orissa.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
The Maharashtra Water Resource Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) has in March 2012 circulated its approach paper on criteria for determination of bulk water tariff for the period 2013-2016. The draft is now put out for public consultation, which is the next step in the exercise as per the regulations.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
The report on the State of Indian Agriculture placed by the Government to the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, calls for wide-ranging reforms in agriculture sector to enable it to meet the growing demands and meet the challenges posed by various human and environmental factors. The first issue of State of Indian Agriculture series had been published by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) in 2009.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
The Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) had in 2011 constituted a Committee on Restructuring of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) under the chairmanship of Shri V Ramchandran, Chairmen-Emeritus, Centre for Management Development, Thiruvananthapuram with the objective of strengthening and professionalizing DRDA to meet the challenge of rural development in the present context. The committee has now submitted its report which has been put in the MoRD website for comments before a final view is taken.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
The Government of Rajasthan (GoR) has recently come up with a strategy for rural sanitation based on its experience of implementing Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in the state. In Rajasthan, TSC was initially launched in four districts in 1999 and scaled up in all the thirty two districts in 2004-05.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
A number of citizens have made a public statement, expressing serious concern about the Supreme Court’s Order of Feb 27, 2012 on the Interlinking of Rivers Project. The statement endorsed by more than sixty eminent persons has urged the Supreme Court to put this order on hold and reconsider the matter. The statement first states the concerns relating to the propriety of the apex court making this specific order, and then proceeds to state the concerns relating to the Project itself.Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 7 months ago
The Draft National Water Policy 2012 seems to be an improvement over earlier versions due to a fundamental shift from the ‘project oriented’ approach espoused so far by the bureaucracy and political establishment to a ‘resource’ oriented approach. Water, considered state property due to eminent domain principle, was hitherto seen only in terms of projects- irrigation or multipurpose. Now at least it is defined as a ‘natural resource’.
But what does it really mean, to call water as a ‘natural resource’? What is the relationship we as humans are seeking to establish with this part of nature? What are the relative roles of citizen and state in India towards this resource?Amita Bhaduri posted 12 years 8 months ago