India

India Rivers Week 2020: Is sand mining killing our rivers?
India Rivers Forum is organizing a series of dialogues (digitally) with a focus on the theme: “Is sand mining killing our rivers?”. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 2 weeks ago

As part of India Rivers Week celebrations in 2020, India Rivers Forum is organizing a series of Dialogues (digitally) with a focus on the theme: “Is sand mining killing our rivers?”.

This includes four regional dialogues focusing on East (including North East), West, North and South India, and the final one focusing on Sand Mining as a National issue. 
Generating demand for sanitation infrastructure
How to steer conversations and processes that help boost the motivation of community leaders to encourage better sanitation behaviour? Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

Radharamanpada is an unauthorised slum in Angul with 300 houses. The president of the slum sanitation committee Janaki Sahu, a 28-year-old mother of four, runs a street food stall on the main road. There are seven women in the committee of eleven, working on sanitation solution for populations that remain underserved.
Project Nirmal uses appropriate communication inputs that help generate awareness about the impact of poor containment, collection, transportation and treatment systems on the environment among all stakeholders. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Women hold the key to dietary diversity
A study finds that women's control over income and better decisionmaking power can go a long way in improving dietary diversity and tackling malnutrition in rural India. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

Evidence world over shows that small scale agricultural production does very little to deal with malnutrition and food insecurity among rural poor.
Empowering women to improve nutritional outcomes (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Architecture of community program organisations and their data systems
A simple explanation is all you need to get your head around issues related to software technology and its use in community programs. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

Samanvay Foundation has developed a knowledgebase for leaders working in nonprofit organisations, on issues related to software technology and its use in community programs. It covers strategy, management, economics, and appropriateness of software technology.
Image courtesy: Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Data, data everywhere, but where?
Involving the community in a data framework with the right incentives will have the second-order benefit of the community becoming decision makers with respect to water use. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

A few of us did an exercise where we closed our eyes and thought of the first four words that came to our minds when we thought of water data in India. Here is what we came up with:
The seamless flow of data from one program to another can be enabled if a few principles are kept in mind (Image: José Manuel Suárez, Wikimedia Commons)
Data-driven ‘water and agriculture’ planning: The big picture
If data was better organized and available for download in more ‘user-friendly’ formats, its utilization would improve manifold. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

India is fortunate to have a rich tradition of public data collection and compilation.
The quality of our public data is highly variable, yet if analyses and interpretation are done keeping in mind some of the limitations, the datasets can be a precious resource at the meso and macro level. (Image: Pixabay)
Rapid hygiene study: Hand hygiene for COVID-19 and beyond in India
A study by WaterAid India calls for building the capacity of community networks to promote and support hygiene behaviours. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 3 weeks ago

This year, Global Handwashing Day (observed annually on October 15) is particularly significant given the COVID-19 pandemic. While vaccine trials are ongoing, protective actions such as handwashing with soap is a critical first line of defence and cost-effective public health intervention.
Effect of a behaviour-change intervention on handwashing (Image: Climate Centre)
Not in the interest of women farmers!
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). Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 6 months 4 weeks ago

Three farm-related Bills were recently passed in the Parliament by the BJP led government at the Center, which have subsequently received presidential assent.
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
A rainbow recovery post-COVID
The movement towards radical ecological democracy needs to combine the practical and policy-level grassroots work with broader mobilization. Amita Bhaduri posted 7 months ago

There is a disquieting hush across the world as the linkage between the planet’s health and human well-being became pronounced during the times of the pandemic. The deepening socio-economic and ecological crises caused by patterns of production and consumption are being increasingly recognised.
The women of Deccan Development Society sanghams move towards more localized natural resource management (Image: Deccan Development Society, Facebook Page)
New groundwater guidelines prohibit industries and mining in over-exploited zones
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 7 months ago

Revised guidelines for groundwater use notified
Centre issues revised guidelines for groundwater use (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
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