Panchayati Raj Institutions
Data, data everywhere, but where?
Posted on 16 Oct, 2020 09:21 AMA 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:

Not in the interest of women farmers!
Posted on 11 Oct, 2020 04:34 PMThree farm-related Bills were recently passed in the Parliament by the BJP led government at the Center, which have subsequently received presidential assent.

A rainbow recovery post-COVID
Posted on 08 Oct, 2020 12:27 PMThere 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.

How forest-dwelling communities are braving the pandemic
Posted on 04 Oct, 2020 02:59 PMThe pandemic and lockdown measures have had a drastic impact on a large population of poor and marginalised communities, causing loss of livelihoods and employment, food insecurity and socio-economic distress. While vulnerabilities, atrocities and injustices faced by forest communities due to forest, conservation and economic policies have increased d

Poor implementation of forest rights act hurts tribals
Posted on 02 Oct, 2020 10:35 PMIn pre-colonial times, India’s forestlands were mostly under the use of the local communities. Forest policies led to centralisation in colonial times with forestland being subject to commercial over-exploitation for revenue generation purposes. This, in turn, led to land alienation of forest dwellers and an overall increase in deforestation.

Governance lessons that could keep us prepared for pandemics
Posted on 30 Sep, 2020 05:09 PMUnabashed assaults by human beings on the natural ecological system have caused the coronavirus to spread in the first place.

Gendered impacts of COVID-19
Posted on 20 Sep, 2020 09:15 PMCOVID-19 has unleashed one of the greatest human tragedies of the contemporary era demonstrating our fragility and has laid bare severe and systemic inequalities at all levels. It provides several lessons in the conduct of all aspects of human personality, professional, societal, and institutional lives globally.

Uttarakhand: Reaching the unreached
Posted on 11 Sep, 2020 07:48 PMPeople in remote hamlets left out by previous schemes like Swajal and Sector Wide Approach Program of the Uttarakhand Jal Nigam and Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan longed for household-level piped water supply for drinking and domestic purposes.

Decentralised governance key to handling Covid-19
Posted on 22 Aug, 2020 07:38 PMPanchayats have been the core of India's rural governance even before they received the constitutional mandate through the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992, forming the basis of decentralization in the country. There are 2.5 lakh gram panchayats; over 6 lakhs villages; around 4500 urban local bodies and 4000 census towns in the country.

Water projects get priority in MGNREGA amidst COVID-19
Posted on 18 Aug, 2020 01:54 PMLockdown in April to May 2020 due to COVID-19 led to the mass migration of workers from the cities to villages. Despite strict measures by the government to stop any movement, people facing lost jobs and high cost of living in the cities began to walk back or use whatever transportation was available to travel to their home villages.
