We need to understand and acknowledge that when our people at local level are not secure with their livelihood, water, energy and food, it is not going to make difference at trans-national level. When we consider our efforts in these lines, then only we are going to set our house right, before attempting to help […]
August 1, 2011
We boast, we host, and we are lost! It sounds the legacy of mighty Himalaya and its people. Here, agencies seem boasting the urgency and the welfare of mountain ecosystem (!), while people in the region are hosting their dialogues with utmost care, and then they are lost somewhere. The remains of show become reports […]
April 4, 2011
The Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 of Rio in 1992, which emphasized upon two programme areas and we could see them on broader perspective where we were entrusted to work upon: Knowledge generation on Ecology and SD aspects in Mountain Ecosystem (Environment) while strengthening it (internalizing and communicating-Social) and working upon integrated watershed development (working […]
March 30, 2011
This article discusses the present Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) that tells us about Drinking Water and Sanitation Status in a particular country. It has been observed that the estimation methodology or monitoring strategy of JMP needs to be thoroughly reviewed, given that there are no exclusive surveys carried out for Water and Sanitation purpose in […]
March 16, 2011
One of the most interesting paradoxes of city planning in Himalayan region is that, in spite of being ecologically rich and heritage rich countries, major cities in the region are most neglected. It is evident that the cities in the mountainous part of Himalayan region have grown rapidly in terms of their population sizes, but […]
March 14, 2011
This is the story of consistent and persistent efforts and strategic envisioning of a women group that lead from grim situation of water and sanitation to pride and livelihood opportunities to the poor tribal villagers in one of the remote district of central India. The Bhogaikhapa is a tribal village in one of the central […]
March 11, 2011
There are two important components of the Nirmal Gram Puruskar (NGP) process, where a Panchayat (Local government) in India gets award for keeping its surrounding environment neat and clean on all sanitation and hygiene parameters. The first one is selection or proposing a gram panchayat for NGP and another one is the process of NGP […]
January 12, 2011
There are instances when we come through important and practical thoughts and ideas in profession, while on other hand we come across generic statements as well. I was going through a note from an important consultation approach paper titled ‘Inputs from the Civil Society Consultations on Rural Water and Sanitation for the Approach Paper to […]
December 14, 2010
In the recent Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform (http://bit.ly/9rCs7C ) 21-22 October 2010 in Bangkok, a civil society representative from Bangladesh highlighted that, “the NGOs in Bangladesh are flooded with Climate Adaptation Funds”. This statement is an indication that availability and access to adaptation funds is less of an issue for this country and […]
November 10, 2010
One of the most interesting paradoxes of city planning in India is that, in spite of being one of the most heritage rich countries of the world, India’s major historic cities are most neglected. It is evident that the larger cities have grown rapidly in terms of their population sizes, but not proportionately in terms […]
October 15, 2010
In context to the development and devolution processes in India, year 2010 has been observed as ‘Year of Gram Sabha’ (Village Committee), in realizing the mandate of self-governance, transparent and accountable functioning of our Gram Panchayats (PRI). Over a decade of constitutionally mandated Panchayati Raj (Village Governance) it had first time over one million women […]
April 10, 2010
In an effort to encourage a move towards more sustainable approaches to water development and management, the World Summit on Sustainable Development-WSSD in 2002 called for all countries to draft IWRM and water efficiency strategies by the end of 2005. The recommendation of Government of India’s 10th working group on drinking water (Five Year Plan […]
February 16, 2010
Evidences around the world have shown that, poverty is multi-dimensional and its causes are diverse, its manifestations and definitions are contextual, and it is not only a state of deprivation, but also a set of processes. Here, I wish to highlight the major constraints in market access and income generation for smallholder farmers in Uttarakhand […]
December 8, 2009
In a Knowledge Community on Children in India (KCCI) series in 2007, as case study was published, titled ‘Scaling Up Wise Water Management in Marginalized Communities in Madhya Pradesh (India): Recommendations for Success’ (Link: http://waterwiki.net/images/6/64/07_WWM.pdf, PDF, 1.8 Mb), with the Madhya Pradesh Watershed Management Development Association (Erica Hagen, et al). The important learning of this […]
November 13, 2009
During March 2010, UN Solution Exchange in India http://www.solutionexchange.net.in/, was seeking inputs on projects and initiatives that have used rural private operators on a large scale, to help the World Bank in provide clients better advice about the appropriate business models for sustainable rural water supply. Following are the thoughts which I shared during this […]
September 17, 2005
Indrani and Sanjay, the female and male supervisors of a local NGO, accompanied me to Chaukidar cluster in Padharapur a in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh state in India. Here, we met a 13-year-old girl Janglee and a boy, 7-year-old Kamal . Both are physically and mentally disabled, and could not even stand on their […]
August 1, 2011
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