This B-school's 96-acre campus occupies two steep hillocks. There is no independent water source for the entire institute and the average daily water consumption exceeds one lakh litres. The absence of pre-monsoon showers in mid-Kerala is causing worry elsewhere, but IIM-Kozhikode shows no signs of anxiety. Shree Padre finds out why.

A Kerala panchayat has recently appealed the state High Court's ruling which said that the panchayat's rejection of Coca Cola's application for renewal of license to extract groundwater was untenable in law. Videh Upadhyay drafts some of questions that the Supreme Court may need to settle.

In a nation where floods and drought continually cause havoc in different regions, two recent events, one in Rajasthan and the other in Karnataka have brought citizens and media together to resolve acute water shortages. These are hopeful signs. The India Together editorial.

A senior advisor with the World Bank is quick to hail the establishment of water entitlements in India, but is it too quick? Merely promising quotas of water on paper, or setting up 'rights' that cannot be enforced, is hardly the same as actually providing water to meet citizens' needs, observes Videh Upadhyay.

With its enchanting greenery and network of backwaters and rivers, Kerala is thought to be a water-plenty state. After all, Kerala gets 6 months of rainfall, 2.5 times higher than the national average. Despite this, the state has been experiencing water scarcity, with conditions worsening in some regions. P N Venugopal analyses the causes.

In the arid west of Gujarat, there are still those who place their faith in the Sardar Sarovar project, and its promises of water for their region. The government has paid little attention to the local water resources in the region, but this has not deterred them. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on a petition before the Supreme Court.

Running short of water, and with the rains playing truant, Wayanad coffee planter M P Chandranath sacrificed six acres of his prime coffee plantation to develop a forest. That helped increase his water sources and today, he has no regrets. Shree Padre reports.

Thanks to voluntary water harvesting measures by a few, as well as legislation-led RWH by the others, many of Chennai's open wells have sprung back to life. The bountiful rains of 2005 showed that where conservation efforts are in place, even a single season's rainfall can largely restore water security. Shree Padre reports.

New Delhi can easily develop the procedures needed to ensure that projects that have not been approved by either CWC or the Planning Commission do not get statutory clearances. Instead of using such powers, central agencies work more like agents for sub-optimal development. Himanshu Thakkar reports.

It is important to remove the distortions from the political process, rather than attempt to remove politics itself from decisions in the water sector. The World Bank's model has failed, and it is time to heed other voices, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

This 250 metre-long suranga, situated by the side of a school in Kasargod, Kerala resembles the famed Iranian water system - the qanat - more than its other counterparts in the district. Shree Padre reports on its passing out from regular use.

Activists and governments alike demand that future deliberations on water issues be brought within the legitimate fold of the UN, and not hosted by private and corporate interests. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

Judging by the 16 years it took for the right to education to be legislated, the right to water and sanitation is a long way off. But there is much to be learned from the efforts of NGOs, meanwhile. Darryl D'Monte reports.

For millions of people, the law does not explicitly direct that they are entitled to safe water. A United Nations resolution passed in July this year is about to change that. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

The new Bureau of Water Efficiency should push for Central laws that can be adopted without dilution by the states, and work with specific industry segments to address their water deficits, writes Chandrashekar Hariharan.

The government's agenda for water privatisation has relied heavily on the supposed success of the chosen model in Chile. A new book reveals we may be learning the wrong lessons. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

A recent report by the UNICEF highlights the most critical issues faced by the Indian water sector today, urging the establishment to break new ground in resource management and utilization. Shripad Dharmadhikary discusses the key findings.

The extent of submergence of villages and farmland in the Narmada valley under the backwaters of Sardar Sarovar dam increases with successive monsoons. Himanshu Upadhyaya stresses the need for a more realistic and effective look at solutions to the woes of the region.

The construction of barrages to meet the water needs of thermal power plants in western Chattisgarh shows that irregularities involved in the allocation of this resource may be as large as the ones in coal allocation itself. Shripad Dharmadhikary throws light on the issue.

The uncertainty of the nature and extent of climate change impact on the water sector calls for adaptive and flexible measures. Shripad Dharmadhikary quotes from a recent report of a Working Group within the IPCC to explain why.

In many part of rural India, women spend most of their time walking long distances to collect water for their household's needs. Nitin Jugran Bahuguna visits the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand where the women no longer have to worry about fetching water from long distances thanks to an intervention that has brought potable water right to their doorstep.

Top-down water supply and sanitation schemes have failed the poor time and again. But for decentralization and community involvement to work, local governments -- municipalities -- must improve. Surekha Sule reports on the findings of a global assessment that included India.

One month ago, on June 27, Vadodara and surrounding areas received the first monsoon rains after a 15-day delay. Citizens spent the first two days of rains in jubilation. On the third day, things went wrong. Surekha Sule assesses the recent floods that devastated one of Gujarat's leading cities.

The Draft National Water Framework Bill, put out for public comments recently, represents an important and progressive step forward despite some shortcomings and challenges involved in its implementation, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

A recent report suggests merging the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) into a new organisation to be called the National Water Commission. Shripad Dharmadhikary comments on the report.

IBM, a company in transition, is scheduled to announce its first-quarter earnings after the market closes on Monday and another quarter of declining revenue is expected.

Samsung Electronics is slated to release its first-quarter earnings before the market opens in Seoul on Thursday. Here's what you need to know.

'Today's national picture, where the power rests with the states and not with the Centre, is like the picture of India before the British took power in India,' says thinker Dr Ashok Mitra.

A citizens' committee in Karnataka decides that the people can aid the Election Commission's efforts at reducing the presence of criminals in politics.

Water is a big local concern, but at the national level, it does not seem to figure very high up in the considerations of major parties, at least as seen in their pre-election promises. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

Fly ash, the residue from coal used in thermal power plants, is not only a headache for plant operators; its use in agriculture and other sectors violates environmental sanctity and poses a serious risk to human health. Shripad Dharmadhikary studies a new CEA report to bring us more.

They cannot compete with Mayawati, or Jayalalitha or Sonia Gandhi. But the new breed of women politicians springing up in India's small towns will become a political force to reckon with in the years to come, writes Kalpana Sharma.

"There is a strong question mark about the possibility of ... providing potable drinking water to all villages by 2004”, warned the Comptroller and Auditor General in 2002. Himanshu Upadhyaya on how the CAG foretold correctly.

Well-known experts presented `Water: More Nutrition Per Drop' at the April 20 meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York. Sudhirendar Sharma reviews the report and its considerations of the Indian situation.

The conflict between farmers and government in Rajasthan escalated recently. Farmers resorted to violence after demonstrations failed. There are simply too many stakeholders and too few resources to satisfy everybody. But there are ways to make life easier for citizens, writes Deepak Malik.

The current situation of impotence that the Government finds itself in should prompt some soul searching about the reliance on market mechanisms to take care of India's food security, writes Kannan Kasturi.

As a young country with many technical problems, we need an army of Holmeses who can solve them. But the Macaulay-inspired education has always suited the Watsons, who cannot. Until this changes, there will be little hope of swaraj in ideas, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

Does the IMF have a role to play in reducing poverty? Or is it part of the reason why many countries remain poor in the first place? A Bretton Woods Project report.

Large water management projects are often announced with much fanfare, but as an audit of Gujarat's implementation shows, they're more likely to steer money towards other ends, and leave the taxpayers holding the bill for the benefits that have been diverted elsewhere. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.

This summer, stories of the impacts of drought and water scarcity highlighting the conditions of farmers, cattle, and domestic water supplies in villages, towns and cities have been regular. What is not reported is the situation with industries, particularly the coal based thermal power plants, reports Shripad Dharmadhikary.

India and China make competing plans for the river's precious waters, ignoring the functions it already performs - in sustaining rich ecosystems, flora and fauna, cultures and a wide range of livelihoods. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

When water intensive commercial crops are grown in water scarce areas and the produce exported, it amounts to a virtual export of water, even as water availability becomes scarcer. The virtual water concept must be considered seriously in India, asserts Shama Perveen.

Superstition, the occult, God, government and technology have all been pressed into service in Anantapur's desperate search for water. P Sainath continues his series on farmer suicides.

Converting water to a commercial good to be sold for profit invites disaster. Most of all for poor people whose already pathetic access to water will shrink swiftly, writes P Sainath.

Two years of drought has started to take its toll on the people of Vidarbha, with a failed crop leaving them with no income to tide over the crisis, writes P Sainath.

Reviewing recent High Court and Supreme Court rulings, Videh Upadhyay comments on judicial recipes for protecting urban water bodies

Internet monitoring, surveillance and censorship by the Government has become a norm in the country today, even while users are kept completely in the dark about it. Snehashish Ghosh argues why more transparency is critical to upholding the very basic tenets of democracy.

Legislation to regulate and administer the country's water sector is a crying need, but the Draft National Water Framework Law recently submitted by the Alagh Committee is a disappointment. Shripad Dharmadhikary explains why.

Neeti Deewan reports on how determined women ended a four-year long drought in two Madhya Pradesh villages by deepening a pond on their own in a few months.

Monies allocated for rehabilitation of persons affected by the Narmada dams have traveled a different path than to the people. A recent audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General has confirmed significant corruption in rehabilitation works in Madhya Pradesh and a culture of impunity amongst state officials, finds Himanshu Upadhyaya.