The Kerala assembly issues a thumbs-down on plans to divert water away from the state, catching the Ministry of Water Resources off-guard.

Empowered local communities can tackle water problems, and have little need for New Delhi's grand designs. More importantly, the spin-off social and economic benefits are significant, too.

If wishes could be horses, then the Gujarat government would turn wishes into lakes too, reports Himanshu Upadhyaya.

Environmental activists and locals in Kerala's Ernakulam region allege with evidence that the Pollution Control Board is entirely ineffective in preventing contamination of the Periyar river. M Suchitra reports.

Surekha Sule reports on the institution-based revival of centuries old community based systems of managing water in villages.

In Tamilnadu, the temple tanks were once the heart of water management, and ensured riparian rights and sustainable use. But community care has long since vanished, and with it, so has the water. Lalitha Sridhar reports.

Over the last five years the farmers of two rural districts outside Chennai have started selling water from their irrigation wells to the city's water utility. This, to the detriment of cultivation in their own lands and those of neighbouring farmers, reports Krithika Ramalingam.

Six leading advocates of decentralisation and people centred planning met the President of India on 20 April to impress upon him that the Interlinking of Rivers project as currently being envisaged is the wrong direction for the country to take. They have since written a letter to Dr.Kalam addressing his questions.

The Permumatty grama panchayat of Kerala's Plachimada village has appealed to the Supreme Court for revocation of a recent High Court order granting permission to Coca Cola to draw water upto 5 lakh litres per day. The High Court's ruling was based on an investigation that has raised more questions than answered. P N Venugopal and M Suchitra report.

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.

An environment magazine recently carried a Gujarat government-funded NGO's advertisement portraying vast tracts of Saurashtra and Kachchh supplied with drinking water through pipelines forking off of the Sardar Sarovar Canal. Reports in the print media were telling quite a different story. Himanshu Upadhyaya digs deeper.

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.

What do you for water when you are a paddy cultivator and a good portion of the hills around you are rocky outcrops, not ideal for catchment? Enter the kokkarni. Shree Padre reports on the revival of the practice in Palakkad, Kerala.

This dairy in Palakkad, Kerala spent over Rs.2 lakhs buying water from outside in 2008, since borewell yields were insufficient. This year they will spend nearly eight-nine times less, because of a rain pond. Shree Padre has more.

The latest draft of the Water Policy is a clear improvement over the previous one, and appears to have taken on board many of the objections to earlier provisions. Still, much more should be done, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

Keni, the miraculous mini well of adivasis of Wayanad in Kerala, is well on its way to becoming a part of history - a victim of rapid environmental decline of this once bountiful state. Shree Padre reports.

Fourth in a series of articles adapted from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore, the author looks at the weaknesses in civil society as a factor for our ailing public services.

For the Railways, the key to crime-control is to concentrate on the smaller issues of orderliness, abatement of nuisances, petty crimes and rule of law.

An "All Fun, All Day Long, For Everyone” amusement park in Kerala's Kochi region has not been fun for the local panchayat, reports M Suchitra.

The Maharashtra elections are just around the corner and analyses are beginning to emerge on candidate background disclosures. But not long ago, 541 MPs were elected to the Lok Sabha. Samuel Paul and M Vivekananda of the Public Affairs Centre report findings from an analysis on our MPs' backgrounds.

In a recent lathi charge on protesting student activists, Kerala's police used electric shock batons. The state's model of development has many votaries worldwide, but the savageness in police actions on mass programmes does not seem to be going away, reports Venugopal P N.

Kerala's lottery regulation is in a mess. Liquor contractors are getting away without paying license fees that are precious revenue to a debt trapped government. The High Court passes a stricture on a minister over sandalwood smuggling. P N Venugopal finds much wrong with the Chandy administration.

What does it take to make the bureaucracy responsive to the needs and expectations of citizens? A recent workshop in New Delhi on Developing Institutions for Public Accountability in Urban Services explored this question. Darryl D'Monte recounts some key observations made at the workshop.

After a lengthy process of consultation and debate, a model code for good governance is at the government's doorstep. Vinay Baindur lists its salient points, which if embraced by the Central government could go a long way towards erasing the history of poor administration in the country.

Reforms in urban governance are long overdue, and the cities are croaking under the weight of their neglect. But the National Urban Reforms Mission may be too much medicine, bypassing citizen input and consultation in a hasty drive for change. Vinay Baindur reports.

Police officers are uniform in the belief that political interference in their work is uniquitous. They also see themselves as crime fighters first and foremost, and hence view all other work as a distraction. But in fact, says Arvind Verma, there is little truth to either of these beliefs.

Held in Geneva last month, the Rotterdam Convention was attended by 500 participants from 140 governments, UN organisations, and NGOs. India sided with Canada and few other nations to prevent the listing of chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen. R Sridhar has more.

The state is by far the biggest litigant, and contributes a large part to the staggering backlog clogging the courts. The Centre, States and public sector companies determinedly appeal every adverse verdict, despite winning only a small minority of them eventually. Kannan Kasturi reports.

Law enforcement cannot make a distinction between 'our' goons and 'their' goons. It has to make a distinction between goons and law abiding citizens, and only then can we be secure, writes Harish Narasappa.

People are shunning civil litigation in the states where there is no hope of obtaining justice in a reasonable amount of time, where instead of relief from the court all they can expect is a new date for the next court hearing. Kannan Kasturi reports.

This time around, there is too much pressure - from opposition, media, and people at large - on the standing committee and Parliament for them to sit over the bill and let it lapse, writes Mathew Prasad Idiculla.

A spate of arrests and high profile cases may have led to a partial let-up in the feudalism and violence in the politics of northern Kerala, but many are disillusioned as newer forms of evil take root, finds Nileena M S.

The CAG Audit of the MGNREGS reveals serious irregularities and glaring discrepancies in the data in its MIS and actual paper records maintained. Shambhu Ghatak discusses the glitches, especially in the light of findings of several other reports and the National Sample Survey data.

As the massive disaster in flood-stricken Uttarakhand unfolds, Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to the glaring inadequacies in disaster management preparedness and risk reduction in the state, as well as the nation, as exposed by recent audits.

It is an opportunity for the President to assert the authority and independence of his office by rejecting a clearly political move that is a slap in the face of constitutional morality, writes Nitin Pai.

Close to 2000 Rohingya Muslims displaced by the bloody riots in Myanmar's Rakhine province have settled in Hyderabad over the last three years, hoping to rebuild their lives. How do they live and how is the city dealing with the phenomenon, given India's inchoate refugee laws? Tejaswini Pagadala tries to find out.

Municipal corporations in India have neither any grip on the number of staffers employed and their skillsets nor any mechanism to ascertain these. Madhavi Rajadhyaksha discusses several studies including the ASICS from Janaagraha to expose what ails urban local bodies.

A Consortium of 7 IITs is working on a plan that will form the basis for the long-term vision for the government’s much-talked about Ganga rejuvenation programme. Shripad Dharmadhikary reviews an initial summary released by the Consortium as the framework within which the final plan will be drawn up.

The official Indian response to the recent US-China climate deal is characterised by its historical stance on differentiated responsibility and over-reliance on coal energy. Sunita Dubey calls for an urgent re-assessment of its position and stresses the need for stronger commitment.

Red, yellow and green are not just about traffic lights any more. Colour coding the air quality in cities is a critical step towards dissemination of pollution data among citizens. But does India’s air quality index satisfy all the necessary conditions for optimal use? Sarath Guttikunda has more.

The joint statement on climate change at the end of PM Modi’s recent tour of China has expectedly created considerable hype. Darryl D’Monte takes a balanced view of its import and the real challenges for India in the face of global climate politics.

The recent amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification relaxes building norms for CRZ areas. There are certain necessary measures that should have preceded it, says Meenakshi Kapoor as she brings out the implications of the amendment.

The Ishrat Jahan case has again hit the headlines with former home minister P Chidambaram being accused of rewriting an affidavit to prove the 19-year-old’s innocence. Ramesh Menon presents a recap and investigates where things stand now.

A new notification from the ministry lays out a process by which illegal units can be granted clearance and “brought into compliance” within the next six months. Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli report.

If you keep water standing in a glass for a while here, it causes a stain around the rim. Pamela Philipose describes the tribulations and ordeal of women in Mamana village of Uttar Pradesh, as they fight to collect potable water everyday.

September 28 is being observed as the Right to Know day by the Freedom of Information Advocates Network, a global group of NGOs working for better transparency in governments. An India Together report on the recent strides citizen activity has made in India on the right to information.

Voluble among themselves, these women are less comfortable in speaking up at civic meetings when men are present. Policy interventions can only initiate social change, but change itself takes time to unfold. Ashima Sood continues her diary series on Chingrajpara slum, Chhatisgarh.

The assumption that the workplace and the home are always mutually exclusive spheres distorts our understanding of women's economic roles, writes Shoma Chatterji.

Abysmal pay, low dignity and zero benefits and security unite government-appointed social health activists from Punjab and UP at a protest meet in the capital. Amrita Nandy reveals some of their shocking tales of exploitation and deprivation.

Former Golden State Warrior Andre Iguodala talks to WSJ's Lee Hawkins about being an active tech investor, his commitment to opening doors for other athletes and people of color, and the benefits of having a "strict" mother.