s

Kerala loses its precious Kenis


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.




s

Villages devoured by rising waters


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.




s

Powerful forces get water for power


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.




s

Why large dams aren't a water solution for the future


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.




s

Reviving the Ganga, at the cost of its ecology!


The Rs 6300-crore plans for development of the Ganga waterway from Allahabad to Haldia should be undertaken only after meticulous examination of its impact on various elements of river ecology. Debadityo Sinha explains why.




s

Hill women no longer panic over water scarcity


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.




s

New regulations welcome, but the proof will be in the eating


New regulations from the environment ministry require coal-based thermal power plants to stick to legally binding limits for water consumption. Shripad Dharmadhikary examines the implications of these rules.




s

Extraction exceeds recharge


Last month, the Bombay High Court passed an order to shift IPL matches scheduled for the month of May out of the state of Maharashtra citing an acute water shortage in some parts of the state for its decision. PRS Legislative Research, answers some basic questions about ground water and its depletion in our country.




s

A guardian of rivers


Himanshu Upadhayay pays a personal tribute to the inspiring and dedicated river activist Latha Anantha, who passed away on 16th of November.




s

Concrete riverfronts or ecological rejuvenation?


A two-day dialogue on urban rivers held in Pune focused on the plight of urban rivers. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports and presents his views.




s

The great garbage rush


The belief that slum dwellers convert any structure they are given into another slum is thoroughly disproved in Charkop. There is clearly a sense of community, and each cluster feels proud to maintain the cleanliness of its surroundings, writes Kalpana Sharma.




s

Codifying indigenous ways of building


How do we bring back to our streets the Indian identities they once had? The answer lies in documenting and codifying the many elements of construction in the past, for evolving an architecture with an Indian identity, writes Kiran Keswani.




s

Can I build my own house?


Were we interested in a comfortable home for Medhi, or were we looking to give her just another house from our stable of development schemes? R Balasubramaniam remembers a lesson he learned well.




s

Original purpose


Ramesh Ramanathan on participatory democracy and public governance




s

What ails our Public Services? -- I


An assessment of factors from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore.




s

Corruption and public services


Third in the 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 Corruption factor.




s

Public services in a weak civil society


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.




s

What ails our Public Services? -- II


Is incompetence and lack of motivated the cause for the malaise? Second in the series of articles adapted from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore.




s

Public Services : The final assessment


Concluding article of the series on "What ails our public services?" adapted from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore.




s

Productivity of our public services


Fifth 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 low priority given to productivity as a factor for our ailing public services.




s

Fiscal deficits and decentralization - II


In the second in a series of two articles, Jayaprakash Narayan discusses on the connection between the fiscal crisis and decentralization of political power.




s

Hyperactive state, governance crisis


Second a series of articles on civil society and governance, Jayaprakash Narayan describes the prevailing situation.




s

The Indian state : Founded on activism


Beginning a series of articles on Civil society and governance, Jayaprakash Narayan connects the dots that brought activism into the Indian state in 1947, the results of which we are feeling even today.




s

Strengthening communities - A biz model


The nults and bolts of local democracy lie in a community-government partnership. Ramesh Ramanathan proposes a business model.




s

Civil society and political parties


Third in a series of articles on civil society and governance, Jayaprakash Narayan says that political parties have to be transformed and maintains that visions of partyless democracy are unalloyed idealism.




s

Societal flaws, stalled citizenship


Fifth in the series of articles on civil society and governance Jayaprakash Narayan assesses the challenges from where a process of transformation must emerge.




s

AP's largest signature campaign


An Andhra Pradesh federation is aiming to transform the state's panchayats and municipalities into genuine Local Governments.




s

Historic, unparalleled and more


A Lok Satta report on the recently concluded AP signature campaign that met and exceeded the target of 10 million (one crore) signatures, indicating the support for local government empowerment amidst citizens.




s

Rescuing the police force


Autonomy will not improve the IPS, instead it will simply make a system already tainted by its conduct even less accountable, says Arvind Verma.




s

New federal roadmaps


Powerbrokers and opposition parties chip away at New Delhi's dominance in Centre-state relations, forcing changes to Article 356 and rules for labour. Prasenjit Maiti reports.




s

Lad-ders of indiscretion


Members of parliament find many uses for their constituency development funds, but a number of these are simply photo-ops for the incumbents.




s

Government : simpler and cost-effective


Creative use of technology will help our governing institutions improve their infrastructure. That in turn may bring both transparency and inclusive, efficient markets says Krishna Rupanagunta.




s

Fighting crime on the tracks


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.




s

Infotech and creating resources


Information technology can and must expand from merely being an agent of the trickle-down effect to active resource mobilization, says Krishna Rupanagunta.




s

Despising politicians is dangerous


Elections 2004 are around the corner and Jayaprakash Narayan points out that the 'hate-politicians' attitude is perilous to democracy itself.




s

Frequencies of expectation


Sajan Venniyoor asseses the upcoming public consultations on the second phase of FM Licensing in India.




s

Municipal budgets and poverty


As poverty in Karnataka acquires a larger urban face, municipal administrations must reorient themselves to meet basic needs, says Kathyayini Chamaraj.




s

Right-to-information or disclosure?


We need to think about how RTI could be used to ensure more "systemic" solutions, where the performance of our government institutions are discussed in a regular, predictable manner says Ramesh Ramanathan.




s

Less populous, more powerful


Ashwin Mahesh shows how some states wield more power in Parliament than they would if statewise seat shares were fixed on the basis of population alone.




s

Knowing our legislators


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.




s

Local water: battle of scales


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.




s

A ‘shocking’ development


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.




s

A classroom for leaders


Eight years and counting since the first local body elections, only a handful of the panchayats has woken up to the powers devolved into them. The Panchayat Academy is working to change that, helping local leaders learn from and teach each other how much more meaningful their leadership can be. Krithika Ramalingam reports.




s

Citizens' forum to support whistleblowers


When Executive Engineer S K Nagarwal reported corruption in railway track laying in West Bengal, his saga with colluding officials and contractors began. Now, supported by the S K Dubey foundation, a citizens' forum has sprung up to protect Nagarwal and other whistleblowers. Varupi Jain reports.




s

Making utilities accountable


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.




s

TN's e-Gov experiences spotty, but ongoing


Tamilnadu's foray into e-governance has not yet lived upto potential because policy makers may be implementing top-driven projects with little public participation. Still, the state does have its own examples of how things could work. Krithika Ramalingam reports.




s

Public prosecution - in need of reform


In our system of criminal justice, the state takes up the responsibility to prosecute offenders on behalf of victims. Although public prosecutors are theoretically independent, in practice they face a number of improper influences. Bikram Jeet Batra surveys the prosecution system in India, and finds it in need of much change.




s

Breathing new life into ward committees


Two different bodies established by successive governments have made recommendations for sweeping changes to the system of representation and governance in urban areas. The opportunity is now at hand to bring these together, and ensure that wards are accessible and accountable to urban residents. Vinay Baindur reports.




s

Floods in Sutlej, made in China


An early warning by China on impending floods in the Sutlej river helped avert major loss to human lives in June. Yet, India's disaster preparedness plans have been found wanting. India still does not have reliable information from China about glacial lakes that are prone to flooding the Himalayan rivers, writes Sudhirendar Sharma.




s

Combating terrorism : lessons from London


Quick identification of the London bombers of 7/7 and early success in making an arrest testifies to an excellent investigation by Scotland Yard. In contrast, getting photographs, fingerprints and other records from government departments are far more difficult for India's police detectives, says Arvind Verma.