s Kerala loses its precious Kenis By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Villages devoured by rising waters By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Powerful forces get water for power By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Why large dams aren't a water solution for the future By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 04:46:57 +0000 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. Full Article
s Reviving the Ganga, at the cost of its ecology! By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 05:22:53 +0000 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. Full Article
s Hill women no longer panic over water scarcity By indiatogether.org Published On :: Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:51:26 +0000 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. Full Article
s New regulations welcome, but the proof will be in the eating By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 11 Apr 2016 18:30:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Extraction exceeds recharge By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 19 May 2016 18:30:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s A guardian of rivers By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 07:24:04 +0000 Himanshu Upadhayay pays a personal tribute to the inspiring and dedicated river activist Latha Anantha, who passed away on 16th of November. Full Article
s Concrete riverfronts or ecological rejuvenation? By indiatogether.org Published On :: Wed, 02 May 2018 07:24:01 +0000 A two-day dialogue on urban rivers held in Pune focused on the plight of urban rivers. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports and presents his views. Full Article
s The great garbage rush By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Codifying indigenous ways of building By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Can I build my own house? By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Original purpose By indiatogether.org Published On :: Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Ramesh Ramanathan on participatory democracy and public governance Full Article
s What ails our Public Services? -- I By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 00:00:00 +0000 An assessment of factors from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore. Full Article
s Corruption and public services By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Public services in a weak civil society By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s What ails our Public Services? -- II By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Public Services : The final assessment By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Productivity of our public services By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Fiscal deficits and decentralization - II By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000 In the second in a series of two articles, Jayaprakash Narayan discusses on the connection between the fiscal crisis and decentralization of political power. Full Article
s Hyperactive state, governance crisis By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Second a series of articles on civil society and governance, Jayaprakash Narayan describes the prevailing situation. Full Article
s The Indian state : Founded on activism By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Strengthening communities - A biz model By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 00:00:00 +0000 The nults and bolts of local democracy lie in a community-government partnership. Ramesh Ramanathan proposes a business model. Full Article
s Civil society and political parties By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Societal flaws, stalled citizenship By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Fifth in the series of articles on civil society and governance Jayaprakash Narayan assesses the challenges from where a process of transformation must emerge. Full Article
s AP's largest signature campaign By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:00:00 +0000 An Andhra Pradesh federation is aiming to transform the state's panchayats and municipalities into genuine Local Governments. Full Article
s Historic, unparalleled and more By indiatogether.org Published On :: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Rescuing the police force By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Autonomy will not improve the IPS, instead it will simply make a system already tainted by its conduct even less accountable, says Arvind Verma. Full Article
s New federal roadmaps By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Lad-ders of indiscretion By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 +0000 Members of parliament find many uses for their constituency development funds, but a number of these are simply photo-ops for the incumbents. Full Article
s Government : simpler and cost-effective By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Fighting crime on the tracks By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Infotech and creating resources By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:00:00 +0000 Information technology can and must expand from merely being an agent of the trickle-down effect to active resource mobilization, says Krishna Rupanagunta. Full Article
s Despising politicians is dangerous By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 00:00:00 +0000 Elections 2004 are around the corner and Jayaprakash Narayan points out that the 'hate-politicians' attitude is perilous to democracy itself. Full Article
s Frequencies of expectation By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sat, 01 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000 Sajan Venniyoor asseses the upcoming public consultations on the second phase of FM Licensing in India. Full Article
s Municipal budgets and poverty By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 01 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000 As poverty in Karnataka acquires a larger urban face, municipal administrations must reorient themselves to meet basic needs, says Kathyayini Chamaraj. Full Article
s Right-to-information or disclosure? By indiatogether.org Published On :: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Less populous, more powerful By indiatogether.org Published On :: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Knowing our legislators By indiatogether.org Published On :: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Local water: battle of scales By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s A ‘shocking’ development By indiatogether.org Published On :: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s A classroom for leaders By indiatogether.org Published On :: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Citizens' forum to support whistleblowers By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Making utilities accountable By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s TN's e-Gov experiences spotty, but ongoing By indiatogether.org Published On :: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Public prosecution - in need of reform By indiatogether.org Published On :: Tue, 05 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Breathing new life into ward committees By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 07 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Floods in Sutlej, made in China By indiatogether.org Published On :: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article
s Combating terrorism : lessons from London By indiatogether.org Published On :: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000 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. Full Article