Mihir Shah, economist, water policy expert and member of the erstwhile Planning Commission speaks with G’nY on the need to facilitate community ownership of water and what India needs to do to ensure water security.

The Gujarat Government’s experiences with decentralised ownership of water and facilitation of community participation is worthy of being upscaled throughout the nation.

A June 2018 study published by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) suggests that analysing land productivity of a region and yield of a crop is not sufficient to calculate the efficiency with which water is being used for cultivation. It is also important to analyse whether irrigation water being applied to the crop is resulting in adequate output and if cropping patterns are aligned with water endowments of a region.

India’s democratic principles and legislative structures have helped pave the way for achieving parity between men and women. However, performance in various indicators including healthcare, education and workforce participation are still in need of improvement.

Ravi Verma leads the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) on issues of HIV/AIDS, preventing domestic violence and child marriage. Speaking with G’nY, he talks about the need for gender equality.

Kamla Bhasin has been working for women rights for over four decades now. Speaking with G’nY, she discusses empowerment and the way forward that can help us acquire better human values.

Sixteen years following the Vishakha guidelines, a legislation was brought into place to prevent sexual harassment at workplaces. However, in its present form, the Act lacks in spirit and is riddled with loopholes.

The first step in fixing a water budget in India is to have a system to monitor, regulate and curb wasteful uses of water. The proposed National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency as a body to enforce certification systems for water use efficiency can be seen as a welcome step in this direction.

Many countries including India are witnessing water shortage and the situation is only likely to deteriorate. Increasing population and over-exploitation of water resources are the major causes of water scarcity. At a time when many fight to get their share of daily water, we witness contrasting norms of water usage in many countries around the world. We bring to you a few facts, which will perhaps make you see how inherently unequal water usage is.