Swajaldhara: ‘Reversed’ Realities in Rural Water Supply in India

For the last two decades and more, nations, international organisations and civil society, both local and global, have been rallying for the cause of ‘efficient’ and ‘equitable’ water supply and distribution. To this end, the New Delhi Statement, a precursor to the Dublin Statement, in many ways marks the first step in reforming the water sector. This article explores how ideas of community ownership and participation lauded in the New Delhi Statement and reiterated in the Dublin Statement later translate into practice when they meet the complex sociopolitical and institutional realities at the ground. It locates the genesis of Swajaldhara, the flagship rural water reform programme in India, the origin of which can be traced to the Delhi?Dublin configuration and shows how a success model became a story of poor implementation defined in the language of ‘gaps and slippages’ or ‘policy reversals’. It argues further that the objective of ‘Some for All’ still remains a target yet to be achieved in many parts of the country. The work underlines the disconnect between the global paradigms and local manifestations of such ideas and investigates the reasons for the same. Based on field research in two villages of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the article unpacks the processes that lead to policy?practice dichotomy

Coal can choke your breath or light your house. What will India choose?

While putting its formal stamp of approval on the ‘Paris Agreement on Climate Change’ on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Government of India (GOI) has rightly taken pride in its ongoing action plans to achieve the INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) declared by India

Environmental impact assessment of proposed NH-6 of Chhattisgarh

NH 6 is the national highway which connects Mumbai to Kolkata. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for the proposed NH 6 Toll Road project has been undertaken in accordance with the EIA Regulations. Proposed project road connecting the villages and towns by providing better quality and safe roads to the users in a sustainable and environment friendly manner. Government of India (GoI) through Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) enforces Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 for environmental protection because of intervention of new projects or activities, or on expansion and modernization of existing projects or activity based on their environmental impacts

Community based SWM project preparation

Most Indian municipalities, despite spending 30 to 50 percent of their total municipal services budget on Solid Waste Management (SWM), are unable to provide satisfactory SWM services. Recognizing the need to develop a sustainable SWM model, particularly for small towns of India, and at the request of the Government of India (GOI), the Regional Water and Sanitation Group - South Asia (RWSG-SA) is assisting the Government of Goa (GOG) in project preparation, planning and implementation of a community based solid waste management system for Panaji, the capital of Goa. This paper discusses the project preparation process followed by the RWSGSA and salient features of the proposed SWM system

Grain silo location-allocation problem with dwell time for optimization of food grain supply chain network

In the last few decades, production and procurement of food grain in India have steadily increased, however, storage capacity has not increased proportionally. The government of India (GOI) is establishing the various capacitated silos across the country to bridge this storage capacity gap. This paper presents a novel integrated multi-objective, multi-modal and multiperiod mathematical model for grain silo location-allocation problem with Dwell time to support the decision-making process of GOI. Two conflicting objectives- minimization of total supply chain network cost and total lead time (transit and dwell time) are simultaneously optimized using two Pareto based multi-objective algorithms with calibrated parameters

DOCTOR OF MEDICINE AND DIPLOMATE OF NATIONAL BOARD COURSES IN INDIA–ISSUES AND EQUIVALENCE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

India is the only country in the world running two different doctoral courses for doctors, i.e., Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Diplomate of National Board (DNB). DNB course was introduced in 1975 to overcome shortage of specialist doctors and medical teachers. Both courses have centralized entry examination, similar tenure period, academic and clinical activities, and research exposure and exit examination (in the host institute in MD examination and in designated exit exam centre in institute other than poarent institute in case of DNB examination). Initially, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Council of India (MCI) established the equivalence between two. Discrimination started since October 2012 through MCI gazette notification for DNB trainees from non-MCI recognized institutes with regards to teacher appointment. DNB doctors were united to raise their voice against this. While the Government of India (GOI) is in favor of equivalence between two, MCI is against the same. Recently, MCI is dissolved and is going to be replaced by the National Medical Commission and positive outcome is expected for the DNB side. A recent notification is issued toward equivalence of two courses provided candidate completed DNB course from hospitals with minimum 500 beds. Evaluating quality of education on the basis of number of beds seems unjustifiable as there are many better indicators of quality of medical education. The NMC act also retained the same 500 bed criteria. Taking into account the view point of benefit of population and improvement in medical education in India, it is desirable to reconsider the issue by the Government of India (GOI) and to act accordingly. To enhance the standard of current medical education, higher standards should be imposed in curriculum and centralized exit examination to be made compulsory for both the courses

Enforcing the Right to Food in India: Bottlenecks in Delivering the Expected Outcome

right to food, food security, poverty, public distribution system, targeting, corruption, accountability, India

Achieving food security in a cost effective way

"This study evaluates the domestic and international trade and marketing policies in India and analyzes the effects of deregulating domestic markets and liberalizing external trade on the food grain sector. Historically, India's food policy has involved heavy government intervention in all aspects of the food grain market pricing, procurement, stocking, transport and marketing. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the principal parastatal agency responsible for marketing food grains within the country and controls nearly 50 percent of the grain markets. An analysis of the performance of the FCI, however, reveals enormous and mounting costs of operations that present a huge financial burden for the Government of India (GOI). This study offers a comparison of the costs and functioning of the FCI with that of private traders, in order to suggest policy options for reform. The results show that private traders operate at costs lower than those incurred by the FCI in both storage and trade, despite several controls and restrictions imposed upon them. Therefore, the finding from this study is that there is a strong case for reform from the efficiency point of view." From Author's Executive Summary

Tackling Child Undernutrition in India: Governance Challenges Need More Attention

This article puts a governance lens on India's current approach to tackling undernutrition through DFID's governance framework of state capability, accountability and responsiveness. State capability is analysed in terms of strength of political leadership to tackle undernutrition and to mobilise cross government actions. Accountability for results is assessed in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) – India's foremost programme for children under six years of age with nutrition and health as one of the programme components. Finally, state responsiveness is assessed especially with respect to the Right?to?Food (RTF) campaign that has taken a legal route to advocacy by successfully petitioning the Supreme Court (SC) that has directed the Government of India (GoI) to improve the functioning of ICDS – with a special focus on the disadvantaged sections of the population

CDC in India

For over 20 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has experienced a highly successful technical collaboration with the Government of India (GoI), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to address India\u2019s public health priorities. As new health threats emerge (e.g., the novel coronavirus COVID-19) CDC and national partners are well-placed to leverage past successful initiatives and rapidly respond to new public health challenges.India-Factsheet-p.pdfStrengthening Public Health Systems -- HIV/AIDS -- Tuberculosis -- Field Epidemiology Training Program -- Influenza -- Emergency Management -- Vaccine Preventable Diseases -- CDC Staff -- At a Glance -- Top 10 Causese of Death.2020https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/india/pdf/India-Factsheet-p.pdfhttps://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/india/881