-The Times of India NAVI MUMBAI: Borze, a tiny village in the water-starved Pen taluka of Raigad district, stopped waiting for the state government and their local politician of various hues to give them the much-needed clean water. Instead, the villagers recently tied up with a private company to set up an innovative "water ATM" that locals refer to as "ATW," or any time water. This is the first time in the...

-The Hindu Business Line Rejuvenated, clean and hygienic, they are a sustainable alternative to tube wells As 35-year-old Dharma Devi lowers her bucket into the ancient, stone well to draw drinking water for her family, she grumbles about the quality of the water body. “This one is closest to our fields, so we have to use it. But look at the overgrowth of plants around it and the filth that can fall...

-Business Standard Garment industry apprehends the govt to issue close to 200 new licenecs for import of wearable Used Clothes Kolkata: Even as premium global fashion brands see India as a potential market, another segment in the Indian retail chain is attracting global attention: The country has emerged as the biggest importer of worn clothing and textiles. UN Comtrade data on global trade of worn clothes and textiles show in 2013, such imports...

-Economic and Political Weekly While insufficient sanitation facilities often get represented in statistics and are reported in the literature on urban infrastructure planning and contested urban spaces, what is often left out is the everyday practice and experience of going to dysfunctional toilets, particularly by women. By analysing the practices and problems associated with toilet use from a phenomenological perspective, this article aims to situate the issue in the everyday lives...

-The Indian Express Niggling procedural hassles stymie efforts to modernise antiquated labour regulations.   As it completes one year in office, the NDA government seems to have finally bit the bullet and taken up the controversial Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, for amendments that would allow easier retrenchment and closure norms for firms with up to 300 workers though ensuring that the employees get higher compensation in return. The draft code on industrial relations has...