-TheWire.in/ India Water Portal Nanduwali in east Rajasthan started flowing again when the villagers decided to work with nature and not against it. The river is now lifeline to those settled on her banks. Gajanand Sharma is excited about the monsoon this year. He is building an anicut on the small stream that runs through his farm. “After the rain, the land will be filled with water and then I will sow...

-Business Standard Integrates climate change concerns and promotes private investment and role in forestry The NDA government has made public its draft National Forest Policy to replace the one that was crafted in 1988. Incorporating consequences of climate change but entirely ignoring one of the three forest related laws, the Forest Rights Act, the policy brings new focus to plantations, growing trees outside the forest lands  and wood industry. While the policy continues...

-Press Release from Swaraj Abhiyan Following the historic order of the Supreme Court of India in the Swaraj Abhiyan PIL on drought, various peoples movements have taken initiatives to monitor the ground situation of drought relief. Swaraj Abhiyan in association with Ekta Parishad, Jal Biradari and National Alliance of People’s Movements organised Jal-Hal yatra from Latur to Mahoba (21st May to 31st May). Similar yatras were organised in Telangana (2nd to...

Although public goods are meant for everyone to enable living life with human dignity, certain groups are systematically deprived to access them, says a new report from the Centre for Equity Studies -- a NGO based in Delhi. Put differently, not all sections of the society are able to access or enjoy public goods and services on an equal footing, despite social justice being one of the key provisions of...

-The Indian Express The anti-discrimination clause will provide recourse to buyers who are denied a house by builders owing to their caste, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, dietary choices or any such factors. The Centre is set to introduce an anti-discriminatory clause in rules under the real estate Act to curb the practice of builders refusing to sell their apartments based on a buyer’s religion, marital status or dietary preferences. The Real Estate...