Let us Make our Planet Earth Habitable
Suresh Goel The world came to know of Greta Thunberg in August 2018 as a Swedish High School student who protested outside the country’s Parliament with a sign reading “School Strike for climate change”. It’s a measure of how much traction her message got among the youth around the world that within a year she got a respectful hearing from the U.S. law-makers. The impact of her initiative is so great that on Friday, 20 th September, 2019 millions of children around the world played truant from school. Instead of spending a day in the class…
Eternal and ever-growing problem of encroachment on footpaths
By J.M.S. Nagarjunan Population has been steadily increasing. So has been the encroachment of public places, particularly PLATFORMS/FOOTPATHS, ROAD SPACES, etc., not only by the Vendors/Hawkers, but also by rich shop-owners, political groups and also a section of the Governmental agencies like Electricity Department, Telephones, Police, etc., besides places of religious worship. Flag posts, banners, hoardings (commercial and political), hawkers, shops, places of worship, eat-outs’ chairs/tables, tea/coffee shops, storing of construction mater…
Golden Rules for Better Water Management
Sharak Kumar Water is important for every citizen. There are two aspects of water – one is natural water from rivers and dams and the second is rain water. Of late as a result of scanty rainfall many places are facing drought. In this context it is significant that the NDA 2 government under the stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi felt it important to create a separate Ministry of Jal Shakti in May 2019. This was formed by merging two ministries – the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation and the Mini…
RWAs Demand Constitutional Recognition and Rights
A Brief Report on the 7th National Conference of RWAs (7th NCRWA 2019) By Col. Tejendra Pal Tyagi, Veer Chakra Chief Convener, 7th NCRWA 2019 The 7th National Conference of Resident Welfare Associations (NCRWA), was held on November 16-17 at the Andhra Association, Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi. The two-day conference which was attended by over 357 delegates from across the country was inaugurated by Hon’ble Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha Shri Vijay Goel ji and Joint Secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Smt. D Thara. Memb…
A Thesis to Treat the RWA as the 4th-Tier of Governance
Dr Rao VBJ Chelikani During the 19 th and 20 th centuries when common people wanted to have a share in the governance, electing a few representatives to rule at central and state levels was considered adequate. Having accomplished it, the political institutions in the Western European countries have been evolving along with the changing times. What is certain, to-day in India that the democratic spirit is well ingrained in the psyche of an average Indian, though not as much as that is desirable after seventy years of democratic experience. B…
Urban Flooding – Lessons to learn
By B T Srinivasan The recent floods in most cities India have taken both governments and people by surprise. Due to global warming, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are warming at a higher rate than other oceans, severely affecting weather patterns in India. The recurrence of extreme climate events, especially in our country, like heavy rains flooding urban areas, are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Severe water-logging has brought cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Patna, Chennai, Kochi to a halt. Citizens face horrible situati…
The System of ULB Performance Grants is “Unaccountability by Design”
By Col Tejandra Pal Tyagi, Veer Chakra As per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the Government has decided to provide grants worth Rs.87,143 crore for urban local bodies (ULBs i.e Municipalities and Nagar Nigam) out of the central divisible pool of funds for the period 2015-20. Of this amount, 80% is called Basic Grant while the remaining 20% is Performance Grant. Performance Grants relate to regular audit of accounts, increase in own revenue sources and publishing service level benchmarks. This represents nearly a fourfold i…
RWAs can contribute in a big way to conserve water
Dr.K.S.R.Murthy Rapid growth in irrigation, urbanisation and industrialisation has put enormous stress on one of the vital components of life – water. The cumulative impact of the increased use of this precious natural resource has led to scarcity in many regions of the country. Climate change has exacerbated the situation changing the hydrologic cycle. As a result, water is becoming scarce across the world. Hence, its effective and efficient management based on sound scientific methodology for sustainable development becomes a necessity. The …
New National Water Policy on the Anvil
Water Usage Efficiency Bureau apart from the emphasis on Hydrological boundaries for better water management and distribution to be the focus of the new National Water Policy With a focus on establishing “hydrological rather than geographical boundaries”, as stated earlier by the Jal Shakti Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, as the basis for water governance in the country, the Union Water Resources Ministry has finalised a committee to draft a new National Water Policy (NWP). It will be chaired by water expert and former Pla…
Pan-India Water Literacy March to Stress on Water Conservation
Jal Purush Dr Rajendra Singh kicks off year-long Aviral Ganga Water March to spread the message to safeguard our water resources particularly rivers By Sujata C Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, the Waterman of India, Dr Rajendra Singh and his team have kicked off a pan-India Water Literacy March to create awareness on the need for water conservation and in particular to protect the Ganges. The Aviral Ganga Water Literacy March, which was kicked off last week from the Tarun Bhagat Ashram in Alwar Rajasthan, will traverse through all the states and…
How to deal with your errant RWA
By B T Srinivasan Things can go wrong any time if a RWA decided to play foul. It could prove detrimental to the peace and welfare of residents - a situation that is not so uncommon. So, what do the residents do? An example is available from the experience of residents of a particular a housing colony in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Hassled for quite some years by the rampant commercialization of the hitherto peaceful locality in gross violation of municipal rules, appeals to the local RWA went unheeded. Interestingly, many these complainants, l…
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