Water quality must become a very serious concern for our public agencies, says Lalitha Sridhar.

Once among the most productive agrarian economies in the country, this region of Thanjavur district is now reeling. Lalitha Sridhar reports on the situation and implications.

Researchers around the country gathered to discuss solutions to the key water-related problems India faces. From conflicts between states, to water-saving agricultural practices, to receding glaciers, a number of issues were raised, and their economic and social implications weighed. Surekha Sule reports.

Six leading advocates of decentralisation and people centred planning met the President of India on 20 April to impress upon him that the Interlinking of Rivers project as currently being envisaged is the wrong direction for the country to take. They have since written a letter to Dr.Kalam addressing his questions.

An environment magazine recently carried a Gujarat government-funded NGO's advertisement portraying vast tracts of Saurashtra and Kachchh supplied with drinking water through pipelines forking off of the Sardar Sarovar Canal. Reports in the print media were telling quite a different story. Himanshu Upadhyaya digs deeper.

In a nation where floods and drought continually cause havoc in different regions, two recent events, one in Rajasthan and the other in Karnataka have brought citizens and media together to resolve acute water shortages. These are hopeful signs. The India Together editorial.

Tending livestock is difficult enough for settled communities, but for migrants the hardships are even worse. Without formal laws providing them access to water or feed, they must continually negotiate these, or bribe forest officials to obtain passage rights. Surekha Sule reports on recent studies highlighting their woes.

The practical management of water systems has become detached from the knowledge gained through research, which has made great progress in the last two or three decades. Because critical elements of research have been externalised, the induction of new inter-disciplinary learning has been greatly limited, writes Jayanta Bandyopadhyay.

Judging by the 16 years it took for the right to education to be legislated, the right to water and sanitation is a long way off. But there is much to be learned from the efforts of NGOs, meanwhile. Darryl D'Monte reports.

New regulations from the environment ministry require coal-based thermal power plants to stick to legally binding limits for water consumption. Shripad Dharmadhikary examines the implications of these rules.

The belief that slum dwellers convert any structure they are given into another slum is thoroughly disproved in Charkop. There is clearly a sense of community, and each cluster feels proud to maintain the cleanliness of its surroundings, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Fourth in a series of articles adapted from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore, the author looks at the weaknesses in civil society as a factor for our ailing public services.

Information technology can and must expand from merely being an agent of the trickle-down effect to active resource mobilization, says Krishna Rupanagunta.

Eight years and counting since the first local body elections, only a handful of the panchayats has woken up to the powers devolved into them. The Panchayat Academy is working to change that, helping local leaders learn from and teach each other how much more meaningful their leadership can be. Krithika Ramalingam reports.

Two different bodies established by successive governments have made recommendations for sweeping changes to the system of representation and governance in urban areas. The opportunity is now at hand to bring these together, and ensure that wards are accessible and accountable to urban residents. Vinay Baindur reports.

The Police Act Drafting Committee's term came to an end on 31 January. Any significant attempt to reform the Indian police must begin with the men at the bottom, the constabulary, not at the top. However, such changes would call for a struggle against the nature of Indian society itself, says former IPS officer K S Subramanian.

Environmental clearances in India have always raised questions, as noted in many reports in India Together. For years now, NGOs have opposed the Ministry of Environment, sometimes bitterly. Last year, the Ministry proposed a 're-engineered' regulation, and found a new opposition - the state governments. Kanchi Kohli has more.

Held in Geneva last month, the Rotterdam Convention was attended by 500 participants from 140 governments, UN organisations, and NGOs. India sided with Canada and few other nations to prevent the listing of chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen. R Sridhar has more.

A permanent solution should be sought to defend ships and their crew who, refusing to be party to unscrupulous trade, end up being eliminated, with their deaths portrayed as suicides, writes Shabeena Zaheer who lost her son.

Goa's land allocation policy to SEZs has been indicted for massive irregularities by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The list of violations is more or less a case the fence eating the crop, finds out Himanshu Upadhyaya.

Four years on, positives seem to be weighed down by negatives -- thanks mainly to the aggressive land acquisition for mega real estate projects by the ruling LDF coalition. P N Venugopal wonders if the government’s confidence is at its low ebb.

From Bangalore to Bengaluru, or from Bombay to Mumbai, do name changes signify attempts to shake off colonial shackles, instances of linguistic one-upmanship or merely political agenda? Supriya Unni Nair delves deeper into the practice and finds an interesting history.

Red, yellow and green are not just about traffic lights any more. Colour coding the air quality in cities is a critical step towards dissemination of pollution data among citizens. But does India’s air quality index satisfy all the necessary conditions for optimal use? Sarath Guttikunda has more.

Despite the simplistic articulation of teachers' roles and teaching, including that by PM Modi, and the alignment of education to a broader nationalistic agenda, could there be potential ‘teachable moments’ under the new regime? Shivali Tukdeo and Savitha Suresh Babu explain.

The recent amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification relaxes building norms for CRZ areas. There are certain necessary measures that should have preceded it, says Meenakshi Kapoor as she brings out the implications of the amendment.

The present government completed one year in the office in May this year. It came to power by promising to bring achhe din for the Indians, who were frustrated with high inflation, corruption and policy paralysis during the last government. Pradeep Baisakh objectively analyses the performance of the Modi government in its first year.

A recent report suggests merging the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) into a new organisation to be called the National Water Commission. Shripad Dharmadhikary comments on the report.

27-year-old Nandlal Master was born into a saree weaver's family. Today, he is a leader in the Mehdiganj area of Varanasi District, and runs classes for children who would otherwise be stranded. He has also led a local movement on water that has become a problem for Coca Cola as well as the local administration, writes Sandeep Pandey.

In U.P., the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme - instituted under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2005 to ensure access and quality elementary education (Class 6-8) for disadvantaged girls - has opened new doors hitherto closed because of discrimination and poverty. Swapna Majumdar has more.

By 12 October 2005, the Right to Information Act must be 'fully functional' in every city, township and village. At a national conference held soon after the law was passed, government officials, civil society groups and national and international experts had met to chalk out an agenda to make this happen. Mandakini Devasher takes stock.

When a Pune-based die-hard transparency activist went to a government book depot in the city on 15 October morning to buy a copy of the new Right to Information Act, he was surprised to see that there were already 50 odd citizens in line for copies. True, bureaucrats have also planted landmines, but the citizens may yet win, says Prakash Kardeley.

In two recent rulings, the Central Information Commission rejected candidates' requests asking to see their own assessed answer sheets. One of the CIC's arguments was that the examining authority and the evaluator had a fiduciary relationship and thereby qualified for exemption. Prakash Kardaley wonders if the CIC went too far.

A combination of intimidation and mindless application of the letter of the law threatens to dissuade citizens from putting the RTI Act to use. And politicians are only happy to offer solutions that further dilute the law's purpose. Suman Sahai and Swati Gola note examples from Chhatisgarh that point to the need for a program for rights literacy.

A year after the right to information became a reality, a reluctant government and its indifferent officials are finding it too burdensome to carry it forward. So, attempts are on to find sideways and steer clear of it except in Bihar, where RTI complaints are being taken over phone, says Arvind Kejriwal.

The State Information Commissioners are supposed to uphold the RTI Act in their respective states. But their own appointments are shrouded in secrecy, writes Krishnaraj Rao.

Niyamat Ansari fearlessly sought to secure for people their rights under the law. The political economy around the delivery of those rights, however, proved too vicious, and he was killed. Simrin Makhija reports.

The knowledge of growing conditions and nutritional traits of plants not only gives rural women a unique, crucial edge in seed selection and breeding, it also helps them maintain the genetic diversity required for adaptation to fluctuating weather. Despite this, the role of women in protecting biodiversity is largely unrecognised, writes Ramesh Menon.

Women in the Sunderbans region of West Bengal are setting a trend in climate change mitigation through projects under the "Common Property Resource" initiative, and carving new frontiers in livelihood security in the process. Ajitha Menon reports.

Sheila Johnson, the first African-American female entrepreneur to be worth $1 billion, tells WSJ's Veronica Dagher why some women don't help each other, the story behind founding Salamander Hotels and Resorts and BET, and how she's investing in other women's companies.

An ominous rise in Spanish government bond yields fanned speculation that the country might need a bailout of its own. Matt Phillips reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Reuters.

WSJ's Sudeep Reddy checks in on Mean Street with the World Bank's dim outlook for global economic stability over the next several years. Photo: Getty Images.

Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and other traditional food companies are all betting the rise of meatless alternatives could permanently change the way people look at meat. But are they right? WSJ’s Akane Otani explains. Photo: Beyond Meat

Gail Simmons, food expert and Top Chef judge, tells WSJ's Veronica Dagher how she learned to say no to some opportunities, value her time and follow her passions.

As more people are increasingly grabbing breakfast at fast-food joints, it’s making up larger and larger margins for the big players. To keep up with the competition, Wendy's is relaunching its breakfast menu after three failed attempts.

Godiva’s Executive Chef Chocolatier, Thierry Muret, took a unique path to find his dream job. WSJ met Muret to learn how he turned a chemistry degree into a job working with chocolate.

The White House announced new guidelines Monday to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, and asked the public to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. Photo: Erik S. Lesser/Shutterstock

Designer Karl Lagerfeld closed his fall 2014 haute couture show with a pregnant model wearing a Baroque-inspired neoprene wedding gown.

Betsey Johnson gave fans a sneak peek at her dance moves when she brought “Dancing With the Stars” partner Tony Dovolani onto the runway after her New York Fashion Week show.

Teenage girls are hardwired for drama, according to Family therapist Colleen O'Grady, author of "Dial Down the Drama." But there are key ways daughters and mothers can find common ground. She offers tips for keeping the peace on Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Photo: iStock

Diane Tuft shows the front line of climate change, in her new book "The Arctic Melt: Images of a Disappearing Landscape." Diane joins Lunch Break's Tanya Rivero to discuss her disturbingly beautiful images. Photo: Diane Tuft