Plenty of money has been spent widening roads. It is clear that doesn't work. Instead, designing our cities for walking and cycling is a much better option, and is also imperative to fight climate change.
Most rural women work on farms, but only one in six owns the land she works on. Reforms to succession laws have helped bring parity for women in family property rights, but not for agricultural lands.
The so-called 'carbon neutrality' pledges many countries are making should include details and be given tight accounting norms. Additionally, high emitters should face stricter norms and earlier timelines.
Plenty of money has been spent widening roads. It is clear that doesn't work. Instead, designing our cities for walking and cycling is a much better option, and is also imperative to fight climate change.
With its potential to supplement incomes of fishermen and other communities along the nation's long coastline, seaweed cultivation is gaining momentum. Goa's first pilot farm is about to be launched.
We need to unclog the channels for big- and small-sized finance to reach sustainable destinations. Neha Kumar points to the challenges, and the opportunities India must capitalise on.
Inequalities in education, which were already very large, have been considerably worsened by the long closure of schools. But this crisis is also an opportunity for renewal of the education system.
This sector is now an important part of the way many small businesses are funded. Lenders must embrace more effective self-regulation to balance the needs of borrowers with their goals.
Habitats and corridors for wild elephants are shrinking due to other development priorities, and local communities are unwilling to tolerate the growing number of human-animal conflicts.
A team of young architects learns that their formal learning provides only limited guidance to tackle the stark challenges faced by those living in an uplanned colony next to a major urban dumpsite.
In Haryana, researchers have been conducting a longitudinal study on a program to improve gender attitudes among school children. Five years on, are its positive impacts still sustained?
The experience of women street vendors during and after the lock-downs shows that responses to crises mut be bound better by the law and rules, and strike a balance between different vulnerabilities.
Facing an acute shortage of doctors at its rural health centres, the state government hopes that some of their work could be done by pharmacists instead. But public health advocates are not so sure.
Amidst the gloom of lives endlessly disrupted by river erosion, a few farmers are successfully experimenting with horticulture in the heart of the very river that is swallowing their lands.
The rapid growth of the industry has brought jobs and prosperity, but also threatens the city's lakes and hills. A new way forward is needed, with emphasis on sustainability and conservation.
Adequate attention has not been given to strengthening the government in performing key functions, directly or through public authorities. Reforms to address this are now needed.
With ridership down, DMRC's annual losses, which had already been growing each year, have ballooned. Non-fare revenues are low, and the company's obligations to repay loans are looming.
Apart from the loss of their habitat, migratory birds face a new threat from the growing number of renewable energy projects. The Great Indian Bustard has seen its numbers drop precipitously.
The Brahmaputra has eroded lands along its course repeatedly, forcing villagers along its embankments to find new homes and work each time, in a perpetual struggle to stabilise their lives and livelihoods.
The Constitution recognises the threat of private discrimination, and prohibits it in its text. An interpretation that recognises the historical chronicle and context of exclusion is needed to uphold it.
Immunity conferred from natural infection and vaccines, patterns of social contact, and virus transmissibility will all play a role in what COVID-19 will look like as it continues to circulate.
Many landowners around forests would set aside some lands in exchange for payments. Some see this as a promising conservation strategy, but others believe more nuance is needed.
Repeated lockdowns and curfews have been a golden opportunity for wildlife traffickers targeting termite-eating pangolins in Simlipal National Park and adjacent districts.
Huge backlogs in the justice system have prompted judges to look for ways to speed things up. The Supreme Court has twice pointed fingers at long and repetitive oral arguments.
By listening to residents, and understanding the needs that have driven them to organic solutions, it is possible for Master Plans in cities to be a lot more attentive to the lived realities of people.
The decision is neither straightforward nor uniform. A nuanced view is needed to select the ones that can be closed profitably, and more importantly to stop too many new ones coming up.
Millions of women migrate each year, widespread yet unseen in their struggle to find and keep work. A gendered understanding of migrants is needed in policies and intervention programs.
Odisha's Livelihood Mission promotes local gardens to help adivasis find food security. These also improve nutrition levels, and provide additional income from surplus produce.
Erratic monsoon patterns and other disruptions by climate change are reducing the number of fishing days in coastal Kerala. Small-scale fishers are looking for other livelihood options instead.
Urban finances do need to be strengthened, but expenditure alone is not enough to improve outcomes. A study of waste management in 27 cities shows the importance of other non-monetary influences.
There are several government schemes to assist those who've lost their livelihoods from informal jobs, but many eligible workers find it difficult to register for benefits, despite court interventions.
Hundreds of indigenous languages have vanished; many more are spoken by only a few. But as the Asur adivasis of Jharkhand show, it is possible to revive and preserve a language.
Formal urban planning and official heritage narratives have ignored the cultural legacies of cities. Citizens groups, however, are already exploring this and could point the way forward.
States have followed varied paths to development, proclaiming models of their own. But these have been limited, and not presented a new imagination of governance itself.
The courts are public institutions, whose functioning should be transparent and accountable. The media's role in informing the public about the courts should therefore not be diluted.
In low-income families, women have faced more vulnerabilities than men during covid. These interventions could form the backbone of a new resilience for them now and in future disasters.
With its potential to supplement incomes of fishermen and other communities along the nation's long coastline, seaweed cultivation is gaining momentum. Goa's first pilot farm is about to be launched.
We need to unclog the channels for big- and small-sized finance to reach sustainable destinations. Neha Kumar points to the challenges, and the opportunities India must capitalise on.
Inequalities in education, which were already very large, have been considerably worsened by the long closure of schools. But this crisis is also an opportunity for renewal of the education system.
This sector is now an important part of the way many small businesses are funded. Lenders must embrace more effective self-regulation to balance the needs of borrowers with their goals.
Habitats and corridors for wild elephants are shrinking due to other development priorities, and local communities are unwilling to tolerate the growing number of human-animal conflicts.
A team of young architects learns that their formal learning provides only limited guidance to tackle the stark challenges faced by those living in an uplanned colony next to a major urban dumpsite.
In Haryana, researchers have been conducting a longitudinal study on a program to improve gender attitudes among school children. Five years on, are its positive impacts still sustained?
The experience of women street vendors during and after the lock-downs shows that responses to crises mut be bound better by the law and rules, and strike a balance between different vulnerabilities.
Facing an acute shortage of doctors at its rural health centres, the state government hopes that some of their work could be done by pharmacists instead. But public health advocates are not so sure.
Amidst the gloom of lives endlessly disrupted by river erosion, a few farmers are successfully experimenting with horticulture in the heart of the very river that is swallowing their lands.
The rapid growth of the industry has brought jobs and prosperity, but also threatens the city's lakes and hills. A new way forward is needed, with emphasis on sustainability and conservation.
Adequate attention has not been given to strengthening the government in performing key functions, directly or through public authorities. Reforms to address this are now needed.
With ridership down, DMRC's annual losses, which had already been growing each year, have ballooned. Non-fare revenues are low, and the company's obligations to repay loans are looming.
Apart from the loss of their habitat, migratory birds face a new threat from the growing number of renewable energy projects. The Great Indian Bustard has seen its numbers drop precipitously.
The Brahmaputra has eroded lands along its course repeatedly, forcing villagers along its embankments to find new homes and work each time, in a perpetual struggle to stabilise their lives and livelihoods.
The Constitution recognises the threat of private discrimination, and prohibits it in its text. An interpretation that recognises the historical chronicle and context of exclusion is needed to uphold it.
Immunity conferred from natural infection and vaccines, patterns of social contact, and virus transmissibility will all play a role in what COVID-19 will look like as it continues to circulate.
Many landowners around forests would set aside some lands in exchange for payments. Some see this as a promising conservation strategy, but others believe more nuance is needed.
Repeated lockdowns and curfews have been a golden opportunity for wildlife traffickers targeting termite-eating pangolins in Simlipal National Park and adjacent districts.
Huge backlogs in the justice system have prompted judges to look for ways to speed things up. The Supreme Court has twice pointed fingers at long and repetitive oral arguments.
By listening to residents, and understanding the needs that have driven them to organic solutions, it is possible for Master Plans in cities to be a lot more attentive to the lived realities of people.
The decision is neither straightforward nor uniform. A nuanced view is needed to select the ones that can be closed profitably, and more importantly to stop too many new ones coming up.
Millions of women migrate each year, widespread yet unseen in their struggle to find and keep work. A gendered understanding of migrants is needed in policies and intervention programs.
Odisha's Livelihood Mission promotes local gardens to help adivasis find food security. These also improve nutrition levels, and provide additional income from surplus produce.
Erratic monsoon patterns and other disruptions by climate change are reducing the number of fishing days in coastal Kerala. Small-scale fishers are looking for other livelihood options instead.
Urban finances do need to be strengthened, but expenditure alone is not enough to improve outcomes. A study of waste management in 27 cities shows the importance of other non-monetary influences.
There are several government schemes to assist those who've lost their livelihoods from informal jobs, but many eligible workers find it difficult to register for benefits, despite court interventions.
Hundreds of indigenous languages have vanished; many more are spoken by only a few. But as the Asur adivasis of Jharkhand show, it is possible to revive and preserve a language.
Formal urban planning and official heritage narratives have ignored the cultural legacies of cities. Citizens groups, however, are already exploring this and could point the way forward.
States have followed varied paths to development, proclaiming models of their own. But these have been limited, and not presented a new imagination of governance itself.
The courts are public institutions, whose functioning should be transparent and accountable. The media's role in informing the public about the courts should therefore not be diluted.
In low-income families, women have faced more vulnerabilities than men during covid. These interventions could form the backbone of a new resilience for them now and in future disasters.
India Together is published with support from Oorvani Foundation.
