Catch Water Newsletter October-November 2002

	*A NEW BEGINNING*
	A rich harvest
	*IN FOCUS*
	On the right track? Groundwater or poison? Punjab, ready for desi solutions Saga of tanks
	*CAMPAIGN*
	Ways to destroy Squatters or owners? VIPs strangling Dal Restoring Bis Hazari Lakes in News
	WATER LITERACY
	For water security The facilitator Let us try this out? Water carnival
	INITIATIVE
	Sabdoo, surging ahead Pioneering work Reasserting rights Haryana documents Mission possible
	FACE TO FACE

	JAL BIRADARI
	Common sense, makes sense Unflinching faith
	NEWS FROM GUJARAT
	Jal bachao yatra Checking salt ingress Water accounting
	NEWS FROM CHENNAI
	Legally armed Cultivating temple tanks Syndicate residency’s endeavour Optimising benefits
	JAL YODHAS
	P K Senapati Surinder Bansal Shree Padree Anil Rana M N Mitra
	CSE'S LATEST DESIGNS

	TECHNOLOGY
	Fog collectors Techno tit bits
	FUNDING AGENCY
	CLASSROOM
	WATER WISDOM
	NEWS FROM ABROAD
	South Africa: Water apartheid Kenya: Drought busting Japan: Water wizards Turks & Caicos Islands: A unique system Nepal: Spouts return
	WATER IN NEWS
	REDERS SPACE
	CSE'S LAKENET
	BOOK/DOCUMENTS
	VISUAL WATCH
	WEB INFO
	NOTICE BOARD
	GLIMPSES FROM DTE
	EVENT

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Vol. 4	No. 6	December 2002-January 2003
Novelty encouraged Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), is increasingly funding non-governmental organisations in India with novel ideas. "Although bilateral funding gets priority. However, upto ten per cent of the funds are kept aside for multilateral projects", said Vijay Kumar, program officer, DANIDA, New Delhi. "There are no written guidelines for such minor projects. Per project funding vary between Rs 15 lakhs to 1 crore for a period of four years", said Kumar. However, every proposal has to undergo a screening process. Innovative and community-based developmental ideas get priority. Rajiv Gandhi Foundation got support for creating the ‘core of water warriors’ in drought hit state of Rajasthan. This is just one leaf from DANIDA funding book. The application procedures are rather simple. Interested organisations can send in the concept paper. If approved, DANIDA itself will help in developing it. For details: Royal Danish Embassy, 11, Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi 110011; Tel: 23010004

Indian scenario Water in its natural state is not a threat but a life saviour. But in the developing countries, millions and millions of people continue to suffer from water borne diseases, like cholera, polio,dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis and leptospirosis to name only a few. Such epidemics have been virtually eliminated from the developed world since the 1920s. The extensive use of filtration and chlorination facilitated this change. During the second world war, the process of desalination developed. The standards of the quality of drinking water were legally defined in these countries, strengthening their safety networks. In countries like India, although the provision of safe drinking water has improved but sanitation has not received much attention, leading to the poor state of affairs. Let us focus on India. First digest this. About 60 per cent of urban deaths in India are due to lack of safe drinking water facilities. Further deaths due to water borne diseases are second only to malnutrition; Sewage and not the industrial pollution accounts for more than 75 per cent of the surface water contamination in India. Due to negligence, groundwater is also increasingly getting contaminated; In India, epidemics are common. The presence of laws like Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974 or new cures and programs like National Cholera Control and Polio Immunization has not made any significant difference. The lower income group continue to be the worst affected. This situation is not going to change for better - if the state continues to overlook the root cause of the problem ie, accessibility to clean water and sanitation. Provision of safe drinking water is a political and social problem rather than a technical one. In the developing world, it is intimately connected to the issue of poverty, underdevelopment, and depleting ecology.

Novelty encouraged

Indian scenario