Ayyappa Masagi is the Founder of Water Literacy Foundation, a non-government organization that works to improve awareness on water conservation and to ensure effective utilization of available water for household, industrial or agricultural purposes by deploying various ingeniously developed techniques of water harvesting, bore well-recharging and irrigation. ThinkChange India caught up with him for a [...]

As some of our readers may know, Prerna and I are both Indicorps alums.  My fellowship with Indicorps is too involved to explain in a short post, but the experience is definitely one of the contributing factors to my continued interest and involvement with development in India.  The on-the-ground experience is extremely valuable,  both in [...]

A couple of weeks back, Wipro kicked off its Eco Eye Initiative – a comprehensive programme that drives increasing ecological sustainability in all its operations, and areas of its influence. In its chairman, Azim Premji’s, own words: We firmly believe business cannot be built at the cost of ecology. It is not sustainable. Ecological Sustainability [...]

Santhosh pointed out the complexities of slum tourism, and ecotourism itself is a contested issue. Ecotourism extends past slum areas, and into any area where ecological or environmental factors are at play. Ecosphere is an organization that approaches this, according to this article in Express Travel World, through “the triple bottom-line of economic empowerment, conservation [...]

Our weekly review of opportunities. Please send along any other opportunities to Competitions Reminder: Now in its fourth year, World Challenge 08 is a global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level. They are looking for social entrepreneurs [...]

Last month, we posted about the expansion of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to all districts in India starting on April 1. Even though the government chose to expand this program, the scheme has its share of pros and cons. A recent article in The Economist highlights the strengths of NREGA as its [...]

Food Shortage Crisis: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that the country has sufficient food to feed the people and that prices should reflect that soon. Sending conflicting signals, PM Singh may call a meeting with Chief Ministers on controlling prices. Shockingly, another article highlighted the extremely high amount of crops wasted annually — RS [...]

A new documentary entitled “FLOW” (For Love of Water) has recently gained critical acclaim at the Vail International Film Festival and the Flagstaff International Film Festival, and is now gaining traction within the United States. The film has been called “infuriating and incredible” for its evocative approach to the global water crisis: FLOW: For Love [...]

The Equator Initiative has recently opened nominations for the biennial Equator Prize, which “recognizes outstanding local efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.”  According to iGovernment, the prize “showcases some of the most innovative community work of the present generation and is critical in emphasizing the strong connection between local solutions and international [...]

Here are some stories on government efforts to help stimulate positive change: Dialysis centres to tackle shortage The health ministry is planning to open standalone dialysis centres across the country, much like pathological labs, where patients can undergo the life-saving procedure at a minimal rate. In the land of Blyth Tragopan Khonoma, a Naga village [...]