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Less than half a per cent Indian villages can be termed clean

World Water Day, 22 March

On the eve of World Water Day Indian government honoured 2,857 villages in 23 states with Nirmal Gram Puraskars [clean village awards]. Nirmal Gram Puraskar is given by the Indian government in acknowledgement of hundred per cent water, sanitation and hygiene coverage in a village. The President of India Ms Pratibha Patil, in a ceremony held in Delhi, awarded these 2,857 villages for their cleanliness achievements. India has more than 600,000 inhabited villages, of which less than half a per cent have qualified to get the award for cleanliness.

World Water Day (22 March): Water Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink

Water constitutes about three fourths of the earth's surface, but only less than one percent of it can be used by its inhabitants. Most of it is salt water oceans (about 97%) and 2% of it is contained in glaciers. With every country seeking to satisfy its ever increasing water needs from shrinking and limited water resources, there could be a future of conflict. As the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon remarked recently that water scarcity is the potential fuel for wars and conflict. But cooperation, not conflict should guide us in our quest for a solution to this crisis.

Spill Neither Water Nor Blood: World Water Day (22 March)

Exclusive on World Water Day (22 March 2010)
One gives life, while the other sustains it. One flows in our veins making us living beings, and the other percolates around us, making this planet livable. The possibility of finding water on Mars and Moon excites the scientific community no end. But, Alas! We don’t seem to be caring for either of them. Political leaders have not shied away in giving patriotic slogans like ‘you give me blood and I will give you freedom’, or ‘we want blood for blood’. We do not hesitate to label a non aggressive person as one who has water flowing in her/his veins instead of blood. Rhetoric apart, I really admire George Bernard Shaw for having had the courage to say “Fight if you must, but do not glorify war”. And yet it is being strongly felt that if at all there is going to be a third world war, it will be fought for water. So water, or the lack of it, is likely to spill rivers of blood. Read more