A look at arsenic contamination in eastern Uttar Pradesh, its impact on rural communities, groundwater safety and the role of documentary journalism in exposing the public health crisis. A documentary about arsenic poisoning in Uttar Pradesh cannot begin with a policy failure. It has to begin with a hand. A hand showing the characteristic pale…
India’s Jal Jeevan Mission has significantly expanded rural tap-water connections, but access does not always mean reliable water security. Drawing on the 2024 functionality survey, state audits and budget data, this article examines gaps in water quality, quantity, regularity, infrastructure maintenance and village-level institutions. It highlights why verified functional water supply must become the measure…
The article examines the challenges of sanitation, menstrual hygiene and unequal access to clean toilets in India. Through personal accounts, community initiatives and policy developments, it highlights caste-based discrimination, poor sanitation infrastructure, menstrual stigma and the need for dignity, gender equality and sustainable sanitation systems. Modern civilisation has turned unproblematic natural phenomena into insurmountable problems….
Twelve years after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission, India has made significant progress in expanding toilet access and reducing open defecation. However, the next challenge lies in sustaining sanitation outcomes through behavioural change, safe waste management, local governance, lifecycle financing and reliable public services. From Toilet Access to the Challenge of Sustaining Sanitation…
India’s official data tell two stories at once. UDISE+ 2025-26 records 26 crore students, falling dropout and pupil-teacher ratios comfortably inside policy targets. PLFS 2025 records graduate unemployment at 11.2 percent against a national rate of 3.1 percent. Between those two numbers sits the question that will define the next decade: whether an expanding system…
Research among 160 tribal women in North Gujarat finds differences in dairy practices and social empowerment. It also points to the costs and service gaps that continue to affect women’s livelihoods. A woman may feed the cattle, clean the shed, collect fodder and milk the animals. Yet her work is only one part of what…
Two People. The Told and the UntoldA degree can tell us that a person has completed a course of study. It can tell us what they have learnt, perhaps even what they are qualified to do. But can a degree tell us whether a person is educated? Consider two people. One has multiple degrees, speaks…
Students across India are protesting against teacher shortages, poor school infrastructure, unsafe conditions and educational inequality. Dr Deepti Priya Mehrotra explores the struggles of marginalised students, the legacy of alternative education and the urgent need to rethink India’s school education system. School students today are raising basic issues, calling for sufficient teachers, good teaching, infrastructure,…
A fireside chat at the Clear-Cut Education Summit 2026 argued that scale needs government ownership, whole-school thinking and a lasting role for civil society Education models scale when government owns them, when pilots are built around the whole school rather than the intervention alone, and when they bend to local conditions, speakers said at “What…
The CAG audit of the National Mission for a Green India reveals major shortfalls in forest cover and forest quality targets, raising concerns about tree plantation outcomes. The article highlights the importance of CSR plantation projects, sapling survival rates, biodiversity conservation, and independent verification to measure long-term environmental impact. What the auditors found On 12…
