Tank irrigation in Karnataka, authored by GS Dikshit, GR Kuppuswamy, SK Mohan, and first published in 1993, provides a historical overview of this ancient method of water management. The book covers entire eras from the ancient to the current period. It also gives information about the structural, financial and institutional aspects of tank construction and management.
The full book is available for download on the India Water Portal. Please right-click on the cover page image of the book, and select 'Save link as', to download the full book.
The document has been brought out by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and is about a proposed programme to increase agricultural productivity and livelihood security of farmers in rainfed areas. Rainfed areas account for nearly 57 per cent of the agricultural land in India. These areas assume special significance in terms of ecology, agricultural productivity and livelihoods for millions. With proper management, rainfed areas have the potential of contributing a larger share to food grain production. In-fact the potential is such that there is more opportunity for faster agricultural growth here than in irrigated areas.
This report in Current Science presents the success story of watershed development in Garhkundar–Dabar watershed of drought-prone semi-arid Tikamgarh district in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh. The area suffers from water scarcity, natural resource degradation, low crop productivity (1–1.5 t/ha), low rainwater use efficiency (35–45 per cent), high erosion, poor soil fertility, frequent droughts, poor irrigation facilities, heavy biotic pressure on forests, inadequate vegetation cover and frequent crop failure resulting in scarcity of food, fodder and fuel. The region has serious limitations of ground and surface-water availability and heavily depends upon perched water for drinking as well as irrigation.
A civil society consultation was held on “Regenerating natural resources and rural livelihoods in rainfed areas of India” by WASSAN at Hyderabad in December 2010 to discuss priorities for the twelfth five year plan. The Planning Commission, Government of India has been steering the process of development in India by conceptualizing five year plans and had sought inputs from civil society organizations, activists groups, networks of CBOs / NGOs, donors and others for preparing an approach paper for twelfth plan.
The objective of the consultation workshop was to contribute to the process of defining broad contours of twelfth plan with a focus on rural livelihoods the thrust area being policy framework, funding support, institutional arrangements etc., by -Read More
Consolidating the lessons from good practices in promoting and protecting rural livelihoods in the country, that could be integrated in twelfth five year plan.
Systematically articulating issues and concerns (bottlenecks) in promoting and protecting rural livelihoods, which could be addressed in the twelfth five year plan.
This status report prepared by Development Alternatives contains brief background information about the Bundelkhand region, details about the physical profle (topography, drainage and river systems, land usage, climate, rainfall), water resources information (water demand, availability, supply and accessibility) and information on sanitation practices (toilets, personal hygiene, solid waste management, liquid waste disposal, availability of water for sanitation). Read More
In Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, Shri Anupam Mishra documents the myriad, well-organised ways in which the people of Western Rajasthan have harvested and managed water over centuries, through work of the utmost dedication, painstaking detail and community-led action. These systems have survived the test of time, and are present in most villages and towns of the desert state even today.
This path-breaking work in the harsh water-scarce conditions of the desert, was completely managed by the local communities, and serves as a guide to the rest of us, in organising to face and tackle the water crisis, that we face across the world today.
Shri Anupam Mishra has worked in the field of environment and water conservation for many decades, and is currently with the Gandhi Peace Foundation New Delhi. His books on the work of people/society organising themselves, to harvest and manage water - Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab and Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, are considered landmark works in the field, and continue to inspire several individuals even today, to take up work on setting up and reviving such time-tested water harvesting systems.
Shri Anupam Mishra does not hold any copy right over books written by him. Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab has thus been translated through the initiatives of several inspired readers, into 19 languages including Braille. It is one of the only books after Gandhiji's autobiography "My Experiments with Truth", to be available in Braille. The total number of prints of Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab, has crossed 100,000 copies as of 2009.
Readers are thus welcome to further reprint, digitise, store, extract, copy, translate, transmit or use the books in any form they wish. Please do tell us about any such efforts you make or feedback you have on the books, at contact@indiawaterportal.org, and we will forward your mail to the author.
India Water Portal acknowledges the support of Sambhaav Trust and Anand Kumar Naidu Bangalore, in making this publication available in an electronic form. We are also grateful to the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology, for making the english translation available, to publish on the Portal.
Related Content
The Radiant Raindrops of Rajasthan, is an english translation of the book, done by Ms. Maya Jani of the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology.
Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab (in Hindi) is available on the India Water Portal here.
"The Wisdom That Was!", a talk (in Hindi) by Anupam Mishra can be viewed on the India Water Portal here.
His talk at the TED India 2009 Conference, can be viewed here.
Other articles, interviews and booklets edited / authored by him are available here.
In places where the land is too degraded for agriculture and the soil is too shallow for bunding, rocks can be used to protect existing stumps from browsing and allow rRead More
This is a presentation is the output of the review and discussion done by the National Advisory Council (NAC) on the provision of the National Common Minimum Programme of the current UPA government. The mandate was managed by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR). The presentation looked at the scope and implementation aspects of minor irrigation schemes, potential for supporting schemes of Union Ministries for minor irrigation, existing schemes of MoWR, incentives for tribal and dalit communities, efforts for convergence, issues and points for consideration going forward.Read More
Zero tillage: A conservation agriculture technique that is helping South Asian wheat farmers increase productivity and conserve their natural resources - by spending leRead More
This paper by VIKSAT presented at the Regional Workshop on Sustainable Livelihoods and Drought Management in South Asia: Issues, Alternatives and Futures at Islamabad, Pakistan from October 27-30, 2002 gives a detailed account of the approach adopted by VIKSAT in drought in Gujarat. This case study attempted to provide a set of guidelines that would be useful not only for implementationn during drought relief activities alone, but also towards drought proofing. The study found that working with people’s institutions both at village and at a regional/taluka level goes a long way in planning, implementation and tackling drought on a long term.Read More
A civil society consultation was held on
