Settlements in the area that is now Bangalore have a recorded history that dates back to the 5th century CE. Water for these settlements was made available through multiple series of tanks, which numbered 19,800 around the year 1830.
This lake system is now decaying with lakes either taken over for urban uses, or choking due to neglect. ATREE and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have been engaged in attempting to understand how to restore these lakes for urban use, while maintaining their ecological importance. This article in Seminar describes this attempt.
'Lakes of Mahadevpura constituency, Bengaluru- current status, changes in distribution and recommendations for restoration' by Harini Nagendra, Ramesh Sivaram, and S Subramanya presents the current status of the lake and canal system in Bengaluru’s Mahadevpura constituency, with details of individual lakes as well as recommendations for the restoration of these lakes as well as the entire system. This report has been shared with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, under which the management of these lakes is consolidated, to inform planning at a constituency and ward level.
This report by the National Commission for Women looks at social conflict and tension that arise due to water crises and analyses the impact of these on women. The stress on water resources is a result of rapidly rising population and changing lifestyles, which have increased the need for fresh water. Intense competition among water users from agriculture, industry and domestic sector is pushing the ground water table deeper. Women bear the burden of fetching drinking water in rural areas and if opportunity costs are taken into account, it would translate to about 150 million women days each year. This amounts to a loss of a whopping 10 billion rupees per year to the national exchequer.Read More
This study by the People's Science Institute presents a review of the variety of water harvesting structures found in the central western Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India, which is a home to remarkable water harvesting traditions that have evolved over the millennia. This report highlights their features with reference to specific structures.
The report highlights how traditionally, local communities exercised rights of ownership, use and management over their natural resources in the Himalayan states. They devised a variety of management systems suited to their own specific situation. Sanskar (precepts and rites), sanskriti (culture and customary practices) and niti (state policy and administration) were the bases of water harvesting traditions and their longevity. Individual dharma and social customs were the necessary conditions for sustaining these traditions, while local autonomy in resource management was the critical sufficient condition. Read More
This report by the DFID describes the outcomes and the process of implementation of the project that aimed at developing ‘Natural resources management strategies for peri-urban areas, which could benefit the poor and could be developed and promoted’. The project, along with NRSP funded peri-urban interface projects in Kumasi and Kolkata (Calcutta), was designed to address the following aspects of this goal:Read More
In Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab, Shri Anupam Mishra documents the life and work of several individuals and communities, across the country, in setting up water harvesting and management systems through talaabs (lakes / tanks).
These traditional water bodies are the lifeline of many villages and towns in the country even today. Their work serves as a guide, in organising to face and tackle the current water crisis in the country.
Shri Anupam Mishra has worked in the field of environment and water conservation for many decades, and currently works 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 these 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. 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.
Related Content
Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, 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.
