Books

"The Man Who Planted Trees" is a short story by french author Jean Giono, set in the early 1900s, about the sustained work of a shepherd who working by his own, regenerates a barren desolate valley at the foothills of the Alps in Provence (South-eastern France). This story even though fictional, inspired several regeneration efforts across the world.

This edition was published by the Chelsea Green Publishing Company in 1985. It was first published in the Vogue under the title "The Man Who Planted Hope And Grew Happiness" (Conde Nast Publications Inc, 1954). The attached PDF is a scanned copy of the low-cost Indian edition specially brought out for Indian friends who love planting trees, by the Friends of Elzeard Bouffier in 1995.Read More

Book review by - R. MARIA SALETH

Article courtesy: The Hindu

Water has a pervasive influence on the various facets of human life, including the supporting ecosystem. Apart from capping human needs in terms of its consumption, production, and cleaning roles, it has a place in a wide range of spheres from the cultural and the religious to the metaphysical. The literature dealing with the technical and mundane aspects of water, such as the hydrological, ecological, economic, and managerial, is vast, and growing fast.But the writings on the cultural, mythological, and literary aspects of water are not much, and their growth too is rather slow.Read More

About the Book –

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are supposed to provide solutions to many of the existing problems related to infrastructure projects – in both execution and operation. Currently, there are PPP projects in almost all the sectors including roads, ports, airports, water, sewerage, solid waste management and transport among others. It is, therefore, important to do a reality check on PPP projects and their efficacy in addressing the problems faced by the public sector water supply services and other infrastructure sectors as well.

The report looks at various aspects of PPPs, beginning from why PPPs have come to be regarded as the major approach for infrastructure development in the country, the circumstances that lead to the change in approach from direct privatisation to public-private partnerships, the current status of the PPP projects that are being executed in India, especially in the water sector, to the current estimates and projections of investment requirements for infrastructure development in India by governments and International Financial Institutions (IFIs).Read More