Governance

India not a water defict country. Neglect and lack of monitoring behind country's water scarcity: CWC

Across South Asia, small and medium-sized towns are rapidly expanding. Urbanisation has made inroads into the entire Himalayan region. Mountain urbanisation poses a need for assessments of emerging risks and vulnerabilities in environmentally sensitive regions. These areas are marked by population growth and migration from rural settlements as well as limited availability of suitable space for construction, often leading to building activities in landslide or flood-prone areas. 

Van Mahotsava is an annual tree planting festival which was initiated by Shri Kulapati Kanaiyalal Munshi, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Food, Government of India, in 1950 to create awareness about the importance of trees and conservation of forests. Since then, this plantation drive has been bringing multitudes of people across the country towards the common goal of increasing green cover. The idea to organize such an annual event might have emerged after a national tree plantation drive in 1947 in which national leaders like Dr.

Prime Minister Modi pitches for a collective effort to overcome water crisis in the country

Decentralised and communitarian efforts in soil and water conservation, sustainable agriculture, afforestation and renewable energy need extensive investment, if the human race is to survive the deepening water, food, energy and climate crises.

Centre launches Jal Shakti Abhiyan

To tackle the water crisis looming the country, the Centre launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, a water conservation campaign focussing on 1,592 stressed blocks in 256 districts across the country.

The water sector remains male dominated at different scales, from engineers and technocrats responsible for designing irrigation systems, to upper caste and upper class men who decide on the location of canals, borewells, tanks, and other water systems at the grassroots level. While women are involved in the daily management of water for food production, especially on small farms, they have little say in water provisioning decisions.

Water scarcity has a history … and that history is nothing less than the history of government. – Alatout, 2008.

Attempts to privatize water may have increased globally in the recent past, but in more general terms, governments largely control water as in India, where water is a state subject. After all, water is the only life-giving non-substitutable good; hence, controlling water means controlling life, and controlling society at large.

High Court raps Tamil Nadu government over water crisis in Chennai

Monsoon makes slowest progress across India in 12 years (source: Times of India)

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) records show that this year's monsoon has so far been the slowest progressing monsoon in the past 12 years.