Rural Water

A resident of Bajankheda village in Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh, Sitabai Tindor shows her pot full of water to us. A strange red, the water looks unusual. “We have been using this red water for domestic use for the last two decades. Industries in Ratlam has spoilt our land and water. The government has not provided us with any alternatives. For industrial misdeeds, why should we suffer?” asks a visibly distraught Sitabai.

In India, although we have approximately four months of monsoon (which is basically 45 days of effective rainfall), in drought prone areas, there are only 10-15 days of harvestable rain in the entire season. If you don't get enough rain during those days, it's a cause for worry.

Long before piped water supply became the norm, groundwater got extracted for use and rivers neglected, stepwells served as a major source of water for people.

A growing demand for water implies the need for an improved understanding of our resources, and the ability to manage that demand in an equitable and sustainable way.

Wells, not dams, have been the temples of modern India

India is a groundwater economy. At 260 cubic km per year, our country is the highest user of groundwater in the world - we use 25 percent of all groundwater extracted globally, ahead of USA and China.

Delhi’s Jor Bagh metro station is the site of an ongoing photographic exhibition with thought-provoking images and narratives exploring escalating water crises Indian and Nepal Himalayas face. Titled “Pani, Pahar: Waters of the Himalayas”, the exhibition combines contemporary work by photojournalist Toby Smith with academic research led by Dr Bhaskar Vira and Dr Eszter Kovacs at Cambridge University’s department of geography, in association with collaborators in India and Nepal.

Farhanuddin was just five years old when a pain in his knee began bothering him. It was 2013. Slowly, his legs began to change shape. They got so badly deformed that it began to affect his everyday life. He was gloomy and tired most times and had trouble walking. His parents thought that lengra bhoot or evil spirit was tormenting them like hundreds of others who were becoming crippled in the village of Tapatjuri in Nagaon district in Assam. Little Farhan could barely eat, wash or take a stroll without assistance.

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a new book that dares to imagine what India could be. Published by Authors Upfront, 35 author-activists, researchers and thinkers have drawn upon their experiences to write on alternative political, ecological, economic and sociocultural scenarios that will benefit India in its surge forward.

Korba in Chhattisgarh is an industrial area which has a significant number of coal mines and thermal power plants. Fly ash is a byproduct of the thermal power plants and has become a significant problem for the residents of Korba now. More than one lakh metric tonnes of fly ash is generated annually by the eight thermal power plants in Korba in Chhattisgarh which produce 6090 megawatts of electricity.

Kaudikasa is a small village with a population of just 350 people in the Ambagad Chowki block of the Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh. Despite its small size, Kaudikasa village has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Severe health problems have been reported from the village, thanks to acute arsenic contamination in its groundwater. In fact, of the 22 villages affected by arsenic contamination in Ambagad Chowki block, Kaudikasa village is said to be the worst affected.

GoI allocations for the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is Rs. 22,357 crores

For the first time in the last four years, the allocation for the sanitation programme Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has gone down from Rs 19,248 (RE 2017-18) to Rs 17, 843 crore (2018-2019).