Society, Culture, Religion and History

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India ranked 13th in the list of most water-stressed country in the world (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Thursday, 8 August 2019 1:29
Jal Shakti Abhiyan hits ground rolling as India ranks 13th most water-stressed country in the world
News this week
Cauvery river in Karnataka (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Tuesday, 6 August 2019 14:45
Lok Sabha passes inter-state river disputes bill
Policy matters this week
Villagers in Magradeh, Madhya Pradesh watching neighbouring farmers play a game. Image credit: Water Practitioners Network
Friday, 2 August 2019 12:11
All work and some play
Collective action games trigger conversations around the nature of the invisible and immeasurable common pool resource - groundwater.
Quick fix solutions to droughts will not work (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Friday, 2 August 2019 10:29
Is the Jalayukt Shivar Abhiyan just a quick fix to manage droughts?
A research paper argues that quick fix solutions to drought management will not work unless they are backed up by proper planning, implementation, monitoring and regulation of water use.
Image source: Water Practitioners Network
Thursday, 25 July 2019 12:48
Springing back to life
CHIRAG in Uttarakhand works with communities to revive local springs to achieve water security.
Hirakud, India's oldest dam (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
Monday, 22 July 2019 16:44
Gender in hydropower development: A long way to go
A study finds that hydropower organisations in India continue to maintain a culture of hierarchy, follow masculine norms and are insensitive to the needs of women and the marginalised.
  • Protecting the kidneys of Kolkata – the East Kolkata Wetlands
     The East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) are a truly unique ecosystem, presenting a very different sight from the normal urban landscape in India. What is so unique and different about them, and how have they survived the aggressive growth of Kolkata city? The credit goes to Dr. Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, a...
    aarti kelkar kh...posted 1 day 22 hours agoread more
  • Jal Shakti Abhiyan hits ground rolling as India ranks 13th most water-stressed country in the world
     Over 3.5 lakh water conservation measures taken up in a single month as nationwide Jal Shakti Abhiyan hits ground In a countrywide effort to enhance water security, especially in water stressed districts, the Centre initiated Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) has reported over 3.5 lakh water conservat...
    swatiposted 2 days 13 hours agoread more
  • Lok Sabha passes inter-state river disputes bill
    Lok Sabha passes Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019   The Lok Sabha has passed the Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956. The bill proposes to set up a central tribunal to help...
    swatiposted 4 days 36 min agoread more
  • All work and some play
    India is, by far, the world’s largest groundwater economy. India’s annual withdrawal of fresh groundwater (253 Billion Cubic Metres in 2013) amounts to one fourth of the global total and is more than that of China and the US combined. Over 80% of water extracted is used in agriculture. The share...
    priyadposted 1 week 1 day agoread more
  • Is the Jalayukt Shivar Abhiyan just a quick fix to manage droughts?
    Maharashtra is reeling under drought this year too, with the situation in Marathwada particularly bad. As high as twenty four out of thirty six districts in the state are facing deficient monsoons and about 4,920 villages and 10,506 hamlets are now completely dependent on water tankers for drinking ...
    aarti kelkar kh...posted 1 week 1 day agoread more
  • Himalayan states call for green bonus and a separate ministry
    Himalayan states demand green bonus and separate ministry from Centre At the recent Conclave of Himalayan States, a separate ministry was demanded to deal with problems endemic to the mountain states, as well as a green bonus in recognition of their contribution to environmental conservation. ...
    swatiposted 1 week 2 days agoread more
  • Springing back to life
    In popular imagination, steeped in consumer culture, the hills are exotic and aesthetically sublime places to find solace away from busy urban life. This kind of imagination conveniently ignores and de-contextualizes the hills and the problems they face today. The Himalayas, often known as the Water...
    priyadposted 2 weeks 2 days agoread more
  • Gender in hydropower development: A long way to go
    Large dams, back in the game? Recent years are seeing the re-emergence of large dams as sources of hydropower generation in global development policy. Large dams are being propagated as clean, green, climate-mitigating and a major source of renewable energy in emerging markets in the Global South. ...
    aarti kelkar kh...posted 2 weeks 4 days agoread more
  • Water Future Conference: Towards a Sustainable Future
    A Future Earth Conference Opening new frontiers in water system diagnostics and innovative solutions to mitigate the 21st-century global water crisis The Sustainable Water Future Programme (Water Future) of Future Earth is organizing its first international conference in partnership with Divecha C...
    priyadposted 2 weeks 5 days agoread more
  • Rajasthan's ancient yet ever-evolving water heritage
    The state of Rajasthan has an immense range of ancient and ingenious water harvesting systems, like the famous johads or step wells managed by communities in the arid Thar desert, which receives very low rainfall. A recent book 'Wise water solutions in Rajasthan' by Om Prakash Sharma, Mark Everard a...
    Amita Bhaduriposted 2 weeks 6 days agoread more
  • One-day pre-conference workshop: Introduction to Water Ethics
    One-day Pre-conference Workshop Introduction to Water Ethics Organised by: Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India (Pune) Water-Culture Institute (New Mexico) Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (Bengaluru)  Where? Bengaluru When? 23rd of September, 2019 I...
    swatiposted 3 weeks 21 hours agoread more
  • The many facets to the fluoride problem in Chikkaballapur, Karnataka
    Chikkaballapur is a district in the state of Karnataka, just north of the capital Bengaluru. A peri-urban area that was once an agricultural centre for this region, today Chikkaballapur is facing a unique problem.  Decreasing rainfall has meant increasing periods of drought for this area, wh...
    priyadposted 4 weeks 1 day agoread more
  • Budget 2019 talks big on water
    Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister alluded to gaon, garib and kisan as the centre of all policies of this government, while announcing a clutch of schemes aimed at the rural and urban poor. Her budget speech last week reiterated the government's commitment to ensuring piped water supply to al...
    Amita Bhaduriposted 1 month 1 day agoread more
  • Is it all downhill from here for Leh?
    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 po...
    Amita Bhaduriposted 1 month 2 days agoread more
  • Go green this Van Mahotsava
    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 bee...
    Amita Bhaduriposted 1 month 3 days agoread more
  • The need for survival edge technology
    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. Moreover, since these crises most affect the poor who ...
    Amita Bhaduriposted 1 month 1 week agoread more
  • Nal se Jal: hit or miss?
    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....
    Anonymous (not verified)posted 1 month 1 week agoread more
  • From water to agriculture, well-being and beyond
    Sustainable development, still an unfinished agenda In the fourth year into their implementation, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim at reducing developmental disparities in different parts of the world continue to be a cause for concern, with many international bodies urging for fas...
    aarti kelkar kh...posted 1 month 3 weeks agoread more
  • Unravelling NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index: Veering to a pragmatic approach
    INTRODUCTION On 30th May, the new government took oath to serve the nation. The celebrations on that scorching summer evening at Rashtrapati Bhavan echoed hollow with more than 500 million people vulnerable to severe drought in the country. India is currently going through an extended dry spell wit...
    priyadposted 1 month 3 weeks agoread more
  • Climate change real, warns Pangi tribe
    Mountain ecosystems are highly sensitive due to ecological fragility, geomorphologic instability but are blessed with vast eco biodiversity. Climate change impacts in the form of temperature rise, unpredictable and decreased rainfall, glacier melt, prolonged summers and short winters and changes in ...
    aarti kelkar kh...posted 1 month 4 weeks agoread more

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Posted By : aarti kelkar kh...
Posted Date : Thu, 2019-08-08 17:12
A real estate boom is tightening its grip on the East Kolkata Wetlands, a unique waste processing ecosystem. Cooperation and coproduction, not conflict are needed to save them.

 The East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) are a truly unique ecosystem, presenting a very different sight from the normal urban landscape in India.

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Posted By : swati
Posted Date : Thu, 2019-08-08 01:29
News this week

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Posted By : swati
Posted Date : Tue, 2019-08-06 14:45
Policy matters this week

Lok Sabha passes Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019  

The Lok Sabha has passed the Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956.

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Posted By : priyad
Posted Date : Fri, 2019-08-02 12:11
Collective action games trigger conversations around the nature of the invisible and immeasurable common pool resource - groundwater.

India is, by far, the world’s largest groundwater economy. India’s annual withdrawal of fresh groundwater (253 Billion Cubic Metres in 2013) amounts to one fourth of the global total and is more than that of China and the US combined. Over 80% of water extracted is used in agriculture. The share of tubewells in net irrigated area rose from a mere 1% in 1960-61 to over 40% in 2013-14.

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Authored By :
Posted By : aarti kelkar kh...
Posted Date : Fri, 2019-08-02 10:29
A research paper argues that quick fix solutions to drought management will not work unless they are backed up by proper planning, implementation, monitoring and regulation of water use.

Maharashtra is reeling under drought this year too, with the situation in Marathwada particularly bad. As high as twenty four out of thirty six districts in the state are facing deficient monsoons and about 4,920 villages and 10,506 hamlets are now completely dependent on water tankers for drinking water.

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Posted By : swati
Posted Date : Wed, 2019-07-31 17:35
News this week

Himalayan states demand green bonus and separate ministry from Centre

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Posted By : priyad
Posted Date : Thu, 2019-07-25 12:48
CHIRAG in Uttarakhand works with communities to revive local springs to achieve water security.

In popular imagination, steeped in consumer culture, the hills are exotic and aesthetically sublime places to find solace away from busy urban life. This kind of imagination conveniently ignores and de-contextualizes the hills and the problems they face today. The Himalayas, often known as the Water Tower of Asia, are revered because many of the world's important rivers originate from them. However, Himalayan states are not untouched by water problems and the overarching effects of climate change, which respect no borders.

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Authored By :
Posted By : aarti kelkar kh...
Posted Date : Mon, 2019-07-22 16:44
A study finds that hydropower organisations in India continue to maintain a culture of hierarchy, follow masculine norms and are insensitive to the needs of women and the marginalised.

Large dams, back in the game?

Recent years are seeing the re-emergence of large dams as sources of hydropower generation in global development policy. Large dams are being propagated as clean, green, climate-mitigating and a major source of renewable energy in emerging markets in the Global South.

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Posted By : priyad
Posted Date : Mon, 2019-07-22 11:56

A Future Earth Conference

Opening new frontiers in water system diagnostics and innovative solutions to mitigate the 21st-century global water crisis

September 24, 2019 9:00AM - September 27, 2019 6:00PM
August 31, 2019 12:00PM

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Posted By : Amita Bhaduri
Posted Date : Sun, 2019-07-21 11:10
A book documents the enormous range of water harvesting systems still in use in Rajasthan.

The state of Rajasthan has an immense range of ancient and ingenious water harvesting systems, like the famous johads or step wells managed by communities in the arid Thar desert, which receives very low rainfall.

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