Chicu Lokgariwar

Chicu Lokgariwar
Bad times at Baddi
Unless industries clean up their act and authorities take it up seriously, Baddi’s water will continue to be polluted causing hardship to its residents. Posted on 09 Aug, 2017 05:59 AM

When Satya Devi was a child, the open well near her house in the village of Malku Majra was the water source for the household. She reminisces, “The water was clean and soft. The well would never go dry.

The state pollution control board insists that none of the factories in the area allow any pollutants to be discharged into the environment. The state of the surface water bodies, however, belies this statement.
Renuka raises crucial questions
Nobody is clear about the need for a dam in Renuka valley. Despite this, the people of the valley are being displaced without adequate compensation.
Posted on 18 Jul, 2017 05:48 AM

When I meet Puran Chand, an activist in the forefront of the anti-Renuka dam struggle, he dictates from the two much-thumbed pages of his notebook the several objections he has against the government’s plan for the rehabilitation of people displaced by the Renuka dam.

The opening of the header tunnel for Renuka dam has already been constructed.
Why rivers don’t flow anymore
In a two-part series, we look at the health of rivers across India. Here’s a comprehensive assessment of the rivers of the north and the east. Posted on 07 Jun, 2017 11:13 AM

Rivers in India are always in the news whether it’s the interstate water sharing disputes, dams, sand mining or the recent order of the Uttarakhand high court declaring Ganga and Yamuna as living entities. Seven major river systems, over 400 rivers and numerous streams have sustained lives and livelihoods in India for centuries.

A villager washes utensils in the black water coming out of the coal mines at Kodkel in Raigarh district, Chattisgarh.
Waging the war within
Sexism is as glaring in development sector as it is in any other professional field. Feminist activist Nandini Rao says both causes cannot be mutually exclusive for the development to be holistic.
Posted on 06 Mar, 2017 03:57 PM

“That was a very scary place to be in,” says Nandini frowning at the memory of dealing with a rape allegation against a colleague. The allegation had severely fractured the community of activists that she worked with. “These were people who we knew really well, we were comrades on so many issues.

Nandini Rao
Election update: Rivers can wait in Uttarakhand
Though natural disasters and destruction of rivers are major concerns of the people of Uttarakhand, they fail to move the contesting parties.
Posted on 12 Feb, 2017 09:22 AM

The people of Uttarakhand, like other Himalayan states, follow many unique and traditional practices to live in sync with nature.

A woman with her grandchildren in her Munsyari home.
Election update: Small state, big promises
Assembly elections will be conducted in Goa on February 4. What do the contesting parties say about managing its waters?
Posted on 02 Feb, 2017 09:17 PM

Two hundred and fifty candidates are contesting 40 seats in the elections for Goa's legislative assembly scheduled for February 4, 2017.

The Mandovi that flows through the state.
They said it!
During a dismal year that spelt doom for the conservation of the country’s natural resources, some politicians made headlines with their bizarre ideas and statements. Here’s a roundup. Posted on 01 Feb, 2017 10:00 AM

The year 2016 was an abysmal year in terms of environmental policy and conservation in India.

Ken river that flows through Panna Tiger Reserve. (Source: K Gagan, Wikimedia Commons)
Curious case of disappearing fish
Fish species are rapidly disappearing from Himalayan rivers. Dams are not the reason. Human activity is.
Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 09:41 PM

Jaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted.

Mahseer swim in the bracing waters of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.
When riverbed becomes real estate
The banks of Yamuna have witnessed many forced evictions of illegal settlers over the years. The officials, however, turn a blind eye to encroachment by massive infrastructures. Posted on 02 Jan, 2017 08:17 PM

Shalu’s household was evicted from Koyla Basti of the Yamuna pushta (embankment), a massive slum cluster on the banks of the Yamuna river in the year 2004. Earthmoving machines bulldozed thousands of homes at the site which was to host the Commonwealth Games of 2010.

Forced evictions before the Commonwealth Games. (Source: Housing and Land Rights Network)
On a wing and a prayer
Renuka lake is a Ramsar site but also has a temple near it which makes it a battle site of conflicting interests. Is a solution possible?
Posted on 18 Dec, 2016 06:35 AM

Renuka can be forgiven if she were to feel a bit crazy at times. Like many other women, she could be finding it hard to balance her pious and wild sides.

Peaceful on the surface, Renuka lake is a battleground between conservation and religion.
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