Manu Moudgil

Manu Moudgil
Water guards of Rajasthan
Taankas are trusted allies in the harsh weather of Rajasthan, but the focus is shifting now onto personal assets rather than community resources.
Posted on 20 Sep, 2015 07:29 PM

We were driving down the long desert road that runs parallel to the Indo-Pakistan border in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. There was little else to see except the surrounding sand dunes and desert grass.

A taanka in the Thar desert
Shimla school goes from students bathing every other day to swimming daily!
Bishop Cotton School in Shimla tides over water scarcity by harvesting rainwater, setting an example for other residential schools located in hilly regions.
Posted on 07 Sep, 2015 10:26 PM

Mathew Jacob, estate supervisor at Bishop Cotton School (BCS) in Shimla, remembers when he took his students walking in single file to the nearby stream to wash and bathe

Four storage tanks are linked to 1350 sqm of rooftop area at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla.
Rajasthan's micro saviours need macro plans
North Rajasthan is making good use of subsidies for micro irrigation and solar water pumps but can this sustain?
Posted on 28 Aug, 2015 09:49 PM

As we leave behind the smooth, straight drive of NH 89 and take a dirt path that whirls around a few miles of undulating desert grassland, we end at a large patch of emerald green which looks outlandish. “The reason for such a spectacle in these harsh conditions lies close to the ground,” says Ravinder Chhabra, my local guide in Bikaner.

Farmer Sunil Bishnoi has seen a five times rise in income from his farm thanks to drip irrigation.
People in Kinnaur are making all efforts to stop further destruction'
The Environics Trust collaborated with Himalaya Niti Abhiyan to assess the impact of hydropower projects in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. R Sreedhar of Environics Trust talks about this to IWP.
Posted on 24 Aug, 2015 01:01 PM

Around 21 major hydropower projects are proposed in the upper Satluj catchment area of Himachal Pradesh. In 2013, The Environics Trust collaborated with Himalaya Niti Abhiyan to assess the impact of these projects on the people and ecology of the geographically-fragile Kinnaur region.

At Pangi village, several houses have suffered damage due to a hydel project.
The nonexistent bridge in Punjab
At Punjab's Mand island, not many children go to school and pregnant women deliver at the river bank -- all because there is no bridge connecting it to the mainland.
Posted on 10 Aug, 2015 12:14 PM

Bakshish Singh once had 13 acres of farmland; now he only has one. He lost the rest in 2013 when the Beas river changed its course and started flowing near his house. Bakshish lives at Rampur Gaura village in Kapurthala district of Punjab, the state generally known for good roads, urbanised villages and wealthy farmers.

The only connection of the island with mainland is through a pontoon bridge which the Public Works Department removes as the water level rises during monsoon.
Maharashtra's plan to seed clouds may sprout nothing
Altering cropping patterns and improving water management processes are better ways for the state to deal with drought than experimenting with inconclusive science.
Posted on 15 Jul, 2015 10:19 PM

History tells of various methods by which people called upon the rains -- music, dance and religious rituals. The government of Maharashtra, however, plans to try out cloud seeding.

A Cessna 210 with cloud seeding equipment (Source: Wikipedia)
Who's to blame for Shimla's water shortage?
It isn't just the tourists or its hilly terrain but a 140-year-old leaking water distribution system set up by the British in 1875 which is leading to heavy losses and contamination.
Posted on 30 Jun, 2015 09:03 AM

Most tourists visiting Shimla won’t know that they are walking on a water tank when they wait to get their pictures taken or go horse riding on Ridge road but they will know that the city faces water shortage -- their hotel bathrooms have messages asking them to use water judiciously. 

The Ridge houses Shimla's first underground water tank
Surplus yet lacking: Water supply schemes in Punjab
The state is only focused on costly filtration solutions while little is being done to stop contamination at source, which is the cause of physical and mental disabilities especially in children.
Posted on 21 Jun, 2015 10:22 AM

A small river flows past the village of Teja Rohela in Fazilka district, Punjab, crosses the border a couple of kilometres away, and enters Pakistan.

Body of a puppy floating in one of Punjab's public water supply tanks
Micro approach to fight growing water crisis
Data shows that micro irrigation such as drip systems can reduce water losses and increase crop production -- if it overcomes some hurdles.
Posted on 18 Jun, 2015 10:45 AM

Karnataka is planning the world's biggest micro irrigation project by bringing 7 lakh hectares of land under drip and other systems, and along with

Sprinklers cover 2.86 percent of total irrigation land in India
Renovation insulates pond from its devotees
Rinmochan pond in the famous Kurukshetra area has become an impersonal spectator to human life rather than a benevolent host to devotees seeking salvation in its waters.
Posted on 20 May, 2015 07:08 PM

I was in Rasina, my ancestral village. It was a solemn occasion - the death of my eldest paternal uncle, and it was only the second death in our extended family after almost 18 years of my grandfather’s passing. A lot has changed in the village over time thanks to its premier location on the busy Karnal-Kaithal highway.

Children look for water snakes in the pond
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