Research Papers

India's water availability in the future is predicted to be bleak if proper steps are not undertaken to deal with the management of the available water resources in the country. The report titled 'Watershed development in India

Vidarbha region in Maharashtra has continued to be in the news over the years because of its severe agrarian crisis with reports of severe droughts, loss of crops and increasing farmer suicides. Relief packages have done very little to solve these problems.

A wetland is defined as land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, and maintains an ecosystem of its own.The factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the vegetation of aquatic plants which grow in its highly water saturated soil [1].

River basins in India have been found to be highly vulnerable to contamination. Recent evidence shows that a large number of water sources including rivers, lakes and surface water in India are polluted due to untreated sewage, agricultural runoff and most importantly, due to unregulated industries.

Climate change has been predicted to create increasing risks for the agricultural sector thus inversely affecting agricultural production and farm incomes in India. These risks have already manifested in the form of increasing intensity and extent of droughts, floods, temperature rise and fall, and other calamities in the country.

Hyderabad, which is India's fourth largest city, has a population of almost 7 million. The Musi river, originating from the Anantagiri hills, divides the city into north and south. The River flows through the city and joins the Krishna in Nalgonda.

Punjab has made great progress in grain production following the technological revolution in agriculture in the 1960s. The state achieved this through subsidised use of high yielding variety seeds, fertilisers and irrigation.

Madurai, Tamil Nadu's second largest city, is now filled with buildings and roads which are eating into its age old network of tanks and canals. This change did not happen overnight. It began in the late 19th century by the British when they merged several hamlets to establish their headquarters in the region.

Known as "Hari-ke-Pattan", this wetland is the largest in the Tarn Taran Sahib district of the Punjab in northern India and has the Harike Lake in its deeper part [1]. Its rich biodiversity plays an important role in maintaining the hydrological balance in the catchment area. It also supports a vast range of migratory birds including a number of globally threatened species [1].

The Loktak lake in Manipur is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India. It is famous for the phumdis, which are isolated collections of heterogenous masses of vegetation, soil, and organic matter at various stages of decomposition, floating over it [1]. It is referred to as the only floating lake in the world because of the phumdis [2].