The State sector scheme on artificial recharge to groundwater through dug-wells is under implementation over the first three years of the (current) XI Plan Period (2007-12), in 1180 over-exploited, critical and semi-critical blocks/ talukas/ mandals in seven states of the hard-rock peninsular region of India, namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The target beneficiary of the scheme are farmers who have privately owned wells, in their agricultural land.

The right to water and sanitation is necessary for the enjoyment of other human rights, including the right to life and human dignity, the right to health, the right to adequate food, the right to development and the right to a healthy environment.

This discussion paper from WaterAid India, examines the need and background of the right to water and sanitation (RTWS), in both the global context (using existing International Human Rights conventions) and in the Indian context (using the Indian Constitution).

The paper lays down specific details of what a RTWS would entail, in terms of exact provisions that citizens could be entitled to. It also details the difference between RTWS and water rights, examines the judicial interpretation of such a right, using analysis of past cases related to RTWS.

This is the fourth in a decadal series of reports published by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), previous ones published in 1978-79, 1989-90 and 2000, which provides basic information about the status of water supply and sewage generation and treatment of 498 Class-I cities and 410 Class-II towns, along with information on 53 coastal Class-I cities and 35 coastal Class-I towns, besides Ganga Basin as a separate subsection.

The Story of Bottled Water: How "Manufactured Demand" pushes what we don’t need and destroys what we need most

On March 22nd – World Water Day – The Story of Stuff Project released The Story of Bottled Water, a 7-minute animated film, that takes a provacative, humorous look at bottled water. Hosted by Annie Leonard, the creator of the internet hit The Story of Stuff, the film was co-produced with five leading sustainability advocacy organizations: Corporate Accountability International, Environmental Working Group, Food & Water Watch, Polaris Institute and Pacific Institute.

The Story of Bottled Water employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand, specifically how Americans are influenced to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week, when they can get it almost free from a tap.

'Towards REAL food ecurity for India!' puts together significant data and analysis to prove that a solution is required and is possible to alleviate/eliminate hunger in India with the largest number of hungry people in the world and for this we need to grow more food.

To do this, we need much more water than presently being tapped / harnessed / used and therfore, to implement schemes to impound water wasting into the Sea, is required sans futher delay.

Article and Image Courtesy: Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)

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The Advantages of Recycling Paper

Before throwing that piece of paper in the trash, consider how many trees you could save by starting a

The Silviculture of Indian Trees, is a seminal reference work in three volumes, that contains in-depth information (from a silvicultural point of view) about nearly all tree species of India, covering some 63 botanical orders. It is the outcome of twenty years of field-based research by Robert Scott Troup, a British forestry expert who spent much of his career in India, and is considered a classic landmark work on the subject.

The book starts with an introduction, followed by information organised by the botanical order, genera and finally, species. Each sub-section on a specific species, contains details such as the botanical name, vernacular names, distribution and habitat, silvicultural characters (climatic, temperature, soil conditions that help the tree grow), botanical descriptions as well as silhoutte drawings of the seed seedling leaf trunk root flower fruit bark and other plant parts, uses, flowering fruiting and leaf-shedding process as well as season, natural and artificial reproduction methods and rate of growth, germination process and role of animals birds insects wind and water, and botanically allied species.

Entry 56 of List I of Seventh Schedule provides that "Regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest".

Original document can be viewed here on the Ministry of Water Resources website