Physiography

Riverside apartments are in great demand these days. This has led to a surge in the number of apartments built along rivers that flow through urban areas. These same 'premium' apartments are encroaching on the river's channel and are therefore most vulnerable to the floods that they help create by constricting the river. This harm extends beyond the apartments in question.

Flowing through Tibet, northern India and Pakistan, the Indus is the western-most major river of the Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra basin. This basin extends over most  of South Asia from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas, excluding Peninsular India, and carries the rain that falls in this region to the Indian Ocean.

For further information on the organisation, The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), please click here.

For more information on the organisers, ICIMOD, please click here.

Details of the conference may be viewed here.

For programme details, click here.

The venerable Imperial Gazetteer says, 'Viewed from a distance Lucknow presents a picture of unusual magnificence and architectural splendour, which fades on nearer view ...' (Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 16, p. 196).

If you visit Shimla during the summers, you will notice people being asked to use water judiciously. You will likely see tankers queue up around residential areas as the supply from the municipal corporation declines. Why would a hill station that is fed by mountain rivers and overlooked by glorious snow peaks face water scarcity?

Gharats are water-powered grinding mills found in Himalayan villages. Though these are owned and managed by individuals, they are considered to be the common property of the entire village.

I began my latest journey in the land of the red river and the blue hills, Assam from Dibrugarh. The first time I saw the Brahmaputra at Guwahati many years ago, I was fascinated on looking at the mighty stream of water in its full glory after the monsoons.