Political

Groundwater is a natural replenishable resource. It is an important source for various purposes, including drinking, irrigation and industrial, due to insufficient surface water supply and frequent failure of monsoon. Identification of groundwater zones depends upon many factors such as distribution of rainfall, runoff, grain size of soil, topographic features, type of landform, drainage conditions, lithological characteristics, land use practices, depth to groundwater level and environmental constraints, which are not uniform in any area. 

Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Good option: The city needs multiple sourcing of water and open wells have the potential to provide up to a third of the requirement

Just how a city can be arbitrary with its policy on water management and therefore leading to sub-optimal conditions is made clear by a recent example one came across. Balasubramanian had an old open well dug to a depth of 30 ft. when he first built his house in the early 80s. The well had yielded water for quite some years but then subsequently had gone dry.

Organizers:

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
• ACCESS Development Service

Venue: Kolkata

NABARD has undertaken many initiatives for promoting sustainable agriculture. The Regional Offices, CBOs, PIAs have also innovated locally depending on the local requirements. However, this vast knowledge base is not always tapped for sharing and dissemination in a systematic way. Outside NABARD also there are many successful experiments, models on sustainable agriculture practices. One of the mandates of NRMC is to identify such models and facilitate their replication.

Organizer: Anil Agarwal Green college, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Venue: Centre for Science and Environment, 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi

The Bagmati Embankment separating riverside on the left and countryside of the right near Ibrahimpur – Electric poles suggest the height of the embankment

One often hears about the civilizations buried under earth and attributes various reasons for such disappearance of life from a particular place. Excavations reveal the way of life the people might have had before they chose to leave their villages and towns and allowed the nature to take its own course. These accounts are available in books and we all believe the process told to us by historians and archaeologists. These are all conjectures that are revealed by scientific investigations but how many of us have seen, not read, how the civilizations get buried under the debris created by nature? There are places in Bihar where one can see the process of disappearance of civilization and the villages getting buried under the sediments brought by rivers.

The Times of India Social Impact Awards in partnership with J.P.Morgan is a platform wherein applications and nominations for Awards can be made by NGO’s, corporates and government organizations under five categories (Health, Education, Environment, Livelihood, and Empowerment & Advocacy).

Pravah is an organization based in New Delhi that works with young people to impact issues of social justice through youth citizenship action.

SMILE internship gives you an opportunity to explore your self as you experience life in a community, learn about the joys and struggles of the people, discover the treads that bind you and them, and understand your society better.

The Times of India Social Impact Awards in partnership with J.P.Morgan is a platform wherein applications and nominations for Awards can be made by NGO’s, corporates and government organizations under five categories (Health, Education, Environment, Livelihood, and Empowerment & Advocacy).

This report by the Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) is based on the analysis of Multi-District Assessment of Water Safety (M-DAWS) carried out in 8 districts of Gujarat (Vadodara,Valsad, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Kachchh, Surat, Ahmedabad and Dangs) , where ensuring adequate and safe drinking water to the people has been looked upon as a huge challenge needing urgent action during years 2007 and 2008 .

The Multi-District Assessment of Water Safety (M-DAWS) programme was undertaken by Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) with financial and technical support from UNICEF.

The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) is a network of young people in 18 states who are concerned about climate change & environment issues. The purpose of IYCN is to bring the voice of Indian youth on the global platform as South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions affected by potentially catastrophic climate change & environment issues.