Political

Guest Post by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

You may recall that following an appeal by SANDRP before the Central Information Commission, CIC had in January 2009 asked India Met Dept to review their policy and put up district wise monthly rainfall data for at least five years on its website. The relevant order of CIC can be seen here: CIC to IMD Review Info Policy and relevant Press Release from SANDRP can be seen at: CIC Directs IMD to Review Information Policy Now, IMD has put up the requested data on its website, see: http://imd.gov.in/section/hydro/distrainfall/districtrain.html IMD tells us that they are still in the process of collecting, collating the data and data of more districts would be uploaded as they are ready. We have also suggested to IMD to also provide annual figures (total of the monthly data) so that people get quick picture about the same. We also notice that links for some of the districts (e.g. Nalgonda in AP) are not working. Let us know if you have other feedback. We would like to thank all those who have also submitted their comments on the India Water Portal, supporting our position, the comments were submitted to IMD and CIC.

This handbook published by Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA) is an outcome of a project titled “Low Maintenance Wastewater Treatment Systems - LOMWATS; Development of  Technologies and Dissemination Strategies.” The project had been financed by the Commission of the European Union, with substantial contribution by the State Office for Development Co-operation of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen from October 1994 until April 1998.

This book aims at a target group, which is typical for decentralised technology implementation and consists of  people who are aware of the general problem and know something about possible solutions. However, their knowledge is too general on one hand, or too specialised on the other to master very typical problems which go together with decentralisation.

"Right to Water and Sanitation", is a briefing paper (draft) written in March 2009, by Indira Khurana and Richard Mahapatra of WaterAid India, based on secondary research.

Image and Content Courtesy:ESG India This workshop for teachers organized at the ESG Office, from 9th, to11th July 2009will provide the opportunity to find new skills and share what has worked and what needs to change. This is a workshop for enthusiastic teachers, and coordinators and facilitators of education programmes with a passion for educating and motivating kids. It aims to help young professionals develop their skills and knowledge so they can inspire children and others more effectively.

The purpose of the workshop is to demonstrate to the teachers and educators how the outdoors can be utilized to introduce, strengthen, and emphasize concepts of the environmental education curriculum. Through classroom sessions, games and field studies, we will explore the curriculum, teaching techniques, and classroom activities that can help kids learn about the wonders of nature and their environment. During the workshop we will help identify some simple methods and techniques for teaching environmental education in the outdoors and the workshop will also familiarize the participants with some of the environmental issues of Bengaluru.

Guest Post by: Ranjan Panda

Sambalpur 27.5.2009

What 'Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO)' had found out three years ago have been substantiated now by a World Bank report, titled 'Climate Change Impacts in Drought and Flood Affected Areas: Case Studies in India'. The World Bank report , which took Orissa as a case study of flooding in a climate change scenarios - has referred to projections that 'temperatures, precipitation, and flooding are likely to increase, with adverse impacts on crop yields and farm incomes. Among the more substantial effects is a spatial shift in the pattern of rainfall towards the already flood-prone coastal areas'. Three years ago the WIO had found out significant increase in average annual rainfall in coastal districts like Baleswar and Puri. Now the World Bank report has projected 23 per cent increase in annual mean rainfall in that region.

Image & Content Courtesy: ALC India ALC India has announced a 4-day National Level Training Program on "Risk Management For Promotion of Sustainable Livelihoods"from 07th - 10th July 2009 at Patna (Bihar).This program targets the middle & senior level functionaries of NGOs, CBOs and development professionals. The medium of instruction during the program is English.

The overall objective of training is to address the rural and urban poor risks at household and individual levels. The focus is to address the vulnerability caused by the agriculture losses, improper decision making process at household and community level, market instability, losses due to natural disaster, illness and wage loss. The overall objective is to sensitize the participants about the risk management practices for existing /emerging livelihoods of poor.

The expected outcomes of the training are: 1. To develop clear understanding of livelihood risk & vulnerability in development context. 2. To enhance skills in designing program strategies to better cope with risks of poor. 3. To help develop capacities related to business planning and enterprise risk management for promoting livelihoods of poor.

The purpose of the consultation was also to identify areas of collaboration in advocacy, capacity building and working with people at the grassroot levels and simultaneously influence policy-making at the local, regional and international levels. The objectives of the workshop were -

A portable bicycle pump reduces the drudgery of transporting water to these homes. They also plan to implement grey and black water treatment systems with the assistance of industries in the vicinity that can use that water, or use the sewage waste to generate biogas.

These documents deal with proceedings of the discussion initiated by Gomukh Trust, Pune with support from Arghyam, Bangalore on “Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act” to examine it in the context of Integrated River Basin  Management and community participation.  The objectives of the conference were –

The national seminar on “Changing geohydrological scenario in the hard rock terrain in India”, was jointly organised by the Geological Society of India, Department of Mines and Geology, Central Ground Water Board, Karnataka Jal Biradari and Karnataka Institute of Cooperative Management.