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Image and Content Courtesy: Lead The Action.

The objective of the India Innovation Initiative project is to create an innovation eco-system in the country by sensitizing, encouraging and promoting innovators and facilitating commercialization of the innovations. DST and CII jointly launched the Young Inventors initiative "Steer the Big Idea" in the year 2004. It was aimed at capturing the innovative ideas from young innovators for the benefit of Industry & society. In 2005, CII & DST joined hands with Industry to form IRIS - Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science. IRIS has been focused so far on school students i.e. innovators below the age group of 18 years. Agilent has been organizing the Agilent Engineering and Technology Awards through which it has been encouraging engineering students towards hands-on engineering in India and recognizing innovation. CII & DST have now joined hands with Agilent in a combined effort to launch a nation-wide innovation competition for all innovators above the age group of 18+: "India Innovation Initiative - i3". i3 aims to capture the innovative ideas from the Indian innovators in the age group of 18 years and above, including students, innovators from R&D Institutes & Labs, Industry professionals and individual innovators / Entrepreneurs, grassroots innovators etc. The topic for the 2009 event is "Technology Innovation for Masses and Global Impacts".

  Nitrate/Nitrite contamination is a potentially serious problem for India today, after flouride and arsenic. This contamination occurs largely through the mixing of fertiliser run-off and sewage with water meant for human use. New research reveals that Nitrate/Nitrite contamination can cause severe human health problems including cancer. Below are two research papers from the Environment Health Perspectives (EHP) Journal, written in the context of the United States, that give an idea of Nitrate/Nitrite contamination and their impact on human health. Workgroup Report in the November 2005 issue: "Drinking Water Nitrate and Health - Recent Findings and Research Needs". Read the paper here: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/tt/dwm/res/Drinking_Water_Nitrate_and_Health_Nov%202005_EHP.pdf "A Review of Nitrates in Drinking Water: Maternal Exposure and Adverse Contents Reproductive and Developmental Outcomes", appeared in the March 2006 issue. Read the paper here: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/tt/dwm/res/A_Review_of_Nitrates_in_Drinking_Water_Mar_2006_EHP.pdf

Images and Content Courtesy: Changemakers.net

Ashoka is a global non-profit network and support system for social entrepreneurs—people who devise innovative solutions to the social problems that plague society. To further this goal, two theme-based competitions, have been announced! The first is to encourage innovations across the entire agriculture chain. The other competition seeks to identify success stories in the field of geotourism.

"Cultivating Innovation: Solutions for Rural Communities" Entry Deadline: May 13, 2009.

Prizes: a) Three top winners get $5,000 each; b) Early Bird Prize: If you enter by April 13, 2009, you could win a cell phone and digital camera (equal value of USD $1000); c) Nominator Prize: If you nominate people/organizations who could enter the competition, you stand to win a special prize!

"The Geotourism Challenge: Power of Place." Entry Deadline: May 20, 2009. Prizes: Three top winners get $5,000 each.

Water flows without regard to political and administrative boundaries. Water planning with respect to rivers should therefore be done for the river basin (or sub-basin) as a whole. River basin planning also has to look in an integrated way at all the relevant parameters like urban and rural populations, water usage patterns, water pollution, wastewater flows.

Guest Post by: Amitangshu Acharya The Umiam Lake Conservation - Stakeholder Dialogue and Future Strategies was held on 9th and 10th March 2009 in Shillong. The presentations and some videos from the conference can be viewed here -https://www.indiawaterportal.org/data/conf/ULC.html To give help learn more about the Lake Umiam in Shillong, here is a backgrounder about Lake Umiam and its importance to Shillong. You can join the discussion forum about Umiam Lake here https://www.indiawaterportal.org/Network/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3044 Umiam Lake ( also known as Barapaani) originated as an artificial reservoir for the Umiam Umtru Hydro Electric Power project, the first of its kind in the North East. For a long time, this project had supplied the bulk of its power needs to the State of Meghalaya. The state's love affair with this lake spans 43 years. With approximately 12,000 mm of rainfall each year and a catchment area of 221.5 sq km (almost double the size of Chandigarh) Umiam rarely saw any dry days. Until now, that is. For two years now, Shillong has confronted one of the worst power crises ever. The reason is not hard to imagine: Umiam doesn't have enough water. Officially, inadequate rainfall has been cited as the sole reason, and a correlation does exist between decreasing water levels (about 39 feet over 3 years) in the lake and lesser rainfall since 2005. And once the water level falls below 3150 feet, there can be no power generation. However, the question is, whether the role of rainfall is being overplayed while the other issues remains unaddressed.

Image and Content Courtesy: Development Alternatives As part of the Capacity Building Series (2008- 09) Development Alternatives is organising a Training On Participatory Planning and Decision Making using - Geographical Information System (GIS) from 21- 23 April 2009 at the Indian Council of Social Science Research, JNU Institutional Area, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi. Introduction Sustainable development is largely a replication of how people interact with the available natural resource base. Very often, Environmental degradation is due to over population and poor socio-economic conditions. The need for proper monitoring and management has arisen to fulfill the targets of achieving sustainable development.

"Going home with more than theerth", is a case study written by Shree Padre in April 2007, on the how the problem of drinking water availability in summer, was solved by the Veera Narayana Temple at Gadag town, through rain water harvesting.

"Plenty on the roof", is a case study written by Shree Padre in August 2005, of how a district panchayat office in Kerala, used rainwater harvesting not just to overcome shortages in piped supply, but to tap the overhead source, so that no other source was needed.