Political

This 8 page document states the approach made by the visiting team towards the disaster and the experiences of the workers on the ground. The report is detailed with covering the minutae of the relief work organized and implemented. It also takes a look at the final impact of the work on the beneficiaries.

The Kosi floods in Bihar stunned the world this year. But the real tragedy is that the disaster had been predicted. It was simply waiting to happen. The Kosi embankments were completed in 1963 with a designed life span of 35 years.

The setting is unique. 34 Nepali villages within the embankments want the breach to remain opened. I talked to some of them and reminded them of the slogan that was in air at the time of construction of the embankments, "Aadhi Roti Khayengein, Kosi Baandh Banayengei".

The widening parameters of the debate are prompted by social movements for water-justice on the one hand and the intractable nature of problems entailed in water justice on the other.

  Since its foundation in 1968, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) has facilitated the sharing, promotion and use of knowledge so that governments, professionals and organisations can better supp

Water MOVES is a quarterly published by Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development under a Sir Dorabji Tata Trust supported Water Governance Project. The prime focus of the newsletter is on water governance.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Anuradha The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will publish the first-ever world map of underground aquifers, which account for some 96 per cent of global freshwater resources, the agency announced in a press release today. Despite their strategic importance, no global inventory of aquifers , most of which straddle international boundaries , had been compiled before UNESCO started work on its online map, which will be launched to coincide with the submission to the General Assembly of a draft Convention on Transboundary Aquifers next week. The UNESCO is presenting a detailed map identifying underground water resources that are shared by at least two countries, using data compiled since 2000 by UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme for a groundwater database. The map will include information about the quality of water and rate of replenishment of the 273 transboundary aquifers , 68 in the American continent, 38 in Africa, 65 in Eastern Europe, 90 in Western Europe and 12 in Asia.

Water and Sanitation Perspective series from Water Aid India, disseminates issues and experiences in India's water and sanitation sector. It is an outcome of WaterAid India's programme and policy work. It analyses the root causes for such a scarcity of water during the five year drought in Bundelkhand.

In the current edition of the Down To Earth, the editorial by Sunita Narain highlights a particularly thorny problem being faced by India at present. The issue of waste water processing & what happens to the processed waste water is currently one that raises petitions & calls for judiciary oversight!