Uttar Pradesh

“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”

What kind of a walk must have Ralph Waldo Emerson had, to pen down these lines?

This report on Planning Commission site by Research and Development Initiatives presents the findings of a study that aimed at evaluating/examining the government run rural development programmes for community development implemented in the country by:

• Documenting best practices in rural planning and implementation.
• Suggesting ways and developing systems for replication of these good practices at a larger level

Read the main article: " Battle for work" by Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera.

This hindi document from the rainwater harvesting site of the Centre for Science and Envir

The document informs that traditionally Indians worshipped both water and rain as “Jala” and “Varuna”. Even rivers were worshipped. Till 3000 B.C., RWH happened without human effort as rain got collected in rivers and natural depressions. Civilizations flourished on river banks all over the world Indus valley civilization in India.

The School of Environmental Studies - Jadavpur University (SOES-JU), has done path-breaking research in reporting and documenting the issue of Arsenic contamination in the country.

This map shows the regions in the country that are regularly affected by floods.

The major flood prone regions are Punjab, Haryana, most of the Gangetic plains including Uttar Pradesh, North Bihar and West Bengal, the Brahmaputra valley, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, and South Gujarat.

The website of Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department can be viewed below. It contains policy documents, list of inter-state disputes over river water whose basin Uttar Pradesh is a part of, project details, flood works etc.

Click here

"Gasping for Breath" is a study by Janhit Foundation on water pollution in the Hindon river of Western Uttar Pradesh. This substantial scientific report details the gross contamination of the Hindon River with heavy metals and pesticides, and the subsequent contamination of the underlying groundwater water aquifer that his has caused. Consumption of this contaminated groundwater as a drinking water source is shown to be having a devastating effect on the health of the local population. 

Some of the main findings of the status report on water resources in Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts by Development Alternatives are –