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Curious case of disappearing fish

Fish species are rapidly disappearing from Himalayan rivers. Dams are not the reason. Human activity is.

Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 09:41 PM

Jaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted.

Mahseer swim in the bracing waters of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.

A water worried year in a nutshell

From river disputes to the failure of the Ganga clean-up plan and the interlinking of rivers, water conflicts dominated most of 2016.

Swati Bansal

Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 08:13 AM

The year 2016 was eventful, to say the least when it comes to the water scenario in the country. The year saw severe droughts affecting 33 crore people across 10 states.

The Cauvery river at Hogenakkal, Karnataka

Changing coast affects livelihood

While sundry development and infrastructure projects beautify the Chennai coastline, fishermen are left to fend for themselves.

Seetha Gopalakrishnan

Posted on 07 Jan, 2017 07:05 AM

Going by the statistics from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tamil Nadu’s coastline is densely populated with 573 fishing villages along 13 coastal districts. The story is slightly different around the urban and peri-urban coastline, thanks to the ongoing gentrification of the coastline in most parts of urban India.

The sea mouths crisis

The opening of sea mouths in the Chilika is increasing the salinity of the lake, affecting the fish population and the livelihood of the fishing communities.

Makarand Purohit

Posted on 06 Jan, 2017 11:21 PM

Lingaraj Jena is a worried man. At 86, he is one of the older fishermen in Berhampura village, an island on the Chilika lake in Odisha. Though he no longer goes for fishing due to old age, he is worried about the opening of new sea mouths; he knows it is not good news for the fishing communities he is a part of that depend on the Chilika for their livelihood.

Ecologists challenge Bharti's remark on Ken-Betwa

Policy matters this week

Swati Bansal

Posted on 05 Jan, 2017 11:20 AM

No final approval for Ken-Betwa river link as claimed by Centre

The Ken-Betwa river link shown on a map. (Source: Shannon via Wikipedia)

Worst drought in 115 years hits Kerala

News this week

Swati Bansal

Posted on 02 Jan, 2017 10:33 PM

Kerala hit by worst drought in 115 years

Parched land during drought in India. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)

When riverbed becomes real estate

The banks of Yamuna have witnessed many forced evictions of illegal settlers over the years. The officials, however, turn a blind eye to encroachment by massive infrastructures.

Amita Bhaduri

Chicu Lokgariwar

Posted on 02 Jan, 2017 08:17 PM

Shalu’s household was evicted from Koyla Basti of the Yamuna pushta (embankment), a massive slum cluster on the banks of the Yamuna river in the year 2004. Earthmoving machines bulldozed thousands of homes at the site which was to host the Commonwealth Games of 2010.

Forced evictions before the Commonwealth Games. (Source: Housing and Land Rights Network)

Rivers: Not just clean them, revive them

The increasing pollution and the decrease in river water flow have made revival of rivers a non-negotiable need today. The solution is in cleaning the rivers--not in parts but as a whole.

K G Vyas

Posted on 29 Dec, 2016 02:05 PM

A river is a natural stream of fresh water fed by rain or melting snow during the monsoon. On its onward journey, many tributaries join in and the river and its tributaries form the drainage basin. The river collects the available runoff and groundwater discharge and flows into an ocean or a landlocked water body at the end of its journey.