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Bengaluru lakes, in crisis!
Urban wetlands are increasingly under threat in cities such as Bengaluru! Community participation and better planning, management and monitoring of urban spaces is the need of the hour! Posted on 01 Feb, 2021 12:40 PM

What are wetlands

Wetland is a place where water covers the soil or is near the soil surface for varying periods of time during the year. Wetlands include a wide variety of habitats ranging from lakes, marshes, swamps, estuaries, tidal flats, river flood plains, mangroves and even rice fields.

Ulsoor lake, Bengaluru (Image Source: Subhashish Panigrahi via Wikimedia Commons)
Economic survey 2020-21: Some highlights
The economic survey recommends integration of agriculture with nutritional outcomes Posted on 30 Jan, 2021 11:20 AM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2020-21 in the Parliament on January 29, 2020 - the first day of the Budget session. The survey has analysed various topics from economic growth, fiscal stance, state of banking and more.

The Economic Survey 2021 pushes for urgent reforms in production and post production in agriculture (Image: PixaHive)
Budget 2021: Will agriculture sector get a boost?
Solutions are needed that will increase productivity while maintaining sustainability Posted on 28 Jan, 2021 10:15 AM

The agriculture sector is confronted with high price volatility, low returns, low productivity and weather risks.

The government could consider a shift from the price support system to an income support system. PM-KISAN is a step in that direction, but the assistance under that is lacking. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Budget 2021: Cash transfer and urban employment guarantee can help blunt the economic blow
Expand Rs 500 per month cash transfer to poor non-farmer and urban households: Prof Santosh Mehrotra Posted on 26 Jan, 2021 11:03 AM

To revive India’s growth story and to cash in on our rapidly closing demographic dividend window, Prof Santosh Mehrotra, a human development economist suggests four essential proposals that must be included in the Budget 2021. This includes an increased expenditure in infrastructure, health sector and an urban employment guarantee programme.

There should be an increased expenditure in infrastructure to create jobs in the construction sector. (Image: PxHere)
Breathing life into the dying rivers of Pune!
Jeevitnadi continues with its mission to breathe life into Pune’s rivers and has been awarded the prestigious Bhagirath Prayas Samman 2020 this year! Posted on 25 Jan, 2021 10:45 PM

In this year’s India Rivers Week (IRW), Jeevitnadi, an organisation working on rivers in Pune city received the prestigious Bhagirath Prayaas Samman for its exemplary work on spreading awareness and undertaking steps to change the situation of rivers in the city!

Mutha, the lifeline of Pune city (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Ganga's cure lies in people's will for a change
Healing the Ganga can start in your kitchen, says Bidisha Banerjee, whose new book explores the faith and the science that define the river, and what it will take to save it. Posted on 25 Jan, 2021 12:51 PM

It was Bhagirath who chose to leave his kingdom and commit to austere tapasya, for a thousand years, in order to bring Ganga down from the heavens.

Ganga river at Bithoor (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Budget 2021: Policy measures in the nutrition sector
Nutrition interventions need to be strengthened to protect people already at the margin of subsistence. Posted on 25 Jan, 2021 11:34 AM

India's food security policy framework includes many proven nutrition interventions. In 2015, India committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero hunger.

Children eating their mid-day meal at a worksite school in Andhra Pradesh (Image: ILO Asia Pacific, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Natural resource management through a gender lens
Need to recognise women, the cogs in the feminisation of Indian agriculture Posted on 21 Jan, 2021 05:16 PM

Building upon decades of international diplomatic relations and scientific research, the United Nations adopted the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ in 2015.

In incorporating female participation, some programmes only added (futile) burden on these women without challenging the current division of labour. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Cereals drain India dry
A study on virtual water flows in interstate trade of cereals in India shows that cereals are rapidly draining the states that have the most critical levels of groundwater. Posted on 20 Jan, 2021 11:14 AM

Agricultural stagnation and inefficient irrigation systems

Agriculture continues to be an important sector for the Indian economy and for food security with more than half of the workforce being employed in agricultural activities. Greater use of improved crop varieties, irrigation and fertilisers have contributed to major improvements in crop yields in India.

Cereals and millets at a bazaar in Nizampet, Hyderabad (Image Source: Aditya Madhav, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Ecosystem-based approach: The case of Meghalaya
Multilateral action needed for a green post-COVID-19 recovery. Posted on 18 Jan, 2021 01:55 PM

Communities have been adapting to climate variability for centuries

A living root bridge, a type of simple suspension bridge formed of living plant roots by tree shaping in village Nongriat, Meghalaya (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
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