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Water for friends- for free!
At a time when Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), is much talked about, two villages in Nagaland show that helping one's neighbour doesn't always have to be for a cost. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 03:17 PM

“Water flows humbly to the lowest level. Nothing is weaker than water, yet for overcoming what is hard and strong, nothing surpasses it.”– Lao Tzu

Water reservoir at Mima village
Citizen-friendly services? Yes please!
Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has used newer technologies and integrated customer feedback into making its data public and its services renowned. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 03:16 PM

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipa

Working to make life better for citizens
Water privatisation, a failed model?
JUSCO, India's largest water supply developer, has failed to provide water connections in many parts of India. Water must be treated as a non-commercial entity if there is to be equity in access. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 03:12 PM

Since water reforms were introduced in India in the 1990s, water privatisation has been propagated as a panacea to the sector's problems. 

JUSCO disconnected Nirmal Basti's water connection
Ancient engineering marvels of Tamil Nadu
Eris, a system of cascading tanks, were once completely managed by local communities. With centralisation came disuse and lack of maintenance but an organisation is working to revive them. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 02:06 PM

South India has a rich tradition of tanks with the three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh contributing to close to 92% of the total irrigation by tanks in the 1970s. Two decades later, this number dwindled to close to 53%. A decade after that, in 2001, the total contribution of tank irrigation in all of India was estimated to be just around 5.18%.

Small tank near Thalambedu in Kanchipuram
Alternative farming method in Karnal
No-till agriculture, an alternative farming method, which helps prevent soil depletion as well as uses water efficiently, is being used successfully by farmers in Haryana. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 01:24 PM

Kalwaheri is a village of over thousand households comprising mostly of small farmers and landless people tucked away in Karnal, Haryana. The district, once the birth place of the Green Revolution, is now far from green.

 Seed-fertilizer drill in use at Kalwaheri village
Fishing for shrimp in Haryana’s farmlands
Saline waters left Rohtak's farmlands fallow. After some research by local organisations, the farmers who were into agriculture, could soon move into aquaculture! Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 01:08 PM

Mile after mile of saline lands line the Delhi-Rohtak-Bhiwani stretch of the highway. Here, the land wasn't always saline, it became that way thanks to canal irrigation. Farmers have used extensive surface water, which has led to an increase in groundwater levels. This leads to the twin problem of waterlogging and salinity.

Tiger shrimp production at Rohtak; Source: CIFE
South Sikkim adapts to climate change
Climate change is causing heavy, brief rain spells in many parts of the world. Rain-shadowed South Sikkim is bearing the brunt of it in Northeast India. The video shows how the people are adapting. Posted on 02 Apr, 2014 12:11 AM

Climate change poses a threat to all. Be it forests, water or agriculture- it affects everything. India's Northeast, particularly, has witnessed a great deal of this impact. Sikkim, the physical bridge between the Northeast and mainland India, is also bearing the brunt of climate change in a myriad ways with agriculture and water bearing the most pronounced repercussions.

Climate change affects agriculture
Coexistence possible—farms and forests, man and nature
Khonoma village near Kohima upholds a sustainable form of jhum cultivation, which doesn't fell but only prunes trees. This video narrates how farms and forests can co-exist. Posted on 01 Apr, 2014 11:43 PM

Nagaland holds many secrets of evolution and sustainable living within its green frontiers. Khonoma village near Kohima is one such plae. It is known not only for being the last frontier the British could never conquer but also for its environmental conscious community and distinct farming practices. 

Alder trees are great nitrogen fixators
These bacteria are good!
Bioaugmentaion is a method by which wastewater is cleaned using selected microbes, mainly bacteria. This process is both cost effective and efficient. Posted on 01 Apr, 2014 11:16 PM

71% of earth’s surface is covered with water found in rivers, lakes and oceans. Due to massive urbanization and industrialization, these resources are often polluted with garbage and industrial waste among other things. There are several ways of cleaning this wastewater. One such method is bioaugmentation.

Wastewater treatment by bioaugmentation
Water buckets of the Western Ghats
Exploitation of groundwater in Panchgani, Maharashtra, led to acute water shortage but the people of Akhegani decided to do something about it. Watch how they built spring boxes to revive springs. Posted on 01 Apr, 2014 04:51 PM

The Western Ghats, known for its biodiversity, is one of India's most sought after ecological hotspots. One of its stark features is the basalt rocks, often referred to as water buckets indicating the water retention capacity of the rock, found there.

Basalt rocks characterize the Deccan Plateau
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