People and Organisations

"The life of the people living in slums in any part of the country is a curse", says Rohit Jagat, a 30 year old resident of Shakti Nagar slum in Raipur. 

Summer temperatures and water-borne diseases such as hepatitis, typhoid, cholera and gastroenteritis go hand in hand. So besides maintaining good hygiene, it is also important to monitor and maintain the quality of drinking water to prevent these diseases.

Drinking water sources

Born out of the sea, the Ganga basin is a playground of the rivers coming down from the Himalayas. Floods are not a new thing in Bihar, a state in the lap of these flood plains. For centuries, the people here have lived with these waters, with the floods washing away their lands once a year, slowly, leaving behind a blanket of rich and fertile silt.

Tawa reservoir in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, irrigates several thousand hectares of land. It is here that Sunil Gupta, popularly known as Sunil Bhai, rose to prominence in 1995 when he led the struggle of the tribals displaced by the reservoir.

Many great civilisations have thrived near rivers with people moving in search of water across swathes of lands. The same holds true for present day Punjab, especially its farmers.

Young Eco-Club members of Gargi Girls School, Meerut celebrated Earth Day on April 22, 2014 with two-days of festivities.

Businesses increasingly face water risks in the context of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), India will face changes in rainfall patterns, increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events along with droughts and flood.

More power, but no water security to MP and Gujarat, observes SANDRP

'Rabba Rabba Meeh Barsa, Saadi Kothi Daane Paa' (Make it rain God, so our homes remain filled with grains)”, is a popular song taught to children in Punjab. Not all of Punjab. In Southwest Punjab, farmers are praying for the monsoon to fail! 

Water had a big role to play last year due to weather-related events- first, the floods in Uttarakhand followed by three consecutive cyclones in South India and hailstorms in Maharashtra.