Climate and Weather

The following article is the latest update of an overview of Kosi floods by SSVK. It reveals the ineffective handling and inadequate supply of materials by the Government in the flood hit regions. It also points out the activities done by various organizations and SSVK itself.

EMPIRES OF THE INDUS : THE STORY OF A RIVER - by Alice Albinia

Pages: 366 ISBN-978-0-7195-6003-3 (978-0-7195-6004-0)

Format: hardback / trade paperback

Price: £20 / Rs. 550

Publisher: John Murray, U.K. Empires of the Indus is a comprehensive study of how the river Indus and its waterways have changed the history of the Indian sub-continent. Water is potent: it trickles through human dreams, permeates lives, dictates agriculture, religion and warfare. Ever since Homo sapiens first migrated out of Africa, the Indus has drawn thirsty conquerors to its banks. Some of the world's first cities were built here; India's earliest Sanskrit literature was written about the river; Islam's holy preachers wandered beside these waters. This perhaps captures the essence of this Guardian First Book 2008 awardee, Empires of the Indus , The Story of a River, by Alice Albinia.

The International Conference on Water Resources Policy in South Asia was held in Colombo from December 17-20 at the Taj Samudra. The conference inauguration took off with a grand opening in the presence of 150 guests including special invitees from Sri Lanka. 

Priya Ranjan, recently visited the flood hit areas in Bihar recently and found that things were really sad and pathetic. Mushhar communities were surviving on snails and grass-seeds.

India Water Portal has a meteorological data tool (https://www.indiawaterportal.org/data/metdata) that gives rainfall data (and 10 other meteorological parameters) for each district of India for 100 years from 1901 to 2002. Over the past couple of years, many many people have expressed that they found this data useful and requested us to enhance it. The data on our meteorological data tool is from a research dataset put out by the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in the University of East Anglia, UK. The reason we got the data from them, is that IMD, India Meteorological Department, which is the chief source of official meteorological data in India, sells this data. To get the kind of all India data above, would be prohibitively expensive. Further, they would not allow this data to be made publicly available, as they sell the same.

This year we certainly need much larger quantities due to extensive work going on in flood affected areas of Bihar & Orissa. We are thankful to a large number of organizations & individuals who whole-heartedly supported our campaign Rahat Floods.

The Preliminary Consolidated Report on the Effect of Climate Change on Water Resources, prepared by the Central Water Commission and the National Institute of Hydrology, under the guidance of the Ministry of Water Resources in 2008, is one of the first official reports made available by the Government of India, of a reliable quantitative assessment based on field data, of the likely effect of climate change on the availability of water resources, i.e. on the glaciers and snow melt, on rainfall and their effect on run off into the river system and their contribution to ground water. In the Report, an attempt has been made to give a brief account of the available studies on possible impacts of climate change on India's water resources, change in India's water needs, climate of India, river basins of the country, present water resources and future demand and supply, impacts of projected climate change and variability, and associated hydrological events and likely vulnerability of regional water resources to climate change. Identification of key risks, research needs and prioritisation of mitigation strategies has also been discussed. Access the report here: Preliminary Consolidated Report on the Effect of Climate Change on Water Resources

"Irrigation Infrastructure - A View from below" is a new research study by Chitra Krishnan funded by the "Knowledge in Civil Society" initiative.

Following is the summary of an interview of Anshu after he along with his team did their part in the rehabilitation processes. The summary narrates Anshu's experiences and evaluations on Bihar flood.

The document can be downloaded as a PDF here (Hindi): Kosi rehabilitation policy document

Kosi disaster: The rehabilitation & reconstruction policy