Governance

In the first hour of our field work in Malkaram--another village in peri-urban Hyderabad--for the project Ensuring Water Security in Metropolitan Hyderabad, one thing became very evident.

Rampura, situated in Bulandshahr district in western Uttar Pradesh, is one of the 1,200 villages on the banks of the 300-km long East Kali, a tributary of the Ganges. The river is named after goddess Kali who, according to the Hindu mythology, is fierce and fights evil by ingesting it.

The year 2009 was an exceptionally dry year for Maharashtra. There was an acute shortage of water. The farmlands went dry. The farmers, unable to pay their debts, were a worried lot. Lakshman Ambilkar of Kinni village in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra was one such farmer who could not take it anymore. He killed himself, leaving a young, distraught wife to fend for herself.

Pune has a story similar to many other cities in India that grew exponentially without much warning. The unplanned development hit the water resources badly, increasing the city’s dependence on groundwater. Now, the city experiences water scarcity every year, even when the monsoons have been plentiful.

The use of wastewater for irrigation in agricultural lands is a common practice across the globe. But a study by Indian researchers has found that it can also affect the quality of soil and groundwater, and consequently, human health. 

When torrential downpour submerged thousands of villages and claimed about 300 lives in Jammu & Kashmir in September 2014, loss of wetlands was cited as one of the reasons that aggravated the impact of the natural disaster.

A tiger takes a stroll outside the reserve area, breeds on forest patches and looks out for waterholes, all under the curious eyes of visitors. This footage is from Tadoba, a popular tiger habitat in Chandrapur, Maharashtra that draws a lot of domestic and foreign tourists these days. The number of tigers in Tadoba is increasing.

Rs 5000 fine on those dumping waste on Yamuna floodplains

Audit reveals poor quality of water in UP rivers

Every study village of the project, Ensuring Water Security in Metropolitan Hyderabad, has a different situation and a different story to say about the informal water market. However, the most pertinent question remains partially answered: Are informal water tankers good or bad?