Society, Culture, Religion and History

Term Path Alias

/topics/society-culture-religion-and-history

Featured Articles
October 8, 2023 While the current push for legal personhood for rivers is facing obstacles and is stalled, it holds potential as a viable long-term strategy for the preservation of India's rivers
River quality deteriorates as demand for hydropower to support economic growth continues to expand. (Image: Yogendra Singh Negi, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)
June 16, 2023 Majuli serves as a symbol of both the delicate balance between human activity and the environment and the tenacity of its residents
Addressing various aspects of women's lives to enhance their social, economic, and political status (Image: Rebuild India Fund)
January 13, 2022 The water structures constructed during the Gond period continue to survive the test of time and provide evidence of the water wisdom of our ancestors.
Kundeshwar lake, Kundam in Jabalpur (Image Source: K G Vyas)
January 2, 2021 Lack of community ownership and local governance are spelling doom for the once royal and resilient traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan.
Toorji Ka Jhalara, Jodhpur (Image Source: Rituja Mitra)
December 7, 2020 The new farm related bills will spell doom for women workers who form the bulk of small and marginal sections of Indian agriculture, warns Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
December 11, 2019 Dry toilets have long been hailed as a sustainable solution to the sanitation and waste management crisis facing India today, but have been overshadowed by more modern toilet designs.
A traditional dry toilet. Image: India Science Wire
Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand and Swami Ramdev offer support to Dr. G.D. Agrawal on his fast unto death
Generating support for Bhagirathi's natural flow Posted on 23 Jul, 2010 11:42 PM

Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand of Dwarkapeeth sent his personal emissary Swami Dharanand to convey his support to Dr. G.D. Agrawal whose third fast-unto-death to ensure the natural flow in river Bhagirathi (Ganga) from Gangotri to Uttarkashi entered its second day. Yesterday (July 21) Swami Ramdev spent an hour in the evening with Dr. Agrawal and offered his full support.

Relevance of Meltwater in River Basin Hydrology
Much talked about disappearing Himalayan glaciers, little is done and more is debated. In this ongoing discourse, we lose the rate of river flows. Seeking facts... Posted on 23 Jul, 2010 10:53 PM

peer paper in Science Magazine focuses on the core of a riverine system, the upstream basin, and its impact on the entire river basin.

Project Boond - V, a comprehensive mitigation initiative in the drought prone regions of Bharatpur
Water scarcity in Rajasthan as monsoons fail and Bilaspur- dam dries up Posted on 21 Jul, 2010 01:47 PM

With the failure of monsoons in Rajasthan and dry-up of the Bilaspur dam, the water situation assumes graver proportions in most parts of Rajasthan, besides Jaipur, Tonk and adjacent districts. These areas, now in the news for acute water shortage problems, have always depended upon monsoons for their traditional rainwater-harvesting systems and the riverine sources.

While the Government has taken remedial measures with construction of tube-wells across the rural and drought-prone areas, they have been sporadic and insufficient at their best.  Merely announcing relief measures and planning of schemes on paper as an immediate disaster management strategy are not solutions to mitigation of water problems in this State.

Prof G.D. Agrawal resumes fast unto death to save the Ganga, Swami Avimukteshwaranand and others to join in support
Resolves of the Emergency Meeting to decide Plan of Action against the illegal decision of the GoM to allow resumption of Loharinag - Pala Power Project Posted on 21 Jul, 2010 11:10 AM

Forwarded to the Portal by: Ayan Biswas
Image and News Courtesy: 

Shankracharya designate Swami Avimukteshwaranand ji presided over an emergency meeting organized by Manushi Sangathan, Ganga Ahvaan and Ganga Yamuna Jal Biradri to express our strong protest against the patently illegal decision of the Group of Ministers giving clearance to the Loharinag-Pala dam on the Ganga River. The following expert members of the NGRBA also participated in the meeting to express their strong protest having been kept in the dark about the appointment of the GoM which has passed a virtual death sentence on the most sacred river of India: Rashid Hyatt Siddiqui, Rajendra Singh, Rama Raota and Ravi Chopra.

A rapid geohydrological study of microwatersheds from Bolangir district, Orissa state - A report by ACWADAM
Planning water resource management in one of the hottest and most backward regions of India, Bolangir district in Orissa Posted on 16 Jul, 2010 03:50 PM

BolangirThis document by ACWADAM is a report of a rapid geohydrological assessment of some of the microwatersheds from parts of Bolangir district Orissa.

Bolangir district in Orissa forms a part of one of the hottest and backward regions of India with low land-productivity, and opportunities and technologies for agriculture in the district remain relatively unexplored.

Vagaries of rainfall and the underlying hard-rock geology further compound the problem and limit agricultural productivity to a great extent. Given such natural uncertainties, systematic implementation of a watershed management programme is the most viable avenue to overcome the problems of this region.

Bolangir district was thus selected as pilot area to conduct a pre-feasibility exercise for planning of water resources management. ACWADAM, Pune was invited, along with Samaj Pragati Sahayog, Bagli to conduct this pre-feasibility exercise.

Providing a plan to save civilization - Books from the Earth Policy Institute
Earth Policy Institute, is a non-profit environmental research organization dedicated to providing a vision of an eco-economy and a roadmap on how to get there. Posted on 11 Jul, 2010 05:24 AM

Vision of an eco-economy and a roadmap for Plan B - Publications of the Earth Policy InstituteEarth Policy Institute, is a non-profit environmental research organization dedicated to providing a vision of an eco-economy and a roadmap on how to get there. The Institute was founded in 2001 with the following goals: 

  • to provide a global plan (Plan B) for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path
  • to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and
  • to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.

The basic research of the Institute has been published in the form of seven books:

A study of saline freshwater interface phenomena in the Mahanadi delta region (Orissa)
Orissa's freshwater aquifer systems prone to saline water mixing and migration with time and development Posted on 10 Jul, 2010 10:40 PM

A study of saline freshwater interface phenomena in the Mahanadi delta region (Orissa)The subsurface aquifer systems in Mahanadi delta region in Orissa (India) is largely characterized by two groups of freshwater aquifer systems, both of which are prone to saline water mixing/migration with time and development:

  • The south western Mahanadi delta region is represented by unconfined to semi-confined freshwater aquifers underlained by brackish/saline aquifer systems with a diffusion boundary.
  • The north eastern parts of Mahanadi delta is represented by deep freshwater confined aquifers overlained by brackish/saline water aquifers with aquitard/ aquiclude boundary.
Groundwater management: The critical issue dealing with normative concerns of equity and sustainability in watershed development in India.
Right to water is closely linked to ownership of land in India and the person who owns the piece of land has have a full ownership right to use as well as exploit groundwater under his piece of land, as well as from neighbouring land. Due to this unfair rule, landless and resource poor are thrown out from various benefits of the groundwater which are generated through watershed development and water conservation projects. Posted on 02 Jul, 2010 04:31 PM

 

ABSTRACT

 

Recent technical literature relevant for the hydrologists of the country – A compilation by the National Institute of Hydrology
The report is a compilation of abstracts of hydrological literature from select national and international journals in the field of water resources and hydrology for the period 1991-95. Posted on 01 Jul, 2010 04:10 PM

The report is a compilation of abstracts of hydrological literature from select national and international Journals for the period 1991-95. Though a sizeable number of Journals are published in the field of hydrology and water resources, scientists involved in different studies and projects find it difficult to go through all of them.

Ek Phirangi Raja - Chutki Bhar Namak Paseri Bhar Anyay: The story of Frederick Wilson and the Great Indian Hedge
The article presents a brief about the two essays on the British rule in India, titled "Ek Phirangi Raja" and "Chutki Bhar Namak Paseri Bhar Anyay" Posted on 18 Jun, 2010 12:33 AM

Ek Phirangi RajaEk Phirangi Raja

In this essay, Romesh Bedi recounts the true story of Frederick E Wilson, a British army officer, who deserted the army after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1957, escaped to the Himalayas, and settled in Harsil, a remote village in Uttarakhand on the banks of the Bhagirathi.

Wilson makes a flourishing business from the export of skins, fur, musk from the region, and rips the local deodar forest, to cash in the growing demand for wooden sleepers during the expansion of the Indian railways by the British, which were sent down to the plains through the rivers. Wilson soon acquires a lease from the Raja of Tehri-Garhwal, for his timber business and keeps the Raja happy by giving him a share of the profits, and even begins to mint his own local currency, because of which locals start calling him Raja.

×