Society, Culture, Religion and History

Term Path Alias

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

Featured Articles
October 8, 2023
India's rivers: From conservation movements to legal personhood
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 Island: A tapestry of resilience and environmental harmony
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
Water management in the times of Gonds of Central India
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
The fast disappearing traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan
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
Not in the interest of women farmers!
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
Scientists intervene to save dry toilets
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
Where the mind is without fear
Phoolbasan Yadav’s journey towards empowering women in Chhattisgarh is an inspiring one.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 09 May, 2018 08:49 PM

Phoolbasan Yadav from the remote Sukaldaihan village in the Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh shot to fame for her untiring effort in empowering the women of her village. "Since my childhood, I had experienced extreme poverty and hunger, and I feel that similar is the plight of lakhs of women in the country.
Phoolbasan Yadav (right) receives Padmshree from President Pratibha Patil in 2012.
India Unshackled: A book discussion
The editor of a new book that lays out alternative futures for India discusses India, democracy and development with a noted journalist.
Chicu Lokgariwar
K J Joy
Pema Wangchuck
Posted on 30 Apr, 2018 03:43 PM

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a new book that dares to imagine what India could be.
Joy (L) and Pema (R) in discussion.
Anicuts affect Mahanadi's flow
While the three anicuts on the Mahanadi are hampering its free flow, another one is being planned by the government.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 26 Apr, 2018 01:02 PM

Gopal Nishad, a fisherman in his early 40s, is frustrated that there is hardly any fish left in the Mahanadi’s basin at Pitaibandh due to the lack of water in the basin. This basin is located near Rajim-Nawapara in Chhattisgarh, the proposed site for the fourth anicut on the Mahanadi.
Anicut on the Mahanadi basin at Rajim-Nawapara (Source: India Water Portal)
ACT one: Anti-dam, pro-people
Along with protesting against dams, the ACT leaders are leading by example and showing people of Sikkim more constructive ways to live.
KJ Joy
chicu
Posted on 23 Apr, 2018 02:22 PM

Tenzing Lepcha, the lead activist of Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), is proud of his work in the last year. “All this was overgrown,” he says pointing at the orderly farm.
Tenzing Lepcha sits at the hearth of his farmstay. (Pic courtesy: Chicu)
Sharing water, reaping benefits
This study finds that smallholder farmers who undertake group micro irrigation through pooling of land and water resources greatly benefit through increase in productivity and profit margins.
Arjuna Srinidhi
Posted on 14 Apr, 2018 05:06 PM

Agriculture is of central importance to India’s economy with more than half of the workforce in the country depending on it for their livelihoods. However, it is increasingly being threatened due to climate-change-induced changing rainfall patterns and water scarcity having a negative impact on production.
Sprinkler irrigation in Narayanganj block, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh (Image Source: WOTR)
Power play chokes Korba
The video tells the story of residents of Korba and nearby villages who are affected by the fly ash from power plants which makes Korba the fifth critically polluted area in the country.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 11 Apr, 2018 02:05 PM

Korba in Chhattisgarh is an industrial area which has a significant number of coal mines and thermal power plants. Fly ash is a byproduct of the thermal power plants and has become a significant problem for the residents of Korba now.
Fly-ash dust at CSEB thermal power plant in Korba.
Down in the dumps: Delhi’s waste pickers’ saga
A study by Action India provides insight into Delhi’s recycling nightmare and its unacknowledged waste pickers.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 10 Apr, 2018 04:05 PM

Eight-year-old Meera (name changed) got ill after eating filthy food remains from a dump at Mansarovar park in Delhi. Children like her work in filthy environments, rummaging through hazardous waste with bare hands and feet. They play in these dumping ground strewn with syringes, scrap iron, rotting waste, solid and liquid household waste.  
Waste pickers face harrowing occupational hazards and are exposed to toxins in the absence of protective gear. (Image: Ted Mathys, 2009)
New technique to monitor coastal landforms
Better surveillance systems will help to keep a check on the excessive exploitation of coastal resources.
Dr Aditi Jain
Posted on 05 Apr, 2018 01:43 PM

Indian scientists have developed a remote sensing technique that uses satellite data to delineate between various coastal landforms like beaches, mangroves and marshes. This method can help monitor and understand impacts of natural disasters as well as human activities on coastal ecosystem.
The new system will help monitor and understand impacts of natural disasters as well as human activities on coastal ecosystem. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Filthy fountains spread dengue fear
Water fountains installed in Kolkata for beautification and left abandoned are becoming a health hazard with mosquitoes breeding in the filthy water.
Gurvinder Singh
Posted on 03 Apr, 2018 03:23 PM

West Bengal’s tryst with dengue in 2017 could not have been more deadly. Around 13000 people were affected and nearly 100 people lost their lives to the disease.
A fountain at Central Park in Salt Lake. Visitors fear that the stagnant water is becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes. (Pic courtesy: Gurvinder Singh)
Mangar Bani: NCR's green patch calls for help
With the threat of urbanisation looming large, the sacred grove of Mangar Bani begs for attention.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 27 Mar, 2018 02:39 PM

According to the local legend, Mangar Bani, a green patch between Faridabad and Gurgaon, was home to a Baba (a holy man), Gudariya Das Maharaj around 500 years ago. Popular among the local Gujjar herdsmen, the dominant community of the area, the Baba asked them to treat this forest as a sacred grove, the forested abode of a local deity.
Mangar Bani, with its trees, plants, birds and animals, is an ecological hotspot but it is finding it hard to keep builders and land grabbers at bay. (Image: Pradip Krishen, Facebook)
Subscribe to Society, Culture, Religion and History
×