Society, Culture, Religion and History

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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
Goa-Karnataka dispute over Kalasa-Banduri project resolved
Policy matters this week: Tribunal resolves Goa-Karnataka dispute over water project; TN protests Karnataka's water scheme in Cauvery basin; Resolve Delhi-Haryana water dispute: HC to Centre. Posted on 22 Apr, 2014 11:07 PM

Tribunal's order over Kalasa-Banduri Project brings respite to Goa and Karnataka

Mahadayi River in Goa (Source: Wikipedia)
Invitation to the monsoon school on 'Perspectives on Environment, Society and Well-Being', Kalpavriksh, Pune, Maharashtra
Kalpavriksh is organising a week long monsoon course on 'Perspectives on environment, society and well-being'.
Posted on 09 Apr, 2014 02:40 PM

Get more information on the event.

Know more about Kalpavriksh.

Download the announcement of the event from below.

Kalpavriksh
Water privatisation, a failed model?
JUSCO, India's largest water supply developer, has failed to provide water connections in many parts of India. Water must be treated as a non-commercial entity if there is to be equity in access. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 03:12 PM

Since water reforms were introduced in India in the 1990s, water privatisation has been propagated as a panacea to the sector's problems. 

JUSCO disconnected Nirmal Basti's water connection
Ancient engineering marvels of Tamil Nadu
Eris, a system of cascading tanks, were once completely managed by local communities. With centralisation came disuse and lack of maintenance but an organisation is working to revive them. Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 02:06 PM

South India has a rich tradition of tanks with the three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh contributing to close to 92% of the total irrigation by tanks in the 1970s. Two decades later, this number dwindled to close to 53%. A decade after that, in 2001, the total contribution of tank irrigation in all of India was estimated to be just around 5.18%.

Small tank near Thalambedu in Kanchipuram
Coexistence possible—farms and forests, man and nature
Khonoma village near Kohima upholds a sustainable form of jhum cultivation, which doesn't fell but only prunes trees. This video narrates how farms and forests can co-exist. Posted on 01 Apr, 2014 11:43 PM

Nagaland holds many secrets of evolution and sustainable living within its green frontiers. Khonoma village near Kohima is one such plae. It is known not only for being the last frontier the British could never conquer but also for its environmental conscious community and distinct farming practices. 

Alder trees are great nitrogen fixators
Think about water while watching these movies
Shimla celebrated World Water Day 2014 with students of Bishop Cotton and St. Thomas School who watched movies and participated in discussions on water conservation. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:29 PM

People learn and retain better through visual media. That's a fact. So what better way to bring attention to topics around the themes of water than by screening movies? That was the thought process behind organising an event on World Water Day with school students in Shimla. 

Participants at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla
Fluid rivers but concrete mindsets
Flooded rivers may be a problem in Bihar, but diverting them is not a solution; neither is building embankments. Example: Sitamarhi. Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:42 PM

The twin sisters:  Bihar is a land of fertile farms bearing sugarcane, wheat, rice, gram and pulses. Interspersed between the fields are venerable mango groves. Of Bihar's children, perhaps none is as universally loved as Sita. The village that she was born in -Sitamarhi- welcomed another daughter along with Sita.

The old course Lakhandei at Sitamarhi
Barter by the beel
The centuries old Jon beel mela in Assam has a unique ritual- a barter between the tribes of the nearby hills and plains. Will urbanisation let the historic festival thrive? Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:33 PM

This was my first time here. I had heard of this festival, perhaps the only existing one in India, where barter takes place at such a scale. Jon Beel mela in Jon Beel, Jagiroad Assam- a historic festival where people from the hills and plains come together for a unique exchange of goods and agricultural produce near a moon-shaped wetland.

Eatables laid out for exchange at Jon beel mela
Fatehabad - Another Fukushima?
Nuclear plants are usually located near oceans or rivers in order to have access to ample water for cooling but not the plant at Fatehabad. It is India's largest and could be its most dangerous too. Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:14 PM

National Highway 10 passes through Badophal, a village in Fatehabad district of Haryana. The highway is lined by a tiny market and a point where several jeeps start and terminate. These jeeps are headed to Gorakhpur village, some 15 kms away via Kajal Heri, another village en route.

Gorakhpur nuclear power plant site
The key to successfully managing groundwater in India
Dr.Himanshu Kulkarni who was Chairman Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management for the 12th Plan, suggests measures to mitigate the poor groundwater scenario in the country. Posted on 23 Mar, 2014 10:47 PM

Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni is the Executive Director of the Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), a non-profit organisation in Pune. It is a premier education and research institution, which facilitates work on groundwater management through action research programmes and training.

A study group observing groundwater in a well
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