Surface Water

Organizers: National Institute of Ecology (NIE)

Venue: Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh)

The National Institute Ecology has currently more than 600 members drawn from every State and Union Territory of India as well as several other countries. The membership includes Fellows who are elected by the NIE every year in recognition of their significant contributions to their chosen field of ecology/environmental science.

WISA, Wetlands International is the only global NGO dedicated to the conservation and wise use of wetlands. The South Asia branch of the global organisation Wetlands International, dealing with various projects in this area. Work globally, regionally and nationally to achieve the conservation and wise use of wetlands, in order to benefit biodiversity and human well-being. Wetlands International operates worldwide through 12 regional offices and seven project offices, all supported by our headquarters in the Netherlands.

A look at the news in the month of September 2011, indicates that the month has experienced a range of events such as heavy floods in different parts of the country with Orissa being the worst affected state, a major earthquake in the North East with Sikkim being the most affected, reports of flash floods and landslides in various parts of the country as well as  reports of heavy rainfall in different parts of the country with indications that the rainfall may further subside in the coming week.

Photo Exhibit: Delhi's might, Renuka's plight - 26th Sept-2nd Oct


Venue: Art & Aesthetics Gallery, JNU Campus, New Delhi

The School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU is one of the few places in India that offers post-graduate degree courses in the theoretical and critical study of the cinematic, visual and performing arts. Moreover, it is the only place in India where these disciplines are offered in an integrated programme that allows students to understand the individual arts in a broader context of history, sociology, politics, semiotics, gender and cultural studies apart from being able to integrate the study of one art form with the other arts. The three streams of study offered at the school are Visual Studies, Theatre & Performance Studies and Cinema Studies.

Water Initiatives Odisha, brings out a special note on this issue in response to the latest spell of the flood disaster in northern Odisha Rivers.

The programme focused on community involvement in assessing and evaluating water quality.

Article and image courtesy: IndiaWaterReview

The agriculture sector in India, like elsewhere in the world, remains the largest consumer of water. As much as 80-85 per cent of India's available water resources are deployed annually in the agriculture sector, with industry being the second-most largest water consumer. But, contrary to the amount of efforts being put among industrial consumers to bring down their water consumption, agriculturists remain stuck on age-old methods and systems that lead to wastage of water.

So, while industry has been spending money on conducting in house research and development (R&D) to bring down their overall water consumption for making goods and products as well as deploying technologies that treat and reuse water and wastewater better, the agriculture sector has maintained status quo. Across India, farmers are still using flood irrigation methods for their crops. Most of them have not even head of drip irrigation or are so poor that they cannot afford to invest in drip irrigations systems.

Main hazards that the state is prone to consist of earthquakes, landslides, flash floods, snow storms and avalanches, droughts, dam failures, fires – domestic and wild, accidents – road, rail, air, stampedes, boat capsizing, biological, industrial and hazardous chemicals etc.

The urban expansion in India has not been met by a similar expansion in infrastructure and basic services. This has severely affected the quality of urban life and economic growth.

Author: Anupam Mishra

"The water in springs of my hills is cool, Do not migrate from this land o my beloved.”