The Ministry of Environment and Forests released a draft of the regulatory framework for wetland conservation - Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules (2009) for feedback from all stakeholders. The draft framework was prepared by a multi-disciplinary expert group, and final round of comments were invited till June 21st 2010.

The Wetland Conservation Team of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) did a detailed analysis of the draft regulation and submitted several pertinent concerns to the Ministry. The most significant observation is that the new framework (as do much of India's policies and laws) continues to propose unjustifiable State control and interventions over the country's wetlands and livelihoods of people dependent on them. The regulation does not make any constructive suggestions or recommendations for the conservation that the country's wetlands demand, and instead brings all wetlands into complete official control by installing Central, State and District-level wetland regulatory authorities, wherein the majority of the members will be senior government officials.

The Rajasthan State Water Policy 2010, describes the critical status of water in Rajasthan in terms of:

• The growing imbalance between demand and supply of water
• Uncertainty in availability of water
• Inequity in access to water
• Low operational efficiency of water resource development projects
• Depleting groundwater resources and deteriorating quality of water
• High cost of service, low cost recovery and low level of expenditure
• Lack of ownership among stakeholders

The policy has evolved out of the earlier policy documents and intends to function from the new perspective of Integrated Water Resources Management, which is holistic and includes a bottom up approach.

ABSTRACT

The report presents the hydrologic information and news available from print media and various government agencies mostly for the year 1996-97 compiled state-wise and problem-wise for the whole country.

Fundamentals of Environmental Pollution and Control is a course offered by NPTEL under Mining Engineering, and is structured into 28 video lectures along the following topics:

• State of the Environment
• Environmental Movement
• Definitions of Environmental Terms

Organizer: Water and Food Equitable Distribution Organisation (WEDO)

Topics:

• Making more surface water available
• Sustainable and enduring solutions for water

Venue: Anna University, Chennai

The study discusses the hydrological aspects of rainwater harvesting in the Kandi belt in the foothill zone of Siwalik in Jammu region with the help of a case study on water availability in a pond in village Badhori (Samba district, Jammu). It describes the climate, soils, geology, geomorphology and drainage of the Kandi belt. It is marked with small watersheds having low denuded hills and undulating cultivated lands that need to be developed on a watershed basis through engineering and non-engineering measures of rainwater harvesting and soil conservation.

Goa is the second smallest state in India, with a total land mass of 3702 sq kms, and is one of the world's 12 bio-diversity hot-spots. While the largest industry is Tourism, conversely the second largest is mining. 8% of this state’s land is already under mining, mostly for iron ore, which is largely exported to China.

Water and the City : Towards Sustainable Solutions

Theme: “Sustainable Cities: Clean and Affordable Water”

Water is life and yet, this natural resource is often taken for granted. With increasing urbanisation around the world exacerbated by climate change, water has become one of the world’s most precious commodities. Rapid industrial, economic, and social development has put additional strain on many countries’ limited water resources.