Sustainability

Bangalore garbage finds dumping place in Mandur: Civic body promises better infrastructure projects for communities living there

From the serious to the absurd, water has featured across a breadth of movies, both in Hollywood and Bollywood.

India is the world's largest consumer of groundwater where it is extensively used for irrigation. However, there is a considerable waste of this valuable resource. While a part of this waste can be attributed to a lack of incentive for conservation, unmetered electricity supply contributes greatly to this problem. This has led to the formation of what is being termed an energy-irrigation nexus.

Several sessions at the IWMI-Tata Annual Partners' Meet in 2012 discussed this phenomenon, its causes, impact and possible management strategies. 

The works have to done maintaining appropriate standards and quality of the schemes, and ensure their completion in time. The manuals are prepared keeping in mind the activities mentioned in the 12th five year plan.

Indian agriculture has changed. From earlier a lifestyle to now livelihood, our farming has journeyed through revolutions. Food production increased but so did the problems of depleting soil fertility and rising debt. The green is fading and an evolution is now sought.

Environmental degradation & climate change have induced human mobility by creating environmental migrants.

A visit to Oddoor farms near Mangalore, Karnataka, provides an inspiring example of the efforts made by Rajesh Naik ji to transform 120 acres of barren land into a lush green farm through his persistent efforts of creating a two acre and fifty feet deep lake, which has not only transformed the surrounding area, but has also helped in improving the water table in the surrounding village, besides helping in the development of a self sufficient organic farm and a dairy.

Oddoor farms, around 25 kilometres away from Mangalore city is a great example of a very successful effort made by Rajesh Naik ji who has transformed 120 acres of barren land into a self sufficient organic farm by developing a 50 feet lake on two acres of land.  The journey has been a long one and not without its share of challenges, but persistence and constant optimism and hard work to overcome challenges has reaped results in the last twenty years, informs Rajesh Naik ji.

Rajesh Naik ji near the lake he has developed at the Oddoor farms near Mangalore

Budget 2013: Highlights from the water sector

Author: K.M.Seenivasan

This report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presents strategies for inclusive rural development embodying the principles of environmental sustainability. It recommends measures needed to achieve green, including measuring and tracking, the use incentives and the building of capacities. It also contains a number of case studies showing how green results can be achieved.