Sustainability

The Shivnath River is the longest tributary of the Mahanadi River.

Centre okays Rs 20,000 crore for the 'Namami Gange' programme

Sixty eight percent of India's population lives in rural areas but when it comes to facilities -- including the availability of safe drinking water -- cities and towns corner most of them.

The Niyamagiri hills in the Eastern Ghats is peopled by indigenous groups such as the Dongria and Kutia Kondhs -- or 'primitive tribal groups’ in official phrasing. For them, these hills which spread over 300 sq kms in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts in southwestern Orissa, is the sacred abode of Niyamraja, their God.

Whenever Nachatar Singh’s wife and children fall sick, he blames it on the groundwater they pull out everyday using a hand pump in his courtyard at Veere Wala Kalan village of Faridkot district. Singh swears that the problem started only recently. “The same tap used to fetch such good quality water thanks to seepage from the Gang canal which runs around 1 km from our place.

River basins in India have been found to be highly vulnerable to contamination. Recent evidence shows that a large number of water sources including rivers, lakes and surface water in India are polluted due to untreated sewage, agricultural runoff and most importantly, due to unregulated industries.

Swachh Bharat Mission: Gujarat leads the implementation

Maharashtra Government to probe into cost overruns of Vidarbha dams

Vanajakshi, a 21 year old girl from Gondipakalu in Chintapalle Mandal, Andhra Pradesh, recalls that, growing up, she was often late to school. It wasn’t because she was having trouble waking up. It was because she had to accompany her mother to fetch water, and that took up around 2.5 hours every morning.

Vanajakshi's reason wasn’t unique to her.

Coal Ministry bans mining in Mahan forest