Aarti Kelkar- Khambete

The annual droughts in Maharashtra have put tremendous pressure on the available water resources in the state.

The Krishnabai Utsav, a festival celebrating and revering the river Krishna as it flows through Wai, begins tomorrow in the town of

India has had very little to celebrate on World Wetlands Day this year as it has lost its wetlands at an alarming rate of 38% in just a decade (1991-2001).

The river Mutha, lovingly called 'Muthai'--meaning 'mother Mutha' in Marathi--is dying a slow death thanks to rapidly urbanising Pune which is depositing huge amounts of untreated sewage and dirt in its waters. However, the situation was different earlier. The river was revered and was a part of the everyday lives of the people in the city.

Please provide us some background on the hydrogeology of Maharashtra and its special features, which make it stand out as compared to the other parts of the country.

India is one of the world's largest producers of white and brown varieties of paddy and contributes to around 20% of all the paddy production in the world. Rice (de-husked form of paddy) is the staple food in the eastern and southern parts of the country and is mainly grown in rain-fed areas that receive heavy annual rainfall [1].