Amita Bhaduri

Amita Bhaduri
Gujarat tops NITI Aayog’s water index for second time
India’s water crisis likely to worsen as demand projected to exceed supply by 2050, says report
Posted on 09 Sep, 2019 08:53 AM

NITI Aayog, the Government of India’s policy think tank, recently released the second edition of the Composite Water Management Index to enable effective water management in Indian states. It warns that the country will lose 6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2050 because of a water crisis.

With water outages, shortages and availability, one sees these pots in every home, village, by the rainbow-hued hundred in shops, and even in precarious bundles balanced on the bikes of travelling wallah pot-sale vendors in Chennai. (Image: McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0)
Fertiliser sector’s bleak record on water use in India
A recent report by CSE rates fertilizer plants on how green the sector is.
Posted on 06 Aug, 2019 02:09 PM

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi based non-profit has rated the country’s fertilizer sector on several parameters, in a first of its kind study. The rating, done over an 18-month-long process, covered 28 of the 32 functional fertilizer units in the country.

There is need to improve the environmental performance of the fertiliser sector through multi-directional initiatives (Image: MaDailyGist)
Rajasthan's ancient yet ever-evolving water heritage
A book documents the enormous range of water harvesting systems still in use in Rajasthan.
Posted on 21 Jul, 2019 11:10 AM

The state of Rajasthan has an immense range of ancient and ingenious water harvesting systems, like the famous johads or step wells managed by communities in the arid Thar desert, which receives very low rainfall.

The design of Chand baodi (stepwell) in Abhaneri village, Rajasthan, was intended to conserve as much water as possible (Image: Unseen Horizons, Flickr Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Budget 2019 talks big on water
But have the crucial schemes received more money than last year? We talk to some experts in the water sector to find out.
Posted on 10 Jul, 2019 02:04 PM

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister alluded to gaon, garib and kisan as the centre of all policies of this government, while announcing a clutch of schemes aimed at the rural and urban poor.

Indian children tapping water (Image: Global Water Partnership, Flickr Commons, CC BY NC-SA 2.0)
Surya Ganga: A film review
The film Surya Ganga makes a case for a shift in India’s energy policy towards renewable sources.
Posted on 14 Jun, 2019 10:42 AM

Surya Ganga, a film directed by Valli Bindana takes an all embracing view of the energy sector, especially the social and environmental consequences of big energy projects in India. The film was released in India recently.

Ganga's riverflow near Dhari Devi temple in Uttarakhand (Image: SuryaGanga Facebook Page)
Air pollution surges to emergency levels in India
Measures to deal with air pollution inadequate and poorly implemented in India due to lack of political will.
Posted on 11 Jun, 2019 03:53 PM

Urban India needs to take air pollution more seriously than it does now. The Centre for Science and Environment’s report, State of India's Environment 2019 has come up with startling facts on the state of air in the country.

Narratives from Korba in Chhattisgarh is proof that breathing the dust laden air near the power plant is injurious to health. (Image: Ishan Tankha)
Understanding the Yamuna and life around it
A panel of experts and representatives of the riverine community discuss changes observed in the Yamuna and its relationship with people.
Posted on 03 Jun, 2019 07:30 AM

Sarla Yadav, a resident of Yamuna Ghat 24 is a treasure trove of stories on the river Yamuna. She runs a boat business with her son Shyam who provides a nuanced personal account of living by the river and of eking out a meagre livelihood by plying boats. They are among a few families who have not sold their boats so far.

The Yamuna river and its people (Image: Shashwat Jain, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0)
Monsoon to arrive late, less rain expected: Skymet
The forecast shows monsoon to begin under the shadow of El Niño and could be below normal across all four regions.
Posted on 30 May, 2019 11:25 AM

Skies in several parts of Kerala are overcast with pre-monsoon but monsoon is progressing sluggishly, as per meteorological predictions. “This year’s monsoon rains will arrive on India southern coast in Kerala on June 4 and deliver less rain than average year,” says Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.

Monsoon in Sikkim Himalayas (Image: Marina, Wikimedia Commons, CC-A-2.0-Generic)
Reservoir storage in western India below normal: CWC
CWC's latest data raises concern over water availability and the country's preparedness to deal with shortages in western India and parts of southern India.
Posted on 23 May, 2019 04:49 PM

The recent data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), released on May 9, 2019 reveals a reassuring situation of water storage in the river basins of India. The overall water storage in the 91 reservoirs monitored is slightly more (105 percent) when compared to the average water storage over the last 10 years, the data shows.

Mulshi dam reservoir in Maharashtra (Image: Rohit Gowaikar, Wikimedia Commons)
What happens when you throw away pencil cells?
Study reveals how tossing of dry cell batteries in our dustbins poisons the environment.
Posted on 14 May, 2019 05:33 PM

A recent study by Toxics Link, an environmental research and advocacy organisation on batteries titled Dead and buried: A situational analysis of battery waste management in India estimates that 2.7 billion pieces of dry cell batteries are being consumed annually in India.

The evolving framework of end-of-life battery management could be inclusive of the informal chain of collectors and segregators. (Image: Toxics Link)
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