Political

Maharashtra approves cost overrun in irrigation projects, set to complete Gosikhurd project

A majority of states fail to stop overexploitation of groundwater

In order to celebrate 20 years of ATREE and to call attention to current challenges in biodiversity conservation, environment and development, ATREE has organized a two day international conference in January, 2017.

The ZSBP is an initiative of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Saniation, Government of India (GoI) and Tata Trusts; to be implemented in collaboration with State Governments. The core focus of the programme is achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of all villages and improving the lives of people in rural India.

Jaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted.

The year 2016 was eventful, to say the least when it comes to the water scenario in the country. The year saw severe droughts affecting 33 crore people across 10 states.

Going by the statistics from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tamil Nadu’s coastline is densely populated with 573 fishing villages along 13 coastal districts. The story is slightly different around the urban and peri-urban coastline, thanks to the ongoing gentrification of the coastline in most parts of urban India.

Lingaraj Jena is a worried man. At 86, he is one of the older fishermen in Berhampura village, an island on the Chilika lake in Odisha. Though he no longer goes for fishing due to old age, he is worried about the opening of new sea mouths; he knows it is not good news for the fishing communities he is a part of that depend on the Chilika for their livelihood.

No final approval for Ken-Betwa river link as claimed by Centre

Kerala hit by worst drought in 115 years