Political

 It is widely held that surface irrigation is becoming increasingly irrelevant in India’s irrigation landscape in spite of increased investments, and therefore future investments in irrigation should be diverted for well irrigation.

Jalyatra - Exploring India's traditional water management systems, by Nitya Jacob is an ecological travelogue that looks at links between water, society and places It describes in detail what existed, how it fitted into the socio-cultural milieu and was appropriate for the local climate and geography. It then examines reasons for their decline, as indeed most have, in recent decades.

While recording the dismal state of traditional systems, the author stumbles upon small initiatives that have brought about significant transformation across regions. It refers to noisy hidrums and gharaats, the river-run flour mills of Uttaranchal, the technologies whose potential has yet to be fully realised. It looks at water harvesting structures of southern India—the eris and ooranis. However, it admits that the average person is singularly uninterested in protecting the environment.

Jalyatra captures the efforts of NGOs and enlightened individuals striving to revive these systems. It makes the case for a mass movement to revive traditional water management systems, especially village ponds, across the country as the way to ensure water security in India. In Chambal, the author meets Brij Mohan Gujjar, dacoit turned water conservationist, who is doing valuable work on the check dams designed to control the flow of water in the ravines; and in Shillong, Lan Potham shows him the uses of the easily available bamboo to construct the shyngiar which irrigates his areca nut plantation.

The sustainable development and management of the resource requires precise quantitative assessment based on valid scientific principles. The updated Groundwater Estimation Committee methodology – 1997 has been used and detailed guidelines were formulated through discussions and deliberations in the State Level Groundwater Estimation Committee.

 The agricultural ‘growth’ seen in the recent past in Gujarat is nothing but a good recovery from a major dip in production occurred during the drought years of 1999 and 2000, because of four consecutive years of successful monsoon and bulk water transfer through the Sardar Sarovar project. The real ‘miracle growth’ in Gujarat’s agriculture appears to have occurred during the period from 1988 to 1998.

This paper by Himanshu Thakkar published in the journal Development looks at the daunting challenges that future water demand places on India a

This document describes the Karnataka Town and Country Planning and Certain Other Laws Bill, 2004 and includes:

Change.org is a rapidly expanding, profitable social venture growing by hundreds of thousands of members a month and empowering people across the globe to win social action campaigns on a wide range of issues such as human rights, global poverty, and environmental protection.

Change.org is hiring Country Director, who will oversee our advocacy and organising efforts in India to crafting and executing rapid-response campaigns, and helping millions of activists start and successfully run their own local campaigns, and build a team that scales with success.

Organizers:

• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD)
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM)
• Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Content courtesy: DevNetJobsIndia

Centre for Development Communication is a national level not for profit organization working for last more than 15 years in 18 cities across the country and internationally recognised by UN-Habitat by giving us prestigious Scroll of Honour Award for our best practices in India. Our key operational areas are solid waste management, urban health, women’s empowerment through SHGs, waste workers, street vendors and right to information.