Political

This case study is about Samerth's efforts to achieve drinking water security, in participation with local village communities in Rapar, Kachchh (Gujarat). Arghyam has been collaborating with Samerth on this effort since 2007.

The Vand Women of Kachchh: Guest post by Keya Acharya

She gazes unflinchingly with direct eyes into the camera with a feminine mystique and physique that could, be gracing the front cover of a beauty magazine. Her red, mirror-worked blouse, in the traditional Kachchhi style worn by tribal women, is strapped at the back in stringed bows, greatly practical in the dry, wilting heat of that arid expanse of land in hinterland Gujarat called Kachchh. Her skirt is a colourful hue of printed green, and her ‘dupatta’ is a blazing red piece of cloth swept forward from her waist, partially covering her back, brought over her head and tucked back demurely into her waist again. Her name is Ammi.

This case study is about Samerth's efforts to achieve drinking water security, in participation with local village communities in Rapar, Kachchh (Gujarat). Arghyam has been collaborating with Samerth on this effort since 2007.

The Best Part of the Story: Guest post by Keya Acharya

The landscape is barren in parts with just high heat and sun-bleached sand, the hallmarks of wastelands; in other parts there is some semblance of agriculture, with jowar, bajra and sometimes castor growing in small patches of mild green, without the lushness that good watering provides.

And in the middle of this landscape there appears, like an oasis without the accompanying palms, the ‘Tinnavahd talab’, a drinking water pond constructed by the community at Rabarkar vand, near Lakhagarh village in Rapar taluk of Kutch district. Inside the pond there is a dugwell, constructed on the pond bed.

The Silviculture of Indian Trees, is a seminal reference work in three volumes, that contains in-depth information (from a silvicultural point of view) about nearly all tree species of India, covering some 63 botanical orders. It is the outcome of twenty years of field-based research by Robert Scott Troup, a British forestry expert who spent much of his career in India, and is considered a classic landmark work on the subject.

The book starts with an introduction, followed by information organised by the botanical order, genera and finally, species. Each sub-section on a specific species, contains details such as the botanical name, vernacular names, distribution and habitat, silvicultural characters (climatic, temperature, soil conditions that help the tree grow), botanical descriptions as well as silhoutte drawings of the seed seedling leaf trunk root flower fruit bark and other plant parts, uses, flowering fruiting and leaf-shedding process as well as season, natural and artificial reproduction methods and rate of growth, germination process and role of animals birds insects wind and water, and botanically allied species.

Entry 56 of List I of Seventh Schedule provides that "Regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest".

Original document can be viewed here on the Ministry of Water Resources website

March 2010 issue of e-Disha from the CDD Society. An effort to disseminate knowledge to promote sustainable sanitation solutions in South Asia.

Terre de hommes Foundation, an international NGO working for the rights of children in 34 countries, is currently seeking a Senior WASH Programme Manager (Civil engineer) The India Delegation office is situated in Kolkata. All projects implemented in India are through local NGO partners.

The Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network is a national consortium of academics, bureaucrats and representatives of civil society working to develop policy options aimed at enhancing appropriate and comprehensive public investments in rainfed agriculture.  The network's functioning is premised on a combination of collating existing experiences, undertaking