Political

Sri. Dinesh Kr. Mishra reviews the relief efforts following the severe flooding of Bihar earlier this year. We have several earlier blog posts regarding the floods: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/category/bihar-floods/

There is good news from the relief front from Bihar this year and that is definitely a healthy sign for future. It is there because for many years in the past, the relief scene used to be chaotic and 2004 flood relief scandal was the logical end of the goings on in relief distribution. A slight change for the better is greeted with cheers from all quarters. Providing relief is a state subject and the Central Government helps the states in some ways in managing relief to the flood victims. Twelfth Finance Commission has revised the standards set for relief under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and recommended it to be effective from June this year (2007). It is intended to glance through the relief operations in Bihar in the backdrop of standards and recommendations set by the Government. Government of Bihar submitted a memorandum for assistance to the Central Government on 28th August 2007. By that time 9939 villages in 225 blocks of 20 districts with a population of 20.4 million was hit by floods. GoB anticipated that by the time the floods are over, some 25 million people would be hit by the current floods. Some 515 persons were killed in the floods (projected 600), 512,000 houses were destroyed (projected 6 lakhs) and standing crops over 16.4 lakh hectares was submerged till then. Besides, there was an extensive damage to National and State Highways, breaches in embankments, damage to health infrastructure, industries, fisheries, energy and cattle. GoB had put its losses at Rs 8000 Crores and requested the Government of India GoI for immediate help. Of the requested amount, over half the demand (Rs. 4,130 Crores) was from the Disaster Management Department (DMD) of the state to cover the costs of food assistance ( @ one quintal wheat/ rice for estimated 6 lakh families), house rebuilding grant, distribution of polythene sheets, emergency cooked food and deployment of helicopters etc. The other departments of the state have put their demands separately.

Arghyam Trust organised an interaction in Bangalore with Mr. Ramaswamy Iyer to mark the recent release of his book "Towards Water Wisdom: Limits, Justice and Harmony" . The release of Mr. Iyer's book is covered here: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/04/new-book-by-ramaswamy-iyer/

We at the Water Portal and Arghyam were very gratified as Mr. Iyer spoke briefly but warmly of the Portal and its usefulness as a resource on water issues. Photos from the event are below. Others in the photographs include Sunita Nadhamuni, CEO of Arghyam, Dr. L.C. Jain who introduced Mr. Iyer and particapated in the proceedings and Vishwanath Srikantaiah of the Rainwater Club and Arghyam

Two useful documents from Water Aid (www.wateraid.org) released on the occasion of World Toilet Day.

Third Sector Partners (www.thirdsectorpartners.com) has been retained by a large and reputed international organization working on issues related to water, sanitation and hygiene, to recruit a Program Director for its India program. The charity's mission is to ensure provision of safe and effective water and sanitation for poor and marginalized communities.

Due to the heat from the Sun the water in the rivers, lakes and Oceans becomes water vapour. As this hot moist air rises into the sky the temperature gets reduced at 7oC per km height in the sky.

C.P. Kumar of the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee provides a list of web communities on hydrology:

The recent issue of their newsletter is now available at their website: http://www.water.org/waterpartners.aspx?pgID=909 It contains information of partner NGOs success stories, case studies and water and sanitation issues.

Waterscapes: Cultural Politics of a Natural Resource edited by Amita Baviskar

There isn't a lot of humour we have come across so far, in the water sector. Here is something though, from WASSAN (www.wassan.org) WASSAN has a set of cartoons on their site, based on their watershed project experiences.