Punjab

Wetlands in deep water
On the World Wetlands Day, save a thought for India’s Ramsar sites, most of them at various stages of deterioration.
India Water Portal
Posted on 02 Feb, 2017 11:14 AM

February 2 is observed as the World Wetlands Day. The day marks the date of adoption of the Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971. This year, the theme of the World Wetlands Day is Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Deepor Beel in Assam (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
A cut above the rest
A community reserve in Punjab has precious lessons in conservation for other wetlands which are facing ecological crisis.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 05 Dec, 2016 09:41 PM

Deot Masih’s family has been extracting lotus root from the marshy land in his village near Gurdaspur for several decades. Delicate and crunchy, the edible roots are in high demand going as far as Srinagar in the north and Delhi in the south. Similar is the case with chestnut grown in this swamp.
Keshopur, a favourite of native and migratory birds in Punjab.
Kanjli: A wetland in despair
Migrant birds skip this Ramsar site in Punjab due to lack of freshwater and high pollution.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 23 Nov, 2016 09:02 PM

A couple of Swan boats are lying beside the library wall. The cages to keep animals and birds are rusting while weeds have taken over the compound which hosts a few swings and a restaurant.
Water hyacinth dominates Kanjli.
Harike needs a hand
Despite their protected status, Ramsar sites face many ecological issues. In our bid to know wetlands better, we visited some of these sites. Here's what we saw at Harike.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 21 Oct, 2016 12:18 PM

Harike wetland is the direct result of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan. To make best use of the waters of eastern rivers allotted to it, India constructed a barrage near the confluence of Beas and Satluj in 1952 from where two canals take water to the fields of Punjab and Rajasthan.
Harike wetland Photo by Jaypee/Wikimedia Commons
The nonexistent bridge in Punjab
At Punjab's Mand island, not many children go to school and pregnant women deliver at the river bank -- all because there is no bridge connecting it to the mainland.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 10 Aug, 2015 12:14 PM

Bakshish Singh once had 13 acres of farmland; now he only has one. He lost the rest in 2013 when the Beas river changed its course and started flowing near his house. Bakshish lives at Rampur Gaura village in Kapurthala district of Punjab, the state generally known for good roads, urbanised villages and wealthy farmers.
The only connection of the island with mainland is through a pontoon bridge which the Public Works Department removes as the water level rises during monsoon.
Born to fly: A video on the joy of flying in Harike, north India's largest wetland
This video deals with Harike wetland, a designated Ramsar site that has a high density of migratory water fowls.
thenitindas
Posted on 12 Mar, 2013 01:20 PM

Source of video: thenitindas
Centre adopts National Water Policy 2012 - Roundup of the week's news (December 24 – 30, 2012)
This roundup of the news this week presents discussions on the adoption of the National Water Policy by the Centre in the midst of objections raised by states that argue on the relevance of water as a state specific resource and not to be controlled by a uniform law followed by news on objections raised against direct cash transfer in food commodities in Chattisgarh, illegal mining in Goa and an update on the garbage crisis in Bangalore
sabitakaushal
Posted on 31 Dec, 2012 07:33 AM

Centre adopts National Water Policy, 2012
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