Punjab Plains

On a wing and a prayer
Renuka lake is a Ramsar site but also has a temple near it which makes it a battle site of conflicting interests. Is a solution possible?
Chicu Lokgariwar
Posted on 18 Dec, 2016 06:35 AM

Renuka can be forgiven if she were to feel a bit crazy at times. Like many other women, she could be finding it hard to balance her pious and wild sides.
Peaceful on the surface, Renuka lake is a battleground between conservation and religion.
Bihari bait for Punjabi fish
Fish traders in the state, which has the highest freshwater fish yield at 2,500 kg per hectare, are mainly groups of Bihari migrants playing to their strengths.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 20 Mar, 2016 11:56 AM

“This is my business, I am nobody’s slave,” says Kapal Nishad. He is one of the over two million migrants who came to Punjab over 20 years ago.
First half of the day is spent netting the fish which is sold in the evening.
Ponds--once a lifeline of India's agriculture--are being revived by some Punjab farmers
Farm ponds, rediscovered by a few farmers in Patiala, could be the answer to the state's growing groundwater crisis as they can harvest rainwater and cushion against flooding.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 16 Nov, 2015 10:45 AM

The northern region of India is facing drought for the second consecutive year.
Harmesh Singh has taken to rainwater harvesting on his farm since the groundwater has gone down.
Let's not only blame Punjab's farmers for lighting up!
The current rice-wheat crop cycle and the cost of safe disposal of the straw push farmers towards burning, thereby causing them health issues as well as draining available natural resources.
Manu Moudgil
Posted on 13 Nov, 2015 11:35 PM

A few days ago, there were news items galore with NASA's images of the burning of rice straw in Punjab. The red dots were presumed to be the fields
Short period between rice harvesting and sowing of wheat forces farmers to burn straw. (Source: Neil Palmer 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
Analysis of Delhi’s budgetary allocations for water and sanitation services in slum areas - Article in Economic and Political Weekly
This article in Economic and Political Weekly, by analysing various budget documents, attempts to capture the quantum of budgetary outlay for Water and Sanitation Services (WSS) in the slums of Bawana and Bhalaswa in Delhi. Further it captures various systemic weaknesses that impede the effective delivery of WSS in these two slum areas.
Gyana Ranjan Panda
Trisha Agarwala
Posted on 06 Feb, 2013 11:18 AM

This article in Economic and Political Weekly,  by analysing various budget documents, attempts to capture the quantum of budgetary outlay for Water and Sanitation Services (WSS) in the slums of Bawana and Bhalaswa in Delhi. Further it captures various systemic weaknesses that impede the effective delivery of WSS in these two slum areas. 

Effects of industrial and agricultural activities on properties of groundwater - A paper published in the Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology & Life Sciences
This paper published in the journal Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology & Life Sciences describes the findings of a study that was carried out to check the effects of industrial and agricultural activities on the groundwater properties in terms of heavy metal concentration. Polluted groundwater is defined as groundwater that has higher concentrations of dissolved or suspended elements than the maximum permissible concentrations fixed by national or international standards for drinking, industrial or agricultural purposes. Sometimes natural groundwater pollution may also occur because of the presence of the respective substances above the prescribed limits.
Sukhdev Kundu
Posted on 05 May, 2012 03:24 PM

The main sources of groundwater contamination are industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes (both solid and liquid), rocks, sludge and slimes, refuse, pesticides, herbicides, effluents from livestock and poultry farms. Many pollutants are even able to penetrate into groundwater aquifers.
Zero tillage in the rice-wheat systems of the Indo-Gangetic plains - A review of impacts and sustainability implications by IFPRI
There is need to extend the gains of zero tillage more rigorously to the less endowed areas and farmers, the paper says.
CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre)
Olaf Erenstein
Posted on 31 Oct, 2011 06:49 PM

zero tillageThis paper by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reviews the success of zero-tillage wheat in the rice-wheat systems of the Indo-Gange
Chemical fertilizers in our water - An analysis of nitrates in the groundwater in Punjab by Greenpeace
This study by Greenpeace India Society is an initial investigation into the effects of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer on groundwater pollution in intensive agriculture areas in Punjab.
Greenpeace Research Laboratories
Reyes Tirado
United Kingdom
University of Exeter
Posted on 31 Oct, 2011 09:00 AM

NitratesThe level of nitrate in drinking water was tested from groundwater artesian wells located within farms and surrounded by crops (mostly rice and wheat rotations).

Nitrate pollution in groundwater is associated with nitrogen loads in the environment. In urban areas, it is associated with sewage and in agriculture areas, with livestock sources and nitrogen fertiliser inputs. Nitrate pollution in drinking water can have serious health impact on humans, especially for babies and children. The most significant potential health effects of drinking water contaminated with nitrate are the blue-baby syndrome (methemoglobinemia) and cancer.

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