Yamuna

Breaking news! The monsoon is here! It hit Kerala on June 1 and with that put an end to newspapers stories on drought in India highlighted by pictures of farmers standing on cracked earth and staring up at the sunny skies. However, very soon there will be Page-1 picture spreads of water-logged cities with traffic jams and harried people titled "The city is drowning"!

Guest post: Amita Bhaduri

West Delhi’s dusty neighbourhood, Shadi Khampur now has its own museum, in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense. I live nearby, have worked out of an office here and am familiar with the alleyways. But I got to know only now, what life in the neighbourhood was like. Its rich history and its connect to larger narratives from the past, like the series of land acquisitions in Delhi, the Emergency, and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which had gone largely undocumented and unarchived have been chronicled in the Neighbourhood Museum of Local History of Shadi Khampur, at Studio Safdar, a cafe cum bookstore.

Neighbourhood Museum at Studio Safdar

Source: Facebook page on “Public Art Project at Studio Safdar”

This document by the World Wildlife Fund India, is on the rapid assessment done on the Environmental Flows(E-Flows) for Kumbh Mela that is taking place in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Introduction

Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink!  How truly these lines depict the picture of present scenario. There are lots of organizations, people and experts involved in the discussions and making efforts at international level to have safe, sustainable drinking water for all. Yet the efforts are not enough…

The January edition of the TRINet has the following highlights:

The river has attained the distinction of being perhaps the river attracting the most judicial attention in india, after the Ganga. This report analyses the various laws and judicial decisions pertaining to the Yamuna and their effects on the river.

It aims to inform, enlighten and suggest solutions to bring back the river Yamuna to a healthy and resilient state. 

Guest post by: Amita Bhaduri

The public art outreach project was organized by the Max Mueller Bhavan in association with the Government of Delhi and the Goethe-Institut (Hamburg, Germany) as a part of the “Year of Germany in India” programme opened on 5^th of November, 2011. The art exhibition which continued till the 19^th of November co-curated by artist Ravi Agarwal who is also a practicing environmentalist (Director, Toxics Link) along with German artist, Till Krauser attempted to create a pulsating synergy between the Yamuna and Elbe rivers.

Gigi Scaria’s - The fountain of purification

Photo courtesy: Rocky Thongam

This is a 24 ft installation representing a four storey apartment complex that draws Yamuna water, purifies it at various levels and dispenses it from the top in the form of a fountain.

Organizers: Yamuna Katha

Venue: Delhi

Yamuna Katha is a collaborative effort to understand how the river-city-dyad has formed over the years and what has been the relationship between the river, the people, the flora and the fauna. Yamuna Katha brings to a common zone, representatives of various stakeholders who are directly or indirectly connected with the river for a collaborative exchange.