Books and Book Reviews

Slow disaster: Political ecology of hazards and everyday life in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam
This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.
Mitul Baruah
Posted on 30 Oct, 2022 07:19 PM

The accumulation of capital and misery go hand in hand, concentrated in space.

― David Harvey, The Limits to Capital, 2006 [1982]: 418

Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)
Assessment of climate change over the Indian region
Climate change is real. What are its implications for India? This book presents a first of its kind national forecast on the impact of global warming on climate in India.
Ministry of Earth Sciences
Government of India
Posted on 14 May, 2022 11:42 AM

Climate change presents growing challenges to human health, safety, quality of life and the economy of the country. This book titled 'Assessment of climate change over the Indian region' by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, edited by R.
Climate change is real. What does it mean for India? (Image Source: Robert Hensley/Wikimedia Commons)
Periurban waterscapes of Hyderabad
The growth of high rise buildings that hold the promise of assured water supply in Hyderabad has led to increasing water stress in periurban areas, from where water is sourced.
Nathaniel Dylan Lim
Diganta Das
Posted on 02 Jan, 2022 10:34 PM

Hyderabad, envisioned as a high tech city, is growing rapidly. The city is gradually being transformed into high rise urban buildings that boast of uninterrupted supply of basic infrastructural services such as free or subsidised water supply, to attract private investments and generate further growth.
Parched periurban areas cry for attention (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Climate change and community resilience: Insights from South Asia
This book by ICIMOD and SANDEE draws on stories from seven countries in South Asia to highlight how communities are building resilience to climate change.
ICIMOD
SANDEE
Posted on 15 Dec, 2021 04:06 AM

The risks posed by climate change are no longer distant. Many countries have already started experiencing extreme climate events due to global warming.
Joining hands to cope with climate change (Image Source: Usha Dewani Das)
Ganga's cure lies in people's will for a change
Healing the Ganga can start in your kitchen, says Bidisha Banerjee, whose new book explores the faith and the science that define the river, and what it will take to save it.
Shriya Mohan
Posted on 25 Jan, 2021 12:51 PM

It was Bhagirath who chose to leave his kingdom and commit to austere tapasya, for a thousand years, in order to bring Ganga down from the heavens.
Ganga river at Bithoor (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Book review: Future Earth
The book outlines how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades.
Sneha Krishnan
Posted on 23 Aug, 2020 07:57 PM
Climate change (Image: Kai Stachowiak; Public domain pictures)
Watershed Management Compendium
This compendium by Dr Mihir Kumar Maitra answers all questions that will be of great use to practitioners engaged in both engineering and management aspects of watershed management in the field.
Mihir Kumar Maitra
Posted on 27 Dec, 2019 06:32 PM

This compendium by Mihir Kumar Maitra is a valuable resource for all practitioners engaged in watershed management activities in the field.
Watershed management in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Rajasthan's ancient yet ever-evolving water heritage
A book documents the enormous range of water harvesting systems still in use in Rajasthan.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 21 Jul, 2019 11:10 AM

The state of Rajasthan has an immense range of ancient and ingenious water harvesting systems, like the famous johads or step wells managed by communities in the arid Thar desert, which receives very low rainfall.
The design of Chand baodi (stepwell) in Abhaneri village, Rajasthan, was intended to conserve as much water as possible (Image: Unseen Horizons, Flickr Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
River basin governance: Learnings from Cauvery conflict
While the recent ruling of the Supreme court on the Cauvery conflict opens up new possibilities, a push for holistic and interdisciplinary river basin governance is required.
Nilanjan Ghosh
Jayanta Bandopadhyay
Jaya Thakur
Posted on 15 Feb, 2019 01:38 PM

The river Cauvery—an inter-state river shared by the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as well as the Union Territory of Pondicherry—has often been in the news for the fight over its waters between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. What dominates the issue is the conflicting demands for irrigation from the plateau region of Karnataka and the delta region in Tamil Nadu.
Cauvery river at Hogenakal, Karnataka. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos via Claire Arni and Oriole Henri)
India Unshackled: A book discussion
The editor of a new book that lays out alternative futures for India discusses India, democracy and development with a noted journalist.
Chicu Lokgariwar
K J Joy
Pema Wangchuck
Posted on 30 Apr, 2018 03:43 PM

Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a new book that dares to imagine what India could be.
Joy (L) and Pema (R) in discussion.
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