News and Articles

Bhuj cattle rearers face the heat of lockdown
Glimpses into the impact of Covid-19-related policies on the lives of cattle rearers in Bhuj, Gujarat. Posted on 09 Jul, 2020 01:51 PM

Akbarbhai (35), a Maldhari (semi-nomadic cattle herder) is struggling to survive as the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus has hit demand of dairy products badly and led to prices crashing in Bhuj. He lives in Gandhinagari, an informal settlement in Bhuj that is home to around 30 cattle herders. His joint family of 15 members includes his two brothers and three sisters.

Image: Homes in the City
Environmentalists voice concerns against the draft EIA notification 2020
Policy matters this week Posted on 09 Jul, 2020 11:33 AM

Draft EIA notification 2020 attracts criticism from experts

Work in progress in coal mines in Jharsuguda (Image source: IWP Flickr album)
Flood batters Assam, over 16 lakh people hit
News this week Posted on 09 Jul, 2020 11:30 AM

Flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim

Assam plaued by the annual flood menace (Image Source: Akash Basumatari)
Floods in Bihar: Helping government fight embankment breach
As fear of flood looms over Bihar, the state government has launched the campaign #HelloWRD for people to reach out to them if they observe any embankment breach or crack in their area. Posted on 08 Jul, 2020 10:01 PM

Every year, incessant rainfall during the monsoon causes floods in the state, with North Bihar being the worst affected.

Ways in which the government can be informed about the embankment breach in your area (Image source: Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar, Twitter handle)
Surviving in uncertainty
Gram Vikas stepped up to ensure access to adequate food and to strengthen dignified income-earning opportunities for the most vulnerable households. Posted on 08 Jul, 2020 07:33 PM

Uncertainty - the pervasive feeling that all of us have been living with from the middle of March 2020. It's the same in our partner villages in Odisha and Jharkhand. Communities we work with have been facing and overcoming uncertainties all through their lives. But this time, the crisis has put unusual stress on their abilities to cope.

Image: Ajaya Behera
Water fleas can warn of water pollution!
Water fleas, tiny organisms found in water can help save rivers! Read this interview with freshwater biologist, Dr Sameer Padhye, to know how. Posted on 02 Jul, 2020 07:29 PM

Water fleas are small crustaceans widely found in varied aquatic habitats. They are very sensitive to changes in the water quality of water bodies such as rivers and streams that they inhabit.

Water fleas can warn of water pollution (Image Source: Sameer Padhye)
Dharavi: From a dreaded hotspot to a model to be emulated
How Dharavi pulled off a miracle by not letting the disease spiral out of control. Posted on 02 Jul, 2020 10:10 AM

When the first positive case of Covid-19 was reported from Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, known for its narrow lanes and compact housing, a sense of panic gripped the nation. And the fear and panic were not unreasonable given the extraordinary characteristics of this slum.

Located between Mumbai's two main suburban rail lines, Dharavi provides an affordable option to those who move to Mumbai to earn a living (Image: Deepti KC and Mudita Tiwari; CC BY-SA 2.0, Flickr Commons)
Catering to the aspirations of frontline workers to ensure water security for rural India
Reimagining a blue future by bridging the ever increasing capacity gap in the sector. Posted on 01 Jul, 2020 06:26 PM

The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to create jobs locally. This intersects with the water sector's need for local management. How do we create meaningful opportunities to address the aspirations of the local talent pool and make them discoverable?

There is a significant demand for skilled human resources in the water sector (Image: Neil Palmer, IWMI Flickr Photos; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
A reflection on multi-faceted droughts in Bundelkhand region
Alternatives have to be re-adapted to the understanding of droughts in the wake of climate change. Posted on 01 Jul, 2020 03:10 PM

Drought conditions are not new to Bundelkhand. The acute situation now is a convergence of three types of droughts – meteorological, agricultural and hydrological - cumulatively coinciding as witnessed in Nunagar village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh. We saw hundreds of vessels queuing up at the panchayat well.

Child walks through the parched field for kilometers to fetch water in peak summer in village Banjari (Image: Reshma Sahoo)
Repurposing microirrigation to deal with water woes
Microirrigation does not often bring about a change in cropping patterns, with farmers continuing with water-intensive crops. Posted on 30 Jun, 2020 01:39 PM

India is likely to face stark water scarcity in the coming decades as a result of excessive use, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI)’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas - a tool to visualise and assess water stress and drought and flood risk covering

Irrigation pump supplying water for drip irrigation (Image: IWMI Flickr, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0))
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