People and Organisations

Embankments: Engineering solutions or problems?
In his book titled 'Bandini Mahananda', Dinesh Mishra describes the vicious circle of embankments that has created more problems than solutions in Bihar. Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 05:12 PM

Mahananda, a major River of north Bihar rises in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. It meets the Ganga after a journey of 376 km through the flat lands of Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh. It would spill its banks because of the flat slopes, causing deluge and waterlogging in the Katihar district of Bihar.

Floods in Bihar; Image: Usha Dewani
A 3-year journey from water scarcity to security
Manayali village in Maharashtra not only became water secure but also managed to provide a solution to a small Banjara community that lives 3 km away from it -- through community participation. Posted on 02 Mar, 2015 02:43 PM

Santosh Gavale, a resident of Manyali village in Umarkhed tehsil of Yavatmal district, is a happy man now. The village, which has faced an increasing water crisis over the years, is now water sufficient because it manages its water resources well and shares it equitably. Santosh managed to do this for his village. 

Manyali residents testing water from their well
A way to minimise agricultural problems in India
The concepts of System of Rice Intensification help farmers adopt practices based on their local conditions. Farmers, and an SRI expert in Chhattisgarh, show how it has worked for them. Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 10:10 AM

Muneswar and more than 170 farmers in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh have no regrets after shifting over from traditional agricultural methods of farming to the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method. Why would they? Most of them have been overwhelmed by the kind of returns they have got compared to their investments.

SRI beneficiaries in Ambikapur
Lake Alive: The Puttenahalli Kere Habba 2015
This event in Bangalore brought together children, people, photographers and cartoonists -- all for the love of their lake! Posted on 23 Feb, 2015 09:09 PM
The morning of the Kere Habba on February 21, 2015, saw over 30 volunteers coming in as early as 7 a.m. and setting to work stringing festoons and paper lanterns between trees, sticking event posters, and more. Almost all the decorative items were home made by the children and adults.
Pied kingfishers squabbling for the catch
The pond with a purpose
The residents of Gobariya village built two ponds for livestock rearing and horticulture, but a chance discovery led to them becoming a quicker and better income generator. Posted on 21 Feb, 2015 06:02 PM

The Bhuiyas, a group of people who belong to the Scheduled Castes in Jharkhand and Bihar, have historically been landless foragers -- a fact reflected in their name which means 'of the earth'.

Celebrating the pond at Gobaria
Water Untouched: A film on Dalits' lack of access
Forming 17% of India's popultion, Dalits still have to depend on the goodwill of dominant castes for many things including access to basics. Why? Posted on 19 Feb, 2015 08:59 AM

“The Dalits of this country get access to water on the goodwill of the dominant caste. Water to untouchables is still miles away,” says Goldy M George, a Dalit activist and an expert on Dalit rights.

A Dalit woman in Ekta Nagar, Raipur
Arid, but water secure in Kutch
Reduced migration, better hygiene practices and access to information on govt. schemes were only some of the achievements of villages in Rapar, Gujarat. The videos tell the full story. Posted on 16 Feb, 2015 11:34 PM

For many in Rapar taluka of Kutch, migration was a way of life due to the absence of rainfall; they went in search of greener pastures. But when the people realised their collective potential and how they could use it to resolve water scarcity in their villages, there was no stopping them ,and the compulsion to migrate reduced.

Rearing livestock: the mainstay of people in Rapar
Studying springs: A matter of life and death
Mountain dwellers across India are learning hydrogeology in a bid to save their dying springs. In the process, they are also revolutionizing their lives. Posted on 16 Feb, 2015 10:55 PM

Hydrogeology has, before this, been considered a highly specialised field known only to dedicated academics.

Learning hydrogeology informs spring restoration
The dark life of the Kelo
Senior journalist Shiv Rajpoot, who has traveled across the Kelo river in Chhattisgarh twice by foot, shares the story of its transformation. Posted on 15 Jan, 2015 11:52 PM

"The Kelo river has never been like this but in the last two decades, the economic growth in the region has spoiled the purity of the river", says eminent journalist  Shiv Rajpoot from Raigarh, who is also known as "Kelo man". He has twice traveled by foot, the 90 km stretch of the Kelo from its origin to its end.

The objectives of his two visits were to study and document:

Shiv Rajpoot during his Kelo Yatra, 2008
Ganga Maiyya ki Jai': Uma Bharti at the Ganga Mahasabha
Listen to (and read the text of) Uma Bharti, the Minister of Water Resources, talk about her Ministry's plans for the Ganga including riverfront development. Posted on 15 Jan, 2015 05:57 PM

Banaras has always been identified with Baba Vishwanath but Modiji said that he had been called here by the Ganga. Ganga was thus present in the election atmosphere. When he extended the cabinet, he established a ministry for the Ganga. Some unprecedented things have happened in these elections.

Boats on the ganga
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