Research Papers
More rice for people - More water for the planet - A WWF-ICRISAT report about System of Rice Intensification
Posted on 02 Aug, 2010 02:08 AMThis project report by WWF-ICRISAT begins by highlighting the importance of rice as a major source of calories for half the world’s population and also as the single largest source of employment and income for the rural population.
It makes connections between rice production and its impact on the environment and argues for need to adopt techniques such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to improve produce and reduce the damage to the environment.
For example, current practices at genetic uniformity can make crops more vulnerable to pests and diseases. They are also wasteful of increasingly scarce and costly resources such as water and fossil fuels. Heavily fertilised, continuously flooded rice fields produce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, and misuse of inorganic fertilisers and agrochemicals results in soil and water pollution. Evidence indicates that there has been a gradual slowdown in the yield gains of rice in many countries.
Rapid assessment survey of Kodaikanal lake - ENVIS Centre (TN) (2009)
Posted on 02 Aug, 2010 02:02 AMThis document by the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu highlights the importance of the Kodaikanal lake as an important tourist destination and warns that this freshwater lake is under the threat of getting polluted and its biodiversity endangered.
The document presents the findings of the study that aimed at assessing the physico-chemical and biological quality of the Kodaikanal lake.
Evidence indicates that unrestricted tourism activities have led to high use of plastic bottles, glass bottles, plastic bags, causing high levels of pollution and silting of the lake. Damaged fibreglass boats left inside the lakes also pose a serious threat to the lake ecosystem.
National Rural Drinking Water Programme - Framework for implementation - MoRD (2010)
Posted on 02 Aug, 2010 01:46 AMThe Government of India launched the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) in 1972-73 to ensure provision of adequate drinking water supply to the rural community through the Public Health Engineering System.
The second generation programme started with the launching of Technology Mission in 1986-87, renamed in 1991-92 as Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. Stress on water quality, appropriate technology intervention, human resource development support and other related activities were introduced in the rural water supply sector.
The third generation programme started in 1999-2000 when sector reform projects evolved to involve community in planning, implementation and management of drinking water related schemes, later scaled up as Swajaldhara in 2002.
The Rural Water Supply (RWS) sector has now entered the fourth phase with major emphasis on ensuring sustainability of water availability in terms of potability, adequacy, convenience, affordability and equity while also adopting decentralized approach involving PRIs and community organizations.
Decentralisation and water resources management in the Indian Himalayas: The contribution of new institutional theories - Conservation and Society paper
Posted on 02 Aug, 2010 01:31 AMThis paper discusses the relevance of the process of decentralisation in water resources management. The paper argues that decentralisation is not about formulating a top-down reform package to transfer power from central government to other actors to manage water resources, nor is it about emphasising the existence of the bottom up agency.
Rather, the paper draws on "New Institutionalism" and argues that decentralisation is a complex adaptive process that involves natural as well as political actions of actors and agents who draw on existing structures to negotiate and renegotiate the existing unequal power relations to manage water.
Salvaging and scapegoating: Slum evictions on Chennai’s waterways - EPW paper
Posted on 02 Aug, 2010 01:03 AMThe paper highlights the case of recent projects that have been planned on the river Cooum in Chennai.
K-East Ward Mumbai Water Distribution Improvement Project (WDIP): FAQs compiled by CASUMM
Posted on 01 Aug, 2010 03:58 PMThis document by Collaborative for the Advancement of the Study of Urbanism through Mixed Media (CASUMM) provides details about the K-East Water Distribution Improvement Project (WDIP) started in Mumbai, in the form of FAQs.
It argues that the very way in which the project is being planned and implemented, indicates that the agenda of the donor organisations is to gradually push for the privatisation in the water sector.
Water challenges in Greater Bangalore - NIAS-CASUMM workshop note (2007)
Posted on 01 Aug, 2010 03:36 PMThis document provides the background for a workshop on 'Water Challenges in Greater Bangalore', organised by NIAS and CASSUM at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Indian Institute of Science (IISC) campus on March 27, 2007.
The document highlights the current scenario of privatisation of water services that are being funded by international financial institutions under the water sector reforms in the city of Bangalore, which have had a very negative impact on the urban poor, who continue to face the problem of inadequate, unreliable and unsafe water supply as compared to other posh and water rich areas in the city.
The encroaching Ganga and social conflicts: The case of West Bengal
Posted on 01 Aug, 2010 01:39 AMThis report deals with the social conflicts emerging out of the encroachments owing to the change in course of the Ganga upstream and downstream of the Farakka barrage. The barrage was built with the intention of diverting water into the Hugli river with a view to flush the sediment load into the deeper part of the estuary and revive the navigational status of Kolkata port. During the last three decades of its operation, the silt-management in the barrage was given scant or no attention. The sediment movement in the tidal estuary of Hugli is a function of a complex fluvial system that can hardly be governed by inducing 40000 cusec of water.
Private investment in groundwater irrigation: Do the public institutions matter? - The case of West Bengal
Posted on 01 Aug, 2010 01:34 AMThis paper by Centre for Studies in Social Sciences and Jadavpur University, aims at explaining the factors that determine private investment in groundwater irrigation in West Bengal. It also addresses the issues pertaining to institutional arrangements, particularly provision of facilities by the government. The study, largely empirical in nature, is based on data collected from surveys conducted in close to one thousand moujas (villages) spread across the major agro-climatic zones in West Bengal. It begins with a descriptive account of the changes in the agricultural scenario in West Bengal over the last thirty years. The research questions are discussed and the econometric methodology presented.
Research outputs from National Institute of Hydrology for 1996 to 2001
Posted on 24 Jul, 2010 09:25 PMThe research outputs from National Institute of Hydrology have been divided according to the year of creation below. You can also view an excel spreadsheet