Success Stories and Case Studies

A picture paints a thousand words? So do comics!
Local jokes, dialogues and narratives from issues of community quarrels over water tanks to rainwater harvesting came alive in a Grassroots Comics workshop in Sikkim to mark World Water Day. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:31 PM

As a run up to World Water Day 2014, India Water Portal conducted a Grassroots Comics workshop with Field Facilitators, Barefoot Engineers and other field workers of the Dhara Vikas Programme.

Does tapping regional springs affect the Western Ghats?
Dr. Jared Buono, hydrologist at NGO Gram Pari, spoke of a project that helped revive springs in the Western Ghats at an event organised by IIT Mumbai and India Water Portal to mark World Water Day. Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:08 PM

The Western Ghats are made of up basalt rocks, which were formed from lava flows. These rocks are also known as water buckets as they are able to retain a lot of water. This unique feature helps create springs. At an event organised by IIT Mumbai and India Water Portal to mark World Water Day, Dr. Jared Buono talked about how springs were revived in Panchgani with the help of spring boxes.

World Water Day at IIT-Bombay
Barter by the beel
The centuries old Jon beel mela in Assam has a unique ritual- a barter between the tribes of the nearby hills and plains. Will urbanisation let the historic festival thrive? Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:33 PM

This was my first time here. I had heard of this festival, perhaps the only existing one in India, where barter takes place at such a scale. Jon Beel mela in Jon Beel, Jagiroad Assam- a historic festival where people from the hills and plains come together for a unique exchange of goods and agricultural produce near a moon-shaped wetland.

Eatables laid out for exchange at Jon beel mela
A pathway for water
Pophala, a village that was dry land farming in Aurangabad, channeled the rainwater it harvested by way of trenches. The drinking water wells are now full and their crop variety has increased. Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:18 PM

Pophala is a dry land farming village with 73 families that cultivate 290 acres. The people would spend as many as 5 hours to go to another village and get water. In the year 2013, the Gram Sabha in Pophala village, decided on something unique. They decided to figure out a way to get and keep water in their village so as to not be dependent on anyone else. 

From dry land farming to Water conservation
No water, no power - no problem!
Sea-Line Co-operative Society, an apartment community in Mumbai, is now completely water and partially power-secure thanks to good initiative, planning and management. Posted on 23 Mar, 2014 10:46 PM

Sea Line Co-operative Society, is a residential complex with 25 apartments in Bandra-a suburb in Mumbai. The 70 residents required 6000 kilolitres (KL) water per year but they managed to procure just about 5000 KL while paying through their noses - Rs. 20,000 per month, to be exact.

Navin Chandra, near the water treatment plant
Cleaning up: From Canada to Kharaudi
NRIs from Punjab have funded sanitation and development initiatives in their native villages, but this model of development is not without its share of hurdles. Posted on 23 Mar, 2014 10:20 PM

In 2003, President Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam visited a small village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. Kharaudi had done something he thought others could emulate.

Sewerage work at a project village
A village becomes water secure
Implementing rooftop rainwater harvesting, treating the catchment and building a community water tank are some reasons why Patkhori village is starting to sail through its water crisis. Posted on 23 Mar, 2014 10:12 PM

Mewat, a historical region comprising of the present Mewat district of Haryana and parts of Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts of Rajasthan, lies in a semi-arid belt. It experiences variable rainfall annually and receives, on average, 336 mm to 540 mm, as per the Mewat Development Agency.

Water scarcity in Mewat
Shifting cultivation for a changing climate
The 'Jhum' farming system has been criticized as an environmentally unsustainable practice but do the strengths of the system offer a better chance in the wake of a changing climate? Posted on 12 Mar, 2014 10:07 AM

Shifting cultivation, locally called 'Jhum', is a widely practiced system of crop cultivation among the indigenous communities of Northeast India. While it is generally contested as a destructive method of farming, it is also argued that the system lends itself as much more than just a farming practice.

Jhum farmer sifting rice
Envisioning the future
Rural communities in Lakhimpur district of Assam engaged in an interesting exercise of visualising their possible futures in the context of climate change-to prepare themselves for an emergency. Posted on 07 Mar, 2014 10:33 AM

Looking through that peephole where the future seems dark and bleak conjures up discomfort. We would all rather envision a better, happier tomorrow but anticipating a possible bleak future is crucial for communities to plan in the context of changes, says Dr. Petra Tschakert, Professor of Geography at Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Floods in Jiadhol river (Source: Amita Bhaduri)
A school for 'dropouts'
Vigyan Ashram, a vocational education school in Pabal, Maharashtra, gives all students a second chance. It teaches innovation and creativity and encourages them to learn by doing. Posted on 24 Feb, 2014 04:29 PM

'Development through Education and Education through development’ is the motto of Vigyan Ashram, a residential school situated in Pabal, Maharashtra. Dr.Kalbaug founded Vigyan Ashram on the principles of natural systems of learning.

An Ashram built by its students, for its students
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