Climate and Weather

Featured Articles
December 12, 2022
Why farmers are not adopting crop insurance in India?
Study looks at behavioral biases in crop insurance adoption
Adoption rate of crop insurance low in India despite government efforts (Image: PxHere, CC0 Public Domain)
September 13, 2022
Chaos in a concrete jungle
Heavy rains and floods have battered Bengaluru yet again. Uncontrolled and unregulated development and concretisation of the city that pays no heed to the ecology and hydrology of the region needs to stop!
Urban flooding in Bangalore (Image Source: Thejas via Wikimedia Commons)
August 11, 2022
India’s rivers in trouble due to high fertilizer load and heavy monsoons
This could lead to water quality crisis reinforcing the need for basin-specific management strategies
Around the world, more than a fifth of nitrogen released by human activity ends up in aquatic ecosystems (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
May 24, 2022
Droughts reduce India's GDP by 5 percent in twenty years
News this fortnight
India, vulnerable to droughts (Image: Pixabay; hbieser)
May 14, 2022
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.
Climate change is real. What does it mean for India? (Image Source: Robert Hensley/Wikimedia Commons)
March 29, 2022
India, in the hot seat!
The intensity and duration of heat waves is predicted to increase in India and human induced anthropogenic changes are to blame.
A man sits under the scorching heat of the sun in front of Amer fort in Jaipur (Picture courtesy: Prabhu B Doss, Flickr Commons: CC-By-NC-ND-2.0)
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.
Dinesh Mishra
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
Small farming needs a budget boost
The asks of the Agriculture sector are many but what all must the budget focus on? A National Convention on Budget 2015-16 by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability looks at these.
Centre for Budgetary and Governance Accountability
Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 10:02 AM

The agriculture sector has been playing a significant role in shaping India’s overall growth trajectory. What promising initiatives should the Budget 2015-16 come up with? Should it extend timely credit facilities to farmers belonging to all the farming categories? Should it extend crop insurance facilities to all farmers and for all crops? 
Farmer in Palamau; Image: VSK, Palamau
Climate change threatens Indian mangroves
Increase in temperatures, carbon dioxide concentration, rise in sea levels and extreme weather events like cyclones and droughts, are predicted to have deleterious effects on Indian mangroves.
S. Sandilyan
Posted on 21 Feb, 2015 07:20 PM

India’s 7500 km coastal line supports nearly 4, 87,100 hectares of mangroves. These unique ecosystems harbour nearly 3985 species of flora and fauna. Due to the increasing effects of climate change, mangrove forests in the country are under serious threat.

What are mangroves?
Sundarban mangrove (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Groundwater resources race against time
Development and urbanisation have already put pressure on groundwater resources in the fragile Himalayan region. So, what is the current status of groundwater resources of this unique region?
Central Ground Water Board
Ministry of Water Resources
Government of India
Posted on 21 Feb, 2015 12:36 PM

The Himalayas, an important part of the geography of India, extend along the entire Northern and North-Eastern boundary of the country. It spans six Indian States namely, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Sikkim and a major part of Arunachal Pradesh from west to east.
A view of the majestic Himalayas
Mazhapolima: Recharging open wells in Kerala
The science behind Mazhapolima is perhaps best suited for Kerala’s context but it has truly created opportunities for people to participate in a movement. Here's a look at how it has worked there.
Ayan Biswas
Posted on 16 Feb, 2015 10:10 PM

Mazhapolima is an open well recharge programme based on rainwater harvesting in Kerala.
Mazhapolima Wells (Source:IWP)
RWH: A tale of two successful states
Rainwater harvesting is a cost effective solution to bridge the gap between water availability and demand. Jodhpur and Goa, areas with low and high rainfall, have shown how.
Centre for Science and Environment
Posted on 16 Feb, 2015 09:11 PM

As the race to bridge the gap between limited water availability and increasing demand for water narrows in India, rain water harvesting has been increasingly recommended in urban areas to harness the available water, rather than relying on expensive and unsustainable means of procuring water.  
Urban Rainwater Harvesting
Climate change: Slow it down or deal with it?
Climate change is for real and there are two responses – mitigation or adaptation. What does the Union Budget need to do about climate change adaptation?
Centre for Budgetary and Governance Accountability
Posted on 15 Feb, 2015 02:38 PM

Should the next Union Budget go all-in on climate change? Should clean energy, state incentives, mitigation and adaptation all emerge as priorities? How will the administration deal with extreme weather events that become more common with climate change?
Climate change adaptation (Source: VSK, Palamau)
Call for papers for the workshop on 'Regulation and management of groundwater in the age of climate change: Need for legal reforms in India', National Law University, New Delhi
This workshop seeks to bring together experts to discuss the ways in which groundwater law (and water law more generally) needs to evolve to reflect and respond to climate change.
Posted on 11 Feb, 2015 12:37 PM

Call for papers

The workshop is an opportunity for academics, students, practitioners and activists to come together, exchange ideas, and discuss emerging issues relating to implications of climate change on groundwater in India and the legal responses. The workshop will combine sessions with invited speakers and presentations and discussions of research papers.
NLUD workshop on climate change and groundwater
State Action Plans for climate change analysed
5 states, which submitted Action Plans on how to tackle climate change in a decentralised manner, have made limited progress due to many reasons including a lack of clarity in recommendations made.
Navroz K Dubash
Anu Jogesh
Posted on 21 Jan, 2015 06:20 PM

Recent years have shown a growing awareness on the relevance of climate change for India within the government as well as civil society, business and media. India has prepared its National Action Plan on Climate Change amidst growing international pressure to devise domestic climate adaptation strategies.
Mountains in the catchment area of Khadakwasla dam
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.
Makarand Purohit
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
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