Droughts and Floods

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)
October 30, 2022
Slow disaster: Political ecology of hazards and everyday life in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam
This book by Dr. Mitul Baruah presents a fascinating, ethnographic account of the challenges faced by communities living in Majuli, India, one of the largest river islands in the world, which has experienced immense socio-environmental transformations over the years, processes that are emblematic of the Brahmaputra Valley as a whole. This is an excerpt from the book.
Floods are recurrent phenomena in Assam (Image: Mitul Baruah)
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 21, 2022
Floods – a boon than a bane!
Floods are not feared, but rather welcomed by the Mishing communities from Majuli island in Assam as they bring bountiful fish- a rich source of food, nutrition and livelihood for the community.
The Majuli island, a haven for fish (Image Source: Usha Dewani, India Water Portal)
August 10, 2022
Taming water - Irrigation and drought protection in colonial India and the present
The irrigation at all costs mindset and narrow policies for drought protection during the colonial rule ignored rainfed agriculture and local practices that sustained agriculture in the Bombay Deccan. This continues even today.
Recurrent droughts and the struggle for survival (Image Source: Gaurav Bhosale via Wikimedia Commons):
August 2, 2022
Floods in Assam - a boon or a bane for fish diversity?
The frequency and intensity of floods is on the rise in Assam spelling doom for fish biodiversity.
Life during floods in Assam (Image Source: Kausika Bordoloi via Wikimedia Commons)
3rd Indian National Groundwater Conference (INGWC-2020), CWRDM, Kozhikode
18-20 February 2020, Kozhikode Kerala
Posted on 02 Aug, 2019 01:26 AM

Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) is organizing the Indian National Groundwater Conference (INGWC-2020) to discuss 'Groundwater Resources Management for Sustaina
CWRDM INGC
Global freshwater fish species under grave threat: IUCN
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 24 Jul, 2019 05:01 PM

Alarming decline in global freshwater fish species: IUCN
Freshwater fish species across the world under grave threat (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Water Future Conference: Towards a Sustainable Future
At Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, September 24 to 27 2019
Posted on 22 Jul, 2019 11:56 AM

A Future Earth Conference

Opening new frontiers in water system diagnostics and innovative solutions to mitigate the 21st-century global water crisis
Rajasthan's ancient yet ever-evolving water heritage
A book documents the enormous range of water harvesting systems still in use in Rajasthan.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 21 Jul, 2019 11:10 AM

The state of Rajasthan has an immense range of ancient and ingenious water harvesting systems, like the famous johads or step wells managed by communities in the arid Thar desert, which receives very low rainfall.
The design of Chand baodi (stepwell) in Abhaneri village, Rajasthan, was intended to conserve as much water as possible (Image: Unseen Horizons, Flickr Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Floods grip Assam and Bihar
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 17 Jul, 2019 01:54 AM

Bihar and northeast India reel under floods
People take a boat to cross the flood-ravaged Brahmaputra (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Meghalaya draft water policy, Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill both get approval
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 16 Jul, 2019 10:34 PM

Meghalaya's draft water policy gets approval
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been fighting over Cauvery water sharing for a long time (Source: Wikipedia Commons)
Budget 2019 talks big on water
But have the crucial schemes received more money than last year? We talk to some experts in the water sector to find out.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 10 Jul, 2019 02:04 PM

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister alluded to gaon, garib and kisan as the centre of all policies of this government, while announcing a clutch of schemes aimed at the rural and urban poor.
Indian children tapping water (Image: Global Water Partnership, Flickr Commons, CC BY NC-SA 2.0)
Neglect and lack of monitoring behind country's water scarcity: CWC
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 10 Jul, 2019 09:20 AM

India not a water defict country. Neglect and lack of monitoring behind country's water scarcity: CWC
Queuing up for water (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Is it all downhill from here for Leh?
Rapid urban growth, scarce water resources and a high risk of natural disasters pose serious challenges for Leh's urban planning and governance.
Juliane Dame
Susanne Schmidt
Judith Müller
Marcus Nüsser
Posted on 09 Jul, 2019 02:05 PM

Across South Asia, small and medium-sized towns are rapidly expanding. Urbanisation has made inroads into the entire Himalayan region. Mountain urbanisation poses a need for assessments of emerging risks and vulnerabilities in environmentally sensitive regions.
The main bazaar of Leh (Image: Christopher Michel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Glacier melt threatens water reserves in Satluj basin
A new study finds that 55% of the glaciers in the Satluj basin could disappear by 2050 and 97% by 2090 due to climate change.
Veena Prasad et al
Posted on 08 Jul, 2019 12:28 PM

River Satluj, the powerhouse of the Himalayas
The Sutlej, from Bilaspur (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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