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)
Making the invisible, visible
The water stewardship initiative by WOTR that developed a tool to visualise aquifers has not only helped farmers understand groundwater as a shared resource, but also led to a behavioural change among water users and helped implement groundwater laws and policies.
Eshwer Kale
Marcella D'Souza; Sarita Chemburkar
Posted on 26 Apr, 2022 11:10 PM

Excessive dependence and unregulated use of groundwater is draining India dry with 84 percent of groundwater being used for irrigation and 90 percent for drinking in rural areas.
Groundwater, a fast disappearing resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
34 percent of India's coastline suffers from erosion, West Bengal worst affected
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 18 Apr, 2022 10:00 AM

West Bengal's coastline suffers the worst erosion while Goa's remains stable
Coast along the southern tip of the country (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
JJM coverage low in rural households of several large states: Parliamentary panel
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 06 Apr, 2022 03:38 PM

Several large states have low coverage of JJM in rural households: Panel expresses displeasure
Drinking water provision in rural school and hygiene (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
Options for flood risk reduction
How participatory is participatory flood risk mapping? Voices from the flood-prone Dharavi slum in Mumbai
Subhajyoti Samaddar
Ha Si
Xinyu Jiang
Junho Choi
Hirokazu Tatano
Posted on 02 Apr, 2022 10:54 AM

Participatory flood risk mapping is a well-recognized and widely implemented tool for meaningful community involvement in disaster risk reduction.
Need to enhance community participation through participatory flood risk mapping (Image: Ronie, Pixahive)
Delhi, sinking?
Rampant groundwater extraction in some areas of Delhi is leading to a dangerous fall in groundwater levels and increasing the risk of land subsidence, making the city prone to floods and water logging.
Shagun Garg
Mahdi Motagh
J. Indu
Vamshi Karanam
Posted on 18 Mar, 2022 10:28 AM

Delhi is facing the risk of land subsidence. And uncontrolled and illegal groundwater extraction is to blame!

What is land subsidence
The rapidly urbanisisng Delhi (Image Source: Lokantha at English Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons)
The tale of two disasters: Role of science communication for disaster risk reduction
Comparing two incidents of flash floods in the Garhwal region
Ishani Palandurkar
Praharsh M Patel
Posted on 15 Mar, 2022 10:43 AM

Over the years, the Himalayan climate has grown warmer, there are higher incidences of short but intense monsoon and hailstorms.
Aftermath caused by cloud burst and flood in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand (Image: Rahul Dixit, EGU)
87% of India's districts vulnerable to droughts: IMD
47% of India’s population is vulnerable to floods, says IMD's Climate Hazards Atlas
India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Posted on 10 Feb, 2022 06:31 PM

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recently come up with a ‘Climate hazards and vulnerability atlas of India’ which provides districts maps on hazard events and vulnerability for all the calendar months and at annual scale in India.

(Image: J Surya, CC-SA-4.0 International)
Goa’s mangrove cover increases while Sunderbans’ shrank: ISFR 2021
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 19 Jan, 2022 01:48 PM

Goa’s mangrove cover increases while Sunderbans’ shrank, reports India State of the Forest Report (ISFR) 2021
Mangroves in Sunderbans (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
From 58 percent in 2004, groundwater extraction rises to 63 percent in 2017: CAG
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 05 Jan, 2022 03:34 PM

Groundwater extraction increased from 58 percent in 2004 to 63 percent in 2017: CAG
Country's groundwater scenario is in a grim state (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Climate change and community resilience: Insights from South Asia
This book by ICIMOD and SANDEE draws on stories from seven countries in South Asia to highlight how communities are building resilience to climate change.
ICIMOD
SANDEE
Posted on 15 Dec, 2021 04:06 AM

The risks posed by climate change are no longer distant. Many countries have already started experiencing extreme climate events due to global warming.
Joining hands to cope with climate change (Image Source: Usha Dewani Das)
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