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)
Compensate affected farmers: HC to Narmada Authority
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 30 Jun, 2014 09:07 AM

High Court raps Narmada Authority over incomplete canal work
State of an irrigation canal at Khargone district
Dam' safety and management!
A recent accident that killed 24 students in Himachal Pradesh has pointed fingers yet again to the much neglected area of dam safety. More than assigning blame, it's time we assigned responsibility.
Ravleen Kaur
Posted on 24 Jun, 2014 09:10 PM

Twenty four students were washed away in the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh earlier this month. The students, all from an engineering college in Hyderabad, were picknicking in the river on their way back from the tourist town of Manali. While cooling their heels in the knee deep water and clicking photographs, they missed the rising wall of water that engulfed them in minutes.
Dam induced terror (Source: Matu Jan Sangathan)
Global surface temperature breaks earlier records
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 24 Jun, 2014 05:30 PM

Global surface temperature breaks past records
Severe heat hits all (Source: Deccan Chronicle)
Call for abstracts for International Conference on Sustainable materials and Innovative technologies in Civil Engineering, Nehru Institute for Technology, Coimbatore
The Conference focusses on creating sustainable public infrastructure including water resources
Posted on 18 Jun, 2014 04:35 PM

The water related themes of the Conference are

- Integerated Water Resources management

- Coastal Zone Management

- Groundwater quality

- Urban flooding and landslides

- Ocean infrastructure development

- Global warming and its impact on water resources

- Wastewater treatment and pollution control technologies
Conference on Technologies in Civil Engineering
Doomed by displacement
The Hirakud dam in Odisha was supposed to control flooding and bring people water and power. Instead, it has taken away their livelihoods and only brought them hardship and misery.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 11 Jun, 2014 09:07 PM

The Hirakud Dam project is the oldest of its kind in India. The dam was built across the Mahanadi river about 15 kms upstream of Sambalpur in the state of Odisha. It is the first major multipurpose river valley project in post-independent India and also one of its longest.
Hirakud, India's oldest dam
Ecologists don't buy new Ganga rejuvenation plan
There is no clear mandate for the new 'Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation' set up by the Modi government.
Ravleen Kaur
Posted on 04 Jun, 2014 05:42 AM

True to the promises made during election campaigning, Narendra Modi, India's 15th Prime Minister announced measures to clean up the Ganga as soon as he assumed office. A new Ministry in charge of river issues has been created.
Ganga at Varanasi (Source: Patrick Barry)
Himachal prone to Uttarakhand-like flash floods
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 02 Jun, 2014 04:24 PM

Scientists say Himachal prone to Uttarakhand-like flash floods
Glacier lake in HP (Source: Ankit Solanki)
Use clean coal, NGT tells Mahagenco
Policy matters this week
Ravleen Kaur
Posted on 27 May, 2014 01:02 PM

NGT tells Mahagenco to use clean coal
Fly ash pollution (Source: The Hindu)
Access to clean water and sanitation: the rural-urban gap closes
News this week
Ravleen Kaur
Posted on 27 May, 2014 12:21 PM

The rural-urban divide in access to sanitation reduces: UN
Many rural areas have free toilets
NGT orders Singrauli power plants to supply drinking water to residents
Policy matters this week
Ravleen Kaur
Posted on 21 May, 2014 08:48 AM
NGT orders Singrauli power plants to supply drinking water to residents
Singrauli Coal Mines (Source: UA Satish on Flickr)
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