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)
Changing with the seasons: How Himalayan communities cope with climate change - A report by Peoples’ Science Institute
This report presents the findings of a participatory study in the Bhagirathi and Pindar valleys of Uttarakhand to determine the effects of climate change that have the most impact on rural livelihoods
Chicu Lokgariwar
Peoples’ Science Institute
Posted on 14 Jun, 2011 10:51 PM

 Mountain areas and communities are susceptible to climate change. This work also yielded evidence of the coping strategies developed by the communities to deal with an unprecedented and only partially understood threat. This paper describes these strategies and attempts to assess the vulnerability of the communities in each valley.

Accessing safe drinking water during floods in North Bihar
North Bihar has the distinction of having an additional season in a calendar year, clearly identified by the misery, destruction and fatality accompanying it.
Eklavya Prasad
Posted on 13 Jun, 2011 03:23 PM

This season in the region is commonly referred to as – Barh (flood). For centuries local people have treated it as ‘a way of life’, and found ways to deal with it. Post independence, this ‘way of life’ gradually transformed into an assured annual devastation. The once self-sufficient communities in the flood plains have been relegated to being highly dependent on sources external to the village for their survival during floods.

Inviting abstracts for documenting flood-induced conflicts in India - Apply by 8th June, 2011
Posted on 26 May, 2011 12:57 PM

Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India

The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, a network of organisations and individuals having interest, experience and expertise in understanding conflicts arising around water in the country and exploring options to resolve these water conflicts in the interests of peace and equitable sharing, management and development of water resources. The Forum presently is in its second phase of work and the focus is on conflict documentation, conflict resolution and conflict prevention. Hence, an effort to document flood induced conflicts in India, an issue that has remained unexplored until date. In fact in its first phase the Forum had documented more than 60 cases of different types of water conflicts and this compendium has published by Routledge as a book: Water Conflicts in India: A Million Revolts in the Making.

Water scarcity in adivasi villages in Dungarpur, Rajasthan - Audio updates from CGNet Swara
Abu Taleb Khan and Aneesh Ahmed are working in Srishti Sewa Samiti in Dungarpur. They are visiting some adivasi villages in this district in South Rajasthan and are reporting from a village.
CGNet Swara
Posted on 19 May, 2011 11:18 AM


Click here to read the entire article
Flood extent in Pakistan - Updates from NASA Earth Observatory
Monsoon rains are a regular occurrence in parts of Pakistan, but the monsoon rains that arrived in the summer of 2010 were anything but normal.
NASA Earth Observatory
Posted on 26 Apr, 2011 11:41 AM

 

 La Niña conditions increased atmospheric moisture and an unusual pattern in the jet stream trapped rainy weather over the country. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, nationwide rain totals were 70 percent above normal in July, and 102 percent above normal in August.

Flood extent in Pakistan - Updates from NASA Earth Observatory

Call for ICSSR fellowship (Research Assistant Position) on 'Drought Vulnerability & Mitigation Analysis' at NIDM, New Delhi
Posted on 18 Apr, 2011 11:57 AM

Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)Under its responsive role the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) has an elaborate programme of supporting research to individual scholars by offering them fellowships at different levels in social science disciplines.

ICSSR has granted a research project at National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) on 'Vulnerability Assessment and Mitigation Analysis for Drought Risk in Bundelkhand' for 15 months period. Fellow will be advised/promoted to register for Ph.D. in a University.

Transparent & participatory governance in functioning of the decision-making committees on water resources
This article presents the text of an open letter to Ministry of Water Resources from a group of civil society representatives, 13 April 2011
South Asia Network on Dams
Rivers & People (SANDRP)
Posted on 16 Apr, 2011 03:46 PM

To
Shri Salman Khurshid,
Union Minister of Water Resources,
Shramshakti Bhawan,
Rafi Marg,
New Delhi - 110001

2. Secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources
3. Chairman, Central Water Commission
4. Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
5. Member (Water), Planning Commission
6. Ms Aruna Roy, Chairperson, Working Group on Transparency, Accountability, Governance at National Advisory Council

Heavy rains and dry lands don t mix: Reflections on the 2010 Pakistan flood - Article from NASA Earth Observatory
Each summer, monsoon rains soak India and Bangladesh. In nearby Pakistan, the rains are usually less intense, more intermittent, and centred in the northeast.
Michon Scott
Posted on 16 Apr, 2011 03:42 PM


Flooding forced millions of Pakistanis to flee their homes in July and August 2010.Flooding forced millions of Pakistanis to flee their homes in July and August 2010.

 

The summer of 2010 was different. In July and August, rain fell over most of Pakistan and persisted in some places for weeks.

Lingering floods in Pakistan - Updates from Earth Observatory
Monsoon rains fall on Pakistan every summer, but the summer of 2010 was extraordinary.
NASA Earth Observatory
Posted on 15 Apr, 2011 09:49 AM

 

A combination of factors, including La Niña and a strange jet stream pattern, caused devastating floods. The Indus River rapidly rose, and a dam failure in Sindh Province sent part of the river down an alternate channel. The resulting floodwater lake lingered for months, leaving crops, roads, airports, even entire communities underwater.
Farming practices in different water regimes: Action - Newsletter of AFPRO for April 2011
Action for Food Production(AFPRO) news letter - Volume 2, Issue 1 of April 2011, focuses on the following topics.
Action for Food Production (AFPRO
Posted on 14 Apr, 2011 07:22 PM


Action for Food Production
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