Droughts and Floods

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December 12, 2022 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 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 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 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 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 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)
Flood batters Assam, over 16 lakh people hit
News this week Posted on 09 Jul, 2020 11:30 AM

Flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim

Assam plaued by the annual flood menace (Image Source: Akash Basumatari)
Floods in Bihar: Helping government fight embankment breach
As fear of flood looms over Bihar, the state government has launched the campaign #HelloWRD for people to reach out to them if they observe any embankment breach or crack in their area. Posted on 08 Jul, 2020 10:01 PM

Every year, incessant rainfall during the monsoon causes floods in the state, with North Bihar being the worst affected.

Ways in which the government can be informed about the embankment breach in your area (Image source: Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar, Twitter handle)
Surviving in uncertainty
Gram Vikas stepped up to ensure access to adequate food and to strengthen dignified income-earning opportunities for the most vulnerable households. Posted on 08 Jul, 2020 07:33 PM

Uncertainty - the pervasive feeling that all of us have been living with from the middle of March 2020. It's the same in our partner villages in Odisha and Jharkhand. Communities we work with have been facing and overcoming uncertainties all through their lives. But this time, the crisis has put unusual stress on their abilities to cope.

Image: Ajaya Behera
Covid-19 and floods: A double whammy for Assam
Assam is plagued by the annual flood menace, but this time it is battling the fury of floods amid the coronavirus pandemic. Posted on 04 Jul, 2020 07:52 PM

It is an annual episode that plays itself out. Assam is, once again, reeling under flood – loss of human and animal life, severe damage to agricultural crops, property, millions of people displaced from their homes, absence of flood preparedness or early warning systems, delayed relief action by the government and the silent apathy of the mainstream media.

A reflection on multi-faceted droughts in Bundelkhand region
Alternatives have to be re-adapted to the understanding of droughts in the wake of climate change. Posted on 01 Jul, 2020 03:10 PM

Drought conditions are not new to Bundelkhand. The acute situation now is a convergence of three types of droughts – meteorological, agricultural and hydrological - cumulatively coinciding as witnessed in Nunagar village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh. We saw hundreds of vessels queuing up at the panchayat well.

Child walks through the parched field for kilometers to fetch water in peak summer in village Banjari (Image: Reshma Sahoo)
Protecting mangroves, to deal with cyclones
Mangroves not only help India economically by protecting coastal assets during cyclones, but also help by protecting people in densely populated coastal areas. Posted on 23 Jun, 2020 04:36 PM

Coastal flooding is rising in India and recent evidence shows that as high as 36 million Indians will be at the risk of chronic flooding by 2050.

Mangroves of the Sundarbans. (Source: Nature Environment & Wildlife Society - NEWS)
Flood threat looms amid Covid-19 in Bihar
Can Bihar deal with the double whammy of Covid-19 and the annual floods? Posted on 23 Jun, 2020 03:09 PM

Bihar’s annual floods are right around the corner and there is a fear that the flood hazard will collide with the Covid-19 pandemic and amplify it in a manner that emergency responses to both will get disrupted. The state’s strategy to mitigate the effects of flooding needs to be updated in light of the deadly pandemic.

An aerial view of flood affected areas in Kosi river, Bihar on August 28, 2008 (Image: Publi.Resource.Org; Flickr Commons (CC BY 2.0))
Living through Cyclone Amphan and Covid-19: Climate change and water security
In the face of frequent cyclones and floods in the region, investment and long term planning is needed on making basic services of drinking water resilient. Posted on 07 Jun, 2020 11:33 AM

The nomenclature of cyclones and hurricanes is developed much in advance through multilateral processes in the region. The name Amphan (Sky in Thai and Akash in Bangla) was chosen from a long list of potential disasters long back.

Millions of people in India and Bangladesh lost their means of employment, food, water and homes in one go during the cyclone (Image: Srikanth Kolari/ActionAid India)
Centre approves JJM funds to Odisha and Chhattisgarh for this financial year
Policy matters this week Posted on 05 Jun, 2020 05:23 PM

Government approves Jal Jeevan Mission funds for Odisha and Chhattisgarh

Child drinks water from a tap (Image: Imal Hashemi/Taimani Films/World Bank, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Cyclone Nisarga hits Maharashtra coast, causes intense rains in western districts
News this week Posted on 05 Jun, 2020 01:03 PM

Making a landfall in Raigad district, cyclone Nisarga wanes but causes heavy rains in western Maharashtra

In a cyclone in 2016, thousands of trees were uprooted (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
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