Ecology and Environment

About Arghyam

Organisers

Bottled drinks are commonplace and we often reach for them without a thought. We may even feel good about our purchase as we read about the companies' commitment to water security' printed on the label. 

What does 'being water positive' really mean for the villages where manufacturing plants are situated ? This article examines the case of one such plant in Mehdiganj, PO Benipur, Arajiline block, Dist Varanasi and its effect on the groundwater levels in the area. The village has led an agitation against 4 specific negative impacts of the plant, acheiving moderate but measurable success.

This year, the movement comes to a crisis point as despite a warning by the Central Groundwater Development Board, the plant applies for a four-fold expansion.  

Pure and beautiful, mountain springs confer lives. With change in climate conditions and rainfall patterns, rural habitations in Sikkim face drinking water shortages. Many of these springs are drying up or their discharge declining. But there is hope at the end of an endeavour, where science, government and community come together to revive springs of their local region.

Biodiversity information management using informatics techniques began in 1970s and since then there have been several initiatives by taxonomists, researchers and curators across the world.

Uday Shankar from water.org welcomed the audience and introduced the issue of access to safe water and sanitation. Gary White, water.org, set the tone of the seminar by explaining his organisation’s vision of ‘getting safe water’ for everyone.

'Timbaktu' describes the motivation, efforts and results of the Timbaktu collective started in the 1980s by Mary and Bablu Ganguly.  Just as important, it narrates the story of a couple with a dream, and how they made it come true.

Water rights are being discussed today as a possibility. This will lead to civil war in this country. Rights are meaningless without paying attention to duties. It is our constitutional duty to preserve and heal our environment. 

If we pay attention to freeing our waters:

This story of the untiring efforts of a commerce ex-lecturer to convert twenty five acres of a barren piece of land into a self sustainable green farm, provides an ideal example of a model for rainwater harvesting and demonstrates how persistence and the sheer determination to go on till the end, can yield miraculous results.