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November 6, 2022
Protecting children from climate change impact not child's play
In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
October 22, 2022
Employment guarantee during Covid-19
Role of MGNREGA in the year after the 2020 lockdown: Survey findings from Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh
MGNREGA provided income support or security to vulnerable households during the pandemic (Image: UN Women)
October 14, 2022
Lack of data professionals in the impact sector
Arthan organizes a fireside chat to highlight the need for more data talent for social impact
There is a need to integrate data science into the existing education system (Image: Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, Public Domain Pictures)
September 9, 2022
Creating jobs while managing air quality
Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST
An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
July 14, 2022
Ichamati: River of poetry is dying a slow death
The river is faced with the dual problem of flood plain encroachment and growing levels of water pollution
Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
July 10, 2022
Slow onset climate-induced disasters leaving migrants at greater risk of human trafficking
People in India fleeing disasters like drought more likely to have experienced trafficking or modern slavery than those fleeing floods or cyclones
The country's climate change assessment suggests things are only going to get worse (Image: Saurav Karmakar, India Water Portal Flickr)
Cauvery riverfront development plan gets an approval
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 22 Jan, 2020 08:41 PM

Cauvery riverfront development plan gets a nod
Cauvery river at Hogenakal, Karnataka (Source: IWP Flickr Photos via Claire Arni and Oriole Henri)
India’s food systems in transition
A recent book looks at solutions to the various obstacles that impede India’s various food sub-systems.
Prabhu Pingali
Anaka Aiyar
Mathew Abraham
Andaleeb Rahman
Posted on 22 Jan, 2020 11:45 AM

A recent book ‘Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India’ by the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) at Cornell University provides a detailed assessment of the major paradoxes of the Indian growth story.
Organic food (Image: P L Tandon, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
A climate change wake-up call
Climate change can lead to large-scale economic knock-on effects, says a McKinsey Global Institute report.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 21 Jan, 2020 06:53 AM

A new McKinsey Global Institute report, ‘Climate risk and response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts’, suggests that many assumptions about the pote
Heat-exposed work has produced about half of India’s GDP, and employs about 75 percent of the labor force. There will be a need to shift working hours for outdoor workers and undertake heat management efforts (Image: Ian D Keating, Flickr Commons, CC BY 2.0)
The Karnataka State Water Policy 2019
The Karnataka Jnana Aayoga (KJA) set up a Task Group to draft a new water policy for Karnataka in December 2017 and the report is now in public domain. What are the suggestions that the report makes?
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 20 Jan, 2020 11:42 AM

The water crisis in Karnataka has not only led to severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains region but also created an acute shortage of domestic water, in both rural and urban areas. The 21st century has seen significant changes in demography, economy and agriculture, increasing the demand for water in the state.
Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Can ruin of quality forests be made up by plantations?
There is a gain in forest cover outside forest land as per the 'State of forest report 2019'. But, can reforestation replace natural forests and its essential ecosystem?
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 18 Jan, 2020 04:49 PM

The recently released biennial State of India’s Forest Report 2019 (SFR) indicates an improvement in forest cover since 2017 but dense forests continue to turn into non-forests.
Chir pine trees felled by forest fires in Uttarakhand, 2016 (Image: Ramwik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Water-related crime doubles in India: Report
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 16 Jan, 2020 08:28 AM

Number of water-related crimes double in India: Report
Water-related crime doubles in India (Image Source: Sourabh Phadke)
Government notifies new wetland conservation rules
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 16 Jan, 2020 08:17 AM

Environment Ministry notifies new wetland conservation rules
Deepor Beel, a wetland in Assam (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Whose forests, whose rights?
While forest bureaucracy has been trying to undermine reforms in forest governance in India, the need for community level forest governance is more urgent than ever.
Sharachchandra Lele
Posted on 15 Jan, 2020 02:58 PM

India’s forest sector, at crossroads
Mangar Bani, a green patch between Faridabad and Gurgaon (Image: Pradip Krishen, Facebook)
Karnataka farmers cope as wells fail
A study looks at how households adapt to slow-moving environmental changes such as groundwater depletion.
David Blakeslee
Ram Fishman
Veena Srinivasan
Posted on 13 Jan, 2020 07:08 PM

Like in many parts of India, Karnataka’s groundwater is a vital source of irrigation water, but has been depleted by a combination of a prolonged, multi-year drought and intensive extraction. Worsening agro-climatic and environmental conditions are threatening the incomes of smallholder farmers and hampering the continued progress in poverty eradication.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr; Image used for representational purposes only)
Groundwater variability: The tale of two states
Gujarat shows good groundwater storage while Rajasthan shows severe groundwater depletion, inspite of both states in western India receiving good rainfall. Why is this so?
Rakesh Meghwal
Deep Shah
Vimal Mishra
Posted on 12 Jan, 2020 09:28 AM

India, a groundwater stressed country
Groundwater decline in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
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