Irrigation

Featured Articles
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 9, 2022 Ensuring irrigation through farm ponds in tribal Chhattisgarh
Many tribal farmers opted for individual farm ponds under MGNREGA ensuring protective irrigation. (Image: Meenakshi Singh)
April 8, 2022 Lack of governance and six toothless irrigation acts have done very little to change the water situation on the ground in Maharashtra, argues water expert Pradeep Purandare.
Peanut irrigation in India (Image Source: Seratobikiba via Wikimedia Commons)
March 11, 2022 Subsidies enable tribal farmers to adopt micro-irrigation systems providing them assured irrigation
A key mitigation strategy to deal with water scarcity due to climate change is on-farm management of water using techniques like micro-irrigation (Image: India Water Portal Flickr)
September 17, 2021 Benefits of well-managed commons on livelihoods
Collective efforts revived the canal structure of Bichhiya dam bringing water to the village (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
August 29, 2021 Experience of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) in revitalizing the traditional phad irrigation system in hilly tribal villages of Western Madhya Pradesh
Community members contribute voluntary labour required for laying the pipeline network and tank construction (Image: Anjali Aggarwal)
Environmentalists protest proposed projects near Konkan coastline
News this week Posted on 09 Feb, 2016 12:48 PM

Activists stand against three proposed projects near Konkan coastline

A thermal power plant in Ennore, Chennai (Source: India Water Portal Flickr Photos)
Eight ministries now responsible for Ganga clean up
Policy matters this week Posted on 09 Feb, 2016 12:39 PM

Seven ministries other than the Water Ministry to help revive the Ganga

Ganga at Gadmukteshwar (Source: India Water Portal Flickr Photos)
Pumping up hopes the solar way
What will it take for the Haryana government to switch 7 lakh groundwater pumps to solar powered options so it can lower its energy footprint and contain losses in the energy sector? Posted on 28 Jan, 2016 03:29 PM

Haryana's agriculture sector uses seven lakh tubewells, most of which are connected to the grid as the state has a policy of providing highly subsidised electricity to farmers costing Rs. 6200 crore a year. As a result, groundwater exploitation is rampant.

Better incentives needs to be provided to farmers to use solar pumps for tubewells in Haryana
Government sets ambitious targets for MGNREGS
Policy matters this week Posted on 26 Jan, 2016 02:09 PM

Aiming for an outcome-oriented programme, Government sets ambitious targets for MGNREGS

Labourers building check dams under MGNREGS (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Why do farmers commit suicide in Marathwada?
Poor land holding capacity, lack of irrigation facilities and inability to repay loans taken for agricultural and personal use are some reasons for the pitiful state of many farmers. Posted on 17 Jan, 2016 09:11 PM

Marathwada, one of the most drought prone areas in Maharashtra, continues to be in the news over the last few months due to the severe agarian crisis that the region has been facing and the very high rates of farmers suicides.

Droughts in Marathwada (Source: India Water Portal)
Lessons on ecology from the Apatani tribe in Ziro Valley
The Apatani tribe in Arunachal Pradesh is known for its paddy cum fish agriculture. They practice this as well as other sustainable water management techniques that allow them to coexist and thrive. Posted on 17 Jan, 2016 03:42 PM

Ziro Valley, which figures in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a unique cultural landscape, sits at a height of 5600 feet in Arunachal Pradesh. It is inhabited by the Apatani tribe who are completely confined to the valley.

Rice fields at Ziro valley with sacred groves in the backdrop
Ken-Betwa river gets some respite
Statutory clearance not given for the much touted Ken-Betwa model link project of the Interlinking of Rivers programme due to extreme social and environmental concerns. Posted on 08 Jan, 2016 01:03 PM

In December 2015, more than forty years after it was conceived, the Government was set to launch India’s ambitious 30-link river interlinking project linking 37 rivers.

View of Betwa river (Source: Manual Menal, Wikimedia Commons)
Rice-fish culture transforms the lives of cyclone-hit farmers in Odisha
Rice-fish systems allow for the production of fish and other aquatic animals as well as rice from the same rice field area, and generally without causing reductions in rice yields. Posted on 06 Jan, 2016 11:24 PM

Coastal regions of Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha have been hit by cyclonic storms for more than two decades.

Integrated Rice Fish Culture Unit Rajnagar (Source: RCDC, Odisha)
Lounging by Laknavaram Cheruvu in Telangana
Tucked away in the middle of picturesque paddy fields and the rolling hills of Govindaraopet, Laknavaram cheruvu is the perfect spot for a idyllic weekend getaway. Posted on 24 Dec, 2015 01:21 PM

Erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh, like its neighbours Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is a land of tanks. The ‘Cheruvus’, ‘Eris’ and ‘Keres’, as they are known in the respective regional languages, are irrigation tanks dug centuries ago by kings and philanthropists to feed thousands of acres of thirsty paddy fields. 

Laknavaram Cheruvu in Warangal, Telangana
Ultratech Cement mines limestone (and villagers) in Chhattisgarh
The people of Parswani were promised jobs, healthcare and water. Now, after signing an MOU, they just about get polluted water for irrigation purposes. Posted on 13 Dec, 2015 03:38 PM

Paraswani village in Balodabazar district, Chhattisgarh contains vast reserves of limestone, a sedimentary rock that is a primary ingredient in the cement manufacturing process. Since 1992, Ultratech Cement Ltd. (UTCL) followed by four other similar companies, have begun excavating this rock within a 30 km radius of the village.

A view of the Ulratech Cement factory from Paraswani
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