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September 1, 2021
Study calls for securing water sustainability in Chennai
Best practices for holistic urban water management in Chennai Metropolitan Area
These bright plastic jugs are ubiquitous in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. (Image: McKay Savage, Flickr Commons; CC BY 2.0)
December 26, 2019
Centre holds green signal to Kalasa-Banduri project
Policy matters this week
The Mandovi river disputed between Karnataka and Goa (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
December 11, 2019
Locals reject social impact assessment report of Luhri II hydropower project
News this week
Sutlej river in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh (Image source: Sanyam Bahga, Wikipedia)
December 6, 2019
Holistic approach needed to clean the Ganga
A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
December 4, 2019
In wake of climate change, prioritise and invest in water security and clean drinking water
To adapt well & build resilience, climate change strategies need to factor in efforts towards water security, writes Vanita Suneja, Regional Advocacy Manager (South Asia), WaterAid.
Image credit: WaterAid/Prashanth Vishwanathan
December 2, 2019
Wind energy development and policy in India
A study highlights the barriers to harnessing India's potential for wind energy.
Windmills in Karnataka, India. Picture credit: India Water Portal
State does a Nero while Kharun weeps
Despite the pitiable state of a polluted Kharun, the government is keen on developing the riverfront to attract tourists.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 18 Jul, 2016 09:30 AM

At sunrise, everything is luminous but not clear. 

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
Kharun river at Mahadev Ghat, Raipur.
Once a drain, now a sewer
Barapullah drain, which was once a major drain in Delhi, is being clogged with human waste, thanks to the rapid growth the city is undergoing.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 05 Jul, 2016 09:33 PM

Originally a darya (creek), locally known as Nizammuddin darya, Barapullah is a key drain of Delhi today. Barapullah gets its name from a pul (bridge) built across it by the then emperor Jahangir's chief eunuch, Mihir Banu Agha.
Construction debris of the Barapullah flyover project chokes the nallah.
Pipara women realise pipe dream
Pipara village in the parched Bundelkhand region stands out for its uninterrupted water supply. The village has their women to thank for it.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 01 Jul, 2016 12:03 PM

The cracks on the parched land of Bundelkhand are waiting for the monsoon to quench the thirst of its arid landscape. Despite the wide-spread drought here, Pipara, one of the villages in the region, stands apart as the only one that has not run completely dry. 
Women fill water from one of the taps at Pipara.
Farm ponds save village from drought
Tonk Khurd’s innovative farm ponds prove that when it comes to solving water crisis, one size does not fit all.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 21 Jun, 2016 09:09 AM

Vikram Patel, a 71-year-old farmer in Chidavad village of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh is one of the first farmers to have embraced the idea of farm ponds to increase the groundwater level in his farm.
Vikram Patel near his farm pond in Chidavad.
Simhastha leaves farmers fuming
The festival has hordes of Ujjain farmers broke and the mighty Kshipra river troubled. Swift government action is needed to set things right.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 12 Jun, 2016 07:38 PM

Ramesh Mali, a farmer in his late thirties, looks at his farmland nervously. It has been 13 days since the Simhastha Maha Kumbh festival, 2016, concluded. The district administration had acquired his four bigha land (approximately 0.64 hectares) for the festival. The barricades and the concrete left on his land give us the idea that the land is not fit for farming this season.
Kshipra at Mangalnath Ghat, Ujjain
Knowing Kamla’s sorrow could control Bihar floods
The floodplains of Bihar have an excellent natural flood control and irrigation system in place. Why is the government ignoring it at the cost of lives and livelihoods?
Chicu Lokgariwar
Posted on 08 Jun, 2016 07:41 PM

“When I was a boy, a family and their livestock could feed on just one crop for three years,” says Jugal Mandal of Sakhwar village in Darbhanga district. “For the last five years though, the village fields have been fallow because we have not had water,” he adds.
A young girl leads her buffaloes in search of water
At Simhastha, govt fishes in Kshipra’s troubled waters
The state machinery’s face-saving measures during Simhastha saw Kshipra river carrying more muck in her than ever. While the river yearns for revival, the government seems keen on interlinking rivers.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 05 Jun, 2016 07:05 AM

The Madhya Simhastha Maha Kumbh festival, the religious extravaganza that happens once in every 12 years, was held in Ujjain from April 22-May 21, 2016.
Kshipra before Shahi Snan
Subarnarekha is dying. Who’s responsible?
The pitiful state of Subarnarekha stands testimony to the changing times. The river is being slowly killed by the greed of the rich and the apathy of the powerful.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 28 May, 2016 05:46 PM

It would not be an exaggeration to say Subarnarekha (Line of gold) is a film that left an indelible mark on Indian cinema. The film, by Ritwik Ghatak, is inspired by a river by the same name and narrates the reality around the river which flows through the present day Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, before draining into the Bay of Bengal.
India’s steel city dumps its waste into Subarnarekha, the river of gold
Two states, a canal and a river
A solution to the problem of sharing Yamuna waters continues to elude Delhi and Haryana even as the river dries up and caste issues flare up.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 17 May, 2016 11:21 AM

‘Jat’ reservation and the rampage on a canal
Munak canal to check seepage losses along the Western Yamuna Canal and to augment its supply
Urban sanitation in India: Lessons from Brazil
Brazil’s trajectory of industrial growth & rapid urbanisation is akin to India. Then how has it managed to provide it’s urban citizens better sanitation facilities?
Anjali Chikersal
Aditya Bhol
Posted on 14 May, 2016 01:08 PM

Urban sanitation in India and the need to look at Brazil
Urban sanitation: A challenge for India (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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