Rainfall and other forms of Precipitation

Featured Articles
September 13, 2022
Chaos in a concrete jungle
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)
March 29, 2022
India, in the hot seat!
The intensity and duration of heat waves is predicted to increase in India and human induced anthropogenic changes are to blame.
A man sits under the scorching heat of the sun in front of Amer fort in Jaipur (Picture courtesy: Prabhu B Doss, Flickr Commons: CC-By-NC-ND-2.0)
February 10, 2022
87% of India's districts vulnerable to droughts: IMD
47% of India’s population is vulnerable to floods, says IMD's Climate Hazards Atlas
(Image: J Surya, CC-SA-4.0 International)
July 4, 2021
Did the moody monsoon shrink forests in peninsular India?
A study finds that while forests existed in peninsular India, they were replaced by savanna grasslands over time. And the weakening monsoon was the culprit!
Savanna grasslands at Nannaj Bustard Sanctuary, Solapur, Maharashtra (Image Source: Raju Kasambe via Wikimedia Commons)
June 30, 2021
Climate change likely to affect agricultural productivity in Maharashtra
Climate analysis predicts mismatch in rainfall and temperature patterns with crop phenology: Soybean, Cotton, Wheat and Gram crops at risk, finds Institute for Sustainable Communities study across three major regions of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra faces an increasing risk from climate change which is likely to impact the production of four major crops - Soybean, Cotton, Wheat and Gram. (Image: BAIF Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
December 13, 2019
Trading in virtual water
A study highlights the need to scale down the export of rice, maize, buffalo meat and other items to conserve groundwater in India.
A farmer uses a hosepipe to irrigate crops at her farm in Nilgiris mountains, Tamil Nadu (Image: Hamish John Appleby for IWMI, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The state and fate of Himalayan glaciers - A paper published in the magazine Science
This paper published in the magazine Science highlights the importance of the Himalayan glaciers, the current uncertainties in relation to the status of glaciers, their implications for water resources in the region and the prevailing public and scientific debate around them. Current evidence indicates that most Himalayan glaciers are losing mass at rates similar to glaciers elsewhere, except for emerging indications of stability or mass gain in the Karakoram.
A Kääb
A Kulkarni
C Huggel
F Paul
H Frey
J G Cogley
J. S. Kargel
K Fujita
M Scheel
M Stoffel
S Bajracharya
T Bolch
Posted on 05 May, 2012 06:21 PM

The paper argues that there is a poor understanding of the processes affecting the Himalayan glaciers in the context of the diversity of climatic conditions and the extremes of topographical relief within the region, making projections speculative, which can have a significant impact on the future of water resources in the area. It is thus important to have more information on the status of the glaciers in the Himalayan region.

Climate-change adaptation in rural areas of India
Climate change is already taking place. Rural areas will be particularly affected as it impacts water resources, agriculture, overall biodiversity and ecosystems like forests and coastal zones, as well as human health. This report by GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit deals with the issue.
Anil K Gupta
Posted on 03 May, 2012 02:33 PM

The report suggests that -
Environmental knowledge for hydro-meteorological disaster management: Capacity development in disaster risk management
Hydro-meteorological disasters particularly floods, drought, desertification, cyclone, extreme weather events, pest attack, forest fire, man-animal conflict are inextricably linked with environmental systems, resources and ecosystems. Environmental challenges and their complexities have been growing with the advancement in human development and economic stewardship. This report by National Institute of Disaster Management deals with this issue.
Anil K Gupta
Posted on 03 May, 2012 02:27 PM

Poor understanding of the environment – its structure, function, resources, especially at the level of planners and policy makers, have resulted in increasing frequency and intensity of hazards in nature. Understanding of the environment, its processes and resources are important for the early detection of hydro-meteorological hazards, prediction of disaster risk and scenarios and in evolving m
Draft National Water Policy 2012 and mainstreaming climate change adaptation
Now-a-days, climate change or global warming is one of the growing concerns in the natural resource management. According to the United Nation 2008 report ‘Humanitarian implications of climate change - Mapping emerging trends and risk hotspots’, India is one of the largest and most important regions of high overall human vulnerability. Climate change phenomenon is closely related to changes in monsoon behaviour and temperature. Variability in rainfall and temperature has a definite impact on water availability, groundwater recharge, agriculture and livestock production, livelihoods and health. Eshwar Kale of WoTR, Pune writes about the issue.
Eshwer Kale
Posted on 27 Apr, 2012 01:58 PM

Climate change issue is being loudly debated on international level to reduce emission of various gases, and each nation’s responsibility to control the emission.
Deep multi-aquifer tube wells are responsible for groundwater depletion & global warming: It is curable
There is a correlation between groundwater depletion and global warming. Un-pumped lost groundwater is still not estimated in the study of groundwater depletion.
The correct root cause of global warming should be : due to uncontrolled deeper muli-aquifer tube wells, impermeable rock layers got damaged by billions of hole in Ground, consequently there is an Intra-Bore Well Flow of groundwater between two Aquifers, resulting “Groundwater Depletion”, the water which we lost without pumping. After Depletion we have lack of Evaporation from Ground to have insufficient vapours in the atmosphere to abstract the Solar Radiation, which heats up the Ground, that is transferred in the atmosphere to melt the glaciers.
Yashwant Deora
Posted on 27 Apr, 2012 08:39 AM

Author : Yashwant Deora

Deeper multi-aquifer tube wells are responsible for groundwater depletion & global warming - “That is curable”
Reviving dying springs: A paper documenting the Sikkim experience of groundwater recharge using geo-hydrology
With mountain communities dependent of springs for both domestic uses and for irrigation, conservation of these springs is crucial. However several factors, of which climate change is one, are leading to a drying up of springs. This paper reports on Sikkim's experience with using geo-hydrological knowledge to plan recharge structures. It concludes that this increases the efficiency of recharge measures.
Sandeep Tambe
Posted on 09 Apr, 2012 09:12 AM

Introduction

The paper begins with a description of Sikkim. The sources of water in the Himalayas and the geology of the area are also described.

Literature review of spring related studies
Our water woes: Ecological imbalance is the culprit!
When we were solely dependent on hunting and/or gathering as tribes, we used to draw only as much natural resources as could be easily replenished by “Mother Nature” - which is the case even today with the most pristine environs of all the tribal societies, across the globe.
Madhuranthakam Prabhakar Rao
Posted on 12 Mar, 2012 12:01 PM

Author : Madhuranthakam Prabhakar Rao
Implementation of the interlinking of rivers project (ILRP): Bangladesh raises concerns
The Indian Supreme Court’s (SC) recent verdict to implement the Interlinking of Rivers Project (ILRP) has added an additional element to the list of unresolved issues between India and Bangladesh with regard to water resources management in shared rivers. The people of Bangladesh have expressed their disappointment in various news media over the proposed Tipaimukh dam, lack of Teesta water sharing treaty, and the failure to implement the Ganges Treaty over the last 15 years. This new development (or re-surfacing of the old concept from 2002) on Inter-linking of River Project (ILRP) in India is a matter of concern.
Md Khalequzzaman
Posted on 12 Mar, 2012 11:50 AM

Author : Md. Khalequzzaman, P.D.
Climate change - Perspectives from India - A document published by UNDP, India
This document published by the UNDP includes a collection of articles and captures and disseminates some perspectives on climate change from the Indian context. Starting from an argument on a new climate deal to highlighting the importance of the small-scale industrial sector within climate change debates, some of India’s best known environmentalists, economists and policy makers have put forward their concerns and convictions in this collection.
Jyoti Parikh
NC Saxena
Pradipto Ghosh
Preeti Soni
Sunita Narain
Posted on 10 Mar, 2012 06:08 PM

The document argues that climate change is no more an environmental concern. It has emerged as the biggest developmental challenge for the planet. Its economic impacts, particularly on the poor, make it a major governance issue as well. The debates and discussions building up for the next conference of parties (CoP) in Copenhagen and beyond are an indicator of this.
Towards a progressive Indian and global climate politics - A CPR Climate Initiative Working Paper
This working paper by Centre for Policy Research discusses domestic politics around climate change in India as an entry point to understanding India’s role in global climate negotiations. The paper argues that there is broad agreement within India on three issues: India is being unfairly labelled a “major emitter”; India has a considerable ongoing development burden; and India is already moving in the right direction on climate mitigation.
Navroz K Dubash
Posted on 09 Mar, 2012 07:04 PM

However, on each of these issues, there is a healthy under-current of domestic debate. Moreover, broad agreement on this perspective does not translate to strategic unanimity. There are three divergent positions within India: growth-first stonewallers, progressive realists, and progressive internationalists.
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