Society, Culture, Religion and History

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January 13, 2022
Water management in the times of Gonds of Central India
The water structures constructed during the Gond period continue to survive the test of time and provide evidence of the water wisdom of our ancestors.
Kundeshwar lake, Kundam in Jabalpur (Image Source: K G Vyas)
January 2, 2021
The fast disappearing traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan
Lack of community ownership and local governance are spelling doom for the once royal and resilient traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan.
Toorji Ka Jhalara, Jodhpur (Image Source: Rituja Mitra)
December 7, 2020
Not in the interest of women farmers!
The new farm related bills will spell doom for women workers who form the bulk of small and marginal sections of Indian agriculture, warns Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).
Farm women, overworked and underpaid (Image Source: India Water Portal)
December 11, 2019
Scientists intervene to save dry toilets
Dry toilets have long been hailed as a sustainable solution to the sanitation and waste management crisis facing India today, but have been overshadowed by more modern toilet designs.
A traditional dry toilet. Image: India Science Wire
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
Water stewardship approach to minimizing risks for businesses
Water stewardship is an approach predicated on the concept that water is a shared resource and so water risks are also shared risks that everyone in a catchment will face
Picture credit: Romit Sen
कठपुतली बोलेगी कल की बात
बाड़मेर।भारतीय संस्कृति का प्रतिबिंब लोककलाओं में झलकता है। इन्हीं लोककलाओं में कठपुतली कला भी शामिल है। यह देश की सांस्कृतिक धरोहर होने के साथसाथ प्रचारप्रसार का सशक्त माध्यम भी है, लेकिन आधुनिक सभ्यता के चलते मनोरंजन के नित नए साधन आने से सदियों पुरानी यह कला अब लुप्त होने के कगार पर है।
Ashok Rajpurohit
Posted on 09 Apr, 2012 03:10 PM

Puppets
The return of the earthworm: Association for India's Development's (AID-JHU) practicing organic farming in the Sunderbans
All the farmers and gardeners who have been part of AID and its partners Mukti & BTS’ agricultural work in the Sunderbans are practicing organic agriculture of both paddy and vegetables on a part of their land while some are doing it fully. A buzz has been created in the area about it. Many of these farmers have been trained by Saathi Revathy and many more have been trained by the trainer-farmers of the area.
Nishikant
Posted on 08 Apr, 2012 10:51 PM

Article and Video Courtesy : Association for India's Development - Johns Hopkins University

Author : Nishikant
Water Integrity Network invites applications for 3rd Water Integrity Network photo competition – Apply by June 2, 2012
Posted on 06 Apr, 2012 09:06 AM

WIN

The Water Integrity Network (WIN) was formed in respond to increasing concerns among water and anti-corruption stakeholders over corruption in the water sector. It combines global advocacy, regional networks and local action, to promote increased transparency and integrity, bringing together partners and members from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia, to drive change that will improve the lives of people who need it most. WIN’s vision is a world with equitable and sustained access to water and a clean environment, which is no longer threatened by corruption, greed, dishonesty and wilful malpractice.

Impact report of watershed development programme in Ayyannapalem village of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh
We are very glad to bring to the notice of the Watershed Development Fund (WDF) that the Ayyannapalem watershed Capacity Building Phase (CBP) activities are successfully implemented and it has reached the stage of Feasibility Study Report (FSR) proposal. According to the field conditions, the Ayyannapalem watershed is highly suitable for watershed implementation and there are deep gullies and high level hillocks that exist in the villages. Farmers' co-operation is also very encouraging and we could complete the watershed activities within the specified period.
Kotikala Chandrasheakar
Posted on 19 Mar, 2012 11:59 AM

Author : Kotikala Chandrasheakar

Name of the watershed: Ayyannapalem
Name of the Mandal: Bollapalli
District: Guntur
Best meal of the day': Akshaya Patra's kitchen in Nathwara, Rajasthan is the newest of its high-technology ones across India
In a country of 1.2 billion people, fast moving towards economic superpower hood, it is a reality check, and a hard one too, that the mover and shaker of things here remains nothing but food. Indeed it is food alone that spawns a giant ripple effect – starting from the levels of education and health to eventually how development in the country finally shapes up. For, you cannot build a country on empty stomachs.
Madhusmita Hazarika
Posted on 19 Mar, 2012 10:23 AM

Article and Image Courtesy : One World South Asia

Author : Madhusmita Hazarika
Water – The Thread of Life, a group exhibition of contemporary artists, Arghyam, March 21-30, 2012, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore
Posted on 15 Mar, 2012 09:00 AM

Organizer: Arghyam

Venue: Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore

arghyam

Arghyam is a public charitable foundation setup with an endowment from Mrs. Rohini Nilekani, working in the domestic water and sanitation sector in India since 2005. Arghyam supports projects to promote water and sanitation security with stress on people’s participation and awareness. Domestic water is primarily a women’s burden and disproportionately impacts women and the girl-child in multiple ways. Therefore, promoting gender equity is an important facet of Arghyam’s work. The projects are spread across all geographies – deserts, mountains, flood-prone regions, rain-fed, coastal and tribal areas, representing the diversity in the country.

Call for Papers, UGC sponsored National Seminar on Understanding Communities of North East India, 20-21 March, 2012, Guwahati – Apply by March 15, 2012
Posted on 13 Mar, 2012 08:22 AM

gu

Description:
The concept of community has generated immense interests in the academia across disciplines and over time raising methodological, analytical and theoretical concerns rife with differences in its treatment. Compounded by contemporary social dynamics such as pertaining to globalisation, economic changes, state, politics, migration, modern technology, gender, development, etc. and the emergence of new perspectives and new areas of research the understanding of communities has undergone significant changes.

The seed map - food, farmers and climate chaos: Shows the state of global agro-biodiversity today
The way to safeguard our food supply in the midst of climate chaos is by using and adapting the plant and animal genetic diversity that rural peoples have bred and nurtured over 10,000 years. Most of this diversity is in the global south. But rural communities are under intense threat from industrial farming, agro-chemical monopolies, the north's trade policies and technological fixes.
Seedmap
Posted on 06 Mar, 2012 06:38 PM

Article Courtesy : Seedmap
India's ecological past: Review of a two volume book on environmental history in EPW
India's environmental history (Volume 1: From ancient times to the colonial period and Volume 2: Colonialism, modernity and the nation) edited by Mahesh Rangarajan and K Sivaramakrishnan discuss the various facets of India's engagement with its environment over the years. 'India's ecological past' by Meena Bhargava reviews the book and was first published in Environment and Political Weekly.
Meena Bhargava
Posted on 02 Mar, 2012 02:18 PM


Cover page of 'India's environmental history'

Rashtriya Jan Sansad, March 19 - 23, 2012, New Delhi
Posted on 29 Feb, 2012 04:14 PM

Organization: Rashtriya Jan Sansad / National People's Parliament

napm

Description:
India, our country, is today at the crossroads. Despite our intense and diverse human, natural, cultural and technological resources the Constitutional endowments of freedom, equity and justice appear to be a distant dream. On the one side a small group of people have never had it so good with top class infrastructure, privately run airports, relatively cheap air travel, fast moving cars, obscenely high salaries and the promise of a 9 % growth. On the other side the conditions of the majority continue to deteriorate: farmers' suicides; large scale displacements; the use of police and para-military forces to appropriate Adivasi lands, forests and resources and and resistance to this faced with brutality and murder; dis-employment of the urban poor due to infrastructure projects; mega corruption scandals in every development project. But of course this is of no interest to the media! Corruption in its current form seems to be so institutionalised in character and monstrous in proportion as to make past scandals look like petty deeds. Are these stories of some other land or of our own?

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