Amita Bhaduri

Riverbed off limits, farmers fume

With the sewage-fed vegetable cultivation on Yamuna riverbed banned, the farmers are worried about their livelihood. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 3 months ago

Thousands of farmers like Champa Devi (in pic) who were growing edible crops or doing fodder cultivation on the riverbed and its floodplains took the brunt of the court’s decision.

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 8 years 4 months ago

Construction debris of the Barapullah flyover project chokes the nallah.

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 8 years 5 months ago

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 8 years 6 months ago

Munak canal to check seepage losses along the Western Yamuna Canal and to augment its supply

A lac cooperative’s success story

A lac cooperative in Jharkhand strengthens and streamlines the lac-production system Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 6 months ago

TRCSC promoting lac based products like bangles through training of over 200 women members of SHGs

Small scale fishworkers fishing for jobs elsewhere

Fishers livelihoods are being directly threatened by mechanised fishing methods and ecologically destructive fishing practices. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 8 months ago

Traditional fishers livelihoods are directly threatened by mechanised fishing methods (Source: Vikas Sahayog Kendra, Palamau)

Is Budget 2016 all about ‘Swachh Bharat’ and a rustic touch?

Experts opine on whether the water and sanitation sector got a meaningful budget push this year. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 8 months ago

Drinking water source in a village at Kawardha, Chhattisgarh

Jharkhand's octogenarian water warrior

Simon Oraon, leading a people’s movement to save water and forests in Ranchi, Jharkhand Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 8 months ago

Art of killing a river

Manoj Misra speaks on the much neglected area of the Yamuna river and its floodplains and why its mere clean-up is not enough--especially as the World Culture Festival approaches. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

NGT had in July 2015 slapped a fine on the Akshardham temple management for carrying out expansion without prior environmental clearance and without examining whether the expanded portion fell on the Yamuna’s floodplains (Source: Ramesh N G, Wikimedia Commons)

Budget needs to protect food security

Budgetary support needs to be upped for the implementation of the public distribution system entitlements under the National Food Security Act. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

Children at an anganwadi centre, Mysore waiting for the mid-day meal

Can Budget 2016-17 breathe life into the public health system?

Budget asks include the upping of health spending, passing new health policies and involving civil society among other things. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

Measuring for malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh (Source: Russell Watkins, Wikimedia Commons)

Agriculture and informal sector labour need a budgetary push

What initiatives should the 2016-17 budget include for the agriculture sector? ActionAid India’s submission to the Ministry of Finance looks at these. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

Water and sanitation sector needs a budget push

Better regulation and transparency is needed in the WASH sector to ensure that India meets its Swachh Bharat Mission targets, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

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? Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

Better incentives needs to be provided to farmers to use solar pumps for tubewells in Haryana

Alarm bells ring for Delhi’s groundwater

The city's old wells and baodis are running dry, and the Yamuna is getting more polluted by the day. Where is Delhi's water going to come from when groundwater levels are also dropping? Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 9 months ago

Residents say they are forced to flout the groundwater extraction norms with illegal groundwater pumps in Narela in North-west Delhi due to insufficient and poor quality of water supplied.

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. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 10 months ago

View of Betwa river (Source: Manual Menal, Wikimedia Commons)

From toilet to tap: Is that the future of drinking water?

Singapore's done it, and so has Orange County USA. Even astronauts do it. Drink recycled wastewater, that is! So will it become a reality in India? Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 11 months ago

Yogendra Singh, an operator, explains how the 'Toilet to tap' plant functions

Using community support to battle fluoride contamination

Anita Sharma and Anil Gautam of Peoples Science Institute, Dehradun talk about their work with fluoride affected communities in Madhya Pradesh. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 11 months ago

Several young children in Jhabua suffer from skeletal fluorosis (Source: INREM Foundation)

Choppy waters and a calm river voyager

Emmanuel Theophilus was awarded the ' Bhagirath Prayas Samman' at the India Rivers Day 2015 for his valiant and untiring effort to safeguard the integrity of the Mahakali River. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 11 months ago

Theophilus being awarded the ' Bhagirath Prayas Samman' (Source: Kush Sethi)

Undisposed toxic waste still haunts Bhopal’s groundwater

A report says that many locals in Bhopal are dealing with “high rates of birth defects, rapidly rising cancer rates, neurological damage, chaotic menstrual cycles and mental illness". Amita Bhaduri posted 8 years 11 months ago

A poem that describes how the city was left destroyed is written on a wall near a memorial for those killed & disabled by the Bhopal gas tragedy, 1984