Reply affidavit filed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the matter of Debadityo Sinha & Others Vs Union of India & Others. An application filed before the NGT said that illegal construction activities and clearing the vegetation and forest using massive earthwork and levelling the land …
It is an unnecessary controversy over ownership of rainwater. The johad (traditional check dam) of Lava ka Baas in Alwar district of Rajasthan has been in the eye of a storm and so has Kamla Beniwal, Rajasthan irrigation minister. Claiming rainwater to be government's property, she supported the demolition of …
Along with Tarun Bharat Sangh ( tbs) co-workers, Gopal Singh stood by the villagers during their vigil at the Lava ka Baas johad. Credited with having designed over 4,500 water harvesting structures, this johad has also been designed by him. To express solidarity, villagers from neighbouring villages had come to …
Water laws in India are archaic and anti-people. Made to disempower rather than empower communities, these are used to terrorise the people rather than assist them. Secretary of tbs , Rajendra Singh received notices from the Rajasthan irrigation department stating that the johad constructed by the villagers of Lava ka …
All attempts by cse coordinator Indira Khurana to meet Rajasthan irrigation minister Kamla Beniwal went in vain. The minister refused to give an appointment. Khurana was directed to speak to the irrigation secretary who passed on the buck to the additional secretary cum chief engineer. She decided to call it …
for the first time in many years, the village of Lava-ka-Baas in Alwar district, Rajasthan, got water just a month ago. With the first showers of monsoon, its 500-odd residents saw the traditional water harvesting structure that they had built in their village fill up with water. And joyfully they …
after having revived the Arvari rivulet through the sweat of their brow, the 70 villages in the rivulet's basin in Alwar district, Rajasthan, have gone one step ahead. They are taking proactive measures to deal with the third consecutive year of drought. This is being done through the Arvari Sansad, …
The Arvari Sansad, or Arvari Parliament, is a shining example of community ownership and management of natural resources. After reviving the rivulet with assistance from the voluntary organisation Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), the people are absolutely confident of one thing: natural resources are best managed when communities regenerate these through …
the people of Bhaonta-Kolyala village of Alwar district of Rajasthan have constructed a stone checkdam, reinforcing their earlier Johad (earthen dam). "This has been possible because of the Rs 1,00,000 prize given to us by Down To Earth ( dte ),'says Kanhaiya Lal, one of the villagers. The Down To …
people of villages in and around the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district of Rajasthan have taken a vow to protect wildlife, mainly tigers, by joining hands with the forest department. A decision to form a public body called the Sariska Sansad (Sariska Parliament), which involve the village communities as …
It was a real pleasure to go with President K R Narayanan to Hamirpura village. People always come to the Rashtrapati Bhawan estate to receive awards from the President. The fact that the President went to the village himself to honour it is a remarkable thing in itself. It is …
it was an event the villagers of Alwar district will not forget in a hurry. Four helicopters, numerous vehicles, a posse of policemen and 30,000-odd villagers had gathered in Hamirpura village in Thanagazi block of Alwar to welcome India's first citizen. And savour the fruits of their hard labour. The …
There was a time when people from other villagers were not interested in getting their daughters married to men from Guraiya village. They had a reason. During summer, the women were forced to carry drinking water from the river Bebas, three kilometres away. Now, it is the other way round. …
A tale of two villages There are about 600,000 villages in India. And perhaps as many kinds of environmental problems they face. It is easy to accept defeat. But Bhaonta-Kolyala did not it's an unusual ritual the villages of Bhaonta-Kolyala follow. Every year, they pour water into a johad - …
"The forest was dense till the 1960s," recalls Suryabhan Khorbade of Sayagata village in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district. During the British rule, people were allowed to enter the forests at their own will. But after Independence, when the forest department stepped in, there was a ban on access to the forests. …
Obensao Kikon (63) belongs to Wokha district in Nagaland. An :rdent jungle burner' at one time, his stint as the chairperson of the Market Federation of Nagaland changed his outlook. Thereafter, there has been no looking back. His 615-ha land in Wokha is full of teak and bamboo trees. He …
It is an oft-repeated story of dense forests being reduced to shrubs and coppice. In the case of Melaghar village in Sonmara subdivision, the 1971 Bangladesh war responsible for the wanton felling of the then abundant sal, teak and bamboo forests. A large number of refugees from across the border …
Both systems exist in Rajasthan. Small, cheap and easy-to-build water harvesting structures and a large canal. One relies on traditional wisdom and local expertise to function. The other, the Indira Gandhi Canal, has been built and maintained by a centralised bureaucracy. The canal passes through the sewan grassland regions of …
it is a feeling that only Lazarus would be familiar with: coming back from death. Or Bhagirath, who brought the Ganga to this world. The rural folk in the villages of district Alwar, Rajasthan, have become the masters of their destiny. And one has to resort to mythology to find …
