Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
The aerial spraying of the endosulfan pesticide has been temporarily banned in many parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. The district collector, C K Visvanathan, on August 9, 2001, passed an order to this effect in response to a memorandum submitted to him by the Endosulfan Spray Protest Action …
indiscriminate use of pesticides resulted in the death of fish in a lake behind Delhi's Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. This was revealed during a pesticide residue analysis conducted by the pollution monitoring laboratory of the Centre for Science and Environment (cse). The analysis revealed the presence of multiple residues of …
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 …
the deadline for Indian automobile manufacturers to inform customers regarding the emissions warranty scheme ended on July 1, 2001, but manufacturers have done precious little to inform their customers about the scheme that they were supposed to offer for Euro II compliant vehicles. The scheme aims at revealing technical malfunctioning …
Over 200 rules and regulations, and a large bureaucracy have failed to protect the state of India’s environment. Just one look at the collapsing system of governance in the country is ample proof of this.l Andhra Pradesh pollution control board (pcb) has just one technical personnel to monitor every 100 …
young people can turn environmental problems into a global issue. This was the opinion expressed during the Youth World Water Forum ( ywwf ) held from June 25-28, 2001, in the Netherlands. More than 200 students and water experts from all over the world gathered at Hogeschool Zeeland University, Vlissengen, …
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 …
People asked for it and the automobile industry gave it to them, but does the government even know about it. Six months after the automobile industry announced that it was willing to take responsibility for the on-road emissions from their vehicles, emissions warranty finally came into effect from July 1, …
Initially involved in adult education and health activities, Jawan Lal took it as a challenge to transform degraded lands to productive assets in Barwa village for about 110 families. Jawan Lal says, "Even we realised the importance of water and afforestation early, but people were not ready to join and …
Concerned over the water level in the region of Suarashtra which had receeded from 15 metres in 1990 to 120-210 metres in 1998, Mansukh Bhai Suvagia, a 37-year-old government servant decided to initiate steps to tackle the problem. With the help of villagers, he launched a Lok Fund scheme and …
Manna Singh, a farmer by profession is the chairman of Sitapur project in Madhya Pradesh. Couple of years back, 46-year-old Singh was sent as a district representative to Anna Hazare for getting trained. In the year 1996, Union ministry of rural development supported the Sitapur project with a financial aid …
Laxmi Narayan joshi, watershed committee chairman of Saipur village, has been a source of inspiration to the villagers. The watershed work started in 1998-99. Medbandi, a stone embankment built on the lower side of the agriculture field on a hill slope to conserve soil and moisture and help create a …
Ram Karan Bhadana, a Gujjar is not involved in sheep raring as others, but is committed towards the development of the village. He is a well-known activist for development works in the village with a population of 2,000-2,500. He was actively involved in creating awareness, giving importance to tree and …
Sixty-year-old Devendra is the president of the Kedar Village Tank Farmers Society in Tamil Nadu. The society was formed in 1989 and there are around 217 members working with it from 13 different communities. The society operates and irrigates an area of approximately 119 hectares. The Centre for Water Resources, …
A lot has been written on India's vast and ancient experience in rainwater harvesting. But no concrete effort has been made to use these traditional innovations. There is no village in India which cannot meet its drinking water needs if it adopts the kundi technology developed by the people of …
