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. …
as part of its People's Management of Water campaign, the Centre for Science and Environment (cse) organised a workshop recently. A number of architects, builders and engineers were invited to share their experiences on the techniques of water harvesting. Amongst those present were S Vishwanath, an engineer from Bangalore, who …
In the past 50 years, the Indian government has spent vast sums of money on water resource development. Programmes have focussed on irrigation development for increasing Green Revolution-style agricultural production and drinking water supply. But no specific effort has been directed to drought-proof rainfed areas which suffer from high rainfall …
With the spate of political support that the concept of rainwater harvesting has received in recent weeks from Central ministers and state chief ministers, the attack from pro-dam lobbies had to come. The government of Gujarat appears to be especially miffed as it had probably hoped that this drought would …
the days when companies belonging to major industrial houses could pollute with impunity and get away scot-free are over. Social activism in India has taken giants steps to forever destroy the immunity money and power granted despicable owners of such companies. Production processes used to be unsustainable and by-products contaminated …
there are parched river beds as well as flowing rivulets; water at depths of 3-5 metres and dry wells even at 60 metres; hectares of land filled with cacti and areas lush with mango, lime, even water melon: the contrasts cannot be more stark among villages in Gujarat. On a …
it was a meeting with an amazing lesson. The subject was rainwater harvesting. But the message was one on governance. And a truly stark one. If only India could learn from it. Since the release of its book Dying Wisdom: The Rise, Fall and Potential of Traditional Rainwater Harvesting Systems …
it's now official. Cherrapunji, which holds the record for the highest rainfall in the world, faces water shortage. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the minister of state for agriculture Satyanarayana Rao said the water supply in Cherrapunji was
During one of the meetings of the World Water Commission, which recently submitted its report in The Hague to a bevy of water ministers, a member had strongly emphasised the need for educating politicians about the importance of water. I, however, found that argument incorrect because I have rarely met …
Director of the Centre for Science and Environment Anil Agarwal and Denis Hayes, who initiated Earth Day in 1970, have jointly won the Year 2000 Global Environment Leadership Award instituted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The annual award recognises anindividual group, or organisation in government, the private sector, or …
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 …
even in a scene which was as spectacular, chaotic and confusing as a circus, it was a lone, odd voice. While all the participants were harping on the water scarcity facing the world, a pamphlet doing the rounds at the Second World Water Forum, held at the Hague in the …
The New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) was the only non-governmental organisation (NGO) from the South to participate independently in the World Water Fair, held simultaneously with the World Water Forum. CSE was also the only Southern NGO to hold a full-day workshop. Not surprisingly, CSE's was the …
Although marginal, the recent hike in prices of diesel and petrol with low sulphur content may defeat the very purpose of promoting cleaner fuels. While the price of petrol with 0.05 per cent sulphur has been hiked by 13 paise per litre, diesel with the same sulphur content will cost …
" this is a vital book. It will have far-reaching influence on Indian and global thinking. I am privileged in receiving it. I congratulate the Centre for Science and Environment (cse) and its director Anil Agarwal for bringing out this book and for sensitising the Indian government and the public …
