The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The story echoes the fable of the industrious ant that stocks foodstuff for winter and the lazy grasshopper that is left without food. Women and children dig the dry bed of the Sukhi river near Dahod town of Gujarat. Sitting aside one-metre-deep holes, they wait for life to seep into …
The people of this small village of Bhil tribals in Dahod district had been facing a serious water crisis. About 78 per cent of them used to migrate for at least 10 months. There were no wells in the village. The farmlands were of no use; there was no water. …
About 20 km away from the district headquarters of Rajkot, this village shows how environmental management can bring about a socio-economic turnaround. According to Narayanbhai Limbasia, a 70-year-old farmer: "Around 15 years ago, people were unwilling to marry their daughters to grooms in this village due to the water crisis." …
The credit for the socio-economic turnaround of Raj-Samadhiyala village in Rajkot district of Gujarat goes to Hardevsinh Balwantsinh Jadeja, the 48-year-old head ( sarpanch ) of the village council. He thinks that rainwater harvesting is the only solution to deal with the grave water crisis in the Saurashtra region of …
This village in Mandvi taluka of Gujarat's Kachchh district has embarked on rainwater harvesting and wm quite recently. For the past 10-12 years, the residents have been facing a drinking water crisis. "Even officials of the Geological Survey of India failed to get water from a borewell a few years …
In the past six years, the 3,500-odd residents of this village in Rajkot district, which falls in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, have come a long way. After a prolonged water crisis, the village is well on its way to solve the problem through recharging of wells. Shamjibhai Antala of …
A micro-watershed management project was launched under the Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Development in this village of Jhabua district in 1996. Since then, a lot has changed. The underground aquifers have been recharged and all the eight handpumps in the village yield water throughout the year, says Bhurji Bhawar …
Some really serious issues face Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh today, and the present drought has highlighted them. "Water-related disputes are gradually increasing in rural areas. They are expected to surpass land disputes in the next 10 years," Rajora fears. And it is quite clear that the government cannot supply water …
The government of Gujarat has launched a project worth Rs 70 crore to dig 120 bores in the Wankaner taluka of Rajkot district to supply drinking water to Rajkot city. At present, the city is supplied water for 20 miniutes every two days. According to P V Trivedi, district magistrate …
Water harvesting systems have certainly benefited a large section of society in the Saurashtra and Kachchh regions. There is no way better than such systems to optimally tap water resources," says R C Trivedi, former chairperson of Gujarat Pollution Control Board, who lives in Ahmedabad. Manibhai Padmabhai Patel of Dhoraji …
HERE is something for those who would not believe that the wars of this century will be fought over water-related issues. Three people died and 20 were injured on December 14 in Falla village, 28 km from Jamnagar town of Gujarat, when the police opened fire on a mob of …
in order to provide safe drinking water to all rural areas during the Ninth Plan, the ministry of rural development has revised the guidelines for implementing the Rural Water Supply Programme (rwsp). This would involve exercising control on over-extraction of groundwater, more funds for repair and rehabilitation of infrastructure, increasing …
fifty years ago, Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh was covered with dense forests. People were rich and prosperous. All was well till a famine ravaged the district and forced the people to go hungry. Forests became their only source of livelihood. Fifty years later, Anantapur stands bare. Its parched land …
the barren lands in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh are slowly becoming green. Thanks to efforts by the women who have struggled to regenerate the region. "Three years ago not even a single blade of grass grew there,' said Sita Bai, pointing towards the lush green fields and hillocks. …
A people's movement, like that in Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashtra and Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh (MP), is indispensable before ecological regeneration can be undertaken in Rajasthan. This was stated by Anil Agarwal, director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) in a presentation to Rajasthan chief minister …
congress president Sonia Gandhi has lauded the Madhya Pradesh ( mp) government's efforts in converting the once barren landscape of Jhabua district into a green belt. Addressing a mammoth crowd in the district recently Gandhi said: "When I visited the area with Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, the whole area was …
A D M I R E R S Digvijay Singh is the only chief minister of Madhya Pradesh who thinks about the environment. He knows that environment is a source of livelihood for villagers. Watershed activities and Panchayati Raj have not only given us back our agriculture but also the …
Four years ago, Kali Bai's residence was the most notorious place in village Kakradhar of district Jhabua. She was the only woman who had a liquor shop catering round the clock to villagers who had nothing to do. "They used to drink liquor throughout the day in the backyard of …
Gula Ralu, 90, is the eldest resident of Village Ambakhoda in district Jhabua. According to him, two Renerations of people reside in the villages: his generation, which:has t seen the jungle, and the next one, which migrates in tpe absence of the jungle. But, in recent times, he admits that …
DIGVIJAY SINGH Do you think environment is Important? It is very important because the survival and quality of human life depends on how we handle am environment. How will you link envirolmem with development? The relationship between Human beings and the environment has been damaged and that is why there …
