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 problem this year is more acute and many are migrating to towns owing to financial problems occasioned by the drought- Anil Gulati Chhatarpur is one of the 37 districts of Madhya Pradesh, which are reeling under a water crisis and facing drought. This is winter and the worst is …
The last five years have been tough on 55-year old Saraswati Devi. Her two sons have left their village to work as construction workers in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh (mp). The family's one hectare patch in Ragauli Bhatpura gram panchayat in Uttar Pradesh's (up) Banda district has been mortgaged. The money …
Some innovations change lives. A favourite of mine is the village milk collection system, a cooperative model. There's a dairy in the village, people bring in milk, the dairy in-charge places a sample on an instrument, checks the fat content, prints a receipt that tells the seller the fat content …
The present study analyses viable methods of rainwater harvesting in drought-prone Bolangir and examines different bio-physical and socio-economic factors that influence the performance and sustainability of the water harvesting structures (WHSs). The study reveals that the traditional WHSs have proved to be extremely useful not only in normal years but …
local ngos have asked G Prakash, district collector of Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district, to explain his statement on the Koodankulam nuclear plant. The Tamil evening daily, Tamil Murasu, on October 10, 2006, quoted Prakash's denial of a plan to provide water to the Rs 13,000-crore project from the Pechipparai dam. …
The eastern Indian state of Orissa will turn to a mass of barren and desert like lands in another 150 years, warned Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO). Many parts of Orissa, specifically the western and southern uplands, have developed symptoms of desertification; they have further degraded from drought prone to desert …
In the arid regions of Rajasthan frequent droughts are a phenomenon closely interwoven with ecology and have always been a periodic occurrence. The agricultural economy as it developed traditionally, took this into account. Changes in the local ecology due to changes in agriculture however, have had a far-reaching impact on …
It is a rare occasion when a media group transcends its expected role of expressing and creating opinions and sets about to solve the problems of the people directly. The devastating drought that Kerala suffered in 2004 made the flaws in its water management practices quite evident. The Malayala Manorama …
Rimmed on the east by the Western Ghats, Kerala is a land of undulating hills and steep slopes. The state's altitude ranges from below mean sea level (MSL) to 2,694 metres above MSL. The mountains of Western Ghats capture the rains of the south west monsoon and some of the …
No river in Kerala is safe from mining. Bharathapuzha, Pampa, Periyar, Achan Kovil, Manimala, Muvattupuzha and Chalakkudi are important rivers that face the greatest threat. Sand mining became a lucrative business during the construction boom in Kerala in the last decade. Mining fetches good revenue for villages panchayats, who grant …
smarting from last year's severe drought, the Union ministry of agriculture has asked state governments to encourage crop diversification. The pre-emptive measure seeks to factor in the effect of monsoon failure in the present kharif season. But in the absence of facilities for storage, preservation and processing of alternative crops, …
"The last time we had any rain was in 1997, not a drop since. God knows what's in store for us.' Ram Karan is the grand old man of Laporiya in the Jaipur district of drought ravaged Rajasthan and, coming from him, a statement like this means the situation is …
I travel in drought-hit Rajasthan. I want to see, and record. What does really happen when an area is hit by drought? It doesn't rain over Rajasthan the way it used to. Less rainfall has led to a drop in groundwater levels. This year, Rajasthan got 208 mm rain. That's …
The 2000 monsoon didn’t keep its date with Dulaiben, 60, resident of Thoridi village in Amreli district of Gujarat. Her eyes stare down the road in the hope of the water tanker that brings 5,000 litres of water for the 600 residents once every week. Her two sons migrated to …
The Employment Guarantee Scheme ( egs ) of Maharash tra is said to be the only one in the world that guaran tees employment on demand. This was for the first time an employment generation programme was conceived to create productive works at the village level. The absence of social …
During the 1999-2000 drought, Down To Earth ( dte ) reported that five villages in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had enough water during the drought because of the water conservation activities they had undertaken. dte revisited these villages, reeling under the second successive drought. Unlike last year, some of these …
An analysis of the government's failure at drought relief shows some clear loopholes that are not very difficult to plug for a government that is worried about its political future. The most important thing is to plan decentralised, village-level institutions to both manage drought relief and come up with strategic …
The biggest hurdle in providing the much-needed drought relief is corruption in the government machi nery. Rajasthan has spent almost Rs 6,500 crore on drought relief works like employment generation, fodder distribution and drinking water facilities in the past 45 years. Another Rs 628 crore has been spent in the …
Water has suddenly become a favoured subject for seminars and conferences all over the world. A common trend in most of the discussions is to proceed from projections of demand to supply-side solutions in the form of ‘water resource development’ projects; estimate the massive investment funds needed; take note of …
last year's drought in western Rajasthan had its beginnings in September and October when there was erratic and deficient rainfall, not uncommon to these parts of the country. Over Rs 800 crore was spent to counter the calamity. Since 1955, Rs 3,600 crore has been spent under Desert Development Programme …
