Order of the National Green Tribunal (Central Zone Bench, Bhopal) in the matter of Gaurav Jain Vs State of Madhya Pradesh & Others dated 27/02/2024. The matter related to non-forest activities and non-compliances of environment clearance and forest clearance conditions by Larsen & Toubro Limited along with Narmada Valley Development …
OUT OF the total 303.42 million ha of land that make up India, 136.18 million ha were categorised in 1987-88 as net sown area and of this, only 43.05 ha receives irrigation. The sources of irrigation, according to official records, are canals, tubewells, tanks, wells and other sources, a classification …
AMIDST the euphoric atmosphere, a time bomb is ticking away in semi-arid West Asia. On September 13, Israel signed the Declaration of Principles with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and followed it up, in less than 24 hours, with the signing of the Common Agenda with Jordan. Though this has …
In a severe indictment of the World Bank's (WB) record of resettlement of people affected by its projects in India, the bank's own Operations Evaluation Division (OED) has recommended that funding of projects involving forcible relocation of people should be stopped. OED says a February 1980 policy makes the bank …
"ALTHOUGH India has built many dams that are engineering marvels, traditional water-harvesting methods are still the lifeline for most villages," says A V Chaturvedi, Jehanabad district development commissioner. He cites the example of Motepur dam, an earthen structure that is built every two years over the Punpun river. The Motepur …
LONG BEFORE Indians run out of land or air, they will run out of water -- unless, of course, they learn to make judicious use of this precious resource. The Mayurakshi river basin in West Bengal and the Sabarmati basin in Gujarat represent some of the serious problems water resource …
THE MAN who moved the Supreme Court in ???? to constitute a tribunal to solve the dispute over the Cauvery waters between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was S Ranganath, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers' Association. Says Ranganath, "A legal solution had to be found. We had no …
AS THE Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu lurches from one deadlock to another, water resources experts in India are even more disturbed at the prospect of a larger crisis. The "resource hysteria" generated by the Cauvery tangle may just be a precursor to similar "flashpoints" in India, …
THE CAUVERY, one of the major interstate rivers of south India, has been both a blessing and a curse to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu: it has helped farmers but also caused discord. Irrigation from the Cauvery has been more developed in Tamil Nadu than Karnataka. The reason is geological: Whereas …
For 50 years the Mettur dam was completed. Tamil Nadu farmers used more than 75 per cent of the Cauvery waters, which was largely responsible for the tremendous escalation in rice cultivation in the state. The crisis, however, set in after Karnataka began developing its irrigation system based on the …
Two British consultants have developed an underwater pump that can irrigate riverside fields without using fuel or causing pollution. The prize-winning turbine is easy to construct and can work continuously (Ceres 141, Vol 26, No 3). Originally designed to harness the energy of the Nile to irrigate the desert areas …
ISRAELI potato growers have dug in for a fight to the finish against McDonald's of Big Mac hamburger fame, which is due to open its first outlet in Israel outside Tel Aviv in autumn. McDonald's says it wants to import frozen fries because irrigation has made the wholesale prices of …
The recent discovery of pieces of the world's oldest ocean-going ships off Ras Al Junaya on the coast of Oman by a team of Franco-Italian archaeologists, provides more proof of the glory of the Indus Valley civilisation, which flourished in Pakistan and northwestern India from 2500 BC to 1700 BC. …
A NEW approach to agricultural planning, drawn up by the Planning Commission at the instigation of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, has run into a near-fatal snag: State governments are jittery about putting their money into something that still hasn't been proved tried and true. Rao had urged the …
• Plan priorities ACRP assumes that once land and water resources are developed, the desired levels of yield and productivity will be achieved. Soil conservation and reclamation, irrigation and other land development schemes have been listed as priorities. The proposed ACRP plans have sought major increases and redeployment of funds …
THE SPITI area of Himachal Pradesh is a cold desert, but surprisingly, agriculture is its mainstay. Transforming Spiti's lunar-like terrain into an agrarian success story was made possible by an ingenious system devised centuries ago to tap distant glaciers for water. But short-sighted developmental policies, though well-intentioned, now threaten both …
A NEPALESE expert committee rules out any adverse effect to Nepal from the Indo-Nepal agreement on the Tanakpur barrage, which concerns the utilisation of natural resources. The 11-member, government-appointed panel's ruling paves the way for parliamentary approval of the 120-MW hydel project. Nearly 3 ha of Nepalese land has been …
SCIENTISTS at the Central Soil and Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) in Karnal, Haryana, have developed a subsurface drainage system that effectively reduces soil salinity in waterlogged regions, restores the water table and puts such land back under the plough within three years. CSSRI director N T Singh says the new …
THE NEPAL Supreme Court has ruled that the government's so-called understanding with India on the Tanakpur Barrage was a treaty that has to be ratified by Parliament. Under the treaty, signed in December 1991, Nepal agreed to provide 2.9 ha of land to India for tying the 577-metre left bund …
WITH DEPLETION of groundwater heavy in many parts of the country and rich farmers almost monopolising water resources, the Union government is renewing efforts to get states to control groundwater extraction. Last month, the water resources ministry circulated a model bill on groundwater use, making obtaining of permits compulsory and …
AGRICULTURE IN south India has traditionally been based upon small-scale irrigation, using tanks, wells and river water. In this system, temples were not merely places of worship but played a pivotal role in irrigation management. They represented the crystallisation of community efforts, which explains why Tamil Nadu chief minister J …
