The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
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 …
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 …
As Pakistan reels under a severe drought, water scarcity has become a common problem. In Sindh province several protests have been held against the water crisis. "In a country where public demonstrations are banned, many people, including women, are agitating against the government for the water problems,' says Tanveer Arif …
Titanic sank not because it hit the iceberg, the reason for its sinking lies in its inability to take a turn on time'. These words are aptly used by Mahesh Bhat, the noted filmmaker, to describe the apathy of the government through his documentary Bearing the Brunt. The documentary was …
Human life has never been valued very high by politicians. They don't act till a crisis becomes a catastrophe. Tharparkar, the desert area of Sindh province in Pakistan has entered the fourth year of continuous drought. During this dry spell 1.3 million population and five million livestock have been affected. …
Last year the police fired upon people protesting against government inaction in dealing with the water crisis in Falla village of Jamnagar district. This fortnight, the story repeated itself in Rajkot. Eight people were injured when police intervened to stop protesters from immolating themselves. A people's action group called Deshpremi …
Situated in the heart of the once proud and prosperous Malwa Plateau, the rapidly growing city of Indore, buffetted by the waters of the Narmada, is today facing an acute water crisis. The municipality cannot supply enough water and the groundwater table is falling, and whatever there is of groundwater …
Melchhamunda is an oasis in the parched western Orissa. The village in the Bargarh district is fighting the drought with its 400-year-old pond that still contains water. The village depends on agriculture for survival and is only source of irrigation is the around 10-hectare Kata. As Deepak Bhoi, a resident …
• Community structures transferred to government after Independence. Community lost their rights l Attention shifted to modern irrigation projects often not suitable to the local topography. l Rich farmers converted tanks into agriculture lands earlier shared by the community for irrigation l Deforestation led to siltation in the catchments areas …
the skeletonised frame of 68-year-old Manglu Bhoi doesn't shiver with the chilly spring breeze on a bright February morning, but with the thought that he has to walk for two kilometres to fetch a bucket of water. A resident of India's poorest district, Balangir, he is one of the million …
These systems were evolved keeping in mind the unique topography of the region. Earlier, kings used to give agricultural lands to those maintaining tanks as incentives. Today, most of these structures are in a dilapidated condition, and in some cases have simply vanished. bandh: A traditional pond that is usually …
after three years of drought and the government's indifferent attitude, villagers in Rajasthan are gearing up to combat the situation through intensive water conservation. Two meetings were recently held under the aegis of Alwar-based Tarun Bharat Sangh (tbs), a non-governmental organisation. On December 23, 2000 at Khoili, around 400 women …
for the first time, in an unequivocal verdict, scientists have held human activities responsible for most of the warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the last 50 years. Latest assessment of scientific studies of climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) predicts that such actions will continue …
For a large part of the year anybody who was anybody in India talked about match fixing in cricket. When Parliament was in session there was a hue and cry over the Ayodhya issue but hardly a whisper in the corridors of power over drought. Ayodhya and match fixing became …
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 …
for the people of Mandsaur, Dewas and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh drought has been a daily scourge that they learnt to live with. They would wait endlessly for water trains, lock barrels of water to prevent theft and protest sporadically against the scarcity. The recent drought, however, has made …
Over three million people are suffering from a severe food crisis in Afghanistan. With a sheer drop in the purchasing power, a Food and Agricultural Organisation report stated that the drought has critically affected crop production and livestock population. The report added that the country's total cereal production in 2000 …
The Yellow River of China may soon dry up. The reasons behind this are drought, deforestation and mismanagement of water waste. "The situation has worsened significantly since the beginning of the 1980s,' says Cao Mingming, professor of environmental geography at Xibei University located in Xian city. Mingming believes that exploitative …
orissa has again suffered another set back. Vast areas of western Orissa, particularly Kalahandi, Bolangir, Nuapada, Sonepur, Jharsuguda and Bargarh districts are reeling under drought conditions. The crop damage has been more than 50 per cent in over 26,700 villages of these districts. The state government has asked the Union …
