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 …
IN HIS very first address to the nation as prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi had said that his government would launch an afforestation drive which would green five million hectares (ha) a year, making it the world's largest afforestation effort. In addition, he said, this entire exercise would be taken up …
Involvement of women is on your priority list. Why? The women in the villages are involved in three basic things - water, fuel and fodder. Along with agriculture, one of the basic goals of watershed development programmes is to help in improving the life of women in villages. It is …
A new grafting technique for ziziphus (known as her} has been introduced by the Mithawan Watershed Management Project in Pakistan. Ziziphus is abundantly found in south Asia. Its products include fruit, fodder and also fuelwood. The main aim of introducing new grafting technique is to set up reproduction of ziziphus …
IN ORDER to tap the potential of unirrigated lands, the Union government is formulating a new national policy on agriculture. The thrust of the policy will be finalised after discussion with states. Som Pal, Union minister of state for agriculture, says that the government would try to reduce disconcerting disparities …
FIRST published in 1997, the book is a contribution to Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (unced). The world's mountains finally received the attention they deserved at unced, commonly referred to as the Earth Summit, which was held at Rio de Janeiro …
BIG farmers and project officials have,- cornered most of the benefits of the watershed development programme (WDP) in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. Undertaken during 1995-96 in 270 micro watersheds spanning 219 villages, the WDP was to be implemented under new guidelines issued by the Central government in 1994, which …
IN A bid to reverse the ongoing degradation of the Doon valley's environment and preserve its watershed, the Uttar Pradesh government initiated a project in 1993 which seeks to involve the locals in a watershed management scheme. This participatory management programme has not come a day sooner for if the …
On the higher value model of watershed development advocated by him: Conventional watershed development models demand land and water resource development in an entire area which is classified as the watershed and does not discriminate between the land of the rich and the poor. But the higher value model of …
TUCKED away in tehsil Ambajogai of Beed district in Maharashtra, water shortage forced the inhabitants of the tiny village of Manganwadi to migrate every year for six months to Pune, about 250 km away, to eke out one square meat a day. "We would lock the whole village and go," …
E.coli bacteria in New yoWs municipal water supply? it impossible. After A citizens had once christened thill -clumimne of mu"idpot w*toe. The system hod been cmpmhon&e; Protective measures. out I years a", td Wnnad L oPH bacteria in the water. People complained that they wore having to bol bolbro drin". …
THE watershed development programme in the country is all set to get a major thrust with the decision of the ministry of rural areas and employment to set aside Rs 3,000 crore - almost half of the total funds meant fot the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and the Employment Assurance Scheme …
IT WAS a Herculean task. For 6 months in 1993, the residents of Kabripathar village enthusiastically carved channels in the unflinching, hard soil, laid pipes and tamped down and levelled the sloping land. Today, this newly-established lift irrigation system is helping them battle the tyranny of the seasons: they can …
"At least we have now begun to talk "to" each other, rather than spitting venom "at" each other in public," says BG Verghese of Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Verghese, a veteran on the changing trends of Indo-Bangladesh relations, was commenting on the recently held talks between the foreign …
IN INDIA, of an annual precipitation of 4,000 billion cubic metres (bcm), 1,000 bcm flows into the sea, taking along with it 12,000 million tonnes of soil. This causes siltation, floods and soil infertility, consequently resulting in economic loss due to low crop yield. Watershed management has been recognised as …
COMMUNITY participation in constructing and managing check dams and the use of water through lift irrigation has transformed the local ecosystem of 37 tribal villages in the Vansda taluk of Gujarat"s Valsad district. Cropping patterns, incomes, employment and even the social system have undergone remarkable changes. The villagers are now …
INTEGRATED development has changed the Hivare landscape in more ways than one. Check dams have raised the groundwater level, slowed down erosion and helped increase crop yields. Villagers like 67-year-old G D Gurav hope that water and fuelwood problems will be solved shortly. The villagers used to migrate to cities …
THE temporary check dams (locally known as bandharas) across streams, have made a huge impact on the agricultural system in Hivare, a drought-prone village 35 km from Pune on the Pune-Saswad road. Even a year ago, the villagers of Hivare wouldn't have dared to dream of watering their fields all …
"For a long time now, we have been calculating the number of people below and above the poverty line. And, these numbers have become a hot political issue. But the important thing is to eradicate hunger. This can be done by identifying the critical areas of poverty and helping the …
CAN REGENERATING villages revive denuded hills? And, vice versa, can regenerating hills revive impoverished villages? Daulat Ram, the old man of Sukhomajri, a Gujjar hamlet near Chandigarh, once said, "Hills and human beings have the same power. If their energies are put together instead of being set against each other, …
"I WAS A labourer, but now, because of the project, I am free. I cannot explain what this means to me," says Dadabhau Jadhav, a frail, small-built Thakkar Adivasi of Mothewadi village in the foothills of Maharashtra's Sahyadri range. For generations, the Thakkar Adivasis have worked as contract and even …
