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 …
Sahashradhara, Dehradun, India. A soft drink shop greets thousands of tourists at this confluence of a thousand streams. So what's the big deal? Well, its just that the shop is located right inside a microhydel powerhouse that supplied electricity to three nearby villages for over four years. Two year ago, …
Achampet mandal of Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh (AP), was in the clutch of drought six years ago. But it is doing well at present. “Satellite images show an improvement of about 300 per cent between February 1994 and March 1998 with regard to the groundwater table,” says Ramesh Reddy, head …
SEVERAL messages emerge from the analysis of crash programmes to harvest rainwater in Gujarat and ap. It is amply clear that the government of Gujarat has been much more successful in addressing the need of the hour than the AP government. POLITICIANS' RESPONSE: The way the political establishment has gone …
It was quite visible in several districts, whether it was Rajkot, Junagadh or Jamnagar in Saurashtra or Bhuj in Kachchh. People in several villages of these drought-prone regions looked a lot more confident in September 2000 about dealing with drought in the future. Barely four months ago, they had looked …
In our January 15, 2000 issue, Down To Earth had highlighted the situation in drought-struck areas of Gujarat. The conclusion was that villages with structures to harvest rainwater were faring much better than villages which had forgotten the value of rain (see:
the people of Bhaonta-Kolyala village of Alwar district of Rajasthan have constructed a stone checkdam, reinforcing their earlier Johad (earthen dam). "This has been possible because of the Rs 1,00,000 prize given to us by Down To Earth ( dte ),'says Kanhaiya Lal, one of the villagers. The Down To …
It is a labour bank called Thozhil Sena . Its capital is human labour and the clients are mostly farmers who loan labour at a rate of interest. Perhaps the first of its kind in India, the
AS FAR AS the eye can see, it is a mass of horns in a desiccated, semi-arid landscape. The horns emerge sideways from the head, turn up, and then arch back at the tips, as if swept back by the wind. Kankrej, native to northern Gujarat, is quite a regal-looking …
the rural planning approach in India has mainly been one of trials and errors. Piles of documents are gathering dust in the national archives to substantiate the belief that the reforms in the countryside have not been based upon a well-researched positive and integrative approach to village life. The main …
around Rs 3,500 crore will be grantedto the states by the central government for enhancing irrigation potentialunder the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund during the next fiveyears. About 50 per cent of the allotted sum will be utilised for minor irrigation schemes and the rest for major and medium projects. The …
extinction is a nasty word one normally associates with lumbering gigantic lizards, huge prehistoric insects, dragon flies the size of a fighter plane or the Dodo. While humans had no say in the death of the dinosaur, they definitely played a major role in the death of the Dodo. Today …
development in G ujarat seems to be restricted to the industrial sector only. More than 18,000 villages in the state do not have basic facilities like roads or drinking water. In 1995-96 the Keshubhai Patel government unveiled the Gokul Gram Yojna. The project aimed to transform the face of rural …
GANDHI's Vision and Valuesis meant to be a serious exploration into the contemporary meaning of Hind Swaraj and the kind ofpossibility it indicates for agricultural practices in rural India. Hind Swaraj herein refers to Gandhi's text and also to India's last 50 years as an independent country. In recent times, …
This research report on India addresses an important policy issue faced by policy -makers in many developing countries: how to allocate public funds more efficiently in order to achieve both growth and poverty-reduction goals in rural areas. This research is particularly important at a time when many developing countries are …
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 …
Palahi, a sleepy village in the Kapurthala district of Punjab, has set an example in the use of non-conventional sources of energy. All the gurudwaras, private hospitals, nursing homes and a large number of households have solar water heaters, according to Gurmit Singh of the Community Polytechnic. Palahi and four …
a group discussion was conducted with the women of Piparala, a village without out any surface irrigation facilities and very limited groundwater. What emerged from the discussion is that the main sources of cooking fuel are crop residue (mainly cotton as other crops like jowar and bajra stalks are used …
The easing of the supply position of firewood in the recent period is an extremely interesting and encouraging development. I am persuaded by Anil Agarwal's hypothesis on the positive supply response from the rural population to the fuelwood crisis as the main explanatory factor beyond the observed improvement, especially in …
