A lost name, a vanishing ecosystem
In the Kannada language, the word kere means a man-made or natural water tank, and the word for the numeral nine is ombhatthu , pronounced …
30,000 farmers demand Hirakud dam water
Western Orissa is witnessing an upheaval. In the eye of the storm is the Hirakud dam. Over 300,000 farmers dependent on its water for irrigation …
Dying wisdom
Rise and fall of traditional water harvesting systems in India They are called kuhals in Jammu, kuls in Himachal Pradesh and guls in Uttarakhand.…
Dark zones are human-made
Groundwater sustains almost 60 per cent of the irrigated land in India. Most districts in India today have larger shares of irrigated land under …
Where are the panchayats?
Of the three farm water conservation programmes currently under way in Karnataka, the Jal Samvardhene Yojana (jsy) has completed a year of …
A dark tunnel
Twenty-nine workers were killed in a landslide at the Tehri dam. The contractor building the dam has blamed the "weak mountains" for …
Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur driving a wedge?
Imphal, Manipur's capital, came to a grinding halt on August 28, with a strike being called. Imphal's people are habituated to bandhs, and most …
The negotiators
Of India's 18 major rivers, 17 are inter-state. In all cases, the water is intensely fought over. In all cases, there seems no resolution. In …
Standing the test of drought
After the 1999 monsoon failed in several areas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, there is a serious drought. Summer is a good four months away, and …
A midsummer dream
Anyone will tell you that follow-ups are not a story. Journalism is not about following stories of specific villages and how they fare year after …
A watershed plan
Recurrent droughts and floods coupled with mass poverty, chronic unemployment and pervasive malnutrition are the major challenges before India. …
Paan loses flavour
Iconic paan no more appeals to farmers, traders and common people. They say the contagious spread of chewing tobacco, especially gutkha, is fast …
Newest Biggest Deal
In Kyoto, in 1997, nations of the world agreed the Clean Development Mechanism (cdm) was a competent way to combat climate change. The process …
Is the joyride over ?
There was fear in the 1960s. Would India continue to wait for food imports to feed itself? The scientific community came up with an answer that …
Polavaram fraud
The Polavaram dam on the Godavari could displace 400,000 people and submerge nearly 4,000 hectares of forestland. Most of the people threatened …
Chhattisgarh will not allow GM crops
Chandrasekhar Sahu, agriculture minister of Chhattisgarh, is passionate about making farming a viable proposition for farmers. He has written …
Andhra's groundwater crisis & a trail of suicides
Groundwater has failed Andhra Pradesh’s farmers. Between 1997 and 2006, about 4,500 farmers committed suicide, unable to repay loans they …
Short circuit
On the face of it, the ambitious Sethusamudram project to bridge the east coast with the west coast of the country seems a great idea. The …
Back To Beginning
Afghanistan, the badland of international politics, faces its toughest challenge: life and peace. Two decades of war, six months of non-stop …
Veggies delight
The rising demand for vegetables has opened up a money-making opportunity for small farmers. Already reeling from recurring droughts and …
On privatising water
What about privatising water? Should India move to do it? What tips the scales in its favour, and what doesn't? In 2003, two editorials in Down …
Hiware Bazar - A village with 54 millionaires
Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmednagar district, was sliding into an abyss after degrading its environment. But in …
NITI Aayog wants to hand over micro irrigation to private players
The government policy think tank believes it would take 100 years to exploit the micro irrigation potential with the current programme target and …
Towards water sufficiency
Controlling the Water, Matching Technology and Institutions in Irrigation Management in India and Nepal Edited by Dik Roth and Linden Vincent, …
Family plot
Timely practices of mulching, watering and pruning have allowed the Kachares to thrive on "barren" ground