Water budget

The Union budget of 2005-06 had given the impression that the United Progressive Alliance (upa) government had a plan to promote water conservation and management. With the 2006-07 budget round the corner, now is a good time to look at how serious was upa's water plan.

South Asia

BT damage: Thirty per cent cottonseed pods of Bt cotton were damaged in Pakistan's southern Punjab cotton belt due to water shortage. Indus River System Authority released only 5,000 cusecs of water against a demand of 18,000 cusecs by the Punjab government. As a result, the canals had 40 per cent less water; tubewells were rendered useless due to long power cuts.

Trial and error

Farmers adapt to changing weather by switching crops Farmers who have to live with the reality of unpredictable rainfall are trying to cope as best as they can. They are experimenting with different crops to see what works. And each time they start new field trials, they incur debts. In Andhra Pradesh, where intense rainfall incidents are

Rock bottom

Excessive sand mining causes acute water scarcity in Marathwada

Who's encroaching?

Noida eyes the Yamuna floodplain About 1,000 migrants lost their livelihood when their huts and crops on the Yamuna floodplain near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border were razed in December. The Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department carried out the operation on a 25-hectare (ha) patch of the floodplain at Nayabaans village in Noida so that it can transfer the land to Noida for development.

Inordinate delay

An excuse to privatize irrigation project STARTED in 1984, the yet to be completed Nira Deoghar irrigation project in Maharashtra has run into rough weather. A recent judgement by the three-member water regulatory authority has put on hold the privatization of the project in Bhor taluka, Pune district.

Wrong turn

Karnataka gets ready to divert river water while petitions pile KARNATAKA has finished digging a canal for diverting water from a tributary of Goa's lifeline, Mhadei. The Goa government had filed a case in the Supreme Court in 2006 for staying the canal work because the Mhadei, known as Mandovi in Goa, meets a major part of the state's drinking water and irrigation needs.

Effluent music

Treated wastewater from paper factory irrigates sugarcane fields A hub of dyeing units in Tamil Nadu, Pallipalayam is an exhibition of groundwater pollution from industry. The Cauvery river is joined by steady streams of industrial effluents; tannery units upstream have already done their bit. In the heart of this industrial darkness is a story of farmer-industry simpatico that began in the 1980s.

Repeat and step it up

Who can tire of 'drought-proofing'?

The orphan of development

The river is almost totally absent in modern day discourse