A fighting chance

One man's dedication transformed the degraded, deforested land of his village

News Snippets

Jungle rule

Protect forests, get clean water

What COVID-19 means for watershed management in India

Non-implementation of watershed activities may lead to poor availability and accessibility of water for domestic, agricultural needs 

Why only panchayats?

Other local associations can also manage watersheds effectively

Drought unites people

1,300 drought-prone Maharashtra villages build watershed structures on their own to harvest every drop of rain this monsoon

Pricing the precious

A pricing mechanism and harvesting techniques will solve water crisis

Debating delivery

How effective have been the interventions by government and donor agencies in water management?

Water revolution

It is not easy to initiate a movement for water conservation in the face of drought. But the Madhya Pradesh government pushed forward in all the …

Scrutinising disasters

FLOOD STUDIES IN INDIA Kale, Vishwas S . Geological Society of India (Memoir; 41) . Bangalore . 1998 . 256 pp

Hermann Bacher: The Swiss Jesuit who revolutionised watershed development in India

Hermann Bacher, who spent 60 of his 97 years in India, was deeply impacted by the Maharashtra drought of 1972; it led him to recalibrate his …

Ghelhar Choti (Jhabua) Participatory success

Mandlikpur (Rajkot) Life with Recharged Wells

Gandhigram (Kachchh) Taking Loans to harvest Water

Raj-samadhiyala (Rajkot) leading by example

THUNTHI KANKASIYA (DAHOD) a turnaround

Holding their own

Villages which have harvested rainwater are faring quite well in the face of drought

Rajasthan village goes beyond caste, fights for water resources

A profane proposal

10 years ago, Down To Earth reported on the state of sacred groves in India (see: Down To Earth, January 31, 1994). Patches of forest protected …

The need of the hour

Experts all over agree that rainwater harvesting is the best way to improve the lot of villages

Forgetting science

Market pulse

Time Locked

Government watershed programmes run for a limited period. The impractical timeframe threatens to undo the goodwork

Sustained Conservation

Only a strong political commitment for water conservation will ensure the survival of these structures

Steeplechase

There is euphoria in the villages which have harvested rain. Overcoming hurdles, village communities learn the first lesson in water management