-Down to Earth Telangana Chief Minister said cloudbursts may be a 'foreign conspiracy' during his visit to flood-hid Bhadrachalam India, especially its Himalayan states Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, are devastated by cloudbursts several times moslty during the monsoon season. Flash floods caused by a cloudburst in Uttarakhand in 2013, killing thousands of people, is one of the worst natural disasters the country recorded since the 2004 tsunami.  Climate change has been making these...

-Newsclick.in With wheat stocks at a 14-year low and procurement at a 20-year low, how is the ration system going to deliver this staple to crores of people? At the end of June this year, government procurement of wheat was about 188 lakh tonnes, dramatically down by 57% from last year’s 433 lakh tonnes, as per official figures. This is the lowest procurement amount in the last two decades. It was back...

-Newsclick.in As landslides plague Garhwal Himalayas, geologist YP Sundriyal says it confirms scientists’ fear that geologically weak areas will destabilise during monsoons. Leading geologist Prof YP Sundriyal teaches the subject at the Hemavati Bahuguna Garhwal University. In this interview with NewsClick, Sundriyal, who specialises in the Garhwal region of the Himalayan range, expresses concern about the rising frequency of landslides. He believes the government must set up a special fund to maintain...

-Down to Earth Sluggish monsoon; area sown down 15%; rural employment stares at meltdown There are disturbing signals of a potential meltdown of the country’s biggest employer and also food producer as the southwest monsoon enters  its second week of the second month. Kharif sowing was down 15 per cent by July 7, in comparison to last year for the same period. Altogether, farmers didn’t sow in 6.3 million hectares (Ha) of farms. Sowing...

-IndiaWaterPortal.org The Chauka system, the traditional water harvesting system of Rajasthan can not only provide a sustainable way to manage water resources in water stressed regions, but also support livelihoods through development of pastures. Over 55 percent of India’s population relies on groundwater for irrigation, water for cattle, domestic consumption, and industrial use making India the world’s greatest groundwater extractor, surpassing the USA and China combined. This paper titled 'Assessment of traditional rainwater...