-Down to Earth Blog The district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days in September 2021, in line with the recently launched state climate mission In September 2021, Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days by leveraging the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The initiative’s aim was to ensure adequate water for agricultural and domestic purposes throughout the...

-The Statesman It is imperative to cut down on emissions drastically in this decade, else the country faces the imminent danger of major calamities becoming more frequent. It remains imperative for India to rein in its greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions considering that the country is believed to be the third largest emitter, of which 14% comes from agriculture and allied activities. It is imperative to cut down on emissions drastically in this decade,...

-Down to Earth  Reservoirs in Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh have less than normal storage  At least 23 out of 130 reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission (CWC) were full, according to a bulletin released September 16, 2021 evening. All four reservoirs in Telangana monitored by CWC were full to their capacity as of September 16. Eight out of 25 dams in Maharashtra; three each in Karnataka, Jharkhand...

-The Hindu The densely populated slums on the hilly slopes of the Mumbai suburbs are sitting on deathtraps as the recent disaster in Chembur demonstrated. Alok Deshpande reports on the tragedy that took lives and swept away houses, once again highlighting the need for a comprehensive and sustainable plan for the ever-expanding city Subhash Ghashing, 21, took out his mobile phone and logged on to play an online warfare game at around...

Large dams that cause environmental degradation and large-scale displacement, among other things, have been opposed in India by civil society organisations (CSOs), such as Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM) and People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). A recently published study by the United Nations University's Canada-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health along with other partner organisations reveals that tens of thousands of existing large...