-The Hindu With growing environmental distress, policymakers cannot shy away from adopting best eco-management practices In a report last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) called the Chennai floods of 2015 a “man made disaster”, a pointer to how the encroachment of lakes and river floodplains has driven India’s sixth largest city to this ineluctable situation. The Chennai floods are a symbol of consistent human failings and poor urban...

-IndiaToday.in Nothing short of a complete overhaul or rethinking the approach towards water bodies is needed if India were to fight its water crisis without paying too heavy price. * Water bodies are important to recharge groundwater and absorb excess rain to prevent flooding * Water bodies in India are fast disappearing triggering drought situations and water shortage * The significance of restoring or reviving water bodies cannot be overemphasised For far too long the...

-The Hindu It's time we stopped neglecting urban ecosystems Countless poets and lovers have declaimed over the ages that Venice is not just a city; it’s a living dream. By that same measure, irreverent others would hold that during the monsoons in India, its cities are more than just cities; they are lived nightmares. Venice’s waterways are celebrated the world over and hordes of tourists descend on the city every year. In...

-The Times of India THANE: The devastation caused by the floods in Kerala could be a preview to a similar disaster in-waiting in several cities and town of Maharashtra, where a combination of heavy rains, poor dam management and builder-driven encroachments in the flood control line could lead to a repeat of July 26, 2005, experts claimed. Maharashtra, with a total of 3,264 dams, could be highly vulnerable to devastating floods and...

-Huffington Post blog A result of dysfunctional municipal planning and governance. The flooding woes of Indian cities have hit the headlines yet again, with Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Agartala being among the worst affected. As for the response to these crises—there is enough evidence to indicate that the patchwork solutions that have been employed will work like steroid shots that might mitigate the issue temporarily, but worsen it in the future. Planning in...