-Economic and Political Weekly Mihir Shah (mihirbhai25@gmail.com) was Chair, Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board set up by the Ministry of Water Resources (September 2015 to July 2016). The chair summarises background, main features, and addresses some of the issues raised by the articles in this issue. As Member, Planning Commissionfrom 2009 to 2014, I was able to play a small part in kickstarting fundamental reforms...

-TheThirdPole.net Anupam Mishra, who spent three decades fighting for rejuvenation of India’s traditional water harvesting systems, died on December 19 If many of India’s ponds, wells, stepwells, springs, check dams and other traditional water harvesting systems are still in working order today, if at least a few of India’s rivers have been revived, much of the credit must go to Anupam Mishra. Through reportage, analysis and advocacy sustained over three decades, this...

-The News Minute Rice Diversity Blocks in Kerala and five other states preserve over 1,000 indigenous varieties of rice that were at risk of being lost. In the Indian subcontinent, the birthplace of paddy, the colours of the crop’s many varieties are as diverse as the land, its people, languages, cultures, costumes, dialects and so on. But most of that variety was lost, when farmers were asked to forgo indigenous varieties...

-The Hindu On the tenth anniversary of the historic passage of the Forest Rights Act, tribal resistance to defend their rights is growing even as government after government tries to dilute its provisions On this day 10 years ago the historic Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act was passed in the Lok Sabha. Its conception and passage was the result of the decades of struggles and...

-Down to Earth Collective rights to undo historic injustice meted out to indigenous people remain completely ignored by the states, says Citizens’ report Ten years after the historic Forest Rights Act (FRA) was passed by the Indian lawmakers, only three per cent of villages or communities could secure their rights over forest resources which include land and the produce from the forests and water, states the Citizens’ Report prepared by Community...