Development/Growth
The fracas over water sharing has obscured the fact that the Cauvery itself is facing a major threat: two railway lines to be constructed through Kodagu, the forested hill district where the river originates. A river’s fate – and those of the millions that depend on it – now hangs in balance, writes Chirag Chinnappa….
Read More about A zero sum game: The rail projects that spell doom for the Cauvery
Archival photo of a boat rally in protest against the Sardar Sarovar dam
Conflict/Dispossession
The Modi government had come with the promise of a better future for India’s rivers. Unfortunately, the promise remains unfulfilled, and there seems to be no roadmap in sight for our rivers. There’s nothing in the policies, plans or projects of the current government that would provide any ray of hope, now or in future….
Read More about Himanshu Thakkar on India’s river battlesCLIMATE CRISIS
Soumya Dutta writes: Pakistan is a dry country, with average annual rainfall of less than 250 mm, less than our desert district of Bikaner. The Indus, which India is now threatening to block, irrigates around 70% of the ‘food basket’ farmlands in Punjab & Sindh; it’s literally the life line for the people of Pakistan….
Read More about An open letter to our fellow Indians on the Indus Water Treaty
Conflict/Dispossession
Nityanand Jayaraman writes: The complexity of river systems, the hydrological dynamics that determine their ebb and flow, and anthropogenic confounders such as land-use change and climate change had no influence on the tribunal order… Today’s planners try to spare water for ecological flows, not realising that ecological flows are what keep the river a river….
Read More about Soon, we may not have a Cauvery river to fight over
P. Sainath/People's Archive of Rural India
ALTERNATIVES
Chetan Chauhan reports: Maharashtra and Rajasthan have started community based Jal Swabhilambhan schemes that give ownership of government-aided watershed management to the communities. “We just aid and assist the villagers in creating durable water assets. The villages decide what they want,” said Sriram Vedire of Rajasthan Water Authority, who initiated the programme in early 2016….
Read More about India can avoid future water wars by mixing old and new solutionsConflict/Dispossession
Live Mint reports: This is not a one-off dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu— the latest flare-up puts the spotlight on the growing incidence of water wars among states and, in some instances, within regions in a state. Riparian states warring over water is not new— nearly every river in the Indian subcontinent is contested….
Read More about Video & Report: Cauvery face-off puts spotlight on water wars
Elephants raiding a banana plantation near Bannerghatta, Karnataka
Nishanth Srinivasaiah
Conflict/Dispossession
Peter Smetacek writes: Culling wild animals that have come to depend on agriculture for sustenance is only a short-term measure. This was portrayed as a man-animal conflict rather than what it actually is: the conversion of our forests from rich storehouses of bio-diversity to green deserts by a combination of mismanagement, political expediency and ignorance….
Read More about The culling of wild animals herald future water wars in IndiaCLIMATE CRISIS
‘The Cause Is Us’: World on Verge of Sixth Extinction By Andrea Germanos, Commondreams.org A new study published in the journal Science has shown that human activity has driven current rates of species extinction to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate. “This important study confirms that species are going extinct at a pace not…
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