Rethinking rehabilitation: socio-ecology of tanks and water harvesting in Rajasthan, North-west India

In the arid and semi- arid Indian state of Rajasthan, tanks and ponds have been a mainstay of rural communities for centuries. There are over 4600 large minor irrigation tanks, plus numerous johads, bandhs and pals (small water harvesting structures). This paper assesses a strategy proposed for rehabilitating 1200 of the larger tanks. It argues that treating tanks only as flow irrigation systems—which lies at the center of the mainstream thinking on rehabilitating surface irrigation systems is very likely to result in a flawed strategy when applied to tanks. Instead, reviewing the successful experience of NGOs like PRADAN and Tarun Bharat Sangh in reviving and rehabilitating clusters of small traditional water harvesting structures at a watershed level, it posits that Rajasthan's tanks belong more to the watershed development domain than to the irrigation domain and that a strategy that views tanks as multi-use socio-ecological constructs, and which recognizes varied stakeholder groups is more likely to enhance the social value of tanks.

Rethinking tank rehabilitation: issues in restoring old tanks to their original state in irrigation structure

Tank irrigation / Rehabilitation / India

International Water Management Institute success stories 2000-2009

Research institutes / Research projects / Development projects / Water resource management / Water use / Multiple use / Food security / Soil conservation / Poverty / Farmers / Water harvesting / Water storage / Tanks / Land management / Drinking water / Domestic water / Groundwater management / Irrigated farming / Productivity / Wastewater irrigation / Water scarcity / Maps / Case studies / South Asia / India / Africa / Tanzania / Ethiopia / Thailand / Central Asia / Kyrgyzstan / Tajikistan / Uzbekistan

Redressing Ecological Poverty Through Participatory Democracy: Case Studies from India

or the rural poor – who depend above all the land for their survival – a central development challenge is to sustain a base of natural capital that can support a robust local economy. In India, government mismanagement of forests, grazing lands, and water resources has often alienated rural people and exacerbated resource degradation. This paper shows the potential to reverse these trends when local people gain control over natural resources and manage them through systems of participatory democracy. Four case studies from semi-arid, hilly regions of India illustrate how democratic control of natural assets can lay the basis for ecological restoration and sustainable livelihoods.

Formations close to the Permo-Triassic boundary in Tasmania

The Cygnet Coal Measures is a unit of carbonaceous shale, coal and feldspathic sandstone in Tasmania of Upper Permian age. It is overlain gradationally or disconformably by the Springs Sandstone, the lower member of which, Barnetts Sandstone, is a thinly-bedded, fine-grained feldspathic to arkosic sandstone, and the upper, the Mountain Lodge Sandstone and a more thickly-bedded, medium-grained protoquartzite. The upper part of the Springs Sandstone is probably Otoceratan. The Permo-Triassic boundary lies within these gradational non-marine units and cannot yet be fixed accurately. The base of the Mountain Lodge Member is probably the most convenient boundary to use as the Permo-Triassic boundary in local field mapping

An overview on floral diversity of Arawali forest: A potential source for natural dyes

The present study presents an overview on floral diversity and identifies Non-timber Forest Products (NTFP) that can be used as Natural Dye sources in textile sector. This was a descriptive study; Historical, as well as current data was collected through surveys and interviews. Individual and focus group interviews with tribal members were conducted to gather information regarding details of forest proximity. This collective study indicates that the Aravalli hill ranges constitute the most dominant hilly area of Rajasthan. Most of the forests are over the hilly areas i.e. in Udaipur, Rajasamand, Kota, Baran Sawai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Sirohi, Bundi, Alwar, Jhalawar and Banswara districts, which make up for about 50 per cent of the forests of the state. Khakara, semal, rohida, gadha palash, mokha, marod phalli, davai, van gulab etc. are identified as red chroma, amaltash, awla, gundhi, babool etc.are identified as yellow and related chroma. Forests are major components of the earth’s natural resources and they are increasingly critical to the welfare of the economy, environment, and population. Gum products, starch products, antimicrobial resources, paper industry products may be collected from hilly forest areas and can be easily adopted at cottage level for gainful employment of tribal women

The global groundwater situation: overview of opportunities and challenges

Groundwater offers us few but precious opportunities for alleviating the misery of the poor; but it poses manyԡnd dauntingԣhallenges of preserving the resource itself. A big part of the answer is massive initiatives to augment groundwater recharge in regions suffering depletion; but, in the ultimate analysis, these cannot work without appropriate demand-side interventions. The water vision of a world that future generations will inherit will have to be the one in which groundwater plays its full developmental, productive and environmental role but in a sustainable manner; and the framework of action to realize this vision will mean eschewing the current free-for-all in groundwater appropriation and use, and promoting a more responsible management of this precious resource that is easy to deplete or ruinԴhrough depletion, salinization and pollutionGroundwater resources, Groundwater depletion, Water scarcity, Water shortage, Poverty, Rural development, River basins, Sustainability, Waterlogging, Salinity, Aquifers, Water pollution, Pumps, Recharge, Water harvesting, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty,

Spilitic Pillow Lava in Panjal Trap of Kashmir, India

The spilite exhibiting pillow structure has been discovered from the Permian Panjal Trap at Guryul Ravine about 12 km east of Srinagar in Kashmir in the year 1969. The field occurrence, major and rare earth compositions, and microscopical description are given in this article. The chemical compositions indicate a strong resemblance with the late Paleozoic geosynclinal basic rocks having some "oceanic" nature in Japan, in spite of the fact that the pillow lava occurred under the coastal or lagoonal environment