NEW DELHI, Sep 4 (IPS) - While they are a perennial feature of the
Indian subcontinent, this year's floods have left leading
environmental activists pointing fingers at the many large dams built
with the idea of controlling natural water systems.

NEW DELHI (IPS) - Once again, the government has been compelled to suspend work on the Maheshwar dam over the Narmada River in central India. 

   Under pressure from civil society groups, that organised a sit-down strike for close to three weeks here in May, the central Ministry of Forests and Environment ordered the state government of Madhya Pradesh, where the project is located, to halt work until project authorities have complied with conditions laid down for the rehabilitation of all people who stand to lose their lands, livelihoods or homes. 

On average, Bangalore receives nearly 3,000 MLD of annual rainfall of which experts say 20-50 percent can be harvested for household use.

   The Rainwater Club, a non profit organisation, has set up a harvesting model at the Raj Bhavan – the residence of the Governor, the state’s top official – and the building does not have to rely on the BWSSB supply anymore.

Waiting for water at public taps in some parts of Bangalore is a continuous affair, so much so that such containers are found throughout the day.

 

 

   As if the crippling traffic of India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and slow infrastructure growth were not enough, Bangalore now faces an additional problem to reckon with – an acute shortage of drinking water.

RAIPUR, India (AWW) - Under pressure from water rights activists, India's Chhattisgarh state is looking for ways to undo an eight year old privatisation contract.

   Chhattaisgarh became India's 26th state in November 2001, when it inherited a contract between a private company and a government corporation of the Madhya Pradesh (MP) - parts of which are now included in the new state.

NEW DELHI (IPS) - For 20 years, thousands of people living on the banks of the Narmada river have kept their faith in India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, and used non-violence to protest the building of a mammoth dam that will submerge their homes. 

   The government, however, has often retaliated with tear gas and arrests to their sit-ins and hunger fasts -- most recently on Mar. 26 in the Indian capital, on scores of protestors from the Narmada Valley, in central India, who were camped outside the water ministry office for ten days. 

Large numbers of people show their opposition against the Polavaram Dam.

 

   The dam and river inter-linking project, called Polavaram project, straddles the eastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP). The AP government is promoting the project over objections from its neighbours Orissa and Chhattisgarh states that decry the project's adverse impact on local communities.