What is the appropriate time and the appropriate scale at which to deal with water issues in a democracy? A Question of Scale Let’s start with scale first. If it is to do with provision (and division) of waters – the answer is to deal with it at high a level as relevant. Consider Delhi …
Solution#1: Rejuvenating cascading systems of tanks in one set of interconnected of tanks. What to do and When to do it: Let’s start with the “When”. The best time to embark on this exercise is right after a major drought. At that time, borewells are likely to be dry, and there will be strong popular …
Continue reading What can we do about India’s water crisis – Part 4/5
(A version of this piece appeared in Bloomberg Quint on Dec 02, 2018) Case Study 2: Telangana The politics of building water resilience – a problem of timelines In Telangana, politics is water, and water defines politics, in a connection that stretches back through the sea of history. The Kakatiya dynasty, who ruled Telangana from …
Continue reading What can we do about India’s water crisis – Part 3/5
The Niti Aayog Composite Water Management Index states, “54% of India’s groundwater wells are declining, and 21 major cities are expected to run out of groundwater as soon as 2020, affecting ~100 million people.” While some claim the situation is not quite so dire, such a strong statement from the leading government policy thinktank cannot …
(This first appeared in Firstpost on Aug 08, 2018: https://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-water-crisis-tracing-the-countrys-history-of-water-management-and-crucial-destructive-shifts-in-policy-4895721.html) India's water crisis: Tracing the country's history of water management and crucial, destructive shifts in policy This past week, I, like many parents across the country, was revising history with my son for his test, which happened to be on the kingdom of Mesopotamia. More …
Continue reading India’s Water Crisis. Part 1. How did we get here?
Climaction 