The Centre today formally released the contentious National Water Policy Document-2012 by presenting its first copy to President Pranab Mukherjee who inaugurated India Water Week with a call to make judicious use of the precious natural resource.

“Efficient water management: Challenges and opportunities” is the theme of the five-day event. The President underlined the need to find ways to improve management of water resources in the face of increasing occurrence of droughts and floods. The available water must be managed judiciously to meet the twin burden of population growth and economic development, the President said. Water management should get the top priority, he added.

MALAPPURAM: As the severe drought due to the shortage of rainfall has resulted in substantial crop loss and drinking water shortage in various parts of Malappuram district, the authorities have dec

Focus was on Maharashtra as the State has been reeling under drought

With Maharashtra being mauled by a drought worse than the one it faced in 1972, the Indian chapter of the Global Legislators’ Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) met State legislators and parliamentarians here to increase awareness of the impact of climate change at the State and district levels. In a discussion hosted by the British High Commission in support of projects involving GLOBE and the Climate Parliament, Rajya Sabha member Vandana Chavan said the current drought was a grim pointer that ought to put climate change high on the agenda of top legislators representing Maharashtra.

This year’s drought cannot be called worse than the one in 1972: SANDRP

While the Maharashtra government is crying hoarse about this year’s drought surpassing the one in 1972 and farmers are cutting off their crops and digging deeper than ever for water, an analysis based on rainfall patterns blames it on poor long-term vision and unequal water distribution. With 3,712 major, minor and medium projects, Maharashtra has the highest number of dams in the country; yet its irrigation coverage was 17.9 per cent in 2009-10. Its projects are plagued with delays and cost overruns, and a special team headed by Madhav Chitale is investigating them.

With Governor Kamla Beniwal giving her approval, the decks have been cleared for a controversial Gujarat law that makes possession of licence mandatory for sinking a tubewell, borewell or artesian well on any agricultural land and also has a provision for imprisonment.

The BJP government steamrollered the Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage Bill 2013 in the Assembly on February 27, despite stiff resistance from the Congress and Keshubhai Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP).

Drought is becoming a recurring problem in some parts of the world

Canada is leaving a drought treaty, becoming the only UN member to do so, Canadian media report.

A lingering drought in Gansu province could worsen in the next few weeks, with drinking water for close to 1 million people already under threat, authorities said.

Drought continued to diminish in the Southeast and intensify across much of the West this week, according to Thursday's U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly federal website that tracks drought.

The Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would create a fund to finance water infrastructure projects in a state suffering from two years of widespread dr