Climate Change · Dams · Maharashtra · River Front Development · Urban Rivers

Riparian Forest 22 degrees Celsius cooler than the Riverfront Project!

Pune saw some of the warmest summer days and nights this summer. So did several Indian cities. With the recent monsoon, the thoughts of this heat might have washed away but it is important that one does not forget the summer heat. Why? Read More:

Riparian Forest Photo Credit: Tara Tanmayi S.
Why run and hurry? Here’s dictionary: Microclimate: Microclimate generally refers to the specific climatic conditions within a small area (such as street, park, riverside, etc.). With rise in extreme events like heat and global warming, microclimate is what make cities/ spaces livable. The temperature difference you experience while driving on a road with no tree cover vs with a tree cover is what microclimate is. 
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Dams · Rainfall

Pre Monsoon 2026: District Wise Rainfall in India

In the three month pre monsoon season (March 1 to May 31, 2026) India received 131.3 mm (185.8 mm in Pre-Monsoon 2025, 125.9 mm in Pre-Monsoon 2024, 146.6 mm in Pre Monsoon 2023[i]) rainfall, 0.54% above (42% above normal in Pre-Monsoon 2025, 4% below normal in Pre-Monsoon 2024 and 12% above in Pre Monsoon 2023) the normal rainfall of 130.6 mm as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In 2020[ii] , 2021[iii] and 2022[iv] India received 158.5 mm, 155.2 mm and 130.6 or 20% above normal, 18% above normal and 1% below rainfall respectively. So, India has received above normal rainfall in 5 of the last 7 years in Pre-Monsoon season since 2020.

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Dams · Floods · Indus · Ravi River

The Nowhere-land of Ravi

As we reached Makora Pattan, sun was setting over the River Ravi and before us spread a sea of oranges and rubies. Late October kash blooms crowded the high sandy banks and across the vast silken expanse of water, the other bank was barely visible. Rivers of the Indus basin are called Darya in the plains of Punjab. Darya: a word interchangeable with the sea.

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Dams

Interview on Interlinking of Rivers: An idea delinked from realities

Q. The government has chalked out an ambitious National Perspective Plan(NPP) for Water Resource De elopement which will interlink 37 rivers whose cost will run into over Rs10 lakh crores. This scheme has been vehemently opposed by scientists and yet we see the government pushing it through. Whose brain wave is this? Your comments.

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Climate Change · Dams · Groundwater · Himachal Pradesh · Indus · Ravi River

Raj Naun: Can Stories Save our Springs?

How can we drink this cool water?
For we will see you in it for all our life
Night of atonement, oh girls, oh birds.
~ Sukrat, an elegy for Queen Suhi who was sacrificed for Chamba’s water[1]

Raj Naun, the Royal Fountain House in Chamba is not what I imagined it to be. After reading and thinking about it obsessively for over a year what lies ahead is not a homage to water but a structure in ruins. The Raj Naun has vaulted ceilings, arches and two beautifully carved waterspouts to channel a robust Himalayan spring. But the spouts are dry, the chamber is full of garbage, bottles of alcohol, stacks of firewood, packets of chips lie around. There is that unmissable stench of urine.

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Climate Change · Dams · Floods · Himachal Pradesh · Himalayas · Hydropower · Indus · Ravi River

Gaddis: Storytellers of the Ravi Basin 

As we stood on a ridge near the Lakke Wali Mata shrine, a tributary of the Ravi roared below in a deep gorge. Across it rose a shaded, Devdar (Himalayan Cedar)-covered mountain slope, etched by a steep brown trail. As we stood there observing the headwaters of Ravi, we noticed that the trail was moving.

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Climate Change · Dam floods · Dams · Floods · Hydro Disaster · Hydropeaking · Hydropower · Indus

The Day Salun Village Fell: Impacts of Cascading Hydropower Projects in the Ravi Basin

Salun village, perched roughly 50 feet above the Ravi River, had its moment of fame on the 26th August 2025 — a moment that also became its last. On the dark, rainy afternoon, the small village with homes, rajma fields, apple orchards and cattle sheds collapsed into the flooded River Ravi like a house of cards. In a matter of 30 minutes, ancestral homes with warm hearths, blankets for the coming winter, old report cards and wedding albums, adhar cards and bankbooks-entire archives of living-were erased. Villagers, who managed to escape in time stood in awe and saw their village going extinct before their eyes.

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Dams · Fish, Fisheries, Fisherfolk

WFD 2025: Mass Fish Death in Indian Rivers

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Beas · Climate Change · Dams · Disasters · Himalayas · Hydro Disaster

Himachal Pradesh: Sainj HEP Remains Out of Operation for over 4 months

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Dams · Ganga · Gangetic Dolphins

National Dolphin Day 2025: Deaths, Threats, Conservation Efforts related to Gangetic Dolphins

Continue reading “National Dolphin Day 2025: Deaths, Threats, Conservation Efforts related to Gangetic Dolphins”