This article will present basic facts on limitations and efficacy of large water storage versus small dams & popularly known as rain water harvesting structures (rwhs) for recharging ground water and suggests serious examination of mother statements about relation of forests and hydrologic elements.

The traditional water harvesting system that existed decades ago in various Indian states is as relevant today as it was then and perhaps even more. Present day India is no stranger to nature’s fury like floods, drought, famine and hurricanes, and it would be well to learn from the old but true wisdom of traditional customs of water harvesting. There is also need to provide qualitative and quantitative irrigation to various agriculture fields to enhance the production of food grains and improve the livelihood of people in India.

Climate change is not a problem of present deeds but of past contributions. The world has run out of atmospheric space - and time. Will the rich, who contributed to emissions in the past and still take up an unfair share of this space, reduce emissions? Or will emerging countries be told to take over the burden? Sunita Narain throws light on this big question, in the light of the recently concluded climate change conference in Durban.

The lesson for India after Durban is that it needs to formulate an approach that combines attention to industrialised countries’ historical responsibility for the problem with an embrace of its own responsibility to explore low carbon development trajectories. This is both ethically defensible and strategically wise. Ironically, India’s own domestic national approach of actively exploring “co-benefits” – policies that promote development while also yielding climate gains – suggests that it does take climate science seriously and has embraced responsibility as duty.

India’s approach to climate change has shifted dramatically in the span of a few years. Not only has India developed a comprehensive climate change program domestically, it has adopted a new stance in the international negotiations that has earned it the reputation of being a ‘deal maker’.

There is one being-Indian-thing, which spans the urban or rural, rich and poor divide: our annual watch and wait for the monsoons. It begins every year, without a fail as heat climbs, and monsoons advance. The farmers wait desperately because they need the rain, at the right time, to sow their crops. Without this water, they cannot plant.

There is a continuing tension between those who espouse growth and those who call for environment protection. The two groups do not talk to each other – they are talking at each other and with every passing day, the gap seems to be widening.