Dhangars, traditional pastoralists of Maharashtra demand dedicated grazing lands

The Dhangar community, a pastoral and nomadic tribal group in Maharashtra, has intensified its efforts to reclaim traditional grazing lands as rapid urbanisation is leading to shrinking availability of farmlands for grazing their sheep and goats. The Dhangars are well known among the state for their migratory shepherding practices and traditionally travel large distances to ensure the sustenance of their livestock.

They practice seasonal migration and mainly travel during the summer and  return to their base areas during the monsoon season. However, they have been facing a number of challenges to their survival due to rapid shrinking of commons resources such as grazing grounds.

However, a unique initiative called community nursery (CN) or ‘Nursery Langar’ saved the flood-hit farmers of these areas, finds a study. As a part of the initiative, a number of volunteer farmer groups were encouraged to raise paddy nurseries and such places were geo-tagged along with the mobile number of nursery growers being made public through advertisements on various social handles and vernacular newspapers.  

Awareness camps were arranged in different parts of the flooded areas to make farmers aware this initiative by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and district administration. The KVKs and regional centers under the aegis of PAU came forward to help and assist such farmers who were raising CN demonstrating the technology and also distributing the nursery to needy and poor farmers free of cost. Such efforts motivated small and marginal farmers to re-plant short duration varieties (SDVs) to compensate for the losses and helped to raise the state average yield of rice by 260 kg per ha, i.e by 4 percent inspite of floods (Down To Earth).

Thus, smart water purifiers are being improved with multi-stage water filters that can effectively remove all harmful impurities and at the same time use minimal water. Another notable initiative is the deployment of Water ATMs across public spaces in Delhi that are being developed in partnership with technology startups, replacing traditional open water taps, which often lead to significant water wastage and health risks. 

The government is also working with tech companies to upgrade the city's water infrastructure by installing smart water meters and IoT-enabled devices across the water distribution network with an aim to leverage technology to create a more sustainable and resilient water management system. 

Concerted efforts at removing fishing nets from dolphin habitats to prevent accidental entanglement, implementing measures to reduce river pollution, ensuring adequate river discharge to maintain a healthy aquatic ecosystem, and monitoring dolphin movements through the Harike barrage and into adjacent canals need to be urgently made by taking along riverside communities in conservation efforts to protect the dolphins. Thus immediate and coordinated efforts are needed from conservationists, local communities, and governments  to save this endangered species and ensure their comeback in its natural habitat (Mongabay, India).

Water divining, or “dowsing”, is a traditional practice largely regarded as pseudoscience by geologists and hydrologists. While its effectiveness remains controversial, water divining is believed to be the only reliable method to locate groundwater for people living in hard rock areas. This is because as costs of drilling a borewell are skyrocketing amidst scarcity of water supplies, and scientific surveys are highly expensive while digging a borewell without consulting anyone is a risk few want to take.