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Motorcyling Across India to Discover Water's Meaning
Already, 224 million Indians live in water stress. About 70% of irrigation needs and 80% of municipal water supplies come from groundwater sources. However, depleted aquifers and lowered groundwater tables mean that this is no longer sustainable. It has been estimated that by as early as 2020, India’s demand for water will exceed ALL sources of supply. Can we make a difference? One individual thinks so. And one organization is supporting him in his mission for the cause of water. On April 26th 2008, Sharada Prasad will start a 19,000 km Motorcycle Ride across India. The objective of Sharada’s ride is to discover what water means to people across the country. The problems faced by people with respect to water are different in different parts of the country. Support him by going to: »
Shekhar Kapur's bloglogin or register to post comments |
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In this blog, I display my own photos and discuss issues involving water that have inspired Paani ("Water"), a film I am developing to examine the daily struggle for water in the slums of Mumbai.
Shekhar Kapur is India's top-grossing film-maker and Oscar-winning director. A sampling of Kapur's work: |
Brian, thank you very much. In fact, my next film (Paani) is going to be about water.
You are completely right, our problem really is potable water. That’s our base problem that we need to attack right now. Water is an indestructible resource -- actually, when you look at it, it’s like energy. It just changes form. But we are polluting it, and using it up.
The amount of clean water and drinking water we need is huge because our population is rising so much. We use a lot of water in our industry and our use of water in agriculture is not efficient. The balance is completely upset now. That’s why water management is really important. We have to be careful because large-scale water harvesting will in itself have knock-on effects.
- Shekhar
Dear Shekhar-ji,
I wonder if water is really scarce, per se, or if it is that potable-clean water is scarce?
I invite you to look at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3609274920591012778&hl=en and also http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8461124486575127627&hl=en for some ideas about what we are doing.
I also invite you to view http://www.scribd.com/doc/2091765/Special-Presentation-with-Google-Earth-Photos?ganalyticst_from_send_to_friend=1&secret_password=2g273aojlwsq0effmyau
and
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2110636/Cleaning-Lakes-Like-Never-Before-with-modifications-2122008?ganalyticst_from_send_to_friend=1&secret_password=88ll5uzns1ba4723o0s
The importance of water cannot be denied.
Yesterday I watched a video of former Vice President Al Gore with a new presentation he had created for TED, in it he speaks of a "Generational Challenge" and references global warming...I would argue that it should be about water and its protection, restoration, and provision.
You have a tremendous ability to establish impact on vast communities and I wish you the greatest success. One of my friends is VP for Programming for ZEE-TV and I often challenge him to create more public policy and awareness in the midst of commercialization.
Best regards,
Brian