New Delhi, Feb. 24 -- The Yamuna river swells up during the monsoon and deposits silt on the riverbed. That's what makes its riverbed such a fertile zone. It also absorbs overflowing water and its grasses control floods. It's a habitat for birds like sand larks and hundreds of other species.
As we experience erratic monsoons, intense climate change-induced rainfall and other shifts in the precipitation pattern, it's all the more important to remember the fundamental nature of river ecology. This must be respected across the river's flow -- to minimise flooding, loss of assets and damage. We can't ever tame ecology, and nor should we want to, but we can plan to be in sync with it.
So, what is to be done? Across Uttarakhand, Himachal Prades...