Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
India

World's 'Highest' Village In Spiti Valley Runs Dry As Global Warming Hits The Himalayas

Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Aug, 2017 01:29 PM
    With a backdrop of the snow-capped Himalayas stretched out across a vibrant blue sky, it is hard to dispute the sign as you enter Komik that declares it to be the world's highest village with a road.
     
     
    Others also boast the title — from Nepal's Dho Tarap to Bolivia's Santa Barbara. But at 4,587 metre (15,050 ft), this remote Buddhist hamlet near India's border with Tibet is no doubt among the planet's topmost motorable human settlements.
     
     
    Yet despite its coveted status, life is harsh for the 130 residents of Komik, a quaint collection of whitewashed mud-and-stone houses located in the desolate Spiti Valley.
     
     
    The region is a cold trans-Himalayan desert cut off from the rest of India for six months of the year when snowfall blocks mountain passes. Phone and internet connectivity is almost non-existent. Schools and clinics are a tough trek away.
     
     
    But Spiti's some 12,000 inhabitants, who eke out a living farming green peas and barley, have a much bigger concern: their main sources of water — streams, rivers, ponds — are drying up.
     
     
    "We are used to being in a remote place. We have our traditional ways of living," said farmer Nawang Phunchok, 32, as he sat tying bundles of a prickly desert bush together to insulate the local monastery's roof.
     
     
    "But these days the water is not coming like it used to. The seasons are changing. We see there is less water than before." There is little doubt India is facing a water crisis.
     
     
    Decades of over-extraction of ground water, wasteful and inefficient irrigation practices, pollution of surface water like lakes and rivers, and erratic weather patterns attributed to climate change, have left many parts of the country thirsty.
     
     
    But while government, charities and media increasingly focus on the drought-stricken farmers in the plains, their Himalayan counterparts — ironically living in a region often called the "Water Towers of Asia" — also need help, say conservationists.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    9-Year-Old Boy Dies After Falling Into Pit Filled With Rainwater In Delhi

    9-Year-Old Boy Dies After Falling Into Pit Filled With Rainwater In Delhi
    The pit, about 9 to 10 feet deep, was dug to dump leaves for decomposition but was not covered, resulting in accumulation of rainwater inside, said the police.

    9-Year-Old Boy Dies After Falling Into Pit Filled With Rainwater In Delhi

    Woman Allegedly Gang-Raped, Then Thrown From Car Near Delhi

    Woman Allegedly Gang-Raped, Then Thrown From Car Near Delhi
    The woman, according to the cops, was kidnapped from Sohna road in Gurgaon and was allegedly gang-raped in a moving car and later dumped in Greater Noida.

    Woman Allegedly Gang-Raped, Then Thrown From Car Near Delhi

    Delhi-Lahore Bus Meets With Minor Accident In Fatehgarh Sahib, All Passengers Safe

    Delhi-Lahore Bus Meets With Minor Accident In Fatehgarh Sahib, All Passengers Safe
    The 'Sada-e-Sarhad' bus, which runs between India and Pakistan, met with an accident near Jahankhela village in Fatehgarh Sahib on the GT Road on Tuesday, police said.

    Delhi-Lahore Bus Meets With Minor Accident In Fatehgarh Sahib, All Passengers Safe

    Hotels, Pubs Near Punjab's Highways Can Serve Liquor

    Hotels, Pubs Near Punjab's Highways Can Serve Liquor
    The Punjab Council of Ministers, led by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, today formally exempted hotels, restaurants and clubs from the restrictions imposed (on the Supreme Court orders) on serving liquor within 500 metres of highways.

    Hotels, Pubs Near Punjab's Highways Can Serve Liquor

    Girl Allegedly Raped And Set Ablaze By Boy Friend

    Girl Allegedly Raped And Set Ablaze By Boy Friend
    The young man entered the house of the girl and raped her before setting her on fire with kerosene oil at Temtha Karari village, Superintendent of Police Minu Kumari said.

    Girl Allegedly Raped And Set Ablaze By Boy Friend

    Former Jathedar Gurmukh Singh Claims Dera Sacha Sauda Supporters Threatened Him

    Former Jathedar Gurmukh Singh Claims Dera Sacha Sauda Supporters Threatened Him
    Former acting Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib Giani Gurmukh Singh claimed on Monday that he received threats from supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa. 

    Former Jathedar Gurmukh Singh Claims Dera Sacha Sauda Supporters Threatened Him