Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, India
Palampur is a small town of less than 15 000 people that lies at the feet of the Dhauladhar mountain range in Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh. The Dhauladhar mountains are covered in snow through the year; the melt from its glaciers and snow feeds numerous springs, streams and rivers that flow down to settlements like Palampur. The surrounding countryside has a system of still-maintained kuhl channels used for irrigation and farming. Palampur town and households obtains its water mainly from the Neugal River through a piped pumping system; the Neugal also has numerous hydro-power interventions along its length. The oldest source of water lies to the north of the town and comes from a spring named Bohal, located beneath a forest. Our research partners...The Flying Civil Servant
Rachel Rowe, is Librarian of the Centre of South Asian Studies and the Royal Commonwealth Society collections in the University of Cambridge Library. Rachel writes here on the archives of Sir Frederick Tymms, RCMS 20, one of the most significant figures in the development of civil aviation, referred to by his biographer, E.A. Johnston, as the ‘Flying Civil Servant’. Tymms served as an Observer in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1, then joined the civil aviation department of the Air Ministry 1920-1927 where he became involved in the development of air routes across Africa and India in the 1920s and 30s. His archives document the difficulties of locating suitable landing strips at regular distances across each continent and the excitement at the opening of new aerodromes. ...An amazing resource for the study of Tibet
Rachel Rowe, is Librarian of the Centre of South Asian Studies and the Royal Commonwealth Society collections in the University of Cambridge Library. Rachel recently discovered an amazing resource for the study of Tibet and reviews here some of the links and content available. The Tibet Album : British photography in Central Tibet, 1920-1950 provides online access to over 6000 digital images of Tibet, together with biographical information on the photographers, maps and access to the collection by date and place. The original photographs are held in the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford) and the British Museum (London) and digitisation project was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/ Tibetan musician (Cambridge University Library, Y3039A/55) The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University holds the Frederick Williamson Collection. Frederick Williamson was...Kathmandus Holy River
Alberto Rey was approached to consider doing a project about the Bagmati River that flows though the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. The Bagmati is the most sacred river in Nepal and yet it is also the most polluted. Alberto was excited about starting a new environmental project in Asia and about working with a region with several UNESCO heritage sites and a community with a rich cultural heritage. After initial discussions with professionals, museum staff and community members in Kathmandu, it was clear that there was a great deal of interest in having me starting the new project investigating the Bagmati River. Alberto was granted a residency at the Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Center a few months later, and my research began in earnest. Jason Dilworth,...Panorama by Sir Frederick Tymms
Sir Frederick Tymms (1889-1987)Reciprocal Water Access (RWA) Agreement
Central Palampur derives around 10% of its water supply from a spring just to the north of the settlement. The origins of the spring lie beneath a forest that has in the recent past been harvested and degraded to a significant degree through the herding and fuelwood needs and actions of the inhabitants of three hamlets just upstream of Palampur. During these periods of intensive forest extraction, flowing water quantities declined towards the centre of town. In order to address the suspected link between forest use and water flows, local NGOs and researchers teamed up to address the land use and community issues that were leading to the over-extraction of forest products. In order to do this, the Municipal Council (MC) was brought on...
