Nitin Bassi

Come find CEEW at Ahmedabad Cultural Week! Here is what we have lined up at Shreyas Foundation, Ambawadi. All free. 👇 🎨 23 to 26 Oct | Climate Cartoon Exhibition and Mural Painting: Cartoons sparking conversations and chuckles in equal measure 🗑️ Sat 24 Oct | Zero-Waste Workshop for Students! Auditing your school waste made cool 💧Sat 24 Oct | More From Every Drop! Gujarat’s water story, told with data and experts. 🎬 Sat 24 Oct | Making a Song and Dance about Climate Change! Short films, music, poetry & vlogs that inspire climate action 💼 Sun 25 Oct | Green Is the New Gold: where the green skills shape careers ✍️ Sun 25 Oct | I Have a Dream! Does your dream have some green in it? Bring it to life through cartoons & poems. Register now: docs.google.com/forms/d/1VcP… See you there! #AhmedabadCulturalWeek

Torrential rain has pounded south Gujarat this week. Some talukas, such as Umbergaon in Valsad, recorded more than 1,100mm of rain in just 16 hours. @Indiametdept has issued red alert for multiple districts, including in Ahmedabad. CEEW's tehsil-level assessment of India's changing monsoon patterns found that 1 in 4 of India's tehsils have stopped having a "normal" monsoon altogether—swinging between drought years and flood years over the last four decades. Gujarat and Marathwada are among the worst affected. Navsari, on Gujarat's coast, is a case in point. In July 2024, a single storm put nearly a fifth of the city underwater in an afternoon. Working with @NavsariNMC Municipal Corporation, we mapped the city’s flood risk ward by ward using 55 years of daily rainfall data, and indicators on hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. We found the danger was not evenly spread. Some wards could take an ordinary monsoon in their stride; others, a few streets away, could not. This map is now the starting point of the city's new plan: fix the worst-off wards first, rather than spread a fixed budget evenly across a risk that was never even to begin with. We’re now extending the same approach to Ahmedabad and further examining urban flooding patterns in Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, and Cuttack. As monsoon become more unpredictable due to climate change, every Indian city needs a plan that maps where the risk actually is, and plan for urban floods. 📘 Check out the Navsari City Action Plan for Flood Risk Management: ceew.in/publications/navsari… @NitinBassiN

#Opinion | The monsoon alone cannot fix India’s water problem. Policy could From Bengaluru to Mussoorie, Indian cities are reeling under severe water stress. Even as the monsoon arrives, India’s long-term water security will depend on how we manage, reuse, and value every drop. Writing in @the_hindu, @NitinBassiN argues that reversing India’s “state of water bankruptcy” requires four interconnected actions: climate-proofing water infrastructure, scaling treated wastewater reuse, expanding micro-irrigation, and closing critical water data gaps. Water is an economic resource that powers lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems. Pull the right policy levers, and India can still turn the tide towards a water-secure future. Read more 👇

#Opinion | As rising temperatures, water scarcity, and growing urban demand put increasing pressure on India’s cities, a critical question emerges: what can our parched cities do differently? Writing in @IndianExpress, @paramiyer_, @GhoshArunabha, and @NitinBassiN argue that one intervention with immense—and still unrealised—potential is the reuse of treated used water, especially for non-potable purposes such as irrigation, construction, industrial use, lake rejuvenation, and urban landscaping. The authors outline four priorities: 👉 Develop city-specific water reuse plans 👉 Unlock private finance for reuse projects 👉 Improve the performance of sewage treatment plants 👉 Launch a national circular water mission A circular water economy can reduce freshwater stress, improve water quality, and secure water for all. India has the political leadership, will, and proof of concept. What it needs now is action: at scale, at speed, and with urgency. Read more 👇

#Opinion | Energy security cannot be planned in silos As global uncertainty sharpens concerns around imported #energy dependence, Akanksha Tyagi and @NitinBassiN argue that India’s transition must integrate energy, land, water, and infrastructure planning. The next phase of #CleanEnergy expansion will be more resource-intensive and complex, requiring coordinated systems-level thinking rather than isolated sectoral responses. ✍️ In today’s Moneycontrol 👇 moneycontrol.com/news/opinio…

We had the pleasure of meeting Dr Giriraj Amarnath (@AmarnathGiriraj), Research Group Leader for Water Data for Climate Resilience @IWMI_ to shape a strategic collaboration on water and climate action. The discussion focused on co-developing impactful knowledge products, and aligning efforts for major international water and climate convenings. A key focus area is the Climate Data Hub, aimed at strengthening the use of climate and water data for informed decision-making and building climate resilience. The collaboration will focus on advancing work across green water, urban flood and heat resilience, and the water, energy and food nexus as key pillars of integrated water and climate action. Dedicated working groups will be formed to take this forward, with further internal deliberations and roundtables planned to refine priorities and scale impact. @GhoshArunabha @NitinBassiN @vishchi @Shravanverse

We were pleased to host Octavian Stamate, International Relations Officer at Regional & Bilateral Environmental Cooperation (Directorate-General for the Environment, @EU_Commission) along with Bartosz Przywara, Counsellor at Energy, Climate Action and Environment (Delegation of @EU_in_India) at the CEEW headquarters in Delhi. The discussion centred on the pivotal role of the circular economy in building resilient societies, and the evolving initiatives underway in both India and the European Union. We explored potential avenues to deepen India–EU cooperation across management of treated used water, solid waste systems, solar and battery waste management, sustainable finance, and resilience-building through inclusive, multi-stakeholder processes. We also exchanged perspectives on leveraging global platforms to forge impactful partnerships and scale circular economy solutions. @NitinBassiN

The study finds that while water resources in half of the sub-basins in the area face high climate risk, the basin can significantly reduce future unmet water demand through three practical shifts: mainstreaming interdisciplinary climate risk assessments, scaling micro-irrigation and expanding treated used water reuse. Sub-basin-level modelling shows that increasing reuse to 40% and expanding micro-irrigation to 13% could reduce the basin’s projected water gap by nearly two-thirds by 2050—especially critical as #ClimateRisks intensify. The report calls for hyperlocal climate-risk and water-balance assessments, stronger sub-basin level datasets, and targeted interventions in high-risk areas to build long-term climate resilience and ensure #WaterSecurity. 📘 Read Toward Climate-resilient River Systems in Chennai at ceew.in/publications/chennai… ✍️ By Ekansha Khanduja, Yashita Singhi, Clark Kovacs, Thirumurugan Perumal, Soorya K K, Pratha Mishra, Ayushi Kashyap, Trisha Ravindranath, Alifshah N, Saiba Gupta, and Nitin Bassi @NitinBassiN

What does climate resilience look like within our defence infrastructure? We were honoured to host Col Praveen Nair, Commander Works Engineers (CWE) Utilities, Delhi Cantt, to explore strategic collaborations for a #climate-resilient, water-secure future. Our dialogue focused on advancing circular water management across cantonments, scaling treated water reuse and strengthening #WASH climate risk assessments. This exchange feeds into practical solutions aligned with the #IndianArmy’s sustainability priorities. @NitinBassiN @KhandujaEkansha @adgpi

How do we build future-proof WASH systems? 💧 Earlier this week, we hosted Alejandro Jimenez, Head of the WASH Governance Group at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, and Vinitha Murukesan from its India chapter at our Delhi office. During the discussion we deliberated over collaborations to strengthen #ClimateResilience in India’s WASH sector, aligning with the enablers to accelerate the delivery of #SDG6. Our dialogue paves a way for prospective climate-resilient services, stronger data systems, capacity building, innovative technologies, and inclusive governance, reinforcing #WaterSecurity and sustainable outcomes for communities. @NitinBassiN

As #UnionBudget2026 approaches, India has an opportunity to decide what kind of cities it wants to build for its citizens. In today's @htTweets, @GhoshArunabha argues that this Budget must signal a clear shift: from constructing cities to enabling quality of life. Over the past decade, governments have rightly invested in the hard arteries of growth: highways, metros, power grids, and digital rails. But infrastructure alone does not make great cities. The cities of the future will be defined by #CleanAir and safe #water, efficient and low-emission mobility, circular systems for waste and wastewater, climate resilience in the face of #heat and #floods, responsive digital governance, and thriving green-blue commons, each recognised not just as a public good but an economic asset. The column lays out a practical agenda for this transition. Read more 👇

#NewBlog | How climate risks shape women's access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in India Climate extremes are widening gaps in access to safe water and sanitation (#WASH), with #women often bearing the cost through longer hours collecting water, compromised safety and dignity, and lost income opportunities. CEEW’s analysis shows this burden is set to grow: over 40% of Indian districts already face high to very high climate-induced risks to WASH, with gendered impacts cutting across access, time, and wellbeing. The answer lies in making WASH planning both climate-aware and #gender-responsive. Drawing on a pan-India risk index built from 53 indicators, this blog by Soorya K K and Ekansha Khanduja argues for hyper-local risk assessments, stronger gender-disaggregated data, and women’s leadership in decision-making. Read: ceew.in/blogs/how-does-clima…