Vanishing Ponds of Punjab Virat Jolli: There was a time when ponds used to be the lifeline of Indian people. They are the source of food and water for animals including human beings. These ponds are colonized by variety of aquatic plants, animals and water birds. When these ponds dried up the nutrient and organic matter rich soil was collected and were used by the farmers in their agricultural fields. They also collect the clay soil and used them for repairing and making mud houses. Apart from this the villagers took animals to the ponds for bathing and providing them water. However, with the passage of time importance of ponds started diminishing and people moved on from pond to ground water obtained from wells which were subsequently replaced by tube wells. In the State of Punjab, the tube wells are so popular that in every village you will find at least 15-20 tube wells (e.g., approx. 70000 tube wells were reported by CGWB in Jalandhar District). The changing cropping pattern along ...