Amita Bhaduri

The meeting held on 22nd November, 2012 at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi was followed by a discussion which included comments and suggestions of the experts and participants. The meeting was chaired by Prof. S R Hashim, President, India Water Partnership who was accompanied by Dr.

Inaugural session chaired by Dr. Mihir Shah

Image courtesy: www.readandknow.org

Introduction

The Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) celebrated “Water Conservation Day" on the 19th of November 2012 to create awareness regarding depleting water resources and underlined its vision and commitment to be an active contributor to the sustainability of this very important natural resource. The field offices of various organizations under the administrative c

This bilingual book written in Hindi and English appearing side-by-side titled “Bagawat par majboor Mithila ki Kamla nadi” and “Kamla: River and the people on collision course” respectively attempts to study the irrigation and flood control schemes that were taken up in the Kamla basin following independence and depicts how people have been left in a blind alley.  

A discussion was organised on a new book by Tom Wooten and Utpal Sandesara - "No one had a tongue to speak" that spectacularly reconstructs the 1979 Machhu dam disaster in Gujarat, one of history’s worst disasters. The meeting was organised by SANDRP at India International Centre, New Delhi on 30^th July, 2012.

Ghazala Shahabuddin’s recent talk on 30^th August, 2012 at IIC, New Delhi focused on the malaise underlying India’s dominant conservation paradigm, which is for the most part one of top-down control and exclusion.

The panelists included Himanshu Thakkar (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People), Manu Bhatnagar (Head, Natural Heritage Division, INTACH) and A K Bajaj (Former Chairman, Central Water Commission) while Satish, Toxics Link moderated the discussion. A short film by TERI - “Water ignites life and hope” was also shown.

Introduction

The lecture dealt with 'Perceptions of a river, life and the idea of floods in politics and commerce', with the metaphor of control over rivers dating back to the times of Sir Arthur Cotton, who built the Dowlaiswaram anicut on the Godavari in 1863.