Political

This report by FoRWARD deals with the reorientation of the watershed development programme in India. The government is apparently committing larger resources for watershed development and plans to bring most of the dryland, degraded lands under the coverage of the programme over the next 25 years or so.

The normative framework underlying the review “Understanding watershed development” requires a “normative framework” embracing the notions of “watershed” and “watershed development’, and how they are translated into practice. Such translation may also be based upon additional assumption about what is possible and desirable, and how to bring these changes about.

This process study conducted by WASSAN with the support of ICEF is an attempt to bring focus on the processes of the watershed development projects. It is an attempt to provide feedback to the policy makers, donors and field level facilitators on the processes at the field level. It is an attempt to assess, diagnose and compare process at field level in different projects. 

This report by Forum for Watershed Research and Policy Dialogue (FoRWARD) attempts to look at the present status of watershed development in the State of Madhya Pradesh so as to be able move towards a vision of better convergence across developmental objectives (including equity), synergy between natural resource regeneration, administrative co- ordination, institutional coherence, and resource mobilization. It is in this larger context, the review focuses is on (a) spatial spread, prioritization, and complementarity across projects; (b) comparison across modes/ approaches and cross learning; and, (c) issues for future policies. 

This presentation by M G Gopal of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board deals with the water issues faced in the city. The issues presented include – (a) Inter-sectoral allocation (b) Meeting the demand (c) Maintaining quality standards (d) Reducing unaccounted for water (e) Recycle and reuse (f) Promoting rainwater and conservation (g) Implementation of CDS and (f) Is ‘privatisation’, a solution or a disaster?

The report on “Watershed Development in Maharashtra” by Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM) ), on behalf of the Forum for Watershed Research and Policy Dialogue (ForWaRD), deals with the present scenario and issues for restructuring the programme. The concept of integrated and participatory watershed development and management has emerged as the cornerstone of rural development in the dry and semi-arid regions of India. Over the years the country has been making increasing investments in this area with the objective of enhancing the production potential of rainfed agriculture.

This article by Rajashree V Bothale deals with the identification of suitable sites for water harvesting structures in Upper Betwa watershed through WARIS. The present study uses decision support system WARIS for identification of suitable sites for water harvesting structures.

The article deals with AVSWAT- A spatial decision support system for land and water management and its application for watershed management in Bankura district of West Bengal. Decision Support Systems (DSS) are defined as computer-based information systems designed to support decision makers interactively in thinking and making decisions about relatively unstructured problems. Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), which are the integration of DSS and GIS was initiated by Densham and Goodchild ( 1988) are emerging as efficient tools for managing natural resources like land and water.

This article deals with cadastral level resources information system for Kundapallam (Kd1) and Neeralipallam (kb3) watersheds in the Nilgiris district using remote sensing, GPS and GIS. The main objectives of the study are as follows -

• Creation of cadastral level resources information system for sustainable watershed development
• To identify the improper land-use practice areas with the combination of slope and soil type
• To evolve and arrive at local-specific cadastral boundary level development action paln considering land and forest resources for optimal utilization and to address the remedial developmental measures for Kundapallam (kd1) and Neeralipallam (kb3) microwatersheds on a sustainable basis.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

Submission Sent to Prime Minister, DJB, Ministry of Water Resources & HP Govt.

A memorandum demanding the scrapping of the proposed Renuka Dam Project in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh was sent to the Prime Minister, Union Minister of Water Resources, the Delhi Jal Board, the Central Water Commission and the Ministry of Social Justice today by concerned environment groups as well as representatives of the dam affected communities. The 5 page detailed submission has made this demand on three basic grounds - technical/conceptual issues, environment implications and the social impacts of the project. Attacking the very root and concept of the project the memorandum highlights the point that the agreement that was signed in May 1994 is no longer valid, as per the opinion of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, since Rajasthan, one of the parties, did not sign the agreement. The Delhi Jal Board has admitted in response to an RTI application that no options assessment has been done to arrive at the least cost option before taking up the Renuka dam proposal. Without such an assessment, taking up a proposal like the Renuka dam would be completely wrong and inappropriate use of public resources. Moreover, several Studies have proved that Delhi itself is thirsty not because there is shortage of water but actually due to mismanagement and misappropriation of water. According to the Performance Audit report of the Delhi Jal Board for 2008, Delhi has distribution losses of 40 per cent of total water supply which is abnormal and significantly higher than the acceptable norms of 15 per cent prescribed by the Ministry of Urban Development.