Political

The Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources met recently under the Chairmanship of Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Water Resources. Minister of State for Water Resources, Shri Vincent H. Pala was also present along with the secretary and other senior officers of the Ministry. 

Organizer: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Venue: The Leela Palace, New Delhi

Topics:

• Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature– case studies from India and the world
• The Value and Sustainability of Forests Ecosystems: The role of forests in combating climate change , conserving biodiversity and catalysing transformation to Green Economy
• Climate Change Adaptation in High Mountain Areas

Winners hail from the University of Minnesota, TERI University (Delhi), Cornell, Duke, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management (Mumbai) and India Institute of Technology Roorkee.

Minneapolis / St. Paul (May 19,2011) –  This is a competition sponsored by Institute on the Environment’s Acara program that invites international student teams to learn about and develop social businesses. The winners will receive $5,000 plus tuition to attend the Acara Summer Institute in Bangalore, India, this summer, where they will move their proposed businesses from plan to action.

Newsletter of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) for April - May 2011 (Volume 9 Issue 3-4), focuses on the following topics.

• Analysis of TAC guidelines and decisions in recent meetings
  The Advisory Committee in the Union Ministry of Water Resources for consideration of techno-economic viability of Irrigation, Flood Control and Multi Purpose Project Proposals (TAC in short) is supposed to discuss the techno-economic viability of the irrigation, flood control and multi-purpose project proposals as per the Resolution published in the Union of India Gazette Notification No. 12/5/86-P-II dated Nov 27, 1987.

Established in 1919, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) is one of the oldest philanthropic institutions in India, and has played a pioneering role in changing traditional ideas of charity. The Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust, formed in 1974, works together with SRTT to bestow grants.

The Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai, offers one-year scholarships at the Masters’ level for students who wish to study in the UK or two-year scholarships in the USA in the broad field of Development Studies, with special focus on Developmental Economics, Public Health or Science-Technology-Society (STS) Studies.

Development Resource & Training Centre (DRTC), CYSD, Bhubaneswar:

A 2-days Workshop on “Water conflicts in Odisha: Issues and way forward” has been organized during 28th – 29th, March, 2011 at Bhubaneswar by ‘Odisha State Centre’ of the ‘Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India’. Environmental activists, thinkers, academicians, Government Officials, Farmer leader’s and Civil Society Organizations from different parts of the state participated in the workshop along with members of the National Steering Committee of Forum to discuss about the ongoing and emerging water conflicts in different geographies of the state.

As the elevated tracks come up over the city a mass transport network called the metro is being built all over the city. In phases it is likely to cover over a 100 kilometre and become one of the prime modes of transport to the city. Apart from the transport benefits it will bring to the city there is one other potential benefit that could accrue to the city due to its construction.

The metro rail track offers a tremendous potential for rainwater harvesting. A total length of about 45 kilometres and a width of about 12 metres mean that the endowment of rainwater on the relatively very clean track with Bangalore’s rains of 970 mm annually is about 523 million litres. Considering a coefficient of runoff of 0.90 the harvestable rainwater is around 471 million litres annually. This could provide about 13,000 people with their annual requirement of water at 100 litres per day. A substantial sum.

Content Courtesy: 

Main highlights in this update:

• Shit Matters: The Potential of Community-led Total Sanitation: This book looks at the potential and challenges of CLTS by drawing on research in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, as well as experiences in Africa. It includes chapters by leading scholars and practitioners in sanitation policy and practice as well as critical reflections from key players in CLTS. Shit Matters considers CLTS in terms of the social, ecological, technological, financial, and institutional dynamics and draws out wider lessons for sanitation policy and practice.

Main highlights in this update:

• NREGA implementation in State not satisfactory: The report card on implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a mix bag for Assam, with at least 62 per cent households being provided employment under the flagship schemes, while ombudsman has not been constituted for any district and State fund.

Organizer: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Venue: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi

The programme will cover:

• Exposure to all aspects of EIA, from its theory to the practical – such as better understanding regarding
  
  • What data is required, how this data should be collected and interpreted, and significance of the data
  • Effectiveness of the assessment methods
  • What issues should be addressed in the terms of reference (TOR)
  • Tools and thumb rules available to evaluate the environmental impact of projects