People and Organisations

The study deals with the analysis of surface and groundwater flow process in Dakshina Kannada district in Western Ghats of Karnataka. The area receives over 4000 mm rainfall annually but is still faced with acute shortage of freshwater during summer months. The study attempts to identify the surface and sub-surface flow process through geohydrological and geomorphological investigations in the Sithanadhi and Netravathi basins.

In this study, a two layered finite difference method has been generated for groundwater flow analysis of Ghataprabha sub-basin of Krishna river basin. The conceptual model has been calibrated for steady state conditions and validated for both steady state and transient conditions through USGS, 3D Finite Difference Code and MODFLOW. Various applications were tried out on the calibrated model, like River-Drain influencing the aquifer, reasons for waterlogging and drying out of wells and well design strategies.

Dr. G. D. Agrawal Scientist and Rishi

Meeting Dr. G. D. Agrawal in his spartan, two room cottage in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, you would never guess what an accomplished and distinguished scientist he is – first Member-Secretary of the Government of India’s Central Pollution Control Board, former Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at IIT Kanpur and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. The list goes on and on.

Yet this eminent professional sweeps his own floors, washes his own clothes and cooks his own meals. He retains only a few possessions and dresses in homespun khadi. At the age of 76, his main mode of transport within Chitrakoot is a bicycle and when he travels further afield, he goes by ordinary bus and second-class train. These are the deliberate choices of a devout Hindu whose deepest values are for simplicity and reverence for nature. Dr G.D. Agrawal is the doyen of environmental engineering professionals in India. Well past retirement, he continues to teach and inspire students as an Honorary Professor of Environmental Sciences at the Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, in Chitrakoot (M.P.).

Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand of Dwarkapeeth sent his personal emissary Swami Dharanand to convey his support to Dr. G.D. Agrawal whose third fast-unto-death to ensure the natural flow in river Bhagirathi (Ganga) from Gangotri to Uttarkashi entered its second day. Yesterday (July 21) Swami Ramdev spent an hour in the evening with Dr. Agrawal and offered his full support.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Ayan Biswas
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Shankracharya designate Swami Avimukteshwaranand ji presided over an emergency meeting organized by Manushi Sangathan, Ganga Ahvaan and Ganga Yamuna Jal Biradri to express our strong protest against the patently illegal decision of the Group of Ministers giving clearance to the Loharinag-Pala dam on the Ganga River. The following expert members of the NGRBA also participated in the meeting to express their strong protest having been kept in the dark about the appointment of the GoM which has passed a virtual death sentence on the most sacred river of India: Rashid Hyatt Siddiqui, Rajendra Singh, Rama Raota and Ravi Chopra.

Way back in May 2007, C.S. Sharada Prasad ("CSP") joined Arghyam and India Water Portal and wrote this blog post entitled "A New course" at that time: 

June 30th was Sharada Prasad's last day at Arghyam. He is moving on to do a Ph.D. with the Energy and Resources Group at the elite University of California, Berkeley. It is a testament to CSP's capability, motivation and drive that he secured this admission (he has no acrademic background in energy or resources, being a software engineer by training), and also secured a full teaching assistantship. 

The Ministry of Environment and Forests released a draft of the regulatory framework for wetland conservation - Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules (2009) for feedback from all stakeholders. The draft framework was prepared by a multi-disciplinary expert group, and final round of comments were invited till June 21st 2010.

The Wetland Conservation Team of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) did a detailed analysis of the draft regulation and submitted several pertinent concerns to the Ministry. The most significant observation is that the new framework (as do much of India's policies and laws) continues to propose unjustifiable State control and interventions over the country's wetlands and livelihoods of people dependent on them. The regulation does not make any constructive suggestions or recommendations for the conservation that the country's wetlands demand, and instead brings all wetlands into complete official control by installing Central, State and District-level wetland regulatory authorities, wherein the majority of the members will be senior government officials.

Sustainability – this word has assumed tremendous importance today, in the context of “development”. The advancement of human civilization in terms of technology, economics and life-style is turning out to be lop-sided. It is being realized that the sheer amount of wastes generated by the present population, is becoming more and more unmanageable with each passing day.

The study presents automated mapping of snow cover using a new spectral channel of Indian Remote Sensing (IRS-IC) data for the Spiti sub-basin of the Satluj river basin. Snow is an important phase of the hydrological cycle and the estimation of snowmelt runoff in the Himalayan rivers, either seasonal or daily, is of immense use in proper management and use of water resources in the basins.

Ek Phirangi Raja

In this essay, Romesh Bedi recounts the true story of Frederick E Wilson, a British army officer, who deserted the army after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1957, escaped to the Himalayas, and settled in Harsil, a remote village in Uttarakhand on the banks of the Bhagirathi.

Wilson makes a flourishing business from the export of skins, fur, musk from the region, and rips the local deodar forest, to cash in the growing demand for wooden sleepers during the expansion of the Indian railways by the British, which were sent down to the plains through the rivers. Wilson soon acquires a lease from the Raja of Tehri-Garhwal, for his timber business and keeps the Raja happy by giving him a share of the profits, and even begins to mint his own local currency, because of which locals start calling him Raja.