Policies, Laws and Regulations

Content Courtesy: AlertNet

Activists from the Climate Revolution initiative in India have discovered a crucial tool in their battle to hold the government accountable on its climate policies: the country's landmark Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Read more about Climate Revolution's work on RTI on their website here.

As per the Press Information Bureau's press release, the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Water Resources for enacting The Dam Safety Bill, on May 13 2010. The Bill is to be introduced in the Parliament.

The main objectives of the legislation are:-

• The new legislation will help the States in adopting uniform dam safety procedures which shall ensure safety of dams and safeguard benefits from such dams.

The National Water Mission (NWM), under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources, is one of the eight missions being constituted under the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). The NAPCC was launched by the Prime Minister in 2009 as a nation-wide effort to tackle climate change.

The Urban Development Policy, Karnataka has been developed, by the Department of Urban Development (Government of Karnataka), as a response to the challenges that are being faced by the state due to rapid urbanisation leading to:

• An increase in population in urban areas due to migration
• Increase in the number of poor residents in urban areas
• Infrastructural shortfall on several fronts
• Shortage of resources
• The challenge of ensuring the basic welfare of the poor in urban areas
• The increasing need for strengthening governance, planning and administration

In order to get a sense of the current status of sanitation in India's cities, a survey was initiated by the Ministry of Urban Development as a part of the National Rating and Award Scheme for Sanitation for Indian Cities. The methods used for the survey can be found on the Ministry of Urban Development website.

The findings and the rankings of the cities according to the survey found that the situation was grim with only 25 cities topping the list, while majority of the others lagged behind in terms of a number of sanitation parameters.

In an attempt to tackle the deteriorating ground water situation in the state, the Uttar Pradesh State Government has drafted the Uttar Pradesh Groundwater Conservation, Protection and Development (Management, Control and Regulation) Bill (2010), and has invited feedback from the public.

Comments have to be sent before 5 July 2010 by email to up.gwd@rediffmail.com or by post to this address: Director, Utttar Pradesh Groundwater Department, Navam Tal, Indira Bhavan, Ashok Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

The draft copy of the Act is uploaded on the UP State Groundwater Department website and can be downloaded here, and is also attached with this post.

This paper by the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore adds to the debate on water policy in India, and provides a general overview of the main characteristics of irrigation development post-Independence and a review of its beneficial and adverse impacts. The problems that need to be addressed and measures needed to resolve them are highlighted. It recognizes the vital role of expansion of irrigation in transforming agriculture from one of near stagnation in the pre-independence period to one of sustained growth during the past five decades.

The paper describes the methodology used in the groundwater resource estimation and the results of the latest country-wide assessment. In India, dynamic groundwater resources are estimated jointly by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State governments at periodic intervals. The latest estimates of dynamic resources are based on groundwater resource estimation methodology-1997 (commonly known as GEC-1997). These estimations are widely used in formulating various groundwater development and management plans. The paper also discusses future strategies on groundwater resource estimations.

This manual developed by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) presents a comprehensive approach to drought management and recommends measures that can be implemented for effective drought relief and mitigation. It brings together conceptual issues, institutional framework & operational details, and replaces the colonial famine codes written largely for dealing with hunger and starvation.

It has been prepared with the objective of creating synergy between the various programmes being implemented to provide drought relief and mitigation by several levels of government.

The key issues covered in the manual are: