Rivers

As part of the research study, River Basins and River Basin Organisations in South Asia, done by the Society for Participatory Development Hyderabad, CapNet South Asia (Read More) and Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development Pune (Click Here), data about individual river basins has been collected for the river basins in South Asia.

1. The state government of Uttarakhand promised immediate suspension of all works on the two projects Bhairoghati and Pala-Maneri in its letter of 19th June, 2008 and expressed its full commitment for conservation of River Bhagirathi in its natural form ‘from Gangotri to Uttarakashi’. However construction work on the projects (particularly on Pala Maneri project) leading to destroy Gangaji is going on in full swing. The above makes all assurances to us and to Maa Gangaji look as mere jokes.
2. The Government of India committed immediate stoppage of all work on its project Loharinag-Pala in its letter on 19th February, 2009. But the construction work on the site has gone on un-stopped and on an accelerated speed. This again is an act of cruel deceipt.

In order that is likely to have far reaching implications on water governance in India, the Central Information Commission(CIC) has directed the Union Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) that “any study about water-flow in the river systems of the country must be made available to the general public for its information and education. It is not open to the public authority to hold secret critical information with which lives of millions may be related. Publication of this data informs the people about how the public authority is discharging its appointed functions and whether it was acting accountably about a matter so critical as the nation’s water resources in general and the river systems in particular.” Following an appeal by SANDRP, the CIC has asked the MWR make public the reports of the Central Water Commission & National Institute of Hydrology on the impacts of the hydropower projects on Bhagirathi River in Uttarakhand and for portions that the ministry decides not to make public, “Reasons for holding these parts of the information confidential will have to be recorded, which should be open to scrutiny.” This entire task is to be completed in three months.

This paper is written by Vinod Tare, Purnendu Bose and Santosh Gupta of IIT Kanpur to examine the need for an alternative implementation and assessment methodology of River Action Plans in India. The paper illustrates of ‘Ganga Action Plan' (GAP) and its implementation near Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to assess the methodology.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

The latest edition of the Dams, Rivers and People Newsletter is out !

These documents deal with proceedings of the discussion initiated by Gomukh Trust, Pune with support from Arghyam, Bangalore on “Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act” to examine it in the context of Integrated River Basin  Management and community participation.  The objectives of the conference were –

This declaration presents summary findings and a global action agenda that address the urgent need to protect rivers globally, as proclaimed at the 10^th International River symposium and International Environmental Flows Conference, held in Brisbane, Australia, on 3-6 September 2007.  The conference was attended by more than 800 scientists, economists, engineers, resource managers an

This document deals with the proceeding of the final stakeholder workshop titled “Exploring options for sustainable water management in the Malaprabha River Basin”. The one day workshop was jointly organised by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED) and the Norwegian Institute of Water Research (NIVA) at Belgaum on 5th November 2008.

National Consultative Workshop on Eflows was held on the 3rd and 4th of Jan 2009 at Bangalore. It was supported jointly by SVRAJ, SANDRP and River Research Centre. Shri. L.C. Jain inaugurated the workshop and Dr. Brij Gopal, National Institute of Ecology, New Delhi delivered the keynote address. Shri.

Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO) and the Indian River Network (IRN) organised the Odisha River Conference during 18 - 20 April 2009 at Sambalpur Odisha, in which about 75 participants including activists, environmentalists, journalists, academicians, researchers and civil society representatives from across the country participated.