South Asia Network on Dams Rivers and People (SANDRP)

While developmental projects are beneficial for growth of an economy they do have negative impact on the environment. This impact varies significantly by project type, size and location. In order to identify, examine, assess and evaluate the probable impacts of a proposed project on the environment the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) in 2006, constituted different committees. The committees are called as Expert Appraisal Committees (EAC). An EAC committee on River Valley & Hydroelectric projects was also set up on these lines. In the backdrop this South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDARP) an informal network of organisation and individuals working on water issues has come up with an analysis on how have this committee performed till now? This document presents an analysis of the same.

These global biodiversity hotspots in the country, extraordinarily rich in plant and animal species, are being submerged in the name of development and growth. An overview of the dams built and proposed in this area.

Twenty years after ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity, and ten years after promulgating the Biological Diversity Act, India continues to use doublespeak in dealing with its rivers and their biodiversity

On the 4th and 5th of August 2012, Civil Society Organisations Prakruti, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) and Save Western Ghats Movement organised a two day workshop on Impacts of Mini Hydel Projects (MHPs) on Communities and Ecology in Karnataka, with a main objective to give voice to the numerous unrecorded impacts a

• Maharashtra gifts farmers’ water to industries
  Between 2005 & 2010, a High Powered Committee was constituted by the Maharashtra Minister for Water Resources which recommended the diversion of 1500 MCM water from 38 dams across Maharashtra to cities and industries.

To
Shri Jairam Ramesh
Union Minister of State (IC) of Environment and Forests,
New Delhi

Respected sir,

The sector is marked by large-scale water development projects like big dams.

The SANDRP newsletter for December 2010 - January 2011 continues its critical analysis of dams, irrigation and related issues:

• Water Crisis in Ramsar Wetlands of India
• India dodged UN to get climate credits?