The fourth in the series of discussions titled "Living Rivers, Dying Rivers" that aims at understanding what has been happening to rivers across India and drawing appropriate lessons is scheduled to be held on September 23, 2011 at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The series is coordinated by Prof. Ramaswamy R. Iyer.
The present discussion focusses on "Rivers in the North-East". It comprises of presentations by Dr. Chandan Mahanta, Professor, IIT Guwahati and Shri Sanjoy Hazarika, Director and Saifuddin Kitchlew Chair at Centre for North East Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Managing Trustee at Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research.
A certain number of rivers, some sick or dying, some living and healthy, and some showing early signs of sickness, will be taken up for presentations and discussion, in the series and an attempt made to understand what has gone wrong in many cases, what has gone right in some, and what needs to be done to revive and restore dying or sick rivers.
The Yamuna, the river of India's capital, is a sewer. The holy Ganga, our most sacred river, is not much better despite a ten-year cleaning programme and huge costs. There are other putrid, poisoned, waterless and threatened rivers in the country: Palar and Noyyal in Tamil Nadu, Sabarmati in Gujarat, Chalakudi in Kerala, and so on. At the same time, there are also (reportedly) some clean, pristine rivers in the country, and some streams have been revived, such as the Arvari in Rajasthan.
On the whole it seems clear that rivers have been much abused in this country despite being worshipped as divinities. They are cavalierly obstructed with dams, barrages or embankments; the abstraction/diversion of their waters is regarded as the proper ‘use’ of their waters; in-stream flows (particularly flows to the sea) are regarded as wasted; pollution and contamination are inflicted on them beyond their capacity to handle; sand is mined from their beds; and so on. We kill rivers first and then try to undertake programmes to revive them.
There will be one lecture or presentation in each month, and a total of around ten or twelve such events are tentatively envisaged. The series started with the Ganga (4 June) followed by the Yamuna (11 July) and Kosi/Bagmati (August 23) and plans to cover the rivers of the Northeast and Bihar in the ensuing months.
Venue:
India International Centre ( IIC ),
40 Max Muller Marg,
Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003
Call 011-24619431 ( IIC ) to re-confirm any last minute change or cancellation of the event.