News and Articles

The Karnataka groundwater (regulation and control of development and management) bill (2009)
This document is about the bill brought by the Government of Karnataka to regulate and manage groundwater and other issues concerned. Posted on 18 Jun, 2011 04:09 PM

This document from the Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Karnataka site is a bill to regulate, and control the development and management of groundwater and matters connected therewith. The document is divided into the following chapters:

Consultation meeting with Panchayati Raj Institution representatives on review of the National Water Policy
Our National Water Policy should be truly a National Policy says Shri Salman Khurshid. Posted on 18 Jun, 2011 12:43 PM

Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Water Resources, inaugurated the first Consultation Meeting with the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on review of the National Water Policy at Water and Land Management Training and Research Institute (WALAMTARI), Hyderabad. Speaking on the occasion he said that our National Water Policy should be truly a National Policywith full participation of all throughout the country. He called upon the elected representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions to provide specific feedback on the centre’s role in water management from conflict resolution to co-operative development and on the ownership issue of groundwater. Shri Vincent H. Pala, Minister of State for Water Resources, briefed the elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions about the consultation process undertaken by the Ministry of Water Resources for review of National Water Policy.

"Climate change" - Understanding the connections with energy use, and how India's galloping economic growth and insatiable appetite for energy can be balanced with environmental security?
This June 2006 issue of Agenda looks at some of the issues governing climate change and power production. Posted on 18 Jun, 2011 12:52 AM


Agenda magazine June 2006 special issue on the "Climate change"

 

Introduction: Energy versus emissions: The big challenge of the new millennium
By Rakesh Kalshian
To maintain its economic growth rate of 8-10%, India needs all the energy it can get. But the momentum of economic growth overrides crucial environmental concerns.

Hotting up: The science and politics of climate change
By Aditi Sen
The world is hotting up. Climate systems are changing. The 1990s were the hottest decade ever, sea levels rose by 10-20 cm during the 20th century, and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are 31% higher than in 1750.

"Battles over land" - Land as commodity and land for livelihoods - Special issue from Infochange
All over India, the battle lines are drawn between land as commodity and land for livelihoods. How much agricultural land is actually transitioning to non-agricultural use? Posted on 18 Jun, 2011 12:48 AM

What are the laws governing acquisition? What is the social impact of a development-at-all-costs policy? Can those who owned and lived off the land have a stake in its development?

Union Cabinet approves amendment to Damodar Valley Corporation Act, 1948 in 2011
The Union Cabinet has approved introduction of Damodar Valley Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2011 Posted on 17 Jun, 2011 04:03 PM

This approval is for the reconstitution of the Damodar Valley Corporation with four full time members, namely, Chairman, Member (Technical), Member (Finance) and Member Secretary; and six part time members, namely – one representative from the Central Government; two representatives – one each from the Government of Jharkhand and the Government of West Bengal; three independent experts- one each from the field of irrigation, water supply and generation or transmission of electricity. The Chairman will be the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation. The posts of Financial Adviser and Secretary will be abolished.

Accelerated programmes - What can the water sector learn from the power sector? – An article in EPW by Tushaar Shah
This commentary by Dr. Tushaar Shah presents a critical analysis of the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) Posted on 16 Jun, 2011 09:11 PM

The Government of India’s 15-year old AIBP has come under much-deserved criticism for all-round non-performance. It was introduced to support states in "last mile" public irrigation projects, that is, projects which are nearly completed but whose full benefits can start flowing only after small, incremental investments are made. Yet, the AIBP has been used mostly for funding new projects.

Managing shallow aquifers in a city
BWSSB must take a hard look at its cross-subsidisation and tariff policy and provide incentives for good practices. Posted on 16 Jun, 2011 06:04 PM


Good option: The city needs multiple sourcing of water and open wells have the potential to provide up to a third of the requirementGood option: The city needs multiple sourcing of water and open wells have the potential to provide up to a third of the requirement

Just how a city can be arbitrary with its policy on water management and therefore leading to sub-optimal conditions is made clear by a recent example one came across. Balasubramanian had an old open well dug to a depth of 30 ft. when he first built his house in the early 80s. The well had yielded water for quite some years but then subsequently had gone dry.

MoEF signs three agreements with World Bank for cleaning Ganga and conservation of biodiversity in June 2011
The Government of India and the World Bank signed three agreements to for cleaning Ganga River and to Strengthen Rural Livelihoods and Biodiversity Conservation in India. Posted on 16 Jun, 2011 04:55 PM

The River cleaning project is to the tune of US $ 1 billion (approximately Rs 4,600 crore) loan and credit that will form part of the Bank’s long-term support for cleaning the Ganga River. Two Biodiversity Conservation agreements are for a credit of US$15.6 million and US$8.14 million grant.

On this occasion, Sh Jairam Ramesh , Minister of State for Environment and Forest Minister said, “Two protected areas, one each in Uttarakhand and Gujarat, will put in place a complete new model of managing the protected areas while safeguarding the livelihoods of local communities. So far local community was looked as enemies of protected areas, but this has to be changed. We have to make local communities full partners in the protection and regeneration of these protected areas. These new models will be applied in other areas of the country.” Giving details of cleaning operations of last few years, the Minister said, “The objective of Ganga project is ‘by 2020 no municipal sewage and industrial effluent will be let into the river Ganga without treatment’. With the help from the World bank, we are taking a big step forward in achieving the Mission Clean Ganga”.

Villages in north Bihar sinking in Bagmati's sand - Entire flood control planning needs thorough review - Article by Dinesh Kumar Mishra in d-sector.org
As habitats caught between the embankments in north Bihar are getting buried under the sediments brought in by flood-water, the entire flood control planning needs a thorough review. Posted on 16 Jun, 2011 03:56 PM


The Bagmati Embankment separating riverside on the left and countryside of the right near Ibrahimpur – Electric poles suggest the height of the embankmentThe Bagmati Embankment separating riverside on the left and countryside of the right near Ibrahimpur – Electric poles suggest the height of the embankment

One often hears about the civilizations buried under earth and attributes various reasons for such disappearance of life from a particular place. Excavations reveal the way of life the people might have had before they chose to leave their villages and towns and allowed the nature to take its own course. These accounts are available in books and we all believe the process told to us by historians and archaeologists. These are all conjectures that are revealed by scientific investigations but how many of us have seen, not read, how the civilizations get buried under the debris created by nature? There are places in Bihar where one can see the process of disappearance of civilization and the villages getting buried under the sediments brought by rivers.

Taking action in India on downstream impact of dams - Report of the workshop held by International Rivers and Save Western Ghats Movement at Jog Falls, Karnataka in May 2011
India is on a large-dam building spree, with more than 5,100 large dams already blocking almost all of its important rivers, and more to come. Posted on 14 Jun, 2011 05:17 PM


Jog falls in Western GhatsJog falls in Western Ghats

 These dams have had a profound negative impact on communities and ecology upstream and downstream. While promised benefits of these dams (irrigation, hydro-power or flood control) have been overstated, numerous interrelated and complex negative impacts have simply not been studied or documented. Nonetheless, communities and ecosystems continue paying huge prices of these impacts.

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