Citizens' Rights and Duties

Himanshu Thakkar has attached herewith a letter just sent to the members of the MEF's Expert Appraisal Committee on the river valley projcets regarding the application of Andhra Pradesh to the MEF for "backdoor" clearance of the embankments to be constructed in Orissa and Chhattisgarh to "protect" the areas of these states from going under submergence due to the Polavaram project. The letter is self explanatory.

To: Mr. P. Abraham, Chairman,& All the members,Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley & Hydroelectric projects, c/o Dr Bhowmik,Impact Assessment Division, Ministry of Environment and Forests, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003

Sub: Objections to EC for Polavaram Multi Purpose Project

Dear Chairman and members of the EAC on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects, We have come to know from the agenda notes of the 23rd meeting of MoEF's Expert Appraisal Committee for River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects to be held on Feb 16-17, 2009 that the committee will be considering Polavaram Multipurpose Project in Andhra Pradesh by Government of Andhra Pradesh (No. J-12011/74/2005-IA.I) for the proposal for the construction of the embankments to protect the lands in Orissa and Chhattisgarh from going under submergence due to the proposed Polavaram project.

India Water Portal has a meteorological data tool (https://www.indiawaterportal.org/data/metdata) that gives rainfall data (and 10 other meteorological parameters) for each district of India for 100 years from 1901 to 2002. Over the past couple of years, many many people have expressed that they found this data useful and requested us to enhance it. The data on our meteorological data tool is from a research dataset put out by the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in the University of East Anglia, UK. The reason we got the data from them, is that IMD, India Meteorological Department, which is the chief source of official meteorological data in India, sells this data. To get the kind of all India data above, would be prohibitively expensive. Further, they would not allow this data to be made publicly available, as they sell the same.

A two day National Workshop on need for policy and legal norms for allowing freshwater flows in Rivers in India on January 3-4, 2009 at Bangalore ended with a unanimous demand that governments must allow continuous, sustained freshwater flows in all perennial rivers of India, whenever, a dam, diversion or hydropower project is planned, constructed or operated. Inaugurating the workshop on the morning of January 3, 2009, Shri L C Jain, former member, planning commission of India (and many other important posts), expressed his pain and anguish on the state of India's Rivers, "It is very disturbing that the acts of commissions and omissions of the authorities have ruthlessly, blindly, heartlessly lead todestruction of almost every major rivers of India. The hearts of the officials and ministers should throb for the millions depending for their needs and livelihoods on the rivers, but it seems that the stones of the South and North block buildings have entered their hearts." Quoting Gandhiji's agenda for the economic independence of India from what he wrote in the Young India on November 29, 1929, Jain said, Land, Water and Air cannot be subject of commerce, but the planners lock up the pain, hunger, malnutrition in the paragraphs of their five year plan documents and do not ensure their inclusion in their actual plans and programmes. He expressed his deep anguish that even the recommendations of the official policies and committees on ensuring freshwater flows in the rivers remain unimplemented.

Bangalore's sprawling expansion outpaces the public utility's ability to accommodate skyrocketing demand for water and sanitation services, and it is increasingly common for new residential communities to assume total management for their own water and sanitation services through their resident welfare associations.

Today is Blog Action Day 2008, where blogs all over the world are writing about poverty. We thought we would use this opportunity to talk about water and poverty.

 A list of new books that are currently available and related information is presented.

Water conservation is an important part of responsible living. Water is a precious resource which is not to be squandered. Fortunately, there are a number of really easy ways to save water without a whole lot of hassle, and some of the best are listed here!

In the Kitchen Cut down on water usage in your kitchen using these methods. 1. Wash only on a full load: This is true for both washers and dishwashers. By washing in bulk, you'll cut down on the number of cycles you need to run. Also important to keep in mind is the fact that most dishwashers on a full load can clean dishes more efficiently than a hand wash. 2. Cut down on your disposal: Instead of using your disposal, start a compost pile for food waste. 3. Buy foods close to their natural form: Water is needed to produce just about everything from Coke to boxed mashed potatoes. You can cut down on your water consumption by avoiding processed foods that require lots of water to make.

Parineeta Dandekar's earlier post on environmental flows, triggered several responses and we have initiated a discussion forum

We at the Water Portal, came up with some questions to ask the builder when you are buying an apartment. The more educated you are regarding the way the apartment is handling water, the better decision you are likely to make and one that will benefit you immensely in the long term.