Conflicts
Conflicts and dilemma of human right to water - A Current Science paper by J Harsha
Posted on 05 Jul, 2011 04:30 PM
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Fellowship media briefing workshop on water bodies, Centre for Science and Environment, July 26 – 27, 2011, Visakhapatnam
Posted on 04 Jul, 2011 01:14 PM
Organizer: Centre for Science and Environment
Venue: Visakhapatnam
Description:
Water is keenly contested today. Reports are emerging from across India about water bodies being encroached upon, gobbled up and sucked dry by a combination of forces ranging from industrialisation and urban growth to population pressures and severe pollution. A state of continuous conflict exists over these water bodies, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, streams and wetlands.
MP Government believes that thermal power plants are more important than farmers' livelihoods.
Posted on 04 Jul, 2011 09:41 AMA company is establishing a thermal Power project in the Niwari Block of Tikam Garh. It is one of the poorest and most backward districts of the country. Another agency has been engaged to the job of mediation and preparing the local farmers. Through their communication skills they are convincing the local population to sell their land. The plant will change the overall picture of the area. Not all promises will be fulfilled. They tell that if you give your land, you will get a free world class hospital, and the best education for your children.
It will need about 1500 to 1700 acres of land in Niwari Block of Tikam Garh about 35 km from Jhansi. Land acquisition has started and should be completed in one to two years time. Farmers are being told to cooperate, or their land will be taken by force. SDM Shri RK Gohat is telling the local people that an MOU has been signed between the company and the state government, and that the district administration has nothing to do with this.
Farmers are free to sell and negotiate. The Government has not decided any rate. These are small farmers. Their number will be around 1500. Some even have half a bigha land. Two hundred acres of land has already purchased. It is good agriculture land close to Pareechhka Dam in Jhansi, UP. There is already a power station at the dam. Jhansi is in UP and Tikam Garh is in MP. Distribution of power is yet not known. Orcha, famous tourist place is in Niwari Block.
Himalayan solutions for cooperation and security in river basins : A report by Strategic Foresight Group
Posted on 29 Jun, 2011 07:03 PM
This report by the Strategic Foresight Group is a follow-up to its earlier report The Himalayan Challenge: Water Security in Emerging Asia, 2010 . The growing water stress, plans for dams on shared rivers, and uncertainties about the precise impact of climate change have brought water to the forefront of the political agenda of countries in the Himalayan River Basins.
The report recommends policy options for national governments as well as strategies which can be implemented by local authorities and community groups in a politically viable manner. Some of the ideas may on the surface appear to be addressing micro-level issues. However, such micro-level issues do have an important bearing on security at the macro-level in a large continent such as Asia. This is the experience of many other regions as well, as illustrated in several of the chapters in this report.
The objective of this report is to explore how river basins in the Himalayan region, and particularly shared water resources, can foster cooperation and security between Bangladesh, China, India and Nepal. The conventional view is that depleting water resources, growing problem of pollution, uncertain risks posed by climate change together may lead to competition for resources, migration, social instability, internal conflicts and diplomatic tensions between countries. This view is realistic and was discussed in detail in a previous report of Strategic Foresight Group. It has contributed to spreading the awareness of security risks associated with water crisis in the Himalayan region.
Mining havoc: Impact of mining on water resources in Goa - Article from Dams, Rivers and People
Posted on 25 Jun, 2011 02:02 PM
Pumping of water from Cavrem Sheikh Salim mine, severely lowering groundwater table in the village
Image courtesy: Sebastian Rodriguez, Mand Goa
Urgent solidarity appeal for victims of eviction of 15 families from Lamphelpat wetlands in Manipur, NE India on 6 June 2011
Posted on 25 Jun, 2011 01:27 PM
Date of Incident: 6 June 2011 at around 7 A.M
Place of Incident: Yaipha Leikai, Lamphelpat, Under Lamshang Assembly Constituency, Imphal West District, Manipur, India
Victims/Community Affected: 15 Households, 81 persons belonging to the Meitei People of Manipur
The displaced victims are mostly women, children and elderly people
Event Description:
On 6 June 2011, at least fifteen (15) houses of Yaipha Leikai village, Lamphelpat Wetland near Employment Exchange, Imphal West District, Manipur in India’s North East had been destroyed by Manipur Police from the Lamphel Police Station under the orders of the Government of Manipur on 6 June 2011 as a means to evict the villagers to make way for the Government plan for building the National Institute of Technology (NIT) complex and a water body at Lamphelpat wetlands.
Prior to the eviction, an order issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, Lamphel, Imphal West on 3 June 2011 was served to the villagers of Yaipha Leikai only on Sunday, the 5 June, 2011 around 10 a.m in the morning asking them to dismantle their houses the same day before 5 in the evening. The villagers were completely taken by surprise as most of the senior household occupants were off to work in Lamphelpat Wetlands for fishing and many went out to earn as daily labourers. The eviction drive was carried out on 6 June 2011, the next day from around 7 a.m in the morning. The eviction process was overseen by State Works minister K Ranjit, PDA chairman Kh Loken among other officials of different departments and police officials of Lamphel Police Station, Imphal West District. The eviction was carried out by using earthmovers and other heavy machineries despite the angst of the residents, who have resided in the area for more than four decade.
Water crisis and water chaos in Punjab - An article by Umendra Dutt, Kheti Virasat Mission
Posted on 23 Jun, 2011 02:08 PM
Last month Punjab has been declared as the over all best state in the country by India Today news magazine for the third conjunctive year. It is good to have a prize for Punjab and state government has immediately taken this as an opportunity to have publicity campaign for its achievement. But there is another side of the picture also which shows doom, distress and destruction is fast engulfing this land of five waters. It is a Water-Chaos in the Punjab.
Threat of toxic residue leaks in Orissa, India in 2011 - Urgent action requested by Amnesty International
Posted on 23 Jun, 2011 11:32 AMOver 4,000 families in India face serious risk from threats of leaks from Vedanta's red mud pond as the rainy season begins in June. Levels within the pond have already risen, amidst reports of two leaks in the last two months, threatening the communities' safety, health and livelihoods.
On 5 April and 16 May 2011, following heavy rain, local communities in Orissa state reported leakages from the 28-hectare red mud pond, owned and operated by Vedanta Aluminium, through its walls, polluting local streams and creating anxiety among the communities at the downstream villages of Lanjigarh, Bundel and Basantpada.
Forget Prometheus and remember Bhagiratha: Wrong and right thinking about rivers ' - Shri Ramaswamy Iyer s lecture at School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (June 2011)
Posted on 22 Jun, 2011 09:55 AM“Current economic philosophy exalts consumption and growth. If we are hypnotised by visions of 8% or 10% growth, we are bound to ‘demand’ more and more and still more water; and either government engineers or private companies and their engineers will come up with supply-side answers in the form of large projects which will cause even greater distress to the rivers”.
Tehri Dam across Ganga
Source: haridwar.nic.in/ gangaji.htm
I am very grateful to Prof. Sudha Bhattacharya for having invited me to this Seminar. I was not sure whether what I have to say would fit in well with the theme of this Seminar, but she persuaded me to say yes, and so here I am.
Biodiversity, ecology and socioeconomic aspects of the Gundia river basin in the context of the proposed mega hydroelectric power project - A CES technical report
Posted on 21 Jun, 2011 11:23 PMThis report by the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore highlights and argues for the the case of saving the Gundia river, one of the most important tributaries of the river Kumaradhara in Hassan district in Karnataka, which is known for its very rich vegetation and biological wealth. This is in the context of the proposal put forward by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited to implement the Hydroelectric project (GHEP) on the river.