This critique assesses if the National Water Framework Bill 2016 and the Mihir Shah Committee report are truly interdisciplinary and based on the principles of integrated water systems governance. The question still remains whether the recommendations are enough to bridge existing gaps and address future challenges in water governance.
There has been no significant change in the knowledge-base and institutional structure for managing water systems since colonial rule. This makes the recent efforts of the Ministry of Water Resources for restructuring the Central Water Commission and the Central Ground Water Board significant. This article argues that the effort should be backed by interdisciplinary studies that see surface water and groundwater as ecologically connected.
The proposal for addressing the twin problems of floods and water scarcity by interlinking rivers is based on an outdated and dangerous idea of surplus river basins from which water can be drawn at will. Global experience shows how damaging such plans of large-scale water transfer are to the environment, economy and livelihoods of the people. Such plans have also proved a failure to either prevent fl oods or provide water on a sustainable basis. It is unfortunate that water policy in India remains a prisoner to such obsolete ideas.
How much of the benefits of economic growth accrue directly to farmers and workers who lose their livelihoods when agricultural land is taken over for development? If handled properly, the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 offers an opportunity for equitably addressing the interests of diverse sections affected by the land acquisition process
The path of economic growth that started with the industrial revolution in Europe has, after about 200 years, left humanity trapped in the imbroglio of climate change. To address the global warming and related changes in the earth
The worldwide paradigm shift in river basin management has not affected policymakers in south Asia. Hydro-diplomacy in the Ganges-Brahmaputra- Meghna basin is still based on reductionist engineering, and looks at marginal economic benefits, without showing any concern for the long-run implications for livelihoods and ecosystem.
Considering the predicted impacts of anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming on Southasia, the region has reasons for concern and immediate action.
They call it the elixir of life but with changing times, water has also become a driving force in economic activities, traditionally in agriculture, and now increasingly in the industry.
No wonder, there has been a tendency to take for granted the availability of water and show scant responsibility to the understanding of the ecological processes that make it available to us.
A look at the achievements and failures of a movement that began spontaneously in the Garhwal region two decades ago to protect trees from human rapacity.
