Staff Correspondent
DEHRA DUN: Senior BJP leader L. K. Advani kicked off the “Nirmal Ganga-Sparsh Ganga” campaign aimed at de-polluting the river at Gangotri on Monday. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti was also present along with former Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri and other senior BJP leaders of the State.
“Ganga is not only holy but also the lifeline of the subcontinent and it should be the endeavour of all to restore it to its lost glory,” Mr. Advani said applauding Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank' s efforts to mobilise the masses to lend a helping hand in cleaning the Ganga.
The campaign includes steps to check throwing of plastics into the river, converting bio-degradable waste into manure and reprocessing the non-degradable waste along the river stretch, checking the drains from carrying dirt into the Ganga and creating awareness on the importance of rivers, Mr. Nishank said.
Ms. Uma Bharti wanted the campaign to develop into a people's movement as that alone could save the Ganga for future generations.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Maheshwar Dam: ball back in Ministry's court (The Hindu- 18 May 2010)
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The suspension of construction in the controversial Maheshwar hydel power project is back in the court of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), after a meeting convened by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Monday.
Last week, after a similar meeting, under pressure from the PMO and the Madhya Pradesh government, the MoEF modified its suspension order, allowing a partial resumption of construction citing safety concerns.
However, after Monday's meeting, MoEF officials say that the PMO clearly indicated that there was no question of the work being allowed to continue until relief and rehabilitation (R&R) was done.
“The PMO put the ball back in our court,” a senior MoEF official said. “[The PMO] now says the MoEF and the Madhya Pradesh government should take the issue forward.”
While more than 80 per cent of the dam's construction is complete and submergence is expected in November, barely five per cent of R&R work for the 60,000 oustees has been completed.
The dam is being built in Madhya Pradesh by the private S. Kumar's group, but the State government has offered strong support in fighting the MoEF's suspension order issued in April.
The PMO intervened after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made a personal representation to Prime Manmohan Singh on the issue. At Monday's meeting, State officials quoted an order of the Jabalpur High court in July 2009 saying that work could continue. However, MoEF officials say they have followed the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu
NEW DELHI: The suspension of construction in the controversial Maheshwar hydel power project is back in the court of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), after a meeting convened by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Monday.
Last week, after a similar meeting, under pressure from the PMO and the Madhya Pradesh government, the MoEF modified its suspension order, allowing a partial resumption of construction citing safety concerns.
However, after Monday's meeting, MoEF officials say that the PMO clearly indicated that there was no question of the work being allowed to continue until relief and rehabilitation (R&R) was done.
“The PMO put the ball back in our court,” a senior MoEF official said. “[The PMO] now says the MoEF and the Madhya Pradesh government should take the issue forward.”
While more than 80 per cent of the dam's construction is complete and submergence is expected in November, barely five per cent of R&R work for the 60,000 oustees has been completed.
The dam is being built in Madhya Pradesh by the private S. Kumar's group, but the State government has offered strong support in fighting the MoEF's suspension order issued in April.
The PMO intervened after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made a personal representation to Prime Manmohan Singh on the issue. At Monday's meeting, State officials quoted an order of the Jabalpur High court in July 2009 saying that work could continue. However, MoEF officials say they have followed the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu
Pact on linking of rivers signed (The Hindu-05 May 2010)
Special Correspondent
Maharashtra, Gujarat to prepare project reports; PM's pat for both States
— Photo:
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra and Gujarat have signed an agreement to prepare detailed project reports on linking of rivers that will benefit both.
Watched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Monday by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal.
The States agreed to prepare Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of the Damanganga–Pinjal Link Project and the Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Project.
Dr. Singh appreciated the efforts of the two States in displaying a spirit of “accommodation and sincerity.” He hoped that the DPR would be prepared in time.
“Water resource projects, including inter-basin transfer, play an important role in mitigating imbalances of water availability and the likely adverse impacts of climate change,” he said.
The Par-Tapi-Narmada link will mainly benefit Gujarat, while the Damanganga- Pinjal link will help Maharashtra. The former envisages transfer of the surplus waters from the west-flowing rivers north of Damanganga up to Tapi in north Gujarat. The scheme, though mainly located in southern Gujarat, will cover part of areas north of Mumbai on the Western Ghats in Maharashtra.
Officials said the link project comprises seven reservoirs on these rivers and a 395-km-long link canal. It is proposed to use the diverted waters to irrigate parts of Valsad, Navsari, Dang, Surat, Bharuch, and Vadodara besides the drought-prone Saurashtra and Kutch.
The Damanganga-Pinjal link envisages the transfer of surplus waters of the Damanganga basin available at the proposed Bhugad and Khargihill dam sites to Pinjal reservoir for augmentation of water supply to Greater Mumbai. All the three reservoirs will be connected through tunnels. The Pinjal dam is across the Pinjal in the Vaitarna basin, which supplies water to Mumbai.
The DPR of the Ken-Betwa river link between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is being finalised to incorporate the suggestions made by the party States, the officials said.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu
Maharashtra, Gujarat to prepare project reports; PM's pat for both States
— Photo:
PTI SPIRIT OF ACCOMODATION:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gestures as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has a word with Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal (left) during the signing of an MoU on linking rivers, in New Delhi on Monday. At right is Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra and Gujarat have signed an agreement to prepare detailed project reports on linking of rivers that will benefit both.
Watched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Monday by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal.
The States agreed to prepare Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of the Damanganga–Pinjal Link Project and the Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Project.
Dr. Singh appreciated the efforts of the two States in displaying a spirit of “accommodation and sincerity.” He hoped that the DPR would be prepared in time.
“Water resource projects, including inter-basin transfer, play an important role in mitigating imbalances of water availability and the likely adverse impacts of climate change,” he said.
The Par-Tapi-Narmada link will mainly benefit Gujarat, while the Damanganga- Pinjal link will help Maharashtra. The former envisages transfer of the surplus waters from the west-flowing rivers north of Damanganga up to Tapi in north Gujarat. The scheme, though mainly located in southern Gujarat, will cover part of areas north of Mumbai on the Western Ghats in Maharashtra.
Officials said the link project comprises seven reservoirs on these rivers and a 395-km-long link canal. It is proposed to use the diverted waters to irrigate parts of Valsad, Navsari, Dang, Surat, Bharuch, and Vadodara besides the drought-prone Saurashtra and Kutch.
The Damanganga-Pinjal link envisages the transfer of surplus waters of the Damanganga basin available at the proposed Bhugad and Khargihill dam sites to Pinjal reservoir for augmentation of water supply to Greater Mumbai. All the three reservoirs will be connected through tunnels. The Pinjal dam is across the Pinjal in the Vaitarna basin, which supplies water to Mumbai.
The DPR of the Ken-Betwa river link between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is being finalised to incorporate the suggestions made by the party States, the officials said.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Natural resources under threat from eminent domain doctrine: Binayak Sen (Hindu 04 May 2010)
CHENNAI: Natural resources in the country are under threat as vast tracts of land, forest and water reserves are being handed over to Indian affiliates of international finance capital under cover of the eminent domain doctrine, or the state's pre-eminent ownership of land, Binayak Sen, human rights activist and vice-president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, said on Monday.
Dr. Sen cited Chhattisgarh as an example of the dispossession phenomena to illustrate how the hold exercised by the poor over their resources was increasingly coming under challenge with industrial and economic development.
He was delivering an address on ‘Hunger, Dispossession, and the Quest for Justice' at the convocation of the Class of 2010 of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) here, administered by the Media Development Foundation (MDF).
“In many ways, the history of ‘development' projects in many parts of the Indian Republic are illustrative of the way in which the doctrine of ‘eminent domain' had been applied for the so-called public interest to cause major havoc and displacement in the lives of many of the poorest citizens living at subsistence levels.”
In Chhattisgarh, it had become imperative for the Indian state to assert its sovereignty under the law of eminent domain and stand guarantor for the secure sequestration of these resources in the hands of the Indian affiliates of global finance capital.
While the Directive Principles clearly mandated that all exercise of state power should be for the reduction of inequity and promotion of equity, recent trends in the use of state power clearly violated this mandate and actually resulted in increasing inequities in the areas of livelihood, education and health.
“Development in tribal areas is not only about building roads or buildings but about the operationalisation of equity, social justice and people's sovereignty. While everyone talks about peace, genuine peace cannot mean acquiescence in an exploitative and unjust social order, but rather it should be the result of a movement for equity and justice,” Dr. Sen said.
However, he said, this assertion of the state's right sparked off outrage and popular protest that was proving difficult to curb. In Bastar, popular resistance to state attempts to impose the eminent domain principle had a history that had a far greater spread in terms of duration, geographical extent as well as political and institutional identity than the current operational entity, the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
In Chhattisgarh, the term “Maoist” had become a catch-all attribution for anyone whose activities the state found inimical to its interests.
Stating that Bastar had turned into a war-zone since the launch of Operation Green Hunt, Dr. Sen cited the international Convention on the Prevention of Genocide to contend that evidence of what was happening in central India was tantamount to genocide on a massive scale because of the creation of “physically and mentally hazardous conditions which could put the survival of particular communities at risk.”
N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of TheHindu and MDF trustee, said though there were many problems with contemporary media, the ACJ programme had foregrounded the core principles of journalism by having no truck with public relations or other fields unlike as some schools did.
“A full-fledged media ethics programme would be an integral part of the course,” he said.
Sashi Kumar, MDF chairman, said that at a time when the credibility of the media was not as implicit as it once was, the challenge of a J-school was to have an education programme that was steadfast in upholding cardinal principles and also set the bar for the profession.
Dr. Sen cited Chhattisgarh as an example of the dispossession phenomena to illustrate how the hold exercised by the poor over their resources was increasingly coming under challenge with industrial and economic development.
He was delivering an address on ‘Hunger, Dispossession, and the Quest for Justice' at the convocation of the Class of 2010 of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) here, administered by the Media Development Foundation (MDF).
“In many ways, the history of ‘development' projects in many parts of the Indian Republic are illustrative of the way in which the doctrine of ‘eminent domain' had been applied for the so-called public interest to cause major havoc and displacement in the lives of many of the poorest citizens living at subsistence levels.”
In Chhattisgarh, it had become imperative for the Indian state to assert its sovereignty under the law of eminent domain and stand guarantor for the secure sequestration of these resources in the hands of the Indian affiliates of global finance capital.
While the Directive Principles clearly mandated that all exercise of state power should be for the reduction of inequity and promotion of equity, recent trends in the use of state power clearly violated this mandate and actually resulted in increasing inequities in the areas of livelihood, education and health.
“Development in tribal areas is not only about building roads or buildings but about the operationalisation of equity, social justice and people's sovereignty. While everyone talks about peace, genuine peace cannot mean acquiescence in an exploitative and unjust social order, but rather it should be the result of a movement for equity and justice,” Dr. Sen said.
However, he said, this assertion of the state's right sparked off outrage and popular protest that was proving difficult to curb. In Bastar, popular resistance to state attempts to impose the eminent domain principle had a history that had a far greater spread in terms of duration, geographical extent as well as political and institutional identity than the current operational entity, the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
In Chhattisgarh, the term “Maoist” had become a catch-all attribution for anyone whose activities the state found inimical to its interests.
Stating that Bastar had turned into a war-zone since the launch of Operation Green Hunt, Dr. Sen cited the international Convention on the Prevention of Genocide to contend that evidence of what was happening in central India was tantamount to genocide on a massive scale because of the creation of “physically and mentally hazardous conditions which could put the survival of particular communities at risk.”
N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of TheHindu and MDF trustee, said though there were many problems with contemporary media, the ACJ programme had foregrounded the core principles of journalism by having no truck with public relations or other fields unlike as some schools did.
“A full-fledged media ethics programme would be an integral part of the course,” he said.
Sashi Kumar, MDF chairman, said that at a time when the credibility of the media was not as implicit as it once was, the challenge of a J-school was to have an education programme that was steadfast in upholding cardinal principles and also set the bar for the profession.
Maheshwar dam work to resume partially (Hindu 11 May 2010)
NEW DELHI: Under pressure from the Madhya Pradesh government and the Prime Minister's office (PMO), the Ministry of Environment and Forests, modifying its own suspension order, has decided to allow partial construction of the Maheshwar dam to resume.
Sources from the Ministry told The Hindu that the decision was taken in light of technical advice from the Central Water Commission that certain parts of the project, including the seven gates that are now under construction, need to be completed in order to prevent flooding during monsoon.
“Whatever is required to ensure safety will be allowed. The [suspension] order will still apply to all other civil works,” said a senior official. The modified order is likely to be issued on Tuesday.
The dam is being built in Madhya Pradesh by the S. Kumar group. Construction was suspended by the Ministry on April 23 due to “negligible” relief and rehabilitation work.
The decision to modify the order was taken after a representation from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prompted the PMO to convene a meeting on May 7. While the CWC gave its opinion in writing on the risk involved if the work was stopped completely, the M.P. Chief Secretary gave an assurance on behalf of the State government that R&R work would be completed. Incidentally, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh was out of the country on that day.
A Ministry source also indicated that a “political decision” on Maheshwar could be taken only by the PMO. “In view of the CWC's technical advice and the M.P. government's assurance at the level of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary, the MoEF has no option but to modify.”
The Narmada Bachao Andolan, which is coordinating the protest on the failure to complete R&R work, has said that “since the earlier [suspension] order was under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, it cannot be modified and work cannot be resumed on the basis of assurances.”
According to the terms of environmental clearance, R&R work was to have kept pace with the dam construction, and should have been completed six months prior to submergence. However, the construction is now more than 80 per cent complete, and submergence is expected by November 2010, while less than 5 per cent of R&R work has been completed. More than 10,000 families will be affected by the submergence.
Sources from the Ministry told The Hindu that the decision was taken in light of technical advice from the Central Water Commission that certain parts of the project, including the seven gates that are now under construction, need to be completed in order to prevent flooding during monsoon.
“Whatever is required to ensure safety will be allowed. The [suspension] order will still apply to all other civil works,” said a senior official. The modified order is likely to be issued on Tuesday.
The dam is being built in Madhya Pradesh by the S. Kumar group. Construction was suspended by the Ministry on April 23 due to “negligible” relief and rehabilitation work.
The decision to modify the order was taken after a representation from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prompted the PMO to convene a meeting on May 7. While the CWC gave its opinion in writing on the risk involved if the work was stopped completely, the M.P. Chief Secretary gave an assurance on behalf of the State government that R&R work would be completed. Incidentally, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh was out of the country on that day.
A Ministry source also indicated that a “political decision” on Maheshwar could be taken only by the PMO. “In view of the CWC's technical advice and the M.P. government's assurance at the level of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary, the MoEF has no option but to modify.”
The Narmada Bachao Andolan, which is coordinating the protest on the failure to complete R&R work, has said that “since the earlier [suspension] order was under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, it cannot be modified and work cannot be resumed on the basis of assurances.”
According to the terms of environmental clearance, R&R work was to have kept pace with the dam construction, and should have been completed six months prior to submergence. However, the construction is now more than 80 per cent complete, and submergence is expected by November 2010, while less than 5 per cent of R&R work has been completed. More than 10,000 families will be affected by the submergence.
Linking water to environmental care (Hindu 11 May 2010)
Creeping in:The Secret Lake, once a main drinking water source for the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, is shrinking due to encroachers dumping debris on the lake bed.
The task of providing water where needed is becoming increasingly difficult across the world. Countries have, in recent decades, been investing in infrastructure designed to alleviate water shortages. But the response has, for the most part, overlooked the problem posed by the deteriorating state of aquatic resources. If the growing crisis is to be effectively addressed, water use needs to be linked with environmental care.
In many places, even where water is still plentiful, environmental destruction has made water too expensive to use. In some others that enjoy a good supply of water, it is used inappropriately. Priorities can be so askew that while cities remain desperate for water, farmers are irrigating fruits or cotton in the desert. Even less acceptable, potable water is used to maintain gardens and golf courses while the urban poor are forced to pay dearly to buy drinking water by the bucket.
As a result, about 700 million people in over 40 countries are affected by water shortages. Human encroachment on water environments is also a growing problem. By 2030 the United Nations predicts that 75 per cent of the world's population will live in coastal areas, putting at risk wetlands that help clean the water environment as well as exposing hundreds of millions of people to the water-related hazards associated with climate change.
The World Bank is the largest official financier of water investments in developing countries. Loan commitments in the past decade were some $55 billion, with China and India topping the list of borrowers, followed by Brazil and Indonesia. Water projects, covering irrigation and hydropower to watershed management and inland waterways, have shown greater success in recent years than other sectors in meeting their objectives. Yet the challenge remains of meeting today's water needs while putting in place innovative strategies to address future requirements. Areas for emphasis fall in five main areas along the axis of water development and environmental management.
Firstly, the most water-stressed group consists of 45 countries — 35 of them in Africa — that are water poor. Water sustainability needs to become central to their development plans, with tailored measures to help meet their urgent needs. Even water-rich countries such as Brazil or Thailand can face deficiency as water levels in dams and from natural sources fall.
Secondly, groundwater is increasingly threatened by over-exploitation, inadequate environmental flows, and contamination. The most severe groundwater depletion is in West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia. Needed efforts include monitoring groundwater quality, landfill site improvements, and the reduction of infiltration by contaminated surface water into groundwater.
Thirdly, restoration of degraded environments can have big impacts. A Coastal Wetlands Protection project in Vietnam, for example, tried to balance environmental protection with the livelihood needs of people dependent on natural resources. The project helped to reduce the area of coastal erosion by as much as 40 per cent.
Fourthly, the United Nations estimates that 1.8 billion people will still not have access to basic sanitation in 2015. More emphasis is needed not only on low-cost solutions to basic sanitation but also on household connections to sanitation systems. East Asia has had the most progress among developing regions in sanitation.
Fifthly, investments in water supply need to be coupled with management of demand. Agriculture is the largest user of water in most settings, where efficiency improving technologies are not enough to improve water use. Greater cost-recovery in water projects would be helpful. Fixing and enforcing quotas for water use, a relatively recent approach, deserves careful evaluation.
Even when these priorities are known, it has been difficult to translate them into action. When the key players sit down to bargain about the allocation of water, the environment gets short shrift. Seldom is there support for rescuing a falling aquifer if water can still be extracted, or for restoring wetlands, or for keeping enough water flowing through a river so that wildlife can survive and saline intrusion is prevented. Political support for reform is often hindered by serious gaps in understanding a country's water situation. Better data, systematic monitoring and disclosure of findings are crucial to resource mobilisation and action. Knowledge sharing in turn supports the financial outlays and enables better results on the ground.
(Vinod Thomas is Director-General and Ronald S. Parker is a Consultant at the Independent Evaluation Group, The World Bank, Washington D.C.)
The task of providing water where needed is becoming increasingly difficult across the world. Countries have, in recent decades, been investing in infrastructure designed to alleviate water shortages. But the response has, for the most part, overlooked the problem posed by the deteriorating state of aquatic resources. If the growing crisis is to be effectively addressed, water use needs to be linked with environmental care.
In many places, even where water is still plentiful, environmental destruction has made water too expensive to use. In some others that enjoy a good supply of water, it is used inappropriately. Priorities can be so askew that while cities remain desperate for water, farmers are irrigating fruits or cotton in the desert. Even less acceptable, potable water is used to maintain gardens and golf courses while the urban poor are forced to pay dearly to buy drinking water by the bucket.
As a result, about 700 million people in over 40 countries are affected by water shortages. Human encroachment on water environments is also a growing problem. By 2030 the United Nations predicts that 75 per cent of the world's population will live in coastal areas, putting at risk wetlands that help clean the water environment as well as exposing hundreds of millions of people to the water-related hazards associated with climate change.
The World Bank is the largest official financier of water investments in developing countries. Loan commitments in the past decade were some $55 billion, with China and India topping the list of borrowers, followed by Brazil and Indonesia. Water projects, covering irrigation and hydropower to watershed management and inland waterways, have shown greater success in recent years than other sectors in meeting their objectives. Yet the challenge remains of meeting today's water needs while putting in place innovative strategies to address future requirements. Areas for emphasis fall in five main areas along the axis of water development and environmental management.
Firstly, the most water-stressed group consists of 45 countries — 35 of them in Africa — that are water poor. Water sustainability needs to become central to their development plans, with tailored measures to help meet their urgent needs. Even water-rich countries such as Brazil or Thailand can face deficiency as water levels in dams and from natural sources fall.
Secondly, groundwater is increasingly threatened by over-exploitation, inadequate environmental flows, and contamination. The most severe groundwater depletion is in West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia. Needed efforts include monitoring groundwater quality, landfill site improvements, and the reduction of infiltration by contaminated surface water into groundwater.
Thirdly, restoration of degraded environments can have big impacts. A Coastal Wetlands Protection project in Vietnam, for example, tried to balance environmental protection with the livelihood needs of people dependent on natural resources. The project helped to reduce the area of coastal erosion by as much as 40 per cent.
Fourthly, the United Nations estimates that 1.8 billion people will still not have access to basic sanitation in 2015. More emphasis is needed not only on low-cost solutions to basic sanitation but also on household connections to sanitation systems. East Asia has had the most progress among developing regions in sanitation.
Fifthly, investments in water supply need to be coupled with management of demand. Agriculture is the largest user of water in most settings, where efficiency improving technologies are not enough to improve water use. Greater cost-recovery in water projects would be helpful. Fixing and enforcing quotas for water use, a relatively recent approach, deserves careful evaluation.
Even when these priorities are known, it has been difficult to translate them into action. When the key players sit down to bargain about the allocation of water, the environment gets short shrift. Seldom is there support for rescuing a falling aquifer if water can still be extracted, or for restoring wetlands, or for keeping enough water flowing through a river so that wildlife can survive and saline intrusion is prevented. Political support for reform is often hindered by serious gaps in understanding a country's water situation. Better data, systematic monitoring and disclosure of findings are crucial to resource mobilisation and action. Knowledge sharing in turn supports the financial outlays and enables better results on the ground.
(Vinod Thomas is Director-General and Ronald S. Parker is a Consultant at the Independent Evaluation Group, The World Bank, Washington D.C.)
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