Recognizing the fisherfolks’ valuable services to the society, the annual World Fisheries Day (WFD) will be celebrated on Nov. 21 with the theme “We have not caught anything, but at your word I will let down the nets”. On this occasion SANDRP compiles top 10 positive developments that took place during last one year regarding protection of inland fisherfolks’ rights and also protecting the habitats of freshwater fish species in India.
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Yamuna Manthan June 2025: Positive water, river stories from Yamuna basin
POSITIVE YAMUNA REPORTS
Uttar Pradesh’s Noon river runs again Jalaun farmers in Bundelkhand will not have to toil too much this season to get water for crops. They have almost revived an 81km-long local river that had dried up completely. Community members have restored the drainage basin over a 14km course of Noon river to create a funnel through which water has again entered it. The river had dried up to encroachments and poor rainfall. The revival commenced in 2021 and reached the final stage only recently, with voluntary labour contributions from thousands of local men and women. Officials said the water would start flowing through the entire course of the river in a fortnight. The river is expected to help more than 15,350 farmers.
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Yamuna Manthan 090525: Will we STOP Commercialization of River Floodplains?
(Feature Image: Redstone stuctures at Vasudev Riverfront site on Yamuna. BS Rawat, SANDRP/ April 2025)
The rhetoric of Sabarmati type river front project for Yamuna in Delhi is getting louder. For over a decade, the DDA has already been working on 11 projects disguised as ‘floodplain restoration’. In recent past, none other than the NGT has flagged concerns over permanent structures and concretization work in some of these projects. Notably, all these cosmetic projects have suffered huge damages in the July 2023 floods.
Despite this, showing no regard to laws and sanctity of floodplains, DDA (Delhi Development Authority) has commercialized some of the projects including the Vasudev riverfront and the Baansera park. Since there is no autonomous body functioning in Delhi to hold the DDA accountable, every week there is news about a new riverfront or park project aiming at further commercializing the Yamuna floodplain.
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Relevance of Ganga Mukti Andolan: Then and Now
((Above Photo of GMA office by Miss Shalini Jha)
GUEST ARTICLE BY DR. RUCHI SHREE
On 22-23 February, 2025, Ganga Mukti Andolan (GMA) celebrated its 43rd anniversary in Kahalgaon (Bhagalpur, Bihar). In these two days celebration, social activists from different parts of the country participated to underline the problems faced by river Ganga and the fisherfolk community of this region. Its slogan ‘Ganga ko aviral bahne do’ (let the Ganga flow freely) which united the different sections of the society to come together in the 1980s seems to be so relevant even today. For a movement to survive for four decades undoubtedly marks its relevance. However, during this long span of time, the movement has undergone several changes. But at the same time, it also marks a continuity and this essay is an attempt to understand the nuances and significance of this struggle.
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Book Review: Submerged Worlds & Amazing Stories of India’s Mighty Rivers
“All rivers are living entities. The job of any river is to flow. And it flows in a most systematic and sophisticated manner. As it flows, it nurtures everything around it, everything within it. A flowing river, whether it’s gurgling, bubbling and frothing on rocks and cobbled valleys or silently meandering along its course on the plains, is a happy and healthy river. Like a lap of a mother, the river allows many living beings to make a home and live together…” These introductory lines from the recently published book “Submerged Worlds and Amazing Stories of India’s Mighty Rivers” highlights the significance of a free-flowing river.
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Yamuna Manthan 060325: Dolphin Survey Rings Alarm for Pachnad Dam Project
(Feature Image: Line drawing of proposed Pachnad Major Irrigation Project. Source: Amar Ujala)
The findings of the latest Project Dolphin Survey Report released on March 3, 2025, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in presence of Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav have raised significant concerns over proposed Pachnad Major Irrigation Project.
While the survey reiterates the adverse impacts of dams, barrages fragmenting the national aquatic animal’s habitat as the population has been found nearly absent between Narora barrage and Kanpur barrage stretch in main stem of Ganga, it also reveals that the endangered species are preferring refuge in Ganga tributaries and confluence points and has been found in highest numbers along 47 km long river stretch between Chambal and Pachnad in Bhind which still undammed.
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DRP 030225: Water Anarchy in Gujarat in Narmada water allocation?
A report this week quotes a Govt of Gujarat (GOG) insider saying that GOG is giving 16.7% of SSP (Sardar Sarovar Project) water for industries (with more in pipeline) against planned allocation of just 2% (0.2 Million Acre Feet or MAF). Similarly, against planned allocation of zero for Urban areas in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Kheda and Bharuch, most large urban areas are getting Narmada water. However, the insider says, the area irrigated by the SSP is only 33% of the targeted area, with largest water quantities going to already irrigated central Gujarat. Similarly, with the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) asked Gujarat to provide water for the SSP Downstream areas from its allocated share, but Gujarat keeps claiming it has no water for this and asks other states to provide water for the downstream areas from common pool. It seems the worst fears of the project critiques are coming true. The insider has in fact characterized this state of affairs as water anarchy in Gujarat.
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World Wetlands Day 2025: Govts Projects, Apathy Damaging Ramsar Wetlands
(Feature Image: A road is being laid allegedly by a private realtor inside the Perumbakkam marshland. Photo Credit: TNIE, June 2023)
‘Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future’ is the theme for World Wetlands Day 2025. Wetlands are ecosystems, in which water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life.
Indian government seems focusing more on increasing Ramsar wetlands number than ensuring the protection and conservation the existing Ramsar sites in country. Over the past one decade the numbers of Ramsar wetlands in India have sharply gone up from 26 in 2014 to 89 as of January 2025. Amid the thrust to increase the number, several existing or even recently declared Ramsar wetlands across the country have been facing multiple threats mainly due to governmental projects and constant negligence from the concerned authorities as can be seen from the reports from 2024 in this annual overview.
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DRP 200125: Whither Env Clearance Rejection rate from Expert Appraisal Committee or MoEF?
A detailed review of functioning of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (MoEF) Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on River Valley Projects (RVP) for 2024 by SANDRP shows that the committee or for that matter MoEF has almost non-existent rejection rate. Even when a project is not cleared, when it applies again, it gets clearance, whether the application if for stage I (Terms of Reference) or Stage II (Environment Clearance- EC) clearance. Even in some cases like Pump Storage Projects (PSP) in Western Ghats or the Hydropower projects in disaster prone Himalayas, including the disaster-stricken projects like the 1200 MW Teesta III projects in Sikkim, the scrutiny including field visits by the EAC Sub committees is minimal, not worthy calling even scrutiny.
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DRP 130125: Will Judiciary take these matters to logical conclusion?
There are at least four cases in this past week where the judiciary has used strong words or taken up crucial issues in water, dams, hydropower projects, wetlands and riverbed mining related issues. In the case related to the safety of Mullaperiyar dam on Kerala-TN border, the Supreme Court has prodded the Centre to wake up from the slumber to ensure that National Dam Safety Authority quickly forms a panel to examine the project. This case has wide ranging repercussions not only about this project, but also functioning of NDSA and other bodies under the Dam Safety Act 2021. Indeed, there is huge question mark as to what extent NDSA and DSA has made our dams any safer.
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