At a well-attended meeting at India International Centre in Delhi on Feb 20 2025, organised by VIDHI Centre for Legal Policy, a panel of speakers including Shri Shashi Shekhar (former secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources) and Shri Jasbir Singh Chauhan (former Principle Chief Conservator of Forests, Madhya Pradesh) and Himanshu Thakkar of SANDRP, a number of fundamental questions were raised about the controversial Ken Betwa River Link Project. Unfortunately, no clear answers are forth coming from the authorities.
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Urban Groundwater 2024: Top Ten Judicial Interventions
(Feature Image: Underconstruction overhead water tank along Bindal river in Dehradun. B. S. Rawat/SANDRP/May 2024)
This annual overview includes the top ten reports from 2024 on judicial interventions regarding groundwater in urban India. The overview shows that the judicial bodies, particularly the NGT, have been dealing with various cases concerning the violations of groundwater extraction norms, including permission, use of treated sewage and rainwater harvesting by residential projects, and groundwater pollution by landfill sites and industrial waste across the country.
The overview of the court proceedings broadly suggest that the concerned governing bodies have been showing casual approach when it comes to ensuring the compliance to norms and improve governance, thus failing to stop the depletion & contamination of GW in Urban India.
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Groundwater 2024: Top Ten stories on how Depletion continues alarmingly
(Feature Image: A villager is taking his cattle through the bone-dry Nimi River, a tributary of Tons in Dehradun after feeding it water from a syntex tank placed in riverbed. The tank is filled with groundwater by a submersible installed on the bank of the river. B. S. Rawat/SANDRP/May 2024)
Like growing contamination of groundwater in India, its depletion is also increasing at alarming level as shows the top ten relevant reports from 2024 which we are able to compile in this third annual overview on the subject. At central level two reports on Atal Bhujal Yojna highlight that funds allocated for the flagship scheme have been grossly underutilized and the scheme is focusing more on meeting the deadlines and facing challenges in large scale community mobilization. The CGWB’s 2023 report published in June 2024 shows that the situation is worsening contradicting MoJS claim that the groundwater depletion situation is improving. About 87% of total groundwater extraction is used in farming.
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DRP 170225: Dam Safety Slumber
(Feature Image: Srisailam dam in Telangana. Source: Telangana Today)
The Srisailam, dam one of the biggest dams of India, is facing a serious dam safety issue since over a decade, and yet, strangely, there is no resolution of this in sight. All attempts seem to downplay the issue and hide the reports & reality from public domain. It is well known that the damage to the stilling basin and plunge pool area, part of the Dam project and located just downstream of the main wall is serious and some of the cracks from the downstream are going towards the main dam. Even the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) visited the dam a year back, but no action plan is in sight.
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Groundwater 2024: Top Ten Judicial Decisions
(Feature Image: A water conservation message painted on a wall in Dehradun. BS Rawat/SANDRP, May 2024)
This fifth part of annual groundwater overview covers top ten judicial interventions regarding groundwater in India in 2024. The first part of the overview compiles important groundwater studies published in 2024. The second part and third part have compiled the reports revealing rising contamination and depletion of groundwater resources in India. The fourth part has focused the top ten relevant decisions taken by various governments regarding management and conservation of the finite natural resource in the country.
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World Wetlands Day 2025: Ten Positive Stories from Urban India
(Feature Image: Dharmesh Barai, who leads the NGO Environment Life Foundation (ELF), began the “Mangrove Clean-Up Drive” on August 15. Source: TIE)
This compilation highlights ten positive efforts put in to protect the lakes, waterbodies and mangroves in urban India by individuals and environmental groups during 2024. The top ten stories come from five metros: Delhi (3), Mumbai (2), Bengaluru (2), Chennai (2) and Kolkata (1). We are sure such positive actions also happened in other cities in 2024, but we could not find them.
We have also compiled the top ten positive wetlands reports from the countryside here. Also see overviews on the worsening plight of Ramsar wetlands, deteriorating situation of wetlands in India in general and some important judicial interventions concerning protection and management of wetlands in the country that have taken place during the past one year.
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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: Top Ten Positive Actions & Reports
(Feature Image: Villagers plant mangrove saplings in an island off Kudikadu village in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district. Credit: The Print)
Marking the World Wetlands Day 2025, this article carries top ten positive reports from 2024 on protection and conservation of wetlands in India. The overview highlights some remarkable steps taken by individuals, community groups, governments for restoration of wetlands, lakes, waterbodies and mangroves in the country during the past year. We have also published three overviews on the issue including the situation of Ramsar wetlands, other wetlands and important judicial decisions regarding management of wetlands in the country.
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World Wetlands Day 2025: More Judicial Decisions, Less Actions by Govts
(Part of a marsh land already covered by residential buildings in Asan river basin in Dehradun being filled up further in May 2024. BS Rawat/SANDRP)
In third part of annual overview, we compile top ten judicial decisions taken during 2024 by various courts regarding protection and conservation wetlands in India. The first part of the overview has covered the looming threats on Ramsar sites and the second part has highlighted the deteriorating condition wetlands in the country.
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WWD 2025: Failing to Protect Wetlands for Common Future
(Feature Image: Machhi Talab in Dehradun chocked by solid waste, vegetion in May 2024. BS Rawat/SANDRP)
While we celebrate World’s Wetlands Day 2025 with theme of “Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future”, the top ten reports from 2024 show that the plight of wetlands in India remains miserable making the future of the waterbodies and dependent people uncertain. While govts continue to be lethargic in identifying and notifying the wetlands in the country, the govts initiated developmental plans, projects are further making them vulnerable to extinction. Amid this the threats from encroachment, siltation, pollution and climate change are only increasing. Also see the first part of the overview highlighting the deteriorating situation of Ramsar wetlands in India.
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SANDRP 