One of the key objective of the Economic Survey is to provide an accurate account of ground realities on various aspects affecting the Economy of the country and also what has the govt been doing to address the issues that such an account throws up. From a look at the key issues that SANDRP focuses on, it seems that the Economic Survey for 2019-20 that was released on January 31, 2020 does not even attempt to provide an account of the ground realities. Continue reading “ECONOMIC SURVEY 2020: WHERE IS THE GROUND REALITY?”
Tag: Monsoon
DRP: 20 Jan 2020: India urgently needs national urban water policy
A large number of stories this week remind us that India urgently needs national urban water policy.
The water footprint of urban areas is gradually on the rise. The cities have several problems with management including destruction of water sources, groundwater exploitation, poor performance in treating and recycling the polluted water, pollution and encroachment on water bodies etc. To fulfil their growing demands new dams, barrages and check dams are being planned, proposed and built on the rivers in faraway places, which is in turn displacing and depriving the local people of equitable water share.
Even before onset of summer, the Army in Sagar district have started patrolling Chitora dam to prevent water thefts (denying farmers to take dam water for irrigation).
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DRP: 13 Jan. 2020: We need new river management
With the beginning of New Year, there have been several media reports highlighting the river revival works and floodplain protection efforts going on in different parts of country. While the community driven efforts with active support from administration and experts to revive Kasal Odha in Solapur and bring back Old Lakhandei river in Sithamarhi have been bearing fruits. The civil societies, judiciary and administration have also taken steps to protect the floodplains of Ramnadi, Indrayani, Hindon rivers.
The artificial pond efforts by NGT panel and Delhi government have also shown positive results in preventing the pollution from idol immersion pollution reaching the Yamuna river. Similarly the CPCB has raised the issue of Mahi river pollution by industries in Central Gujarat. The Karnataka High Court questioning the authority and fund collection mechanism by Isha Foundation for Cauvery Calling initiative is particularly significant. While revival of rivers is imperative task, the accountability and transparency cannot be set aside.
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Cloud Bursts in Himachal Pradesh in Monsoon 2019
Cloud burst incidents are emerging as a major threat for the Himalayan states. Of late, the extreme weather event have been causing large scale destruction in ecologically sensitive and remotely located vulnerable hilly areas. In 2018 between May 2 and July 20, the Uttarakhand state saw around 13 cloud bursts event which have increased to 23 in 2019 monsoon season resulting in wide scale damages.
This compilation for Himachal Pradesh state shows that the state is suffering even bigger destruction of infrastructure including roads, buildings, bridges and hydro projects due to increasing cloud burst events. At the same time the monitoring and mitigation efforts are totally insufficient and inadequate.
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Uttarakhand Cloud Bursts in Monsoon 2019: No Doppler Radars Six Years Since 2013 Disaster
With the beginning of south west monsoon season 2019, many Himalayan states started witnessing exceptional rainfall events known as Cloud Bursts. The extreme weather event – like previous years- caused large scale destruction in ecologically sensitive and remotely located vulnerable hilly areas. This account compiles the available information about such incidents in Uttarakhand in 2019 SW monsoon.
DRP: 9 Dec 2019: CITIZENS REPORT ON WHAT AILS GANGA REJUVENATION
The Hindustan Times editorial on Nov 27, 2019 has rightly said the following about “a recently-released Rejuvenating-Ganga River – A Citizen-Report, by the India Rivers Week, a consortium of seven NGOs”.
“A key reason for the failure of the river cleaning projects (Ganga and Yamuna action plans), says a recently-released citizen’s report, Rejuvenating Ganga,by the India Rivers Week, a consortium of seven NGOs, was their single-point focus on the main stem of the river, while the Ganga basin actually has eight major rivers (Yamuna, Son, Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghra, Gandak, Kosi and Damodar). The majority of the funds were spent on pollution-abatement measures on the main stem of the Ganga and on the upper Yamuna basin, which constitute just 20% of the Ganga basin.”
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DRP: 2 Dec. 2019: SC says Municipal Commissioners to be prosecuted under WP Law
In a number of ways the Supreme Court order this week that the municipal commissioners and chief officers can be prosecuted for releasing untreated pollutants from the cities to the rivers and other water bodies is path breaking. Can it help fix accountability of release of such untreated sewage? Can it help ensure that cities stop doing this and cities not only have adequate sewage treatment facilities, but also that cities have to ensure that the STPs function to ensure that no untreated sewage ends up the rivers and other water bodies?
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Rampant Unsustainable Riverbed Mining in Yamuna Basin
Yamuna River in Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana is facing severe threat from mechanized and unsustainable stone and sand mining happening at large scale in sheer violation of existing mining rules and guidelines and the responsible authorities are deliberately overlooking the gravity of the issue.
During a field visit to the mining sites, we found scores of heavy trucks plying on riverbed ferrying precious sand. Poclain and JCB machines in large numbers were seen busy digging dip pits in the riverbed. The active course of the river was blocked and even changed. In fact river was nowhere in sight as its entire course was converted in deep stagnant water pools caused by non-stop mechanized mining. Machines were digging the sand and piling it on floodplain and nearby farm lands.
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DRP: 18 Nov. 2019: River capacities are changing, but who is monitoring?
River carrying capacity is such a crucial factor in deciding if certain areas will be flooded and with what severity. This capacity is constantly changing, more so in tropical climate and high silt carrying rivers of South Asia, as new research shows. However, most models that are used in India, including by CWC, assume steady state situation. Nor are there constant and credible efforts to assess the river cross sections and river conveyance capacities and put them in public domain. The study shows how important it is that we wake up to this reality and ensure credible, consistent monitoring and assessments by credible independent agencies at the earliest. This has become even more urgent, the study underlines, since in changing climate, the rainfall patterns are changing fast.
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यमुना 2019: खनन से खतरे में पड़ा नदी और लोगों का जीवन
इन दिनों हरियाणा के यमुना नगर जिले में यमुना नदी में बड़े पैमाने पर जमकर अवैज्ञानिक और अवैध तरीके से पत्थर, रेत खनन हो रहा है। जिसके कारण यमुना नदी का अस्तित्व खतरे में पड़ गया है। नदी से पत्थर-रेत निकालने के लिए भारत सरकार द्वारा बनाए गए सभी कानूनों को ताक पर रखा जा रहा है। परन्तु जिला प्रशासन और सम्बंधित विभाग मामले पर मौन साधे बैठे हैं।
हाल ही में खनन प्रभावित क्षेत्र के भ्रमण के दौरान, हमने देखा की कई बड़े वाहन नदी से भारी मात्रा में कीमती रेत ढुलान में लगे हैं। नदी की प्राकृतिक धारा को किसी जगह रोका गया है और किसी जगह पर मोड़ा गया है। बड़ी बड़ी जेसीबी और भीमकाय मशीनें बेतरतीबी से नदी तल से रेत खोदने में व्यस्त हैं। जगह जगह रेत के टीलें बने हुए हैं। कई स्थानों पर नदी में विशालकाय गढ्डे बन गए हैं। तो अन्य जगह नदी को बड़े तालाब में बदल दिया गया है। एक तरह से नदी नाम की कोई चीज देखने को नहीं मिली। नदी के स्थान पर रेत के ढ़ेर, जलकुंड और मशीनों और ट्रकों का शोर-शराबा ही देखने और सुनने को मिला।
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SANDRP 