DRP NB 260224: Karnataka faces Drought, Farmer Distress, water scarcity

February 26, 2024February 28, 2024 SANDRP1 Comment

(Section 144 imposed near Bhadra Canals to stop illegal water lifting amid supply crisis. Representational image. TNIE)

As the two reports from media today shows, Karnataka is facing drought in 223 of 236 talukas, water scarcity and even farmer distress and suicides. The state government is aware of the situation and taking necessary measures. The situation could be similar in a number of states including Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and even some of the eastern and northern states. The North Himalayan states have experienced hugely below normal snowfall in the ongoing winter. The Winter Rainfall at all India level for the period Jan 1 2024 to Feb 25 2024 is already 31% below normal.

There is role of global warming and El Nino in this and these factors are going to persist at least till the end of Indian Summer. So the governments both at centre and in states needs to be ready for the crisis.

The current Karnataka govt is awake to reality and seems to be taking the appropriate steps. Karnataka had deficit rainfall in SW Monsoon 2023.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 080124: Supreme Court stays Sham post facto clearances

January 8, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: A Ramganga tributary before joining the river at Marchula, Ramnagar in Nov. 2022. Bhim Singh Rawat/SANDRP)

Post facto environment clearances are indeed a sham as the Hindustan Times Edit has said. It is welcome that the Supreme Court of India has stayed, on Jan 2, 2024, the MoEF memorandums allowing such post facto environmental clearances. Following a petition filed by the Mumbai based environmental group Vanashakti, the sham practice that has been going on since March 2017. Such clearances are clearly contradictory, in letter and spirit to the prior environment clearances as required under the EIA notification of 2006.

The Sham practice should have been stayed much earlier, for example when the Madras High Court gave an interim stay on the MoEF notification of 2017. But unfortunately, the Supreme Court then interpreted that the Madras High Court order will only be limited to Tamil Nadu. Or it may have been stayed earlier by NGT.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 161023: Kaddam Dam Rehabilitation in Telangana: Many more will need this

October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 SANDRP1 Comment

(Kaddam dam spilling over with flood waters in July 2023. Image Source: SM)

Telangana’s Kaddam Dam, built with inadequate spillway capacity, has seen multiple threats and disasters over the years, starting from the very first year after its commissioning in 1958. The dam again saw threat of being washed away during monsoon this year. The Telangana government has decided to rehabilitate the dam at a cost of Rs 640-700 Cr, by reconstruction of spillway and installation of new gates. We hope the new spillway capacity will be in line with the changed monsoon rainfall pattern and will be able to take care of the higher probable maximum precipitation and higher probable maximum flood. Though we are unlikely to get to know how this is going to happen, as the standard operating procedure of all dam owners in India is secrecy rather than transparency even in dam safety aspects. One also hopes this is done at the earliest, and till that is achieved, the dam rule curve will be changed to ensure the dam does not face disastrous situations during monsoon.

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Dams

DRP NB 240723: Urgently need parameters that will truly reflect rainfall pattern

July 24, 2023 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: – IMD’s District Wise Cumulative Rainfall Map for 01 June to 23 July 2023)

India received 389.2 mm rainfall till 0830 hrs on July 23, 2023 in SW monsoon. This being 5% above the normal rainfall till this date of 370.9 mm, India Meteorological Department and with it, the whole nation calls it Normal Monsoon. But anyone who is familiar with the rainfall pattern across India will not call it Normal.

We must urgently develop new parameters for describing the monsoon that also take into account spatial (across states, districts, Tehsils, blocks) and temporal variability. These parameters should take into account the departure from normal for each unit of space for each day and combine such departures to arrive at a figure that will better describe the monsoon for each unit of space. It can also take into consideration the high intensity rainfall events as also the longer dryer patches. This will help us understand not only the nature of monsoon rainfall, but also alert the farmers and everyone else but also help us understand how this pattern is changing over the years. This should not be so difficult for IMD to initiate and accomplish quickly. When aggregated at river basin level, this will also help us understand the actual rainfall pattern in each river basin but also how it is changing. Is this too much to ask?

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Hydropower

2021 International Day of Action for Rivers: Opposition against HEPs, dams in India

March 13, 2021March 14, 2021 SANDRP4 Comments

(Feature image source:-A Sikkim tribe trying to save ‘paradise’ from woes of development.)

March 14 is International Day of Action for Rivers, against destructive projects. The main objective is to ensure that the river people have their say in the decision-making processes which affect their rivers and related livelihoods sources and that the decisions are informed decisions.

Here we are bringing forth the struggles of riverine communities in India in past one year to make decision makers aware of their hardships and impacts of destructive hydro and dam projects on the riverine eco-system.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 30 Nov 2020: J&K SEAC denies EC to sand mining

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020 SANDRP1 Comment

In otherwise bleak governance of sand mining in India, J&K State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) has denied environment clearance to sand mining projects on Jhelum river, since the proposals were not in conformity with the MoEF’s 2016 Sand Mining Management Guidelines, involved in-stream mining, did not have proper District Survey Reports, proper Sand Mining Plan or Replenishment studies. One hope this is emanating from genuine concern for proper governance and this needs to spread to more areas so that at least the guidelines get properly implemented.

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Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 28 Sep 2020: AAP to privatise Delhi Water supply which Arvind Kejriwal opposed?

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020 SANDRPLeave a comment

Delhi Chief Minister Arivind Kejriiwal led govt seems to be now proposing privatisation of Delhi water supply.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 21 Sep 2020: IHA President accepts-Hydro faces massive slowdown & worse

September 21, 2020September 21, 2020 SANDRP1 Comment

International Hydropower Association (IHA) is essentially global leader of hydropower lobby. So when IHA President Roger Gill speaks about the problems hydro industry is facing, it becomes very interesting for all concerned.

In this interview the Roger Gill makes it clear that Hydro investments have been slowing down in last five years when compared with investments in immediate earlier decades. It has further slowed down in 2019 and has been further majorly affected by Covid-19 pandemic. Gill also accepts that the hydro is perceived as much more risky compared to solar and wind. The claim he makes of low levelised cost of electricity from hydro projects is a bit of fiction, since cost of any under construction or new hydro will be hugely costlier than solar and wind power projects. The IHA president is catching at the straws when he takes encouragement from investments in existing hydro projects and pump storage, though he keeps making it clear that market is still unclear as far as pump storage tariffs are concerned. A friendly interview also reveals a lot!!

It is high time that the Indian hydropower lobby led by NHPC and power ministry takes due note of the realities and would not push unjustified, unviable and destructive hydropower projects down the throats of reluctant states and people, using scarce public resources.https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/hydro-power-requires-100-bn-investment-annually-roger-gill-international-hydropower-association/78131561 (17 Sep 2020)

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Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 6 July 2020: Dear NGT, Yamuna Monitoring Panel needs extension

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 SANDRPLeave a comment

In July 2018, the National Green Tribunal appointed a Yamuna Monitoring Panel for Delhi, the term of this panel is over and it has submitted its final report. NGT had also appointed similar committees for Haryana and Uttar Pradesh stretch of Yamuna, but those panels never functioned as actively as did the Delhi panel. We urge NGT to accept the petition now filed by Manoj Mishra to give extension to the Delhi Yamuna Monitoring Committee (DYMC) and direct that this committee will continue to function and monitoring and compliance panel for Yamuna river in Delhi.

There is a lot one can say positively about this committee, but arguably the biggest factors are its activeness, responsiveness and transparency. This can be easily seen visiting its website or its twitter page (https://twitter.com/ngtmcyamuna2). The committee also acted as a bridge between various institutions dealing with Yamuna in Delhi and ensured better coordination. The committee’s work is also evident in the number of reports it has submitted, all available on its website. There is always room for improvement in functioning of any such organisation, but this a lot and there are very few cases where one can say this.

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