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.
Continue reading “World Fisheries Day 2025: Top 10 Positive Stories from India”Tag: Riverbed Mining
केवल सफाई नहीं, चाहिए समग्र यमुना नदी तंत्र संरक्षण नीति
दिल्ली चुनाव के दौरान यमुना नदी प्रदूषण एक अहम मुद्दा बना। चुनाव जीतने के बाद नई सरकार निरंतर यमुना सफाई को लेकर कई घोषणाएं और योजनाओं पर बात कर रही है। स्वयं प्रधानमंत्री और उसके बाद केंद्रीय गृहमंत्री, जल संसाधन मंत्री इसके लिए बड़ी बैठक कर चुके हैं। इन सबमें हरियाणा, दिल्ली और उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार द्वारा मिलकर कार्य करने की आवश्यकता सबसे सराहनीय पक्ष रहा है। सरकार द्वारा एसटीपी क्षमता विकास, औद्योगिक प्रदूषण रोकथाम, जल संचयन बढ़ाने और जल स्रोतों को बचाने की बातें भी कही जा रही है। पर ये सब बातें तो पिछली सरकारों द्वारा पहले भी कही जा चुकी हैं और बातों से आगे ठोस नीति और सफल निष्पदान कार्ययोजना की तरफ नहीं बढ़ पा रही है। इन सबके बीच यमुना नदी स्वास्थ्य में गिरावट जारी है।
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Odisha Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani Interview: Citizen Monitoring Key to Improve Riverbed Mining Governance
(Feature Image: Lawyer Sankar Prasad Pani. Source: Facebook)
Advocate Sankar Prasad Pani is among some of the finest environmental lawyers in Odisha with knowledge about the effective legal remedies for addressing the adverse impacts of unsustainable and illegal riverbed mining. Over the past decade, Sankar Pani has argued in more than 50 cases in the eastern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The lawyer aims to bring transparency and improve governance in riverbed mining operations in Odisha and has secured remarkable decisions in some of the cases in 2024. In January 2025, the tribunal prohibited sand excavation in Mayurbhanj district following Pani’s intervention. In this interview with the lawyer Sankar Pani, Bhim Singh Rawat of SANDRP focuses on the basics of legal mechanisms and impact as well as limitations of available legal tools concerning the governance of finite natural resource like sand.
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Advocate Waryam Singh Interview: मशीनी खनन से हो रही यमुना बर्बाद
(Feature Image: Screnshot of Haryana 24 News exclusive report on illegal mechanized sand mining in Yamuna river at Gumthala ghat near Yamuna Nagar-Karnal border of Haryana in May. 2024.)
हरियाणा राज्य के करनाल और यमुनानगर जिलों में वरयाम सिंह एक जाना-माना नाम है। आप पेशे से जिला न्यायालय और पंजाब एवं हरियाणा उच्च न्यायालय में अधिवक्ता हैं। आप यमुना नदी के किनारे स्थित गुमथला गांव में रहते हैं जहाँ आपके प्रयासों से इंक़लाब मंदिर स्थापित है जो देश के स्वतंत्रता सेनानियों को समर्पित है और राज्यस्तर पर प्रसिद्ध है। क्षेत्र में विकास कार्यों में पारदर्शिता एवं सरकारी विभागों के कार्यों में सुधार लाने के लिए आपने हरियाणा एंटी करप्शन सोसाइटी की स्थापना भी की है और आप इन उद्देश्यों के लिए जन सूचना अधिकार कानून का बखूबी इस्तेमाल करते हैं।
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World Fisheries Day 2024: Important Studies, Reports on River Fish, Fisherfolks
(Feature Image: Prized catch of a fishman at Yamuna bank in Kairana, UP in Sept 2024)
During past one year, there have been several new studies and reports published amplifying the adverse effects of developmental projects including dams, waterways, river interlinking, invasive fish species, degradation of rivers and climate change on river fish and fisherfolks in India. In the last part of the annul overview on the World Fisheries Day on Nov 21 2024, we focus on these important studies and reports highlighting the threats and challenges on freshwater fish and fisherfolks.
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May-June 2024: Sand Mafias Mowed Three Policemen to Death
Three policemen have lost their lives in three different incidents related to illegal sand mining activities in May-June 2024. In the first incident a policeman Rohit Kumar Pancholi was killed at night on June 8 in Uttar Pradesh. The 24-year-old Constable was trying to stop a tractor-trolley involved in illegal sand mining in Nagla Chandan area of Farrukhabad district.
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Secret of Goa River Network’s success: Fight Collectively, Consistently to stop the menace of illegal sand mining
(Feature Image: Illegal sand extraction in Mandovi river in late evening hours at Amona village on Dec. 12, 2022. Image Credit: GRSPN)
The Goa River Sand Protector Network (GRSPN) has been doing exemplary work in checking adverse impacts of unsustainable and illegal sand mining in Goa rivers. This interview with Adv. Viraj Bakre, one of its key members, highlights the impact of the network’s work, struggle, successes and suggestions for river activists fighting against riverbed mining menace in the country.
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Tawi Barrage & Riverfront Projects in Jammu destroying river, inviting disaster
(Feature Image: a picture of Tawi Riverfront and Real Estate Development uploaded on Jammu Smart City website)
Tawi Riverfront Development (RFD) project in Jammu symbolizes the fallacy of most of the RFD projects in India. The city owes its historical relevance, cultural legacy and gradual prosperity to the river. But in return the Tawi has been witnessing typical urban river problems of gradual decline in flows, continual rise in solid and liquid waste pollution, encroachments and riverbed mining. And as is the case with most of urban rivers, instead of taking effective measures to address the existing threats, the government here has been pumping crores of rupees into an artificial lake and RFD project for over past one and half decade in a non-transparent and questionable manner.
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Why Existing Rules, Regulations Fail to Deter Illegal Sand Miners of Ken River?
(Feature Image: Screenshot of Bundeli Junction video report dated Nov. 19, 2023 on large scale mechanized, instream sand mining in Ken river in Banda district. )
Ken is lifeline of Bundelkhand and among key tributaries of Lower Yamuna basin. The river is relatively clean and free of industrial pollution. However, its existence is under threat due to catchment degradation and the proposed Ken-Betwa interlinking proposal. Apart from this, the river eco-system and dependent people have been at receiving end of large scale mechanized and unsustainable, mostly illegal mining practices for the past many years.
Some recent short video clips, media reports and satellite images have again revealed that sand miners continue to indulge in river destructive mining activities in government approved mine sites in three districts of two states namely Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh and in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh. The miners here have blatantly violated the existing mining rules, MoEF guidelines and NGT orders while the respective regulatory agencies have miserably failed to enforce the laws and ensure compliance.
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DRP NB 290124: Wetlands and Human Wellbeing: So little reflected in wetlands governance
(Chest nut clutivators removing water hycinth from Giri taal of Kashipur in US Nagar, Uttarakhand in April 2023. Bhim Singh Rawat/SANDRP)
As the world approaches the World Wetlands Day on Feb 2, we notice a proliferation of news related to wetlands, but mostly bad news in this week’s DRP NB: Loktak lake in Manipur facing impact of inland waterways project, the Supreme Court having to intervene for the Futula lake in Nagpur, TN Govt telling NGT that 38% of Pallikaranai marshland is under encroachment, in Bangalore, NGT is asking for response from KSPCB and others regarding the lake buffer zone encroachment. There is also a lot of bad news about the worsening state of our rivers, including Ganga.
One piece of good news is that people have come out with their own plan for restoration of Ennore wetland in TN. In Assam, Maguri Motapung Bill is regaining biodiversity after earlier being polluted by oil spill, but that is only control of damage earlier. Similarly, while it is good news that SC has intervened to protect Futula lake in Nagpur, but the fact that the govt wanted to encroach on it in the name of “temporary” construction is not at all good news.
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SANDRP 