Interview: Every disaster also presents an opportunity to learn

September 10, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

Q: “This incident has indicated that the risks we face in the Himalayan region are increasing with climate change,” said Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah. Can we just blame it all on climate change and ignore the role aggressive development poses in an ecologically fragile zone? Or is climate change indeed the main villain?

ANS: Climate Change is a likely trigger for the Rasuwa flood disaster that Nepal and Tibet are facing, starting from the morning of Aug 26, 2026, though the scientists say this needs further studies. But the extent of the disaster depends on a number of factors including callous way in which major interventions have been taken up in the region, including large number of hydropower projects, knowing fully well the inherent vulnerabilities of the Himalayan region accentuated by climate change, by lack of early warning systems, absence of functioning disaster management system including emergency action plans.

Feature image above: Nepal Army rescues people trapped inside hydropower tunnels on Trishuli River Photo: PMO Office, Nepal video

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Nepal Disaster and Hydropower: How Global Banks Downplayed the Risks they Knew

August 29, 2026August 29, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

On the 28th August 2026, Nepali officials roughly doubled their tally of missing people to over 1,900, saying hydropower producers had only recently shared a count of unaccounted-for workers at projects in the devastated river valleys. It is feared that over 900 people are missing from hydropower projects.

This might be a watershed moment for the disaster-torn hydropower boom in South Asia, funded many times by International Financial Corporations and Multilateral Banks like ADB and World Bank, and also Chinese Exim bank.

Hundreds of hydropower labourers, engineers and locals are currently trapped inside tunnels of projects like Upper Trishuli 1 and Trishuli 3A, the latter funded by a loan from China’s Exim bank in the flood ravaged Nepal. More than 350 have been rescued by the valiant efforts of Nepal Army, but many more are still trapped inside the tunnel, including Indians.

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Dam Safety

2025: Govts, Judiciary Actions on Dam Safety in India

December 13, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Experts visit Srisailam dam to assess its structural safety in May 2025. Source)

At national level, the NDSA has carried safety audit of 1853 large dams out of 6545 as of Nov. 25, 2025. In July 2025, the Central govt announced to reconstitute NCDS for a period of three years. Before this the NDSA in April 2025 organized a symposium on Dam Safety Act 2021. It has also released the updated version of National Register on Specified Dams 2025. At state level, the Tamil Nadu govt in July 2025 has planned to set up separate dam safety wing. The Punjab govt in May 2025 moved resolution in state assembly to annul Dam Safety Act and planned to enact its own dam safety bill.

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Fish, Fisheries, Fisherfolk

Inland Fish, Fisheries, Fisher-folks: 2020 Overview

January 3, 2021January 4, 2021 SANDRPLeave a comment

Inland fisheries support millions of people and remains a major source of nutrition for a very large number of poorest people. This includes riverine fisheries, reservoir fisheries, wetland and local water body fisheries. Here we try to provide an overview of developments in this sector during the year 2020.

The overview has following sections: Policy & Governance in Centre, followed by in States, some positive developments, Covid-19 & Fishing Community, Fisher folks’ struggles, New Fish Species, Invasive fish, Fish Deaths & Pollution, Over fishing & Extinction, Studies related to inland fisheries.

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Dams, Rivers & People · Nepal

Dams, Rivers & People overview of Nepal 2020

December 31, 2020 SANDRP1 Comment

This report provides and overview of key developments in Nepal about Dams, Rivers, Environment and people in 2020, we had provided similar overview in 2019 [i] too. We have divided the overview into these sections: Hydropower projects, Power Trade, Governance, River Sand Mining, Monsoon 2020 dominated by Landslide news, Climate Change, India-Nepal issues dominated by Pancheshwar and border dispute issues, Nepal China issues.

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Book Review · Narmada

Book Review: Narmada Valley’s gripping story!

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 SANDRPLeave a comment

Guest blog by Abhilash Khandekar

BOOK: Rediscovering Narmada Valley; Author: Adil Khan; Publishers: Niyogi Books, New Delhi; 2020; Pages-208; Price: Rs 695/-

A life-giving organism can not be controversial, but in India rivers that ought to be naturally free-flowing have been made controversial by policy makers and politicians over the past few decades. Narmada is one of them! Continue reading “Book Review: Narmada Valley’s gripping story!” →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP: 25 Feb 2019: Climate Bonds Initiative: Big Hydro is NOT climate solution

February 25, 2019February 26, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

As about 500 global financiers meet in London on March 5-7, 2019, one of the items on agenda pushed by Big Hydro lobby is criteria to include Big Hydro as climate solution. As following Comment in Nature shows, this is completely based on lobbying efforts and not based on merit of the case. If the merits of large hydro were to looked at objectively, there is absolutely no case of inclusion of Large Hydro as climate solution. In fact, the article does not attempt to list the severe, widespread and long lasting adverse social and environmental impacts of large hydro. Today when there is BIG question mark over even economic viability of large hydro, such attempts are clearly uncalled for. Hope the global financiers will see through this lobbying effort.

The World Hydropower Congress will meet in Paris during May 14-16, 2019. Their program says:

Following over two years of discussions with industry, academia, governments and international NGOs, the Climate Bonds Initiative, an investor-focused not-for-profit is due to launch a consultation later this year on proposed green bond criteria for hydropower. This criteria is seen as key to fully unlocking the market to the hydropower sector, as to date it has been held back a lack of clarity over appropriate standards. https://congress.hydropower.org/2019-paris/programme/green-bonds-for-hydropower/

This shows that the Congress, essentially a Hydropower Lobby meeting, is also interconnected with the Climate Bond Initiative on Hydropower.

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CAG Report · Rural Drinking Water

CAG on National Rural Water Pgm: Poor results from Rs 82000 Crores expenditure

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019 SANDRP1 Comment

This Performance Audit of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) of Government of India makes some shocking revelations. The program spent massive Rs 82000 crores during the five years from 2012 to 2017, but could achieve coverage of additional 5.5% rural habitations. However, even at the end of 2017, 82% of rural population and 83% of rural household did not have access to adequate water supply of 55 lpcd as targeted. At least 15% of the rural schools did not have access to clean drinking water. The Audit showed failure at each stage of the program from planning, implementation, fund management, monitoring and evaluation to grievance redressal. Continue reading “CAG on National Rural Water Pgm: Poor results from Rs 82000 Crores expenditure” →

Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP: 1 Oct 2018: Hungry Water Effect due to Dams & Unsustainable Sand Mining Worsened Kerala Floods

October 1, 2018February 25, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

Dams and reservoirs make rivers sediment-starved and menacing manifold downstream. While heavy rainfall is also a key factor behind the floods, hungry water had a more pronounced effect, says D. Padmalal, Scientist and Head, Hydrological process group, National Centre for Earth Science Studies.

– “When the sediment transport is interrupted, the potential energy of the hungry water released from dams will scour the river banks downstream, uprooting trees or riparian vegetation and damaging bridges and other engineering structures,” explains Dr. Padmalal. Overloaded with silt and clay from the eroding river banks, the highly turbid and viscous water clogs drainage channels. Subsequent discharge of water from the dam will lead to inundation and waterlogging of large areas.

– Hungry water can also develop in high gradient river channels devoid of adequate quantity of sand and gravel, especially during periods of high rainfall. “Years of uncontrolled sand mining have left most of the rivers in Kerala depleted or exhausted of sand and gravel. This creates a situation similar to the release of hungry water from dams,” notes Dr. Padmalal. When the river channel has adequate supply of sand and gravel, the potential energy of the water is used to transport the mixture. The water does not scour the banks or turn muddy.

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Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP: 3 Sept 2018: CHINA HAS STARTED DECOMMISSIONING DAMS

September 3, 2018February 25, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

In a mountain village in southwest China’s Sichuan province, authorities have demolished seven small dam projects this year along a river to clear illegal developments in a new nature reserve. The demolition is part of a nationwide programme to close hundreds of tiny and often ramshackle dams and turbines and bring order to China’s massive hydropower sector after years of unconstrained construction.

The dams sat on an unnamed tributary of the fierce and flood-prone Dadu river, which feeds into the Yangtze, Asia’s largest and longest river, where the government says the “irregular development” of thousands of small hydropower projects has wrecked the ecology. But green groups say the campaign will not necessarily save the environment because it will not affect big state hydropower stations, which they say have caused the most damage.

On the 48 km Zhougong, authorities have already demolished small projects built in nature reserves or encroaching upon new “ecological red lines” drawn up to shield a quarter of China’s territory from development.

The government says small dams have disrupted the habitats and breeding patterns of many rare species of fish, although green groups argue the damage wrought by bigger dams is more severe, with entire towns and ecosystems submerged in water, which they say increases the risk of earthquakes, landslides and even climate change.

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