View and Guide Their Program, in This Difficult Time of Covid-19 Works
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V O L U M E 2 I S S U E N O . 1 2 J U L Y 2 0 2 0 T h e M o n t h l y N e w s l e t t e r o f C e n t r a l W a t e r C o m m i s s i o n Pursuant to decision taken in the second number of video conferences and meeting of Committee of NITI Aayog held participated in many others which were on 27.05.2020, a Sub-Committee was attended by participants, not only from constituted under the Chairmanship of various parts of India but from all over the Secretary, DoWR, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal world. Shakti to assist the Committee in formulation of the proposal/strategy of Virtual monitoring visits of projects of flood management in respect of three broad national importance such as Majuli Island areas, viz., structural measures, non- Flood protection work and Shahpurkandi structural measures and the scheme for National Project across river Ravi were financial assistance to states for taking up undertaken by Member (D & R) and flood management works and river Member (WP&P) respectively. management activities/works in border R. K. Jain areas. The meeting of the Sub-committee The National Water Academy (NWA) of was held on 16.06.2020 under the CWC is now conducting all training Chairman Message Chairmanship of Secretary, DOWR, RD & GR. programmes in Distance Learning mode. The new water year began with good Water Resources Secretaries of selected NWA has been conducting training rainfall. With IMD’s forecast of normal States, myself and other members of the programmes for teachers since 2003 and 16 monsoon, advanced onset of monsoon Sub-committee participated in the meeting such programmes had been held in the past across the country and with good carry over through VC. The Sub-committee has in which about 592 teachers participated in storage in our reservoirs by June 2020 end, finalized its report and submitted the same all these programmes together, mostly almost double of the storage available in to NITI Aayog. from Maharashtra only. However, this year the previous year, we expect improved alone, about 500 teachers from all over the water availability for all sectors during the CSMRS and CWPRS are key research stations country participated in the program which coming year. Data from Ministry of under DoWR, RD & GR. Technical Advisory was held in different batches. I also Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare also show Committee (TAC) meetings for both the delivered pre-recorded inaugural speech in that area under sowing for Kharif Crop has institutes, which were chaired by Member the program. All this could become possible shown tremendous improvement over the (D&R) and myself respectively, were held due to DL mode of conducting the training previous year. during June 2020 to review and guide their program, in this difficult time of covid-19 works. pandemic. At the same time, there is problem of floods in Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. These CWC officers were nominated as National I hope that more such innovative ways will States are frequently affected by flood due Correspondents to the FAO’s Global evolve to speed up the work with greater to upstream heavy rainfall events and the Information System on Water and efficiency. need for constructing storage projects in Agriculture-AQUASTAT and attended FAO’s the respective transboundary basins is Virtual Workshop on SDG indicators 6.4 on becoming more and more important with 18.06.2020. each passing year. Damodar and Mahanadi basins are brilliant examples to In view of COVID-19 pandemic, virtual demonstrate the role of storage projects in meetings are being held to continue and management of floods which need to be review the important works assigned to replicated in other flood prone basins also. officers of CWC. I myself held a large Shahpurkandi Dam 3rd visit of the Committee on monitoring of the Water Information Management System CONTENTS scheme –Protection of Majuli Island from floods (WIMS) and erosion of river Brahmaputra Virtual Monitoring of Shahpurkandi Dam Meeting of Sub-Committee of NITI Aayog taken Meeting with Google Representatives for Flood Shatoot Dam Project, Afganistan Forecasting Initiatives 58th UYRB meeting by Secretary, WR Meeting for Feasibility report on Dam Safety Training Preparatory Meeting regarding Round Table on Measures of Gandhi Sagar Dam Data Corner River Boards Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project Apex Committee meeting under the Second meeting of Negotiation Committee (DRIP) chairmanship of Chief Minister, Delhi regarding Tilaiya-Dhadhar Diversion Scheme IMCT Visit in WB/Odisha in view of Amphan Right Bank Slope Stabilisation Issue of TAC meetings for CSMRS and CWPRS Review of projects in Krishna & Godavari Basins Shongtong Karcham HE Project, HP 140 142nd meeting of DVRRC Water Sector News राजभाषा कायावयन समत क व बैठक Flood Situation in the Country History-Kota Barrage Diversion of surplus water of Sabarmati Basin 4th Meeting of WRD 27 to Jawai Dam Page 1 01 CWC Newsletter-July 2020 Meeting of Sub-Committee of NITI Aayog taken by Secretary, DoWR, RD&GR In order to formulate the strategy for flood management works in the chairmanship of Secretary, DoWR, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti to assist entire country and river management activities and works in the border the Committee in formulation of the proposal /strategy of flood areas for period 2020-2023, a Committee has been constituted by NITI management in respect of three broad areas, viz., structural measures, Aayog under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. Officials from non-structural measure and the scheme for financial assistance to states various Departments/ Ministries of Government of India, Experts from the for taking up flood management works and river management activities/ field and Principal Secretaries from States of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar works in border areas. The meeting of the Sub-committee was held on 16- Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, 06-2020 under the chairman-ship of Secretary, DOWR,RD&GR. Chairman, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala have been included as the members of this CWC, Principle Secretary of selected states and other members of the Sub- Committee. committee participated in the meeting through VC. The Sub-committee In pursuance to decision taken in the second meeting of Committee of NITI has finalized its report and submitted to NITI Ayog. Aayog held on 27.05.2020, a Sub-Committee was constituted under the Preparatory Meeting regarding Round Table on River Boards MoJS has established a Research Chair at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi to pursue research in the field of water conflicts and governance. The Research Chair is working closely with the CWC to systematically engage with the experiences of interstate cooperation with an objective to draw lessons from the practice of cooperation for informing policy making. It is planned to organize a series of conversations around the functioning of existing river boards to learn from their experiences under the CWC-CPR Dialogue Forum, coordinated and nurtured by the MoJS Research Chair in collaboration with the CWC. In this direction, a ‘Roundtable of River Boards’ is proposed to be held via videoconferencing in the coming days wherein experiences of the existing river boards would be brainstormed. Preparatory Meetings during June 2020 It was decided to hold preparatory round of meetings with representatives 1. Based on the experience of the Board’s functioning so far, what are its of various River Boards before convening the ‘Roundtable of River Boards’. strengths and weaknesses in discharging its functions? Accordingly three meetings covering 12 functional River Boards/Basin 2. What are the factors or features of the Board that contributed to its Authorities were held under the Chairmanship of Chairman, CWC during effective functioning, within the particular context of the Board’s mandate? June, 2020 3. Can we consolidate your (the Board’s) experiences to inform policy Following questions were deliberated during the preparatory meetings thinking about interstate river water coordination and cooperation? Second meeting of Negotiation Committee regarding Tilaiya-Dhadhar Diversion Scheme proposed water utilization under the scheme by adopting micro-irrigation Second meeting of the Negotiation Committee to discuss water sharing techniques instead of conventional irrigation. Party States were advised to dispute between Bihar and Jharkhand States regarding Tilaiya-Dhadhar review their positions so as to resolve the dispute mutually at the level of Diversion Scheme was held on 23.06.2020 through VC under the Negotiation Committee as adjudication by water disputes tribunal would chairmanship of Chairman, CWC. take significantly long time. Negotiation Committee w.r.t complaint made by Govt. of Bihar under Inter- It was decided in the second meeting held on 23.06.2020 that the State of State River Water Disputes(ISRWD) Act, 1956 was constituted by DoWR, Bihar would complete its study for reviewing and rationalizing proposed RD& GR, MoJS on 06.01.2020. In the first meeting of the Negotiation utilization of water under the scheme and submit the same within a period Committee held on 13.02.2020, it was decided to arrive at the best optimal of one month. State of Jharkhand was also requested to review its position solution as per the needs of both States and as per latest water availability and rationalize its water demand from Tilaiya reservoir so that a study of Tilaiya reservoir carried out by CWC. It was suggested to review negotiated settlement could be reached by the Committee. TAC meetings for CSMRS and CWPRS 36th Meeting of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to Governing Council STAC Meeting for CSMRS of Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) was held on virtual platform on 24.06.2020 under the chairmanship of Shri R.