Thank you for participating.

Pakistan has objected to several features of the Baglihar hydropower project on the
Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir contending that it violates the Indus Water Treaty.
The World Bank, which brokered the IWT, has appointed a neutral expert to resolve the differences.
Diplomats fear these developments might cast a shadow on the composite dialogue process as
seeking arbitration on the dam means breaking out of the bilateral framework.

Click here to read more

Authors : RAJESH SINHA

The conflict over sharing of the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej waters
began in 1966, when Haryana was carved out of Punjab
and the new state demanded a share under the Punjab
Reorganisation Act, which itself is not recognised by Punjab.
Despite numerous interventions by the centre and the Supreme
Court, the Sutlej Yamuna canal remains incomplete and a
general stalemate prevails. In the midst of this controversy,
the main issues facing farmers in the two states remain
unanswered – that of inefficient irrigation policies and
practices and increasing cultivation of water intensive crops
like paddy and sugar cane.

Click here to read more

Authors : INDIRA KHURANA

The island of Majuli on the river Brahmaputra has been under constant threat from floods as well as rising erosion levels. Tension has simmered between development agencies responsible for flood control and the local people who have opposed the structural measures. The proposed Bogibeel bridge has evoked concerns that the conflict will see an escalation.

Click here to read more

Authors : CHANDAN MAHANTA, ANJANA MAHANTA

The conflict over the use of the waters of the Panchna dam for the Keoladeo National Park, in which upstream farmers in the command area of the dam have staged protests, is about rapidly decreasing water supply amidst a growing number of users. There is a need to increase the quantity of available water, though the government's plan to supply chemically-treated drinking water to the park, as part of a larger scheme, will condemn millions of fish, invertebrates and amphibian young to oblivion.

Click here to read more

Authors : MALAVIKA CHAUHAN

Conditions of water scarcity have been aggravated in Vadali
village of Gujarat due to the persisting differences between
higher castes, chiefly the ahirs, and those lower in the hierarchy
such as the kolis and other dalit castes. Power relations are
linked to social and economic hierarchy and the issue of resource
inequity must be tackled through policy and advocacy measures.

Click here to read more

Authors : ANJAL PRAKASH, R K SAMA

An increase in population, unplanned expansion in the command
area of the river Bhavani in Tamil Nadu and the growing domestic
and industrial demand for water have intensified competition
among water users in the river basin.

Click here to read more

Authors : A RAJAGOPAL, N JAYAKUMAR

Rising population and over-exploitation of groundwater for
irrigation has aggravated conflict among farmers located at the upper
reaches and the tail end of the Palkhed canal system of the Upper
Godavari project of Maharashtra. The formation of water users’
associations did alleviate the conflict to some degree, but there
continues to be disagreement between the government’s water
department and the WUAs on the terms of allocation and other measures.

Click here to read more

Authors : S N LELE, R K PATIL

This case study reports on how the various stakeholders came
together to alleviate the problem of effluents discharged by
factories in the industrial estates on the eastern periphery of
Ahmedabad into the Kharicut canal that flows into the Khari,
a tributary of the Sabarmati.

Click here to read more

Authors : SRINIVAS MUDRAKARTHA, JATIN SHETH, J SRINATH

After the richer locals leased land/water from the poor
cooperatives in the 1970s in Kolleru in Andhra Pradesh, the land
has remained in the name of poor “beneficiaries”, while the real
fisherfolk work on meagre wages. Ironically, those legally entitled
to the benefits have been reduced to wage earners on their own
land/water; the rich have not only taken over all the cooperative
societies, but have also started illegal encroachments.

Click here to read more

Authors : J RAMA RAO, JASVEEN JAIRATH, P UMESH

The case of the effort to build a small dam in Bhulaveda in Paschim Midnapur district of West Bengal shows that in struggles between government agencies and local self-government, the losers are often the villagers themselves.

Click here to read more

Authors : NANDITA SINGH, CHANDAN SINHA

This case study focuses on a group of eight villages in Pathargama
block of Godda district of Jharkhand, highlighting water use
conflicts between and within villages and the failure of community
institutions in dealing with them. The outcomes of these conflicts
were the depreciation of the resource base, flash floods and
fragmentation, and weakening of traditional institutions. The
situation can be resolved by augmenting the resource base and
focusing on strengthening village institutions.

Click here to read more

Authors : PANKAJ LAL, KAMALDEO SINGH, KAPILDEO PRASAD

The work of Tarun Bharat Sangh in Rajasthan has received
much attention. There is an urgent need though to question
development challenges that go overboard in extolling the
virtues of greenery without tracing the hands that own the land
and harvest the fruits of public money.

Click here to read more

Authors : PRAKASH KASHWAN

Illegal and excessive sand mining in the riverbed of the Papagani
catchment area in Karnataka has led to the depletion of
groundwater levels and environmental degradation in the villages
on the banks of the river in both Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Click here to read more

Authors : M CHANDRASEKHARA RAO

The Haribad minor irrigation project in Madhya Pradesh is to be built on the boundary of the two villages of Haribad and Sakad on the Kundi river. The project will largely benefit Haribad, while the tribal people of Sakad will lose their land. This is a brief account of the multiple conflicts that have arisen.

Click here to read more

Authors : REHMAT, SHRIPAD DHARMADHIKARY

The Polavaram Project was envisaged to harness the Godavari’s
waters for much needed irrigation purposes in the coastal areas of
Andhra Pradesh and the drier Rayalaseema region. However, the
project remains dogged by controversy because there has been no
agreement on the area to be submerged and the rehabilitation
package to be offered to the project affected people.

Click here to read more

Authors : R V RAMA MOHAN

The Sardar Sarovar Project has been the focus of a long
drawn-out conflict between the Gujarat government and experts,
on the one hand, and anti-big dam activists, on the other. This is
a revisiting of the principles behind an alternative that was
articulated 10 years ago, but is still relevant today.

Click here to read more

Authors : SUHAS PARANJAPE, K J JOY

The Chhattisgarh government handed over a stretch of the
Sheonath river to a private company to manage water distribution
without setting up independent regulatory authorities that could
establish guidelines under which a private firm could manage a
common resource. A long lease without a regulatory mechanism
can lead to unforeseen circumstances.

Click here to read more

Authors : BINAYAK DAS, GANESH PANGARE