Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
DRAFT POLICY RECOMMENDATION
1. PREAMBLE
Rivers have been the origins of the earliest human civilizations. They
have etched their paths, cutting through rocky terrain to create fertile
floodplains. Being home to a wide range of biodiversity, the rivers have
assumed a distinct identity as ‘life givers’ across the world. What’s more,
rivers in India have a significance beyond economic wellbeing – as they
are inextricably intertwined with our cultural and spiritual heritage.
In the past few decades, our rivers have been depleting drastically
due to various factors like over-extraction, deforestation, pollution
from point and non-point sources, and climate variation (increasing
temperatures and differential precipitation patterns). Major rivers are
rapidly shrinking, and many perennial rivers have turned seasonal, not
even reaching the oceans for many months of the year. Godavari has
shrunk by almost 20% from historical flows. Kaveri has shrunk by 40%,
while Krishna and Narmada have shrunk by 60%. 1 According to estimates,
by 2030 we will have only 50% of the water that we need for our survival.
Further, 25% of India is becoming desert. As compared to 1947, we have
about 25% water per capita available today. Rivers meet one-third of the
total irrigation and twenty percent of the drinking water needs of the
country. 2 Groundwater and other water bodies/resources that meet the
DRAFT
rest of our water needs, are already over-stressed across the nation and
are being over-utilized at an alarming rate. Twenty-two out of thirtytwo
major Indian cities deal with daily water shortages. Water scarcity
and drought has become a reality for today’s generation in India. 3 In case
priority action is not initiated to enhance water supply and reduce overexploitation
of our water resources, in another fifteen to twenty years’
time, the country may face a severe water and food crisis.
Recognizing this crisis, the Government has launched programs
like Namami Gange and Namami Devi Narmada to improve the state of
1 Gupta, Harish, Shuh-Ji Kao, and Minhan Dai. “The role of mega dams in reducing sediment fluxes: A
case study of large Asian rivers.” Journal of Hydrology 464 (2012): 447-458
2 Improving Water Security in India, India Policy Paper, OECD, Link: https://goo.gl/8qpGU9
3 A Quarter of India’s Land Is Turning into Desert, Scientific American, Link: https://www.
scientificamerican.com/article/a-quarter-of-india-s-land-is-turning-into-desert/
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