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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
implemented in Odisha, of the 1,56,000 km 2 area, around 1,08,000 km 2
will end up in the restricted or prohibited zone leaving very little area for
development.
The RRZ as an idea is sound, but the zonation seems to be nonimplementable
in its present form. If a more pragmatic version is
implemented all over India to prevent future encroachments on river
beds, banks and floodplains, it will have a beneficial impact on rivers.
The plantation of trees on government land and horticulture trees on
private farmlands for augmenting inflows into rivers is a more acceptable
solution than strict zoning to protect rivers. Though the change in
agricultural land use proposed may be slow initially, in the long run it
works in every stakeholder’s interest. The proposal does not demand any
change in ownership of riverside land, but seeks to change the farming
pattern from water intensive annual crops like paddy, wheat, sugarcane,
etc., to tree-based farming of multi-purpose trees and fruit trees. In this
proposal there are not only strategies to ensure that the farmer’s income
is not affected, but also ways in which the income can be doubled by
transitioning from field crop farming to tree-based farming.
Nevertheless, a policy would be required to protect our rivers from
further ecologically destructive activities, while supporting agricultural
and forest-based livelihoods. An existing policy that can be examined
and adapted is that of Eco-Sensitive Zones. The land use around many
Protected Areas in India has undergone drastic changes in the recent past,
mainly on account of industrial and infrastructure development. To stem
this incursion, the Government decided to notify eco-sensitive zones
(ESZs), i.e. areas that act as shock absorbers or transit zones. All activities
in ESZs are envisioned as regulatory rather than prohibitive. As a general
principle, the width of an ESZ is extendable up to 10 km around Protected
Areas.
Eco-sensitive zones are notified the Environment (Protection) Act,
1986. 22 Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act and Section 5(1) of the
Environment Protection Rules, 1986, empower the Government to restrict
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