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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
areas in which certain industries, operations and processes cannot be
carried out or can be carried out only with adequate safeguards. The areas
can be chosen based on their biological diversity, maximum allowable
concentration of pollutants, environmentally compatible land use, and
proximity to Protected Areas. The MoEFCC guidelines to declare ESZs
around Protected Areas list prohibited, restricted and permitted activities.
At the same time they tell State Governments to convey a strong message
to the public that the ESZ is not meant to restrict day-to-day activities,
but only to protect their environment from negative impact. 23
Building on the concept and guidelines of ESZs around Protected
Areas and adapting it to river bed/bank/floodplain, the minimum lateral
distance of 1 km from the river should be demarcated and declared as an
Ecologically Sensitive Zone under the Environment Protection Act, 1986,
with do’s and don’ts prescribed to protect it.
NODAL AGENCY TO FACILITATE COORDINATED EFFORT –
COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM
The recent introduction of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) was an
example of co-operative federalism where both the Center and the States
gave up some of their tax powers so as to create a unified national market.
River revitalization is rendered complex due to the Constitutional
position on water. According to the Constitution of India, water is the
17 th entry in the State list. But the governance of inter-state rivers is the
56 th entry in the Union list. In reality, rivers do not adhere to political
boundaries – out of 25 major rivers in the country, only seven flow within
one state. Many rivers are shared between at least two states.
A simple single-point-focused activity of tree plantation along the
entire length of the river, in a country as big as India, will involve many
organizations. Water being a State subject, there will be a large number of
agencies, across different states, which will work on inter-state rivers.
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