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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
ANNEXURE 20
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION
ON “REVITALIZATION OF INDIAN RIVERS”
Anandi Iyer 1
27th August 2017, Isha Foundation, Coimbatore
The core group of volunteers at Isha foundation involved in the Rally for
Rivers initiative has been deliberating with several experts from Forestry,
agriculture, Industries, research institutions, farmer communities, geologists
and water experts, to understand and gain inputs for the massive Mission
undertaken under the guidance of Sadhguru. The voluntary group drafted
the recommendations and refined it several times over the last 3 months.
All this while, the focus has been to keep the issue of advocacy and raising
consciousness of every citizen with respect to the serious depletion of rivers,
firmly in focus. However, parallel to raising of awareness, it is pertinent and
imperative to also develop implementable solutions that address the concerns
without any delay. Since these solutions are highly complex, interconnected,
multidisciplinary in nature, the process was equally intense and consultative.
In addition to individually talking to experts, who sometimes also brought in
very different and indeed divergent points of view, a focus group discussion was
organised. This afforded a constructive platform, to deliberate on the various
recommendations in a comprehensive manner, ensuring that divergent points
of view are elaborated, debated upon, and concluded with clarity and sense of
purpose. The focus group discussion also enabled the identification of missing
gaps, interconnections between the various thematic areas, and elaboration of
success stories and failures. Awareness of ongoing programmes and activities
within relevant institutions could also be drawn out and the alignment of
recommendations to these activities could be established.
The Focus Group Discussion was conducted by Ms Anandi Iyer, Director
Fraunhofer India, one of the world largest applied research organisations. The
Visualisation methodology was used for multi stakeholder dialogue, a process
1 Head, Fraunhofer Representative Office India, Bengaluru
Indian Rivers
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