📰 Niyamgiri’s Dongria Kondh gird for ‘resistance’ after SC order
‘Tribals got land titles, but habitat rights were not honoured’
•With a recent Supreme Court order triggering panic among forest dwellers over possible eviction, Odisha’s Dongria Kondh tribals have resolved to resist any attempt to force them out.
•The tribe shot into the limelight for their successful resistance against the Vedanta Group’s plan to mine bauxite in the ecologically and mineral-rich Niyamgiri hill range.
•The Dongria Kondh are currently holding their annual ‘Niyamraja festival’ on the picturesque hilltop of Niyamgiri.
•The issue of possible eviction of tribals, whose applications for regularisation under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, had been rejected, came up for discussion at the festival.
•The Dongria Kondh’s habitations dot the Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.
•As per official records of the distribution of titles under FRA, 562 claims were received from 591 households under the Kutia Kandh Development Agency, Lanjigarh. Gram Sabhas had approved all 562. However, 310 claims involving 313.80 acres were approved by the District Level Committee and certificate of titles were distributed. Under Dongria Kondh Development Agency, Chatikona and Dongria Kondh Development Agency, Parsoli, of 2,126 applications, Gram Sabhas approved 1,895. All applications were approved by DLC and certificates involving 3,088 acres of land were distributed. The rights sought by the Dongria Kondh have not been met, says Niyamgiri Surakshya Samiti, and it fears that the government might push its mining agenda in the future.
Safety ranked top among total of 39 issues; other concerns include waste disposal, faster judicial process, pollution, water and electricity
•When women exercise their ballot, they are most likely to vote for a leader who makes battling crimes against women a priority, according to a survey conducted by Change.org.
•Women voters are most concerned about their safety, and the issue ranked top among a total of 39 issues that were polled as part of the survey. Among the other top concerns for women were waste disposal, faster judicial process, pollution, and the supply of water and electricity. On the other hand, growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and jobs were the most important issues for men, and crimes against women ranked much lower at 15th position.
•A total of 20,000 men and women participated in the study that was conducted online in January by Change.org, a website for petitions. The respondents included 4,000 women and 16,000 men, who are Change.org users, that is, have either started petitions on the platform or endorsed them.
•The findings also show that while both women and men are most likely to vote a candidate on the basis of his or her track record in spending funds and raising issues in Parliament as well as on poll promises, a higher percentage of women (70.3%) voters are likely to be influenced by these criteria than men (66.54%).
•Men, and not women, are more likely to be influenced by a candidate’s party, shows the study. A total of 21.9% men and 17% women said they would vote for a candidate on the basis of her or his political party.
•As many as 56.64% of women said they would vote for women candidates, while 43.36% of men said they would do so.
•The survey found that among the most important gender issues occupying the minds of women voters are also freedom of choice in religion and marriage, menstrual hygiene, girl child education and maternal and infant mortality.
•Besides these specific gender-related concerns, women care about mental health, religious freedom and forest conservation more than men. However, as far as men are concerned, they worry most about GDP growth and jobs, rural infrastructure, corruption, police reforms, public transport, uniform civil code, and roads.
•“We have presented the findings of this survey to political parties, including the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), Congress, DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and the BJD (Biju Janata Dal), so that they can add some of these issues into their manifestos,” said Nida Hasan, Country-Director, Change.org, adding that “the survey was an attempt to amplify women’s voices and put their concerns at front and centre in the political discourse.”
📰 Pulwama attack and Indus Waters Treaty: does India hold all the cards?
Is the announcement by Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari that India would use up its share of waters in the rivers flowing to Pakistan a new one?
•That India would use the entire share of water allotted to it under the Indus Waters Treaty, has been the government’s traditional position. Then, in the aftermath of the Uri attack that claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that “blood and water” couldn’t flow together and suspended India’s participation in the Permanent Indus Commission, where India and Pakistan regularly meet to discuss sharing of waters in the Indus river basin system. Among the decisions taken at the time was one to “fully utilise” India’s share of water. Work has progressed towards this end, according to the government. (The Indus commission talks too have resumed). In the aftermath of Mr. Gadkari’s tweets of February 21, to “stop India’s share of water” into Pakistan, Neeta Prasad, a spokesperson in the Union Water Resources ministry, told presspersons that “this is not a new decision… Mantriji [Minister] is simply reiterating what he has always said.”
How many dams is India planning to build to ensure that it uses up all of its share of the water?
•India already utilises 95% of the 33 MAF (million acre feet) allotted to it under the norms of the Indus Waters Treaty. To consume the entire share, the government has undertaken steps to stop the flow of almost 2 MAF from the Ravi river, from Madhopur. These include completing the Shahpurkandi project, constructing the Ujh multipurpose project — to create 781 million cubic metre storage on the Ujh, a tributary of the Ravi — and developing the second Ravi-Beas link below Ujh. The last project alone will utilise 0.58 MAF of surplus water below the Ujh dam by diverting the same to Beas basin. All three are ‘national projects.’
Is the Minister’s statement intended to pile up the rhetoric on Pakistan?
•Yes. While it has been India’s stated position to fully utilise its eastern rivers, Mr. Gadkari said on Friday that he had asked officials in the Water Resources Ministry to see if there were “technical ways” to stop the flow of Indus water that rightfully belong to Pakistan. One way — again an option that India has already exercised — is its construction of the Kishenganga Project, on the Jhelum and the Ratle project on the Chenab. Both of these are projects on the western rivers and under provisions of the Indus treaty, may be exploited by Pakistan. However, the treaty also allows India to use the water from these rivers in a “non-consumptive way” — that is, in a way that does not impede the flow of these rivers into Pakistan. Pakistan has objected to both these projects on the grounds that they do impede the flow. In theory, it is possible for India to violate the treaty and impede the flow of these waters in such a way that it makes hydropower projects by Pakistan on the Jhelum and Chenab unviable (as Pakistan already claims it does). However, the IWT has survived wars between India and Pakistan and it’s still speculative if the Pulwama incident rankles India enough to consider violating the treaty.
India and Pakistan’s water sharing is governed by the Indus Waters Treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank. Can India abrogate this treaty?
•Neither India nor Pakistan can unilaterally abrogate the treaty. Article 12 of the treaty says: “The provisions of this Treaty, or, the provisions of this Treaty as modified under the provisions of Paragraph (3), shall continue in force until terminated by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments.” The IWT is about sharing of water of six rivers — Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Beas, Ravi and Sutlej — between India and Pakistan.
•The two countries signed it in 1960 under the leadership of the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Pakistan President, Ayub Khan, and was brokered by the World Bank after nine years of negotiations.
•Under the treaty, India has control over water flowing in the eastern rivers — Beas, Ravi and Sutlej, while Pakistan has control over the western rivers of Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.
📰 OIC outreach hints at reset of ties
Move comes days after Pulwama strike
•External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Ministers meet on March 1, the first time the body has invited an Indian dignitary to attend, the government announced on Saturday.
•Coming on the heels of statements of solidarity from the UN Security Council and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over the Pulwama attack, the speech at the OIC inaugural plenary is also expected to take forward India’s case for action against the Jaish-e-Mohammad and strictures on Pakistan.
•Thanking the host United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of External Affairs said it saw the invite “as a milestone in [India’s] comprehensive strategic partnership with the UAE ... and as a welcome recognition of India’s contribution to the Islamic world”.
•Officials told The Hindu that the UAE had sounded out India about the event in January 2019, and that it was a “major diplomatic success”.
•The invitation, that came from UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, marks a major turnaround between India and the group of Islamic countries, that have often clashed over Kashmir.
Kashmir group
•The OIC has a specially designated “Kashmir contact group” that coordinates positions at the United Nations, often led by Pakistan, to protest alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and invoke UN resolutions. In 2018 alone, the OIC had issued no less than five statements specifically dealing with the situation in J&K, and calling for the international community to intervene.
•Criticising the government for accepting the invitation from the OIC, given its previous stand member of Parliament and leader of AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi said it was “a shame and regretful that India is sending Sushma Swaraj to an organisation which calls Jammu and Kashmir as Indian occupied Kashmir”.
📰 Ganga basin States stare at three-fold rise in crop failures by 2040
As flows decline and pollution worsens, there will be less irrigation and drinking water available in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
•The Ganga river basin could see crop failures rise three-fold and drinking water shortage go up by as much as 39% in some States between now and 2040, says an assessment commissioned by the World Bank and submitted to the Central Water Commission.
•If there is no intervention, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are likely to see a deficit in irrigation water of 28%, 10%, 10% and 15% respectively in 2040 as compared to the current levels. Madhya Pradesh would see a 39%, Delhi 22% and Uttar Pradesh a 25% deficit in drinking water during the same period, the assessment released earlier this week noted.
Nation’s lifeline
•The basin provides over a third of India’s available surface water and contributes more than half the national water use, of which 90% is for irrigation.
•“The volume of extracted groundwater is expected to more than double, leading to an increase in the critical blocks. Low flow values in the rivers are predicted to decline compared to present levels…Water quality and environmental flow conditions already critical will deteriorate further,” the report has warned.
•The report is based on a modelling study that simulates river flow, water quality and groundwater levels in the different States and regions within the Ganga river basin.
•To extrapolate, the model considered land use, infrastructure, population, industry and agriculture settings as well as the precipitation and temperature settings.
•The aim of the report was to strengthen the “capacity for strategic basin planning, develop a set of scenarios for the development of the Ganga basin and build a strong and accessible knowledge base.”
Declining river health
•The report on the future of the Ganga basin comes at a time when experts have raised concerns over the lack of adequate safeguards to ensure the river’s health. The government has committed to reduce pollution in the Ganga by 70% by March 2019.
•There aren’t any easy solutions, the report cautioned, pointing out that there is no ‘silver bullet’ intervention that can solve all problems. Combinations of different interventions such as increasing water use efficiency and implementing a ‘more job per drop’ rather than striving for wholesale crop production are needed, it said.
•“The intervention that will result in the most beneficial impact is improvement of municipal waste water treatment. Whether central or de-central, whether high or low tech, reduction in pollution loads provides a positive return on investment both in availability of clean water for downstream uses, including ecosystem services, as well as a drastic reduction in water-related illnesses and deaths,” the report added.
•The Ganga river basin is the most populated river basin in the world and is home to half the population of India, including two-thirds of the nation’s poor people.
•Environmentalists say reducing pollution in the Ganga hinges on setting up sewage plants rather than ensuring that the natural flow of the river is not blocked, as that would hobble its propensity to clean itself.
•Ecologists and river activists have embarked on a new agitation, as of Saturday in Delhi, to highlight the government’s apathy towards addressing ‘ecological flow,’ which refers to the minimum amount of water that must be maintained at all times through the year to ensure the river’s health.
•The government was to have operationalised the Ganga law to address the issue of the river’s ecology. The lack of such a law has triggered hunger strikes, mainly by seers in Haridwar, to give effect to the law.
•One of them, 26-year-old Aatmabodhanand, from Matri Sadan (Haridwar) is on a ‘fast unto death’ since October 24, 2018. Today is his 121st day of fast. He took up the cause after the death of Swami Sanand (Prof. G.D. Agrawal) who died after 111 days of continuous fast from Matri Sadan for the free flow of Ganges.
•“Unfortunately, the government has not shown any interest in initiating any dialogue on the issue. Demonstrations, protests and fasts are taking place at various places across the country supporting the cause. Letters are also being sent to the government everyday,” said Mallika Bhanot, an activist associated with the campaign for the Ganga law.
•The Centre however maintains that it has set in motion most of the projects to clean the river and that this will eventually ensure that necessary ecological flow.
•Former Water resources ministry, Secretary, Shashi Shekhar said that the government's efforts to ensure minimum flows in the river haven't been adequate.
📰 Bandipur, Wayanad forests face fire fury
Authorities peg the extent of damage at around 208 acres; safari suspended; vehicular traffic affected
•A major fire has reduced vast swathes of forestland to ashes in Bandipur. The authorities are trying to douse the raging flames that seem to havegone out of control.
•The safari was suspended on Saturday following the outbreak of fire near the tourism zone and the reception area in the Bandipur range. Movement of vehicles on the national highway connecting Mysuru and Ooty, and cutting through the national park, was severely affected.
•An alert from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (NASA-FIRMS) said that 21 fires or hotspots were detected during the satellite overpass and processed by it on Saturday
•Forest fires have been reported in recent days in Kundakere and surrounding areas. The authorities have pegged the extent of damage to around 60 acres. But Saturday’s fire is reckoned to be the biggest and the damage is feared to be extensive. Other places where fire was reported in Bandipur were Kaniyanapura, Kalligowdanahalli, and Maginahalli.
•The authorities suspended bus services to Gopalaswamy Betta, which draws a large number of visitors on weekends and holidays, and traffic continued to pile up at the Melkamanahalli Gate.
•The vehicles lined up from Melkamanahalli, which is the check-post from where the boundary of the tiger reserve commences, and people witnessed dramatic scenes of billowing smoke enveloping the area in the backdrop of raging flames.
•Though there had been sporadic fires in different sections of the national park, they were relatively minor. According to officials, the blazing fire was being fanned by high winds and dousing the flames was a challenge. Gundre, Begur, Molyuru, and Kundgere are fire-prone ranges and, in addition to nearly 300 watchers, 130 forest guards on probationary training have been deployed.
•The authorities had fears of intense fire this year as heavy rains during monsoon had led to luxurious growth of vegetation. But given the nature of the national park, a bulk of which is dry deciduous in nature, it was feared that the dry wood coupled with lantana, which covers over 50% of the forests, had turned the forest into a tinderbox where a small spark could trigger a massive fire.
