India's water future remains very bleak. The monsoon season, which once extended to 4 months, is now down to less than 30 days of heavy rain.
It has noted that melting glaciers due to any impact of climate change will not only severely affect the flow in Himalayan river system but will also give rise to natural disasters.
The statement of the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office comes on the heels of India issuing a notice to Pakistan seeking a review and modification of the IWT in view of Islamabad's "intransigence" in complying with the dispute redressal mechanism of the pact that was inked over six decades ago for sharing of waters of cross-border rivers.
The National Democratic Alliance government has asked states to emulate the Gujarat water management model to address the problem of water scarcity.The Centre has forwarded a compact disc received from Gujarat government's Water and Sanitation Management Organisation on the subject "The state-wide water supply grid" to the states to study how the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state managed the problem of water scarcity.
The aim of the programme is to increase the water table in the stressed areas through dams, ponds, and afforestation. According to a NITI Aayog study, by 2030, the country's water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6 per cent loss in the country's GDP.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
In a step towards diversifying its resource base and securing green energy minerals, India is poised to launch its first-ever offshore mineral auction in the first quarter of 2024, announced Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi during the launch event of the National Geoscience Data Repository portal. The government plans to hold auctions in March, offering 10-15 blocks for bidding. Meanwhile, the ministry of mines is currently developing rules and regulations for offshore mining.
The ministry said it has launched an inquiry to ascertain as to how this "factual information" was not included in the ministry's response to an RTI query.
The statements coming out of India on 'reclaiming' Kachchatheevu island from Sri Lanka have 'no ground', the Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda has said.
Modi's irrigation push in the Budget is aimed at scoring on the political front along with achieving growth targets
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According to the latest data, until May, 48.3 per cent of the total 207 projects worth Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) or above, also termed as mega projects, faced delays and witnessed a cost overrun of 19.2 per cent from the originally-sanctioned Rs 656,000 to Rs 781,000.
At the review meeting, chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba in New Delhi, the IMD said above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of northeast, east and central India and some parts of northwest India.
With this decision, Malik will be left with no portfolio in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar was given the finance and planning portfolio on Friday, nearly two weeks after he broke away from the original party and took oath as Maharashtra's deputy chief minister.
The standing committee on water resources, tabled in Lok Sabha, said only Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand and erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir had enacted legislation, though delineation and demarcation of flood plains are yet to be undertaken.
The Global Hunger Index exaggerates the measure of hunger, lacks statistical vigour and has problems on multiple counts, Union Health Ministry sources said.
A decision to approve an amendment to the act was taken at the Union Cabinet's meeting held earlier this week. The amendment is likely to be introduced in Parliament in its next session.
Stepping in to defuse the crisis, the Centre on Monday invited senior officials from Tamil Nadu and Kerala for discussions on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue even as the Supreme Court-appointed empowered panel decided to send a two-member team to the site for an on-the-spot assessment.
Glaciers in the Karakoram region are in a stable condition, but those feeding the Ganga and the Brahmaputra river basins are melting at a faster rate, the earth sciences ministry has said.
'People's expectations were very high.' 'We felt both sides had understood each other.' 'But the removal of Article 370 triggered apprehensions within the Naga people.'
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has the task of bringing clean tap water to all households by 2024.
With different agencies showing divergent predictions regarding the southwest monsoon, the central government and states are gearing up to face adversity with various line ministries reportedly being directed to undertake mock drills and hold preparatory meetings. Around 56 per cent of the net cultivable area of the country is rain-fed, accounting for 44 per cent of foodgrain production. The June-September rains contribute around 73 per cent of the annual precipitation.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
The Centre has taken a major step towards increasing efficiency in decision-making by empowering joint secretaries to report to secretaries directly, officials said on Wednesday.
Only 40 of the 160 projects under the Namami Gange Mission -- a Rs 20,000 crore project for cleaning the river -- have been completed.
Secretary of Pakistan's ministry of water resources Khawaja Shumail said: "We have neither concern nor objection if India diverts water of eastern rivers and supplies it to its people or uses it for other purposes, as the IWT allows it to do so."
Government departments have been tasked with identifying major goals, which will include annual targets from the financial year 2024-2025 to 2028-2029.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
The counsel for Punjab told a bench headed by Justice SK Kaul that the state government is very keen to resolve the issue amicably.
Pant, a 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, is currently secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
The government on Wednesday said any attempt by China to set up a hydropower station on the Brahmaputra river will act as an encroachment on the entitled rights of lower riparian states like India and Bangladesh and adversely affect the availability of water in its basin during the lean season.
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
Vishwajit Rane, who had unsuccessfully lobbied for the CM's post, has been given crucial Health and Town and Country Planning Portfolios along with Urban Development, Women and Child, and Forest departments.
The devastation in Uttarakhand is a classic example of the callous manner in which the Central Water Commission, the nodal agency tasked with flood forecast in the country, operates, says Himanshu Thakkar
The over 3,800-km-long Brahmaputra, one of the longest rivers in the world passes through China, India and Bangladesh and has several tributaries and sub-tributaries.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
For the country's maiden offshore mineral mining auction, the Centre is planning to relax the rules on the number of chances for bidding. Under the newly announced draft Offshore Areas Mineral (Auction) Rules and Offshore Areas (Existence of Mineral Resources) Rules, the ministry of mines is planning to offer three chances to potential bidders in its forthcoming inaugural offshore mining auction. If a single bid is not received during the second attempt, the plan is to initiate a new round of bidding for the third time.
Five days after the induction of 18 ministers into his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday allocated portfolios, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries with himself, while giving the crucial Home Department to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
In a first since the signing of the Indus Water Treaty between the two countries, three female officers will also be part of the Indian delegation, which will be advising the Indian Commissioner on various issues during the meeting, the official said.
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