{"id":51023,"date":"2019-08-08T19:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T13:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=51023"},"modified":"2019-08-08T15:16:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T09:46:12","slug":"7-pm-managing-indias-dams-8th-august-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-managing-indias-dams-8th-august-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | Managing India\u2019s dams | 8th August, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong>Dam\nsafety bill and dam safety reforms<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Dams have played a key role in fostering\nrapid and sustained agricultural and rural growth and development in India.\nOver the last fifty years, India has invested substantially in dams and related\ninfrastructure.<\/li><li>5254 large dams have been completed and\nanother 447 under construction (NRLD 2017). Storage capacity created by these\nlarge infrastructures is 253 BCM. Another 51 BCM storage under construction\nstages.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why\ndam safety?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Infrastructure<\/strong> <strong>and life:<\/strong> Safeguarding\nhuge investments in infrastructure; Safeguarding human life, and properties of\nthe people living downstream of the dams.<\/li><li><strong>Aged\nDams:<\/strong>\nWith increasing number of dams becoming older and older, the likelihood of dam\nfailures in India is expected to be an ascending path.<\/li><li><strong>Deficiencies:<\/strong> Many\ndams have varied structural deficiencies and shortcomings in operation and\nmonitoring facilities, while few do not meet the present design standard- both\nstructurally and hydrologically.<\/li><li><strong>Lack\nof support:<\/strong> Most of the States have been failing to provide\nsufficient budgets for maintenance and repair of the dam. Many States also lack\nthe institutional and technical capacities for addressing dam safety issues<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dam\nsafety bill, 2019:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Applicability of the Bill:&nbsp;<\/strong>The\nBill applies to all specified dams in the country.&nbsp; These are dams with:\n(I) height more than 15 metres, or (II) height between 10 metres to 15 metres\nand subject to certain additional design and structural conditions.<\/li><li><strong>National Committee on Dam Safety:<\/strong>&nbsp;The\nNational Committee on Dam Safety will be constituted and will be chaired by the\nChairperson, Central Water Commission.&nbsp; All other members will be\nnominated by the central government, and include: (I) up to 10 representatives\nof the central government, (II) up to seven representatives of the state\ngovernments (by rotation), and (III) up to three dam safety experts.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>National Dam Safety Authority:&nbsp;<\/strong>The National Dam Safety Authority will be headed by an\nofficer, not below the rank of an Additional Secretary, who will be appointed\nby the central government.<\/li><li><strong>State Dam Safety Organization:&nbsp;<\/strong>State governments will establish State Dam Safety\nOrganizations (SDSOs).&nbsp; All specified dams situated in a state will fall\nunder the jurisdiction of that state\u2019s SDSO.&nbsp; However, in certain cases\nthe National Dam Safety Authority will act as the SDSO.<\/li><li><strong>Obligations of dam owners:&nbsp;<\/strong>Owners of specified dams are required to provide a dam safety\nunit in each dam. This unit will inspect the dams: (I) before and after the\nmonsoon session and (II) during and after every earthquake, flood, or any other\ncalamity or sign of distress.&nbsp; Dam owners will be required to prepare an\nemergency action plan, and carry out risk assessment studies for each dam at\nspecified regular intervals.&nbsp; <\/li><li>Dam owners will also be\nrequired to prepare a comprehensive dam safety evaluation of each dam, at\nregular intervals, through a panel of experts.&nbsp; The evaluation will be\nmandatory in certain cases such as major modification of the original\nstructure, or an extreme hydrological or seismic event.<\/li><li><strong>Offences and penalties:&nbsp;<\/strong>The\nBill provides for two types of offences.&nbsp; These are: (i) obstructing a\nperson in the discharge of his functions under the Bill, and (ii) refusing to\ncomply with directions issued under the Bill. &nbsp;Offenders will be\npunishable with imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine, or both.&nbsp; <\/li><li>If the offence leads to loss of lives,\nthe term of imprisonment may be extended up to two years.&nbsp; Offences will\nbe cognizable only when the complaint is made by the government, or any\nauthority constituted under the Bill.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Issues\nwith dam safety bill:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>State subject: Since \u2018water\u2019 comes under\nthe State list, it is an unconstitutional move aimed at taking control of their\ndams.<\/li><li>Tamil Nadu, one of the strongest critics\nof the Bill through the years, opposes it because under its provisions, access\nand information on four of its dams, including the conflict-ridden\nMullaiperiyar, would have to be shared with Kerala, where they are located.<\/li><li>Controversy: The provision to have a\nrepresentative of the Central Water Commission as a member of the NCDS (a\nregulatory body) would mean that CWC will function as both an advisor and\nregulator, which is impermissible under the Constitution according to the\nSupreme Court.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way forward:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Since this Bill is\nstill in transition to becoming a law, there is an opportunity to amend it to\ngive the Authority a say in the management and release of water from different\ndams located in the same river basins. <\/li><li>This provision would be\nparticularly helpful in coordinating water releases from different dams with an\neye on moderating floods of the kind which devastated Kerala last year<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/article\/opinion\/managing-india-s-dams-119080800004_1.html\">https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/article\/opinion\/managing-india-s-dams-119080800004_1.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: Dam safety bill and dam safety reforms Dams have played a key role in fostering rapid and sustained agricultural and rural growth and development in India. Over the last fifty years, India has invested substantially in dams and related infrastructure. 5254 large dams have been completed and another 447 under construction (NRLD 2017). Storage&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-managing-indias-dams-8th-august-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | Managing India\u2019s dams | 8th August, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704835686},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}