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Showing posts from March, 2010

A Presentation by India Water Foundation CSR & CIVIL SOCIETY—as a participative and inclusive process Dr. Arvind Kumar

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) As a strategic tool for corporate success Organized by VISION CONSULTING In collaboration with Deptt. Of Public Enterprises, Govt of India 26-27th February, 2010 At IIC, Annexe, New Delhi (Address by Special Guest- Mr Arup Roy Choudhury CMD NBCC CHAIRMAN SCOPE, Guest of Honour-Prof. Sharit Bhowmik Professor & Dean TISS Mumbai, Inaugural Address by Chief Guest Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee IAS Secretary DPE GOI, Vote of Thanks Dr. U D Choubey DG SCOPE, Presentation on CSR by DPE & Discussion- MS Stuti Kacker IAS Addl. Secretary, BRPSE DPE, Prof. Ranjan Mohapatra-President VISION Consultant, Mr Ashok B Chakraborty- Group general Manager & Chief CSR ONGC, Arvind Kathuria –ACA Dy. General Manager (Finance), Mr Sudhakar Singh- Chief General Manager BPC Ltd. Mumbai, Mr Pramod Chawla, Mr A Mahapatra- Director (Personnel) MMTC Ltd., Mr Arun Bhan – Managing Director e-Xseed Pvt ltd., Mr N M Prusty Sphere India, etc. present on Ist day.) A Presentatio

National Seminar on “Increasing Water Efficiency in Agriculture Sector” on 19th February 2010 Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

(Part of Opening Remarks by Dr Arvind Kumar President India Water Foundation, in National Seminar on “Increasing Water Efficiency in Agriculture Sector” on 19th February 2010 Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi in Inaugural Session Mr. Gokul Patnaik CII, Mr. Anil B Jain MD Jain Irrigation System Ltd., Guest of honor Mr. G C Pati Additional Secretary Government of India, Chief Guest Mr. A K Bajaj Chairman Central water Commission and Mr. S Sen Principal Adviser CII. Other distinguish Mr. R C Jhamtani Ex Member Planning Commission, Dr H P Singh Dy. DG ICAR, Mr. T B S Rajput Director IARI Delhi and Mr. Surendra Gupta CMD Dulichand Narendra Kumar Pvt. Ltd. Rice Exporter Etc. Organized by Confederation of Indian Industry) Honorable members of the panel of experts, ladies and gentlemen, It is pleasure for me to chair this session on Agriculture and Water – Issues and Challenges for which I am grateful to the CII. If agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy, then water is

Celebrate Holi in a Holy Spirit

Holi is a festival of colour marking the triumph of good over evil. Let’s celebrate Holi in a Holy Spirit by sharing the sorrows and joys of our fellows. Holi has various legends associated with it. The foremost is the legend of demon King Hiranyakashyap who demanded everybody in his kingdom to worship him but his pious son, Prahlad became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap wanted his son to be killed. He asked his sister Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap as Holika had a boon which made her immune to fire. Story goes that Prahlad was saved by lord himself for his extreme devotion and evil minded Holika was burnt to ashes, for her boon worked only when she entered the fire alone. The spirit of Holi encourages the feeling of brotherhood in society and even the enemies turn friend on this day. People of all communities and even religions participate in this joyous and colouful festival and strengthen the secular fabric of the nation. It also encourages the feeli
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Mr.D.S.Mishra, Principal Secretary to CM UP and Agriculture, . Mr.Ram Mohan Mishra ,IAS(Joint Secretary Water Resources Ministry)Govt. of India, Mr.Ramesh Jhamtani Former Member Planning Commission, Dr. Arvind Kumar President India Water Foundation, Editor Sar Economist Magazine

Dr. Arvind Kumar

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President India Water Foundation

International Conference "Brain Storming Conference on Innovative Ancient Techniques in resolving the current Crises of Soil, Water and Environment"

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China and the Afghan War

Dr Arvind Kumar* *President, India Water Foundation China’s policy toward Afghanistan is a mixture of many paradoxes. Beijing perceives ample commercial opportunities in Afghanistan. However, it alone cannot explore those opportunities without the support of other regional governments that might prefer to limit China’s influence there. China is apparently opposed to a long-term Western military presence in its backyard because it fears that an abrupt US/NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan could risk important Chinese commercial and security interests in the region. Besides, Beijing also nurses apprehension that the growing strength of Islamist extremists in Afghanistan is increasing the terrorist threat to China itself as well as its close ally Pakistan. At the same time Chinese leaders worry that supporting the anti-Taliban coalition militarily would make China a more likely target of Muslim terrorism and alienate Beijing from Afghanistan’s future government. From 1949 through the mid-19

Press Release

Subject: World Water Day Celebrations on 20 March 2010 at Nairobi (Kenya) Jointly Hosted by UNEP, UN-Habitat, the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) and the Government of Kenya. The World Water Day is being celebrated 20 March 2010 at UNEP’s Headquarters at Nairobi in Kenya. This year’s global celebration is jointly hosted by UNEP, UN-Habitat, the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) and the Government of Kenya. This event brings together policy-makers, scientists and eminent personalities throughout the globe at a single platform to discuss how to address the challenges of degraded water quality around the world. World Water Day is an international day held annually on 22 March to bring attention to the importance of water and advocating for its sustainable management. The theme for this year’s World Water Day is -- Water Quality, under the slogan “Clean Water for a Healthy World”, which casts focus on the e

South-South Cooperation in Water Sector

Dr Arvind Kumar* * President, India Water Foundation, New Delhi. The author is grateful to Thomas Chiramba, a senior UNEP official, for borrowing some of his ideas in this article. In the wake of mounting global water crisis, particularly among the developing countries, the need and urgency for mutual cooperation in managing water resources, sharing each other’s experiences and technologies assumes added significance. Most of the developing countries are endowed with inadequate capacities for the sustainable management of water resources. It is happy augury that in recent decades some developing countries have achieved commendable progress in their efforts for managing water resources with the assistance their development partners and the concerned UN agencies. However, these endaevours on the part of few do not help tide over the water crisis for the developing countries and more persistent and sustained efforts on priority basis are called for. The United Nations Environmental Progra

Water Governance – Need for Convergence

Dr Arvind Kumar Mounting shortage of water has focused the attention of both governments and the people throughout the globe to concentrate on finding measures to conserve water, prevent its wastage, protect it from pollution and recycle the waste water for reuse as well as harvesting rainwater. Like other countries of the world, India is equally concerned about finding means to tackle the acute shortage of water. While dealing with the water-related problems in India, the role of Union Government and the State Governments, district authorities and village Panchayat institutions assume added significance because the framework for policy-making and policy implementation is primarily in the hands of the government bodies. In other words, government is a key factor in water governance, Although, the Central Ministry of Water Resources is entrusted with the task of overlooking the water related affairs, but the other ministries and departments of Government of India, like Ministry of Envir

Water: From Social Exclusion to Social in India

By Dr. Arvind Kumar President, India Water Foundation, New Delhi. Abstract This paper examines the issue of social exclusion in India’s water sector in the background of appraisal of the notion of social exclusion, its brief history and its prevalence in India, particularly in the water sector. While stressing upon the need for moving from social exclusion to social inclusion in water sector, this paper suggested bringing water from the State List to either Concurrent List or the Centre List as a preliminary step towards making Right to Water as a Fundamental Right by amending the Constitution. Introduction Water is generally regarded as a unifying force that brings the people together and owing to its immense life-giving importance it is held in high esteem by almost religions and civilization across the globe. However, denial of access to water on religious, caste, social or other grounds is highly detestable in this age of globalization. This social exclusion of certain segments o

Controversy over Himalayan Glaciers

Dr Arvind Kumar* *President, India Water Foundation, New Delhi. The recent revelation that a claim by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that Himalayan glaciers would probably disappear altogether by 2035 was wrong has taken the climate scientists and glaciologists by surprise. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an environmental organization, has recently admitted that a report on the impacts of climate change on glaciers in India, China and Nepal, which it published in 2005, included an erroneous reference to a report by the Working Group on Himalayan Glaciology of the International Commission for Snow and Ice, indicating that it stated "glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 is very high."1 In fact, nothing like this quote appears in the cited document and the magazine 'New Scientist' has reported that one of its articles