IWMI -Tata Partners' Workshop to present Critical Issues in India's Water Future

Besides presenting over 50 new pieces of research conducted during 2003, the Anand-based IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program will inaugurate a Citizens' Monitoring System for the Narmada Project, the lifeline of Gujarat.

A few years ago, skeptics laughed at the idea that Narmada water will ever reach Saurashtra and Kutch. But Narmada waters are already in Saurashtra and Kutch. A new monitoring system being developed will transparently report quarterly progress on the Narmada project and its far reaching social and economic impact.

There are other aspects of the project as well. The project assumed it would achieve 60% water use efficiency with the help of tight distribution through Water Users' Associations. The critics of the project have ridiculed this claim as patently unrealistic. What is the reality of the Sardar Sarovar Project? What needs to happen so that this ambitious project does become the lifeline for Gujarat? This will be one of the many topics on which new research will be presented at the annual meet.

Other issues that concern India's water future will figure too. How can the groundwater depletion in Banaskantha - and elsewhere in North Gujarat - be kept in check? Can micro-irrigation enhance the livelihoods of poor men and women? Can improved water-control through smallholder water harvesting and irrigation projects kick-start the Central Indian tribal agricultural economy? What are the next generation issues in kick-starting Eastern India's rural economy? How have tanks in South Asia evolved and what is going to be their future role? How are the fast growing towns and cities impacting the economies in the hinterlands? How can Public Irrigation Systems achieve Design Performance Potential? What lessons can be learnt from a decade of watershed projects implementation? Over 50 new pieces of research carried out by the IWMI-Tata Team as well as partners and collaborators, will be placed on the table with actionable recommendations for policy planners.

Ever since its inception in 2000, the IWMI-Tata Program holds an annual Partners' Workshop to critically examine and discuss research carried out under the Program and the implications of this research for improving the way water is managed to ensure a better water future for India. The 3rd Annual IWMI-Tata Partners' Workshop to be held in Anand, Gujarat from the 17th to 19th February 2004 will bring together around 150 participants, among them senior researchers, NGO leaders, donors, policy makers and the media, to discuss frontline issues critical for India's water sector.