Minutes of Project
Launching Workshop of
Baitarani River Basin Study Project, Shristi
Date 29th June 2006
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Minutes of 1st Advisory
Committee Meeting of
Baitarani River Basin Study Project, Shristi
Date 30th June 2006
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ICRAF South Asia Representative visited the
Baitarani River Basin
On 11th
April, ICRAF South Asia Representative Dr. V. P. Singh has visited
the Changua Village of Bhandaripokhari
block in Bhadrak district in the Baitarani River
Basin. This village has been identified
as a severely flood vulnerable villages by the Baitarani River
Basin research team of Shristi, which describes “within few
years, Changua is going to get engulfed
in the river Baitarani, unless safeguards are taken”. Dr
Singh strongly opined on taking steps to safeguarding the Common
Property Resources. He felt
that the traditional flood coping practices by the villagers should
be revived and encouraged as well as steps should be taken to
enhance the economy and livelihood. The affected village should
also come together to interact on a common platform to find out and
explore solutions.
Along with
Dr. Singh, other two specialists from ICRAF Dr. Frank Place from Nairobi, Kenya
and Dr. D.C. Gupta from Lucknow (ex-additional
director of Agriculture, U.P.) also visited the site. They
discussed with the villagers on different issues and possible
solutions. They felt that by sowing maize after groundnut and
harvesting it before the floods, farmers can reap a good crop as
well as a fodder harvest for their livestock. They advised the
villagers to plant trees on the riverbanks as a community
initiative to prevent soil erosion, to subsidize the intensity of
flood and thereby to control riverbank erosion. Pisciculture
in the Nalla (Kantighai), as per them,
could be taken up as a remunerative activity by gaining the
advantage of the year-round water availability all over the year
and its disconnection from the baitarani
following floods.
During the
visit Dr Singh reiterated on streamlining the activities of the
Non-Government Organizations working in this area. BRB project
leader Ranjan Mahapatrra
and Theme Leader (Hydrology) Dr. N.Rout
have facilitated this visit with support from Netaji
Yubak Sangha, Balipokhari, Bhadrak.
On 12th April 12, Dr. Singh was invited to
a sharing session at the BRB office, Bhubaneswar.
Project leader Ranjan Mahapatra
welcomed the visiting renowned scientists and thanked them for
their enduring support to fledgling BRB initiative
Dr. Singh in
his comment correlated SHRISTI with FES
(Foundation for Ecological Security) pointing on similarities in
their objectives. The visiting experts felt that the BRB Initiative
should think of focusing on the following aspects
v
Alternative livelihood systems with
respect to water and Natural Resources
v
Improvising Agro forestry farming
systems with focus on community-tree-crop interfaces.
v
Covering all the major River Basins
in Orissa
v
Impact assessment of some
interventions
v
Assessment of impacts on livelihood
and markets of the Agro-forestry products
v
Markets for Agro-forestry products
v
Assessment of partner NGOs and their
competencies
v
Blending of knowledge-based
technologies with material-based livelihood support to enhance
effective impact
CISED, Bangalore contemplating collaborative
study with BRB Initiative, SHRISTI
CISED
(www.cised.org) is going to conduct a study on conflicts related to
different Natural Resources in the Baitarani River
Basin in collaboration with SHRISTI.
The study is going to analyze comprehensively different dimensions
of social conflicts, displacement and environmental impacts of
mining and industrial activities on the Baitarani Basin
and the basin livelihoods. While CISED will bring in its
intellectual expertise, BRB Initiative will compliment the study
with its experience, local presence and expertise.
In this
context, Dr. (Mrs.) Sarmistha Pattnaik, a faculty of CISED has completed a
preliminary visit to the Basin in March 2007 and has identified
issues for further research. The visit started with an introductory
team meeting facilitated by P R Choudhury, Basin coordinator at the
BRB Office in Bhubaneswar where
elaborate discussions were made on issues around natural
resource-conflicts in the basin area and the need of looking at
them in a different framework considering the typicality of local
situations. She then went to visit the Juanga
ancestral domains in Gonasika in Keonjhar, the starting point of
the river area where she tried to understand the issues related to
rights and access over on Land, Water & Forest in the
area. She also visited the
mining area at Danla near Suakati and the Sponge Iron plant affected area
at Nuasahi village near Palaspanga and
tried to identify different issues on impact of environmental
pollution on Drinking water, Health and exclusively the impact of
these activities on Livelihood and economy of the people. In the
Middle catchment, she had a visit to the Hadgarh
Dam site where she explored issues on displacement and
rehabilitation. She also visited two resettled villages namely New Purunapani Colony and Sankatpalia to gather
information on issues around water management and their rights over
Natural resources. In this study she is also trying incorporate
some issues on environmental impact of Boula
mines.
Indo-gangetic Basin
Coordinator visits BRB Office at Bhubaneswar
Dr. A. K. Sikka who is the Director of ICAR Complex for
Eastern Region cum Basin Coordinator of Indo-Gangetic
Basin of IWMI and also happens to be a national advisor of the
Baitarani River Basin Initiative has visited the BRB office on 18th
April, 2007. Accepting an invitation from P R Choudhury, Basin
Coordinator, Dr Sikka
attended a small meeting with the BRB team, while on a tour to
Orissa. At the outset, Ranjan Mahapatra, Project Leader apprised him about
the progress of the initiative and issues in the basin and
emphasized on developing a basin level stake holder platform to
further responsible basin resources management.
As a follow
up to advise of Dr. Sikka, different team
members shared about the thematic findings and emerging issues. Dr.
N. Rout, Theme Leader (Hydrology) outlined the scope and methodology
adopted in the hydrology study and went on to highlight the status
of water balance, flood vulnerability as well as water pollution in
basin as well as sub-basin scale apart from the limitations of the
study. Mr. P. K. Sahoo,
Basin Research Associate (Hydrology) discussed about the
complexities of hydrological issues in different sub-catchments of
the basin and the related geo-environmental problem. Mr. Rohini Sahu, Theme Leader (L & ME) tried to
delineate the emerging livelihood issues and opportunities in the
basin. Mr. Rabindra Kumar Hansda, Basin
Research Associate (L&ME) followed up with different livelihood
options and the challenges in the basin districts. Mr. S.K Pradhan,
Basin Research Associate (Cross-theme) highlighted some of the
natural resource management & exploitation practices in
different catchment of the basin affecting the basin land use e.g.
the mining and industrial growth in the upper catchment and the
flood vulnerability at lower catchment threatening the ecosystem
and livelihood. He urged upon Dr. Sikka
to suggest and share similar incident in other basins.
Dr. Sikka, in his remarks, highlighted some of his
experience relating river basin initiatives in India and abroad and
delineated further initiatives to be adopted in BRB context. He
stressed on multiple and alternative use of local resources as
livelihood options by citing the examples of abandoned mines and
query which can be used as a water harvesting units and the dumping
yards can be used for cashew
plantation or other agro-ecologically adoptable species. He called
upon the team to explore and enhance the locally viable livelihood
options, value addition, and marketability. He suggested
introduction of Jalkunda (rain water
harvesting structures) concept in water scares areas in the upper
Catchment of the basin. Strong institutional negotiation mechanism
and networking of different resourceful organizations is needed for
the wider achievement of the process, he added.
In this
connection Mr. Mahapatra shared the
planned activity of the next phase and requested Dr.Sikka’s guiding support. Dr.Sikka assured of his future involvement and
continuous association with such a noble mission. Other members who
attended the meeting were Mr. Suresh Pakki,
Miss Sharavani Roy, Miss Sujata mahakur and Samarjit Barik.
Minutes of NGO
consultation Workshop of
Baitarani River Basin Study Project, Shristi
Date 12th-13th
June 2007
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