India ministry sets up technical expert group to address rural water issues
Sept. 17, 2007 -- The Ministry of Rural Development has set up a High Powered Technical Expert Group (TEG) under the Chairmanship of Shri Gourishankar Ghosh, founder Mission Director of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM).
This Technical Expert Group will analyze the status of the ongoing programs and identify issues and emerging challenges in enabling the rural community to have access to adequate safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis in all parts of the country; identify critical linkages with other sectors for optimal impact on poverty reduction and better health for the poor through increased impact on access to safe drinking water and sanitation/ hygiene facilities and recommend improved operational and institutional linkages with other programs like National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Watershed Development and Management, Housing and Industrial Development, new research areas in science & technology, rural employment & National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), etc.
TEG will also review and recommend steps for better integration between drinking water supply, sanitation and hygiene with health at the grass root level and recommend a strategy to channel the efforts and resources properly to achieve the universal goal of safe drinking water and sanitation to all by 2012 in India; and identify existing gaps in water and sanitation technologies and its usage, new R&D efforts and latest advances; integrated water and sanitation management; surface, ground and rainwater management; technological advances and, adoption and formulation of suitable strategies to bridge these gaps; and also suggest methodology/ agencies/ structures which can address issues to bring in technology information and knowledge translated for the people after assessing the capacity in the states as well as PRIs.
Taking into consideration of all existing relevant legal/ regulatory aspects/ issues involved in water quality, drinking water standards, sanitation, public health, prevention of pollution of drinking water sources, withdrawal of water for other purposes affecting drinking water availability, preservation of drinking water sources, etc. and recommend necessary steps to rectify the same, if necessary; suggest mechanisms for control/ regulation and enforcement of public health and pollution control requirements.
TEG will further review the activities and the contribution of of international and bilateral agencies and recommend possible areas of their activities to increase impact of their limited support to help best the efforts of the ministry/ mission and recommend better coordination mechanism for improved interventions for increasing regional and international collaboration, any new mechanism for betterment of the partnership with bilateral and multilateral agencies, civil society, NGO/ CBO, private sector, State Governments, R&D institutions and PRIs; and identify areas for private sector partnership especially for promotion of small private entrepreneur participation and for sector development as well as for local level economic activity for income generation.
TEG will also review the present structure of the Mission, its relationship and functioning within the ministry, inter-se relationship with State Governments and its agencies including allocation of resources. Review the existing knowledge base, structural deficiencies and present inadequacies to respond to emerging issues and challenges and suggest appropriate restructuring/ strengthening of the Mission/ department to fulfill the goals; and suggest/ recommend any strategy or plan not specifically mentioned above, which in the opinion of the Group could contribute in achieving the goals of the Mission.
The other members of the expert group are Shri Ajay Shankar, Shri Ravi Narayan, Prof. Indira Chakravarty, Hirway; Sudarshan Ayangar Rupal Talbott and Dr. A.k. Sushila. The Chairman, Shri Ghosh has also held position of Chief, Water & Sanitation, UNICEF, New York and Executive Director, Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council, WHO, Geneva. Other members of the TEG are eminent professionals having long experience in the sector.
National Drinking Water Mission (NDWM) was set up by Government of India in 1986, the as one of the six Technology Missions to bring in the best of modern technologies integrated with the traditional knowledge to help the rural communities of the country to tackle the vagaries of the monsoon and the repeated drought and resultant water scarcity. The main thrust was on societal issues with the main objective of socio-economic development of the rural poor with the help of modern technology. Later, the Mission was renamed as Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM).
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Also see:
-- "Ground Water Quality & Pollution Status"
-- "Water recycling plant to be set up at New Delhi railway station"
-- "Halfway Into Government Project, Arsenic In Water Still a Big Worry: Scientists say implementing measures such as rainwater harvesting would be more practical"
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