REG activities in the last three years have included, inter
alia, the following:
The main objective of IWP is to promote equitable and sustainable water management by providing forums for stakeholders
representing competing interests to
engage in dialogue and agree to a process of conflict resolution. This first
step in this process has been achieved by organizing meetings of various stakeholders
for preparing two documents: India
Water Vision: 2025 and a Framework For Action on India Water Vision.
These exercises were carried out as part of the collaborative effort initiated
by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) on preparing a 2025 Vision for
World Water.
The process of vision development consisted of the following steps: (i) holding
consultation meetings of various stakeholders, (ii) commissioning of background
papers and (iii) review of other related documents. A report on India
Water Vision: 2025 presents various scenarios of demand and supply of water and implications of these scenarios
for water scarcity, food security, livelihood security, water quality and
public health and investment needs
for meeting water demands.
The process of vision development was Operationalize
through a series of zonal and national level consultations. Three national
level meetings were organized in New Delhi during March 9-10,1999; May 17-18,
1999 and June 24-25, 1999. In addition three zonal consultations were held at Aurangabad (for the Western Zone) on June
16, 1999, Chennai (for the Southern Zone)
during June 18-19,1999 and at Patna (for Eastern Zone) on June 21,1999.
The important objectives of these consultations were:
·
· To
provide discussion forums to various stakeholders in water management
·
· To
present to the participants an overview of the World Water Vision process and
update them on the progress achieved so far
·
· To
present the scenarios and their underlying drivers used in the Global Water
Vision process and elicit from the participants the set of drivers and
scenarios relevant for developing the India Water Vision 2025
·
· To
present to the participants the implications of the scenarios for food ,
livelihood, health and ecological security
·
· To
consult various stakeholders on the basic features of the India Water Vision
2025 that are to be presented at the South Asia Zonal and Global consultation
meetings.
All the vision consultation meetings were very well
attended by various stakeholder groups in water management. The representation at
these meetings included senior Government officials both from the Central
Ministries as also from the States, academics, water experts, donor agencies,
international organizations (UNICEF, World Bank etc.), NGOs and industry representatives.
Consultations on Framework for Action on
India Water Vision-2025
The main objective of Framework for Action (FFA)
exercise was to encourage and facilitate actions that would translate
principles and visions into reality. FFA therefore focused on priorities, policies,
research, technologies, institutions etc which were important for achieving the
vision. The FFA was developed through a stakeholder consultation process. Two
national consultations were organized in New Delhi while five zonal
consultations were organized in Lucknow, Guwahati, Patna, Mumbai and Chennai
during November-December, 1999.
Consultations on Financing of the Water
Sector
The REG in collaboration with the South Asia Technical
Advisory Committee (SASTAC) of the Global Water Partnership organized in New
Delhi on January 28,2000 a one day consultation meeting on "Investment
Needs and Financing Issues in the Water Sector." The theme paper for the consultation meeting was prepared by REG.