Abstract
There are simple solutions to India’s water problems, but they are all predicated on a radical transformation in the paradigm of water management. We cannot continue with the old supply-side approach focused on endless construction and exploitation, without any regard for sustainability, distribution, and demand-side management. Fundamental to the new paradigm is the democratisation of water, without which a solution will continue to elude India’s water woes.
About the Speaker
Dr Mihir Shah is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shiv Nadar University.
From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Mihir Shah was Member of the Planning Commission of the Govt. of India, where he was chiefly responsible for drafting the paradigm shift in the management of water resources articulated in the 12th Five Year Plan. In 2015, the Govt. of India invited him to chair a Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board, and also to chair a Committee to draft the National Water Framework Law and the Model Groundwater (Sustainable Management) Bill. These are currently under the active consideration of the Government of India. Shah completed his Ph.D. in Economics at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, and in 1990, formed Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS).
Inspired by the life and work of Baba Amte, SPS is today one of the largest grass-roots initiatives for water and livelihood security, working with its partners on a million acres of land across 72 of India’s most backward districts. Dr. Shah has spent three decades living and working in central tribal India, forging a new paradigm of inclusive and sustainable development. Dr. Shah is a Founding Signatory of the Geneva Actions on Human Water Security, 2017. He is Distinguished Visiting Professor, Shiv
Nadar University, where he has designed a globally first-of-its-kind Masters Program on Water Science and Policy.
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