Odisha govt to carry out water resources census
The censuses are undertaken through Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) and a web-based application comprising four census-first censuses of major and medium irrigation census and the census of springs, second census of water bodies and the 7th census of minor irrigation.
'This is a unique opportunity for the State to create a comprehensive database of all water resources from the village level to the State level. For the first time, this is being conducted in a coordinated and convergent manner by the Department of Water Resources and Planning and Convergence Department. This is a unique instance of users and producers of the statistics working together to ensure better data quality,' reads the statement.
Development Commissioner Anu Garg reviewed the census programmes being carried out in the State which was also attended by senior officials of Water Resources, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, E&IT departments, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Chief Engineer, Minor Irrigation, Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation, Central Ground Water Board and State Groundwater Board.
Besides, Superintending Engineers, Deputy Director, DPMUs from all the districts were also present during the meeting held on Monday. The focus of the meeting was on the effective implementation of the irrigation and spring censuses to capture quality data.
While reviewing the census programmes, Garg emphasised on coordinated and convergent approach of all the stakeholders for quality data collection so that a comprehensive database of all water resources can be made. This will be a comprehensive database for planning water resources of the State for irrigation, industry, pisciculture, human and animal consumption.
She also instructed the Superintending Engineer, Executive Engineerand Deputy Director, Planning and Statistics at the District level to work together to make these census operations a grand success.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scroll.in
3 days ago
- Scroll.in
Why India's plans to counter China's mega dam in Tibet may falter
The Yarlung Tsangpo river originates in the mountains of western Tibet, and flows eastwards through the Tibet Autonomous Region. It then enters Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known as the Siang. Then, it flows further downstream to Assam, from when it is widely known as the Brahmaputra. This river is currently the site of an intensifying conflict between India and China over the control, ownership and use of its waters. While the threat of competition for this water has always loomed large, it began to take firmer shape in July, when China began construction of a 60-gigawatt hydropower project in Medog, just 30 km north of Arunachal Pradesh. The dam is set to be the world's largest in terms of hydropower capacity – the current largest one, the Three Gorges Dam, also in China, has a capacity of 22.5 gigawatts. These plans have alarmed India. Ministers have described the dam as a 'water bomb' that China can weaponise – either by withholding water to India, or suddenly releasing it in large volumes, which can wreak destruction downstream. In response, India has been pushing forward with plans to build the 11-gigawatt Siang upper multipurpose project in Arunachal Pradesh's Siang district. The dam at Siang could help mitigate some of these probable risks of the Chinese dam, Indian authorities have argued. The government had been considering the project since 2017, when the Niti Ayog proposed it. In February 2022, the Ministry of Jal Shakti formed a technical group to finalise the dam's height. A month later, they recorded their findings in a report, asserting that the Siang Upper dam 'will act as a flood cushion in case of sudden release of flood due to breach in natural and man made storages' in China's proposed dam at Medog. The document noted that the dam would also help regulate glacial floods on the river, and thus minimise losses to local livelihoods. But experts warn that the Indian dam will be of limited use in these respects. Rather than offer any protection from China, India's dam will only serve as a marker of its claims over the river, experts argued. As India sees it, 'if they do not construct a dam on the Brahmaputra, then we will not have water rights over the river', said Sumit Vij, assistant professor at Netherlands-based Wageningen University, who has worked extensively on the Brahmaputra basin. The dam has also raised fears of damage to the local environment and destruction of livelihoods. Thirteen villages in Arunachal Pradesh are to be completely submerged, including agricultural fields where the Adi community grows ginger, cardamom, and paddy. Locals are also concerned that the dam will restrict sediment flow in the river. Communities in the region have been protesting against the project since 2024, noting that the government was pushing it through without adequately consulting them, and by deploying armed forces and police to quell objections. Such conflict is regrettable, particularly since, to achieve the tangible results of the kind the government seeks, 'there has to be a diplomatic solution, a dialogue solution, and not a dam solution', Vij noted. He added, 'If they get into this dam race, India will harm its own environment much more than what is expected to be harmed by China.' Scroll emailed the Ministry of Jal Shakti, seeking responses to questions about the rationale behind the construction of the dam and its planned functions. This story will be updated if it responds. Flood moderation or hydropower generation? The government intends for the Upper Siang dam to perform more than one function. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the dam 'is not just about generating power, but also about maintaining the natural flow of the Siang river and mitigating potential flood risks from water releases by China'. But experts argue that such a goal is unrealistic. If the Siang dam's main function is to mitigate against the risk of floods, they said, other functions, such as hydropower generation, would have to take a back seat. A key reason for this is that since the Siang dam is a hydropower project, water levels of its reservoir would typically be kept high. Soumya Dutta, a visiting senior fellow at Impact and Policy Research Institute who works on energy and climate, noted that 'for creating electricity, dam officials keep the reservoir levels at full capacity to maximise the energy potential'. If China withheld water or released excess water, the Siang dam would allow India to 'moderate these daily cycles of peaks and troughs of water for a few days'. But because it would have a limited buffer capacity, 'beyond that, if there is a heavy rainfall or a sudden release, the dam will not be able to hold it back', Dutta explained. This risk is exacerbated by the geographical limitations the Siang dam will face. Dutta noted that a crucial feature of a dam designed for flood control is a large reservoir. The government is proposing to build a reservoir in Siang – but the geography of the region will only allow for a narrow and deep reservoir, as opposed to the wide ones found in some dams elsewhere in India, like the Nagarjuna Sagar dam, jointly operated by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to control floods. In such broad reservoirs, flood control can be carried out even by keeping water levels 'just a little low', Dutta said. In deep reservoirs, however, maintaining a buffer capacity to guard against floods would mean necessarily keeping water levels much lower, which would impinge on hydropower generation capacity. Dams that prioritise hydropower generation are, in fact, generally prone to causing flooding when there is a sudden inflow of water into their reservoirs – Dutta noted that many independent experts argued that is what happened in the 2018 floods in Kerala. Indeed, concerns about the construction of the Siang dam do not only revolve around its efficacy – but also about the effects that it might have downstream in Assam, if the dam releases large volumes of water to prevent flooding around it. 'Unfortunately, there is no bioregional understanding of rivers,' in India, said Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, visiting associate fellow at Delhi-based Institute of Chinese Studies. Such an approach takes into account the fact that 'if you create something upstream of the river basin, it will have an impact downstream, and also vice-versa', he added. More deliberation needed The canyon where the Medog dam will be built is one of the deepest in the world, and plunges to depths of more than 5,000 metres. The river's fall over this canyon generates massive amounts of energy, making it an ideal site for a large hydropower plant. China has spent decades studying the site and drawing up plans for the dam's construction. Experts fear that if India now rushes to catch up with its neighbour, its own dam will not be built in the most optimal way. 'China has spent years studying the geomorphology and understanding the advantage of gradient that it has to build the dam there,' said Rahman. In this regard, India is '15-20 years behind China', Rahman said. At the moment, the government is attempting to conduct a survey, based on which it would draw up a 'pre-feasibility report' of the dam in Siang. This is only one of the first steps of the process, Rahman explained. 'You need to have a long-term research analysis in order to back up your structural interventions,' he said. This work would have helped India understand the area's hydrology more precisely, and identify potential sites for the dam. He further explained that such research could have helped minimise the likelihood of protests among local communities, since information about the project could have been communicated to people on the ground in a timely way. At present, he argued, sufficient hard data about the project has not been shared with local communities, which is leading to increased speculation among them. 'If India would have invested time and money in understanding the river basin in the last 20 years, India could have been in a much better position to design a dam that could perhaps counter the Medog dam,' Rahman said. No treaty India and China both feel a strong need to demonstrate ownership over the river in this region, experts noted, because there is no international law, transboundary institution, or treaty for the Brahmaputra basin that inscribes how its water should be shared. All the four countries that use the basin – China, Bhutan, India, and Bangladesh – have diverse interests, ranging from hydropower generation to flood management and economic development. But so far, discussions between them on cooperating over the river have been limited. In 1997, more than one hundred countries came together to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, which sets out a framework for countries that have to share waters. It mandates that signatories have to share hydrological, meteorological, hydrogeological and ecological data with each other, and that conflicts be resolved 'with special regard being given to the requirements of vital human needs'. But other than Bangladesh, none of the other countries in the Brahmaputra basin signed to be party to it. 'That made it very clear that India and China did not want to engage in a multilateral diplomatic negotiation where there could be a third-party mediation,' said Vij. 'It could have allowed for a more just, equal playing field for all actors, but the downside is that it would take longer time to negotiate between the countries.' Instead, India and China signed a memorandum of understanding in 2002 aimed at helping India take steps towards flood control and mitigate the risks of disasters. Under this memorandum, China would provide hydrological information of the river to India in both the flood and non-flood season. This memorandum was renewed in 2008 and 2013 – China temporarily paused it in 2017 after the two countries clashed in Doklam, and renewed it again in 2018. But the memorandum expired in June 2023 and has not been renewed since. In any case, Vij noted that as a mechanism, a memorandum of understanding 'can be a weak institutional mechanism for water-sharing'. Rahman added that while agreements act as 'bricks of confidence building', they are not as strongly backed by international law, and can be withdrawn more easily. In contrast, under international law, treaties are typically far more comprehensive, and carry more weight. Thus, they usually 'lead to cooperation and better understanding between the riparian states', said Vij. Indeed, though India and China signed the memorandum, the process of sharing data has been fraught, Vij wrote in a 2017 paper. Such sharing is typically a means of building trust between countries, but 'in the specific case of the Brahmaputra the lack of a data sharing procedure at the basin level has fostered mistrust between the riparian countries and hindered regional cooperation', he wrote. Further, he noted, 'The power asymmetry between the countries and the broader political context, which currently considers all hydrological data relating to international borders as classified, make the process of sharing data complex.' That has left the two countries in a race to create large infrastructure in the Himalaya, which can be disastrous not just to the topography, but also to local indigenous populations. 'In the way the dam construction is going on, it probably will not have an impact on what the Chinese are doing as much as it will have on their own population, people, nature and ecology,' said Vij.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
Single-window cell set up in Vizag to clear Ganesh pandal applications
The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has set up a single-window clearance cell for granting permissions related to the Ganesh Chavithi celebrations, scheduled to be held on August 27. Municipal Commissioner Ketan Garg on Wednesday said such cells have been set up at the GVMC head office and Zonal Offices to issue permissions to individuals, resident welfare associations, NGOs, voluntary organisations and festival committees or setting up Ganesh pandals . Pandal organisers can approach the nodal officers at the GVMC head office are GVMC Chief Medical Officer E.N.V. Naresh Kumar (9848308823), City Planner V. Meena Kumari (8374996677), Executive Engineer (Electrical Department) D. Sridhar (8187898427), Fire Officer B. Krupavaram (9912448555). At the zone level, citizens have been advised to contact the respective Zonal Commissioners, Assistant Medical Officers, Assistant City Planners, and Executive Engineers of their zones, he said. Mr. Garg urged the pandal organisers to ensure that the Ganesh idols are made of clay. 'Use of Idols made from Plaster of Paris, thermocol or those painted with chemicals and synthetic colours is strictly prohibited,' Mr. Garg said. For household celebrations, citizens are encouraged to immerse the clay idols in a container filled with water. Residents of colonies should use water tanks arranged at parks in their localities for immersion, he said. Mr. Garg also said that those who wish to set up public entertainment stages in open areas must obtain prior permission from the designated Nodal Officers in accordance with prescribed rules. He advised that cleanliness should be maintained throughout the festival.
Mint
5 days ago
- Mint
Tax Bill 2025 fixes oversights on refunds, TDS, and property deductions
The Parliament passed the revised Income Tax Bill 2025, fixing drafting oversights in the earlier February version that had sparked confusion over refunds, tax deducted at source (TDS) rules, and property income deductions. Experts say the changes restore clarity, align the law with long-standing provisions, and will help prevent needless litigation. 'When the Bill was introduced in Parliament, it was referred to the Select Committee headed by Dr Panda. The Committee took representations from trade associations, professionals, and others, and its report contained several recommendations. These were accepted by the finance ministry and the revised Bill with the changes was passed today," said Dinesh Kanabar, CEO, Dhruva Advisors on 11 August. For individual taxpayers, the key updates cover refunds on belated or revised ITRs, Nil TDS certificates, standard deduction on property income, and pre-construction home loan interest deductions. Also read: Lok Sabha approves new tax bill with UPS relief, corporate dividend deduction Refunds allowed on late or revised returns One of the most impactful changes reinstates refund eligibility for belated or corrected filings. The February draft's Clause 263(1)(a)(ix) had restricted refunds only to returns filed on or before the due date — a significant departure from the Income Tax Act, 1961, which allowed refunds for belated and revised returns as well. 'This could have led to hardship in genuine cases where a taxpayer was unable to file their return by the deadline," explained Sachin Garg, partner, Nangia & Co LLP. 'The restriction was not an intended policy shift, but a drafting oversight." The revised Bill removes the clause entirely, reinstating the right to claim refunds even in late or corrected filings. Garg said the correction ensures taxpayer rights are preserved and refund claims are not unfairly denied purely on procedural grounds. Clarity on Nil TDS certificates Under Section 197 of the 1961 Act, taxpayers with no tax liability can apply for lower or Nil TDS certificates to avoid excess tax deduction and refund claims later. But the February draft referred only to 'lower" deduction, omitting the Nil option. 'While it could be argued that Nil is a subset of lower, the absence of explicit wording created scope for interpretation disputes," said Garg. Without clarity, he warned, operational issues and unnecessary litigation could have followed. The revised Bill restores the original wording, covering both Nil and lower deductions. This is especially useful for senior citizens with non-taxable interest income. 'Nil TDS certificate is relevant for any taxpayer whose income is not taxable. Examples could include a taxpayer whose income is below the ₹2.5 lakh threshold or not taxable due to rebate under section 87A, or a taxpayer having losses or even a non-resident claiming non-taxability on account of a benefit under a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement," Garg noted. Also read: The new Income Tax Bill: Will linguistic makeover lead to taxation simplicity? Standard deduction on property income In the case of income from house property, the revised Bill also clarifies the right method to apply standard deduction. While calculating income from house property, the 1961 Act applies the 30% standard deduction on net annual value — i.e., after municipal taxes actually paid. Initial readings of the February draft had raised doubts as to whether the deduction would apply on gross value or after municipal taxes. 'The updated text now makes it explicit that the standard deduction is calculated after reducing municipal taxes paid," said Kanabar. He noted that this preserves continuity with existing practice and prevents an inadvertent increase in taxable income, avoiding unnecessary disputes. Pre-construction interest deduction stays intact The Bill confirms the availability of pre-construction interest deductions for rental properties. Under the 1961 Act, if the property is completed within five years, interest from the pre-construction period can be claimed in five equal instalments from the year it is first let or occupied. 'The original draft created uncertainty about whether this benefit would continue for rental properties," Kanabar said. 'The clarification makes it clear that the deduction remains intact." Also read: Income tax filing: How to deal with inaccuracies in annual information statement He stressed the importance of this relief for property investors: 'Taxpayers who incur substantial interest costs before completion should not be disadvantaged just because their property is rented rather than self-occupied."
