Re-thinking River Diversion Projects- A Political Ecology Perspective

  • Authors

    • Neha Singh
    • Neeraj Mishra
    • Vignesh Murugesan
    2018-04-25
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i2.24.12079
  • Khan Diversion Project, KumbhMela, River Khan, River Kshipra, Political Ecology, Indore city, Ujjain city.

  • Abstract

    The usage of pipelines to make water available to people has been widely discussed phenomenon throughout the world. Less argued are the projects which divert tributaries from larger rivers via small diversion channels for the sake of short-term goals that work around natural waterscape. River Khan is one such smaller stream which accumulates the entire waste of Indore city and has been diverted from its larger stream River Kshipra in the wake of KumbhMela 2016, to keep the larger stream clean. In this context, the paper investigates the discrepancies of this project and identifies the political and economic forces involved in the formation of such projects during events like KumbhMela. Using the theory of political ecology, the paper attempts to understand the complexities surrounding environment and development. Through government policies and influence of material conditions on culture, the paper also explores the unfair relations amid societies that influence the natural environment.


     

  • References

    1. [1] Mehta, D., Mehta N. “Interlinking of Rivers in India: Issues and challengesâ€. Geo-Eco-Marina 19/2013.

      [2] Martin, C. “Dams, Rivers, and Peopleâ€. 1(2-3) March-April; also in Hindustan Times (New Delhi) 10 February 2003. Available at (http://www.narmada.org/sandarp/apr2003_1.doc).

      [3] Roy, A. “The Greater Common Goodâ€, Bombay: India Book, 1999.

      [4] Wolfensohn J. D. “Address at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and IMFâ€. World Bank, Washington, 1995.

      [5] Shiva V.“River Linking: False Assumptions, Flawed Recipesâ€. New Delhi, Navdanya, 2003. http://www.navdanya.org/articles/false_assumptions.html.

      [6] Iyer,R. “Water: Perspectives, Issues and Concernâ€. Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2003.

      [7] Karl, M. “Economic & Philosophic Manuscriptsâ€,op.cit., 1844, p. 69.

      [8] PTI. “River Linking Project Revives Kshipra River with Narmada Water.†Economic Times (Politics and Nation) 2015. Accessed September 20, 2016. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-01-15/news/58108698_1_kshipra-river-narmada-ujjain.

      [9] Bramwell, A. “Ecology in twentieth Century A Historyâ€. Yale University Press. New Haven and London.1989.

      [10] Chisholm, A. (1972). Philosophers of the Earth, Conservation with Ecologists. London.

      [11] Loftus, A. (2009). Rethinking Political Ecologies of Water.Routledge Taylor and Francis. Third Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp 953-968.

      [12] Blaikie, P.M., and Brookfield, H. Land degradation and society. London: Methuen,1987.

      [13] Blaikie, P.M. “The political economy of soil erosion in developing countriesâ€. London: Longman, 1985.

      [14] Peet, R., and Watts, M. (Eds). “Liberation ecologies: Environment, development, social movementsâ€. London & New York: Routledge,1996.

      [15] Walker, P. A. “Politics of nature: An overview of political ecologyâ€. Capitalism Nature Socialism. 9(1), 1998, pp 131.

      [16] Ernest, H. The social production of ecosystem services: A framework for studying environmental justice and ecological complexity in urbanized landscape. Landscape and Urban Planning, 109(1),2013, pp 7-17.

      [17] Kull, C.A., de Satre, X.A., & Castro-Larranaga, M. (2015). The political ecology of ecosystems services. Geoforum, 61, pp 122-134.

      [18] Buzzelli, M. (2008). A political ecology of scale in urban air pollution monitoring. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 33(4),pp 502-517.

      [19] Veron, R. (2006). Remaking urban environments: The political ecology of air pollution in Delhi. Environment & Planning A. 38 . pp 2093-2109.

      [20] Adger, W. N., Benjaminsen, T. A., and Svarstad, H. (2001). Advancing a political ecology of global environmental discourses. Development and Change, 32(4),pp 681-715.

      [21] Sweezy, M. P. (2004). Capitalism and the Environment. Monthly Review. Volume 56, Issue 05(October). Available from: https://monthlyreview.org/2004/10/01/capitalism-and-the-environment/

      [22] Swyngedouw, E. (1997). Power, nature, and the city. The conquest of water and the political ecology of urbanization in Guayaquil Ecuador. Environment & Planning A, 29(2), pp 311-332.

      [23] Sharma, D. and Dubey,A. (2011). Assessment and treatment of municipal wastewater of Indore City of India, in Archives of Applied Science Research,[Online] 3(1): 450-461 [cited 23 July 2015], Available from http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/aasr-vol3-iss1/AASR-2011-3-1-450-461.pdf

      Swyngedouw, E. (2006). Circulations and metabolisms: (Hybrid) natures and (cyborg) cities. Science as Culture. 15 (2). pp 105-12

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Singh, N., Mishra, N., & Murugesan, V. (2018). Re-thinking River Diversion Projects- A Political Ecology Perspective. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(2.24), 341-347. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i2.24.12079

    Received date: 2018-04-24

    Accepted date: 2018-04-24

    Published date: 2018-04-25