Yamuna Vimarsh Constitutes our initial discussions with all concerned individuals,
groups, and societies around River Yamuna. These are 360-degree discussions around the
current state of the river to build a knowledge ecosystem around it.
YAMUNA VIMARSH (29 September 2022)
Professor Jayant S. Y. Shah, the Director of International institute of Adult and Lifelong
Education (IIALE), New Delhi and Ms. Kalpana Kaushik, Associate Professor at IIALE, had a
meeting with representatives of MAS Council for Water and River (MCWR) on 29
September 2022.
The two parties briefly discussed problems surrounding River Yamuna such as pollution,
water flow, sewage disposal, schemes for revival, community involvement and economic
development. In this context, it is important to note that the revival and cleaning of rivers
and water bodies is also being is also being flagged by the p Prime m Minister of India as a
matter of serious concern (can we give some link to article here or reference?). Some
government schemes have also been announced to revive, restore, and rehabilitate the
traditional water bodies. In August 2022, an event ‘Yamuna Par Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’
was also organized by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Department of Water
Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. The
occasion, media agencies reported, marked the launch of the ‘Arth Ganga’ initiative, a
concept, enunciated by the prime minister Prime Minister to connect river and people
through a sustainable economic bridge. ‘Namami Gange’, the flagship program of the
central government is already working towards the cleaning of Ganga and its tributaries.
At this meeting, which forms a part of MCRW’s larger initiative called ‘Yamuna Vimarsh’,
the two organizations discussed possibilities of collaborating and bringing together their
expertise and networks to create a more informed awareness around River Yamuna and to
build a knowledge ecosystem around the revival, restoration, and rehabilitation of water
bodies.
IIALE is already a premier and pioneering institution working in adult education and
lifelong learning while MCRW has already been building an organic online repository of
resources with a view to create awareness around water bodies including River Yamuna.
Known as ‘Million Smiles’, this initiative appreciates and documents the multiplicity of
approaches in dealing with issues related to water bodies, as well as their intersections
across disciplines and skill domains. MCRW has now broadened the scope of its work and is
now trying to bring together domain experts, industry professionals, organizations, and societies—from water management, hydrology, geology, mining, ecology & environment,
humanities and social science, construction, surface and river transport, information
technology and other related fields—to build a common knowledge and expertise platform
to comprehensively deal with issues related to rivers and water bodies.
IIALE and MCRW have agreed to take the initial discussion on Yamuna further and explore
a set of activities which could help build a knowledge ecosystem around the languishing
river.