"Concerns Raised Over Kishau Dam's Ecological and Seismic Risks"
Gravity dam
a dam that resists water pressure using its own weight and mass
Reservoir-induced seismicity
earthquakes triggered or worsened by the weight/pressure of a large reservoir
India's rivers often flow through more than one state. Sharing their water causes conflict again and again. Article 262 of the Constitution allows Parliament to set up a system to settle disputes over inter-state rivers. Parliament used this power to pass the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. This Act lets the Union government form a tribunal (a special panel that judges disputes) when states cannot agree on their own. But tribunal awards often take decades to carry out. Many water disputes stay unresolved even after a ruling.
In recent years, the Union government has tried a different method. It acts as a financial broker. It offers to pay a large share of a project's cost to get states to agree quickly. This is often called cooperative federalism. In this model, the Centre uses financial leverage instead of court-like adjudication to resolve disputes. The Kishau Multipurpose Project is a clear example. It is a dam project on the Tons river. It was first planned decades ago. States had disagreed for years over how to split costs and benefits. The deadlock broke only after the Centre agreed to fund close to 90% of the project. The rest was split among the states that will benefit from its water and power.
This approach raises a basic federalism question. When a state hosts a project, it bears the human and ecological cost of displacement. Is it fairly compensated for that burden? Or does the Centre's money simply buy consent without addressing the deeper risks?
The Kishau project proposes a very tall concrete gravity dam on the Tons river. A concrete gravity dam holds back water using its own weight. The Tons river is a tributary of the Yamuna. The project is meant to store water for irrigation. It will supply drinking water to Delhi. It will also generate hydropower. The project would submerge more than a dozen villages in the Jaunsar-Bawar region. This region is a Schedule V tribal area. Under the Fifth Schedule and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA), Gram Sabhas in such areas are meant to have a say over local land and resources. …
Which constitutional provision empowers Parliament to provide for adjudication of disputes relating to inter-state rivers?
Consider the following statements regarding the Kishau Multipurpose Project:
1.It is located on the Tons river, a tributary of the Yamuna.
2.The dam site falls within seismic Zone IV and Zone V.
3.The affected Jaunsar-Bawar region is a Schedule VI tribal area.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
In the context of large hydropower projects spanning multiple states in India, the 'cooperative federalism' funding model recently used for a project like Kishau typically involves which approach?
The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) primarily provides for which of the following?
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