ENSURING MINIMUM FLOW IN GANGA DURING LEAN SEASON: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Abstract

River Ganga is the increasingly threatened lifeline of nearly 1/3^rdof the Indian population residing in the Ganga Plains. One of the major challenges before the country is to save Ganga. Though the problem has been approached from different perspectives by academics of all hues, the central issue that “it is water that makes a river a river†is generally relegated to the backdrop in most such studies. In addition to hitting civilizations directly, water scarcity, has an added dimension of increasing water disputes. It is argued that instead of piecemeal measures an integrated model for ensuring minimum flow in Ganga during lean season should be more viable. Any viable model for replenishment of water resources feeding Ganga should necessarily include Himalaya, the catchment south of Yamuna and Ganga and obviously the Ganga Plains.