The Centre for Environment and Law has successfully conducted a One Day National Seminar on ‘Conservation, Protection and Regulation of Ground Water’ on 29th September, 2015 with the mission of disseminating knowledge and awareness among various sections of the society on the issue of ground water. The inauguration was done by Prof. Dr. Rose Varghese, Vice Chancellor, NUALS who stressed on the need for a comprehensive legislation regarding ground water conservation. The Director, Centre for Environment and Law, Prof Dr. M. C. Valson highlighted the agenda for the Seminar as addressing the technical, legal and social aspects of ground water conservation. Notable Personalities like Prof. Dr. P. LeelaKrishnan, leading environmentalist and Prof. Dr. B. Venkateshwara Rao, head of Centre for Water Resources, JNT University, Hyderabad felicitated the event by emphasizing the legal aspects of regulation of ground water citing examples of the neighboring states of Kerala. [Click HERE to access the list of invited seminar speakers]
The First Session was chaired by Prof. Dr. E. J James, distinguished professor of Water Institute, Karunya University, Coimbatore and the other resource persons were Prof. Dr. Venkateshwara Rao, Dr. E. Shaji, Asst. Professor from department of geology, Kerala University, Trivandrum and Dr. P. Nandakumaran, Regional Director of Central Ground Water Board, Trivandrum. Each of the resource persons dealt with the technical aspects of ground water conservation giving importance to reasonable use of ground water, harmful effects of ground water contamination as well as statistics governing the same.
The various paper presentations done in the first session were as follows:
SESSION 1 -
Technical Aspects of Groundwater Conservation
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Name of the Presenter
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Title of the paper
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1.
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Dr. Vishal Gupta,
Assistant Professor, Calorx Teachers'
University
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Groundwater Management: A Glance of Practices in Urban Ahmadabad
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2.
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Aparajitha
gaikwad & Ayushi Shrivastava,
LL.M students,
HNLU, Raipur
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Groundwater
Contamination and its Remedies and Measures
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3.
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Ajai Sebastian
4th year law student, CUSAT, Kochi
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Groundwater:
Contamination and Remedial Measures
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4.
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Jacob Reji
& Parvathy Manoj,
3rd year
law students, CUSAT, Kochi
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Bio Remediation of
Groundwater: The Nature’s Low Cost
Clean Up
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5.
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Anagha K Vijay
3rd year law student, NUALS
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Groundwater
Recharge In The Current Legal Framework
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6.
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Raunak Varma
& Deepesh Raj,
4th &
2nd year law students, DSNLU, Vishakhapatnam
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Ground Regulation In India And The Need For
Reforms
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7.
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Kasthuri J
Research Associate, NUALS
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Rainwater
Harvesting in Tamil Nadu
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8.
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Siji G
Research
Associate, NUALS
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Groundwater Remediation
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Thus, the First Session had enlightened the audience with both technical as well as legal framework regarding ground water conservation.
Session two of the National Seminar on the Conservation, Protection and Regulation of Groundwater was an extremely fruitful and enlightening session regarding the legal aspects of groundwater conservation. This session was moderated and chaired by Dr. N.S. Soman, Director of School of Legal Studies, CUSAT with Dr. S. Faizi, Expert Member, Plachimada High Power Committee and Advocate Shyama Kuriakose, Regional Coordinator, Enviro Legal Defence Firm, joining him on the dais. Dr. N.S Soman helped create the perfect environment for scholarly discussion by giving the audience members insight as to the importance of groundwater and how the whole water cycle must be viewed as one unit rather than fragmented into various segments.
The first speaker was Dr Faizi who explained the ground water legal crisis currently underway in India by citing the example of groundwater pollution by a Coco-Cola plant. In the aforementioned issue, the aggrieved parties approached the Kerala State Groundwater Authority to provide them with the justice they deserved. The SGA recommended the constitution of a committee to look into the damages produced by the industrial practices of the Coco-Cola factory. This case is extremely significant as it was the first time an assessment of monetary damages was made regarding groundwater pollution in India. Thereafter, the KGA proposed a bill to resolve the same and sent it for the President’s Assent. The premise of Dr Faizi’s speech was based on three rebuttals made to the Home Ministry on a letter that they sent back to the Kerala Government (concerning the KGA’s proposed bill) detailing the legal opinion of two experts. His first contention was that the argument that the new bill was in repugnance to the National Green Tribunal Act is completely futile as the stipulated time frame of five years had not been taken into account in this clause. Moreover, Dr Faizi elucidated that the legal experts had failed to distinguish between the terms “treaty” and “declaration” when expressing their opinion. Lastly, the legal experts pronounced that the Kerala Government had transferred the authority to formulate legislation to the Centre, however the aforementioned power was only regarding surface water (not groundwater) and solely confined itself to the pollution of surface water without taking into account the management of the same. Dr Faizi helped the audience members understand the gravity of the issue at hand whilst analyzing this legal hindrance from not only a national platform, but an international one as well by comparing the legal framework pertaining to groundwater in India with that of other countries.
The second speaker in this session was Advocate Shyama Kuriakose who helped give the audience a brief overview of the current legal scenario with regard to ground water in India. In her presentation, Ms. Kuriakose delved into the various acts currently being implemented with regard to groundwater such as the Easements Act 1882, Water (Prevention & Control) on Pollution Aid Act 1974, Environment Protection Act 1986, Water Cess (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1997, Groundwater (Control & Regulation) Bill 2011, Draft National Water Policy 2012 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act 1956. Thereafter, she analyzed the various water related programmes, recent developments in the water sector and all the governmental institutions accountable in India with regard to water. Ms. Shyama Kuriakose proposed the alternative of an Incentive Based Mechanism system as one possible solution whereby the final consumers are cautioned about the importance and scarcity of this valuable resource thereby bridging the gap between the source and the destination.
After Ms. Kuriakose finished her speech, the floor was opened to paper presentations wherein the audience was treated to a wide array of views and opinions on the subject at hand. The following topics were presented in this session:
SESSION 2 - Legal
Aspects of Groundwater Conservation
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Name of the student
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Title of the paper
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1.
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Meenakshi Mandal & Sayantani Sen
Law Clerks, National Green Tribunal
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The Groundwater
Debacle - Fights for Restoration and Remediation
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2.
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Dr. Aneesh
V Pillai
Asst.
Professor of Law, CUSAT, Kochi
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Ownership of Ground Water in India: A
Critical Appraisal of Existing Legal Position
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3.
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Prakriti Kalyanpur
Asst. Professor of Law, Reva University,
Bangalore
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Groundwater
Pollution: Legal And Institutional Framework in India.
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4.
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Mohanraj T
P
Faculty,
MES College of Law, Aluva
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Legal Frame Work to Prevent Ground Water
Depletion in India: An Overview
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5.
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Veena Roshan Jose
Asst. Professor, Bharata Mata School of
Legal Studies, Aluva
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Groundwater
Management: Problems & Perspectives
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6.
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Dr. D
Rangaswamy & Sonal Tiwary
Asst. Professor
of Law & 3rd year law student, Karnataka State Law University
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Critical
Analysis of Ground Water Governance in Karnataka
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7.
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Akshay Pavan
Law student, CUSAT, Kochi
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8.
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Shreya
Shrivastava
Law
student, HNLU, Raipur
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Groundwater: A Few Ignored Issues
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9.
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Apoorva Roy & Rinky Dixit
LL.M
students, HNLU, Raipur
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Strengthening
the Groundwater Legislation and Ensuring its Effective Implementation in
India
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10.
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Gayathri Muraleedharan
3rd year
law student, Maharajas Law College, Kochi
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Role of Local Self
Government in Protecting Traditional Water Resources.
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11.
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Niharika Verma & Samiksha Chathurvedi,
3rd year law student, RMNLU, Lucknow
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Ground
Water Situation In India: Problems and Perspective
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12.
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Priya R,
Research
Associate, NUALS
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Ground Water Conservation in the State of
Kerala: Legal Perspective
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The various paper presentations helped the audience view the issue at hand from several perspectives and dimensions. The speakers elucidated not only the legal and social obstacles faced by groundwater in India today but also proposed several solutions to resolve the same. Session two of the National Seminar on the Conservation, Preservation and Regulation helped lay the foundation and acted as ballast for the last session of the seminar which delved into the social aspects of groundwater conservation.
The 3rd and last session is Chaired by one of India’s best known evangelists for environmental management Prof. M.K.Prasad. Unlike the previous sessions, it dealt with the Social aspects of Groundwater Conservation. The papers presented in this session were as follows:
SESSION 3 -
Social Aspects of Groundwater Conservation
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Name of the student
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Title of the paper
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1.
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Anto Sebastian & Albin Anto,
Asst. Professor of Law, Christ University,
Bangalore and 1st year law student, Cooperative School of Law, Thodupuzha
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Groundwater
and Human Rights: The Myths and Realities
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2.
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Anant
Joshi & Shreya Shrivastava,
Law
Students, HNLU, Raipur
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Corporate Conflicts with Human Rights and
Water
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3.
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Arya Anil & Syama K,
Law students, Christ University, Bangalore
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Groundwater
Exploitation: A Clarion Call for Human Rights
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4.
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Sudhanshu
Prakash
4th year law
student, CUSAT, Kochi
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Role of Community Based Organisations in
the Groundwater Management
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5.
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Aswathy Sukumaran Ettungapady,
3rd year law student, Govt. Law College, Kochi
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Role of
NGOs in groundwater management
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6.
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Ancy
Varghese,
2nd year
law student, NUALS, Kochi
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Individual Responsibility in Conservation of
Groundwater Resources
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7.
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Diwakar Adari & Pramitha Mukherjee
DSNLU, Vishakhapatnam
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Regulation
of Groundwater in India
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8.
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Shayamvar
Deb & Shubham Singh
5th year and 2nd year law students, MATS University, Chhattisgarh
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Ground Water Pollution and Contamination
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9.
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Vinayak Padmakshan & Charles Kanatt,
3rd year law students, Christ University,
Bangalore
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Legal
Implication of Rationing of Groundwater
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10.
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Malavika J
Research
Associate, NUALS
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Groundwater Pollution: A Major Challenge
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11.
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Uma Devi,
Research Associate, NUALS, Kochi
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Groundwater
Exploitation and Management Strategies.
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The valedictory address of the seminar was delivered by Dr. V. S. Sebastian, Dean of School of Legal Studies, CUSAT.