New Delhi, Delhi, India:
- The Committee will submit the draft report within six months
- Dr. Shah has designed a globally first-of-its-kind Master Program in Water Science and Policy at the Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory (C-PACT), School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SoHSS) at Shiv Nadar University
The Shiv Nadar University, a leading multidisciplinary and research-focused university, today announced that Dr. Mihir Shah, Distinguished Professor at the University has been appointed the Chairman of the Committee to draft the National Water Policy. The committee established by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India will outline the new National Water Policy (NWP) for the country.
The committee comprising 11 members including Dr. Shah will draft the National Water Policy (NWP) and will submit this to the government within six months from the date of its constitution.
The members of the committee include:
- Dr. Mihir Shah, Distinguished Professor, Shiv Nadar University
- Shashi Shekhar, former Secretary, Water Resources, Government of India
- Dr. R.C. Panda, former secretary, Government of India
- A.B. Pandya, former chairman of the Centre Water Commission (CWC)
- Prof. Tushaar Shah, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
- Prof. Anamika Barua, IIT Guwahati
- Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), Pune
- Srinivas Chokkakula, Centre of Policy Research
- B Rath, Technical Expert (Water Management), National Rainfed Area Authority, Development of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare,
- Brijesh Sikka, Retd. Scientist ‘G’, National River Conservation Directorate
- Prof K.J. Joy, Senior Fellow, Society of promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM)
It may be recalled that Dr. Shah was primarily responsible for drafting the paradigm shift in the management of India’s water resources as enunciated in the 12th Five Year Plan, during his tenure as Member, Planning Commission, Government of India from 2009 to 2014. In 2015, In a remarkable continuity of governance, the Government of India appointed Dr. Shah to Chair a Committee for Restructuring the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board. The report of the Committee proposed radical changes in the architecture of water governance in India.
Dr. Mihir Shah, Distinguished Professor & Chair, Water Science and Policy Program Department of Center for Public Affairs and Critical Theory (C-PACT), School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SoHSS) at Shiv Nadar University said, “It is both an honour and a privilege to head the Committee to draft the National Water Policy.
The fact that the Government recognises the need to revise the NWP shows the significance it attaches to reforms in the water sector, which are both long overdue and also critical to the lives and livelihoods of India’s people but also to the very integrity of India’s growth process.”
Describing the process being adopted by his Committee, Dr. Shah said, “It is our endeavour to hold wide ranging consultations with all primary stakeholders, be they State Governments, academia, civil society, industry, farmer’s representatives etc. The consultations so far have revealed how strongly all stakeholders feel about the need for radical reforms in the water sector and the incredible consensus that seems to be emerging around the broad contours of this reform towards greater democratisation, multi-disciplinarity and the need to break down silos into which we have divided water.”
About Shiv Nadar University, National Capital Region (NCR)
Shiv Nadar University, a Shiv Nadar Foundation initiative, is a multidisciplinary, student-centric, research-focused university offering a wide range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. Shiv Nadar University’s multidisciplinary curriculum provides students a strong foundation in disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, technology and engineering studies, communications and management, while enabling them to gain mastery of a subject of their choosing. Taught by world-class faculty, undergraduate education at the University is designed to develop students with the breadth of vision, knowledge, skills and attitudes required to succeed in the careers of the 21st century. Located on a 265-acre campus in India’s National Capital Region, Shiv Nadar University is a private philanthropic institution established in 2011 through an act of the State of Uttar Pradesh.
About Shiv Nadar Foundation
The Shiv Nadar Foundation has been established by Shiv Nadar, Founder, HCL – a $9.3 billion leading technology and healthcare enterprise. The Foundation’s mission is to contribute to the process of national development and social transformation by establishing institutions and undertaking new initiatives in the fields of education and culture. The Foundation is committed to the creation of a more equitable, merit-based society by empowering individuals to bridge the socio-economic divide through philanthropy based transformational education.
The Foundation set up the SSN Institutions in 1996, comprising the SSN College of Engineering (already a highly ranked private engineering college in India), in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Foundation has also set up VidyaGyan, a residential leadership academy for meritorious rural children, at Bulandshar and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh. In addition, the Foundation runs the Shiv Nadar University, an international multidisciplinary university with strong research orientation located in Greater Noida in India’s National Capital Region and the Shiv Nadar School, a network of progressive urban schools across India aimed to provide children with education that creates lifelong learners. The Foundation has also set up the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India’s largest private philanthropic museum in modern and contemporary art with the vision to take art to the common public.
