discipline of the project

8/13/2019 Discipline of the Project

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Discipline of the project: Sponsored Research Programme onUttarakhand

Title: A study on Socio-psychological impact of Uttarakhand flooddisaster

Aim of the Project: The broad Aim of the project emphasiing theo!erall thrust of the proposed in!estigation should be clearlymentioned"

Statement of the Problem: The problem to be in!estigated should beclearly conte#tualied in the theoretical frame$ork of the discipline"%!er!ie$ of &iterature:

To avert another Uttarakhand-type catastrophe, we must change course. We should

stop pandering to the Indian elite's insatiable appetite for electricity, which isdriving reckless dam construction, says raful !idwai

It will take years to roll back the physical, psychological, social, economic and ecologicaldamage wrought by the terrible floods in Uttarakhand, which killed more than 1,000

people. The deeper causes of this epic tragedy were not natural, but manmade. Theyensured that cloudbursts and heavy rainfall, which routinely occur in Uttarakhand's upper

hills, turned into a catastrophe.

The causes include official policies and governance failures aggressive promotion and

runaway growth of tourism! unchecked, unplanned development of roads, hotels, shops,

mines and multi"storeyed housing in ecologically fragile areas! and above all, the planneddevelopment of scores of environmentally destructive hydroelectricity dams.

This was an invitation to calamity. #y past e$perience as a member of the ministry of

environment and forests' e$pert appraisal committee on river valley pro%ects confirms thecontribution of dams, which is further discussed below.

True, Uttarakhand's worst"affected areas e$perienced heavy rainfall of &0"&(0

millimetres within ) hours on *une 1+"1(, leading to flash floods. ut this was far from

unprecedented. Uttarakhand has recently recorded single"day rainfall in e$cess of 00mm several times, including -0 mm in 1-, and 00 mm in 1+-. /loudbursts, floods

and rapid swelling of rivers too arent uncommon.

This time, however, the floodwaters, laden with lakhs of tonnes of silt, boulders anddebris from dam construction, found no other outlet than hundreds of villages and towns.

ome buildings were covered under several feet of mud.

2ggravating this were two huge downpours of water and rocks from the high mountains,

in all probability caused by glacier lake outburst floods 34567s8, which deluged


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9edarnath. 4567s, or the e$plosive bursting of glacier lakes, are a conse:uence of

human"induced climate change, which is causing rapid glacier melting in the ;imalayas.

2n early warning system, effective evacuation plans, and a responsive disastermanagement system would have prevented a massive loss of precious life. ut they

weren't in place "" another governance failure. o evacuation plan was drawn up for Uttarakhand's vulnerable districts despite theirrecent history of disasters, including earth:uakes and floods. 2s the /omptroller and

2uditor 4eneral pointed out this past 2pril, the Uttarakhand ?isaster #anagement

2uthority, formed in 6ctober )00(, has never met or formulated @rules, regulations,

polices or guidelines@.

/learly, no lessons have been learnt either from the great earth:uakes of Uttarkashi

3118 and /hamoli 31A8, or recent ma%or flash foods and other monsoon"related

disasters in Uttarkashi and 46 Feople's cienceInstitute, another +A0 dams are in various stages of commissioning, construction or

planning.

uch pro%ects involve drilling huge tunnels in the hills by blasting rocks, placing

enormous turbines in the tunnels, cutting down forests to build water channels, roads,townships and other infrastructure, and laying transmission lines by other destructive

methods. #any dams are built on the same river so close to one another that they leave

no scope for the river's regeneration.

;ydroelectric dams steal water from people. They cause enormous destruction

throughout their lifecycle, from intrusive construction, mining of building materials from

riverbeds, muck disposal, debris dumping, and altering the hydrological cycle and


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changing the natural course of rivers. Thus Uttarakhand's (0 completed dams have led to

interference with +0 kilometres of river water flows, e:uivalent to half the length of the

state's ma%or rivers.

;ydroelectric dams have a profoundly negative impact on geology, especially in a

;imalayan hill state like Uttarakhand. To appreciate this, it's important to note thatgeologically, Uttarakhand is e$tremely fragile, being part of the world's youngest

mountain range. #uch of the state lies in the seismically @most active@ Gones IH and H,with high tectonic activity that can suddenly alter the contours of land and the course of

rivers. This greatly increases Uttarakhand's disaster potential.

The state is prone to high"intensity rainfall events, including cloudbursts, flash floods andlandslides. 2s outh 2sia >etwork on ?ams,


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nearly 10,000 hectares of land in this small state, and submerge more than &,+00 hectares

of forests.

2ll these reports were ignored. It's not %ust the Uttarakhand government, but the /entre,too, that's to blame for this. The #oC7 has reduced the environmental impact assessment

and appraisal processes to a farce. It routinely re%ects the recommendations of thestatutory 7orest 2dvisory /ommittee. It recently changed its composition to destroy its

integrity.

In the 10s, when I was on the #oC7 e$pert appraisal committee on river valley

pro%ects, not one of the doBens of pro%ects submitted to us had ade:uate documentation of

impact on forests, wildlife, hydrology or rehabilitation of displaced people. 2ll of themhad to be re%ected. ut the present C2/ has approved all of the )+) pro%ects placed

before it between 2pril )00( and ?ecember )01), without a half"way credible evaluation

of their impact.

The compromised nature of this C2/ is revealed by the fact that its chairman F 2brahamhad to resign in ignominy in )010 because of a flagrant conflict of interest between his

official role and his membership as a director of several hydropower companies being

e$amined by the committee.

7aced with criticism of Upper 4anga pro%ects by environmentalists and affected people,the #oC7 recently appointed an Inter"ministerial 4roup, headed by 9 /haturvedi. This

has produced a wishy"washy report, which fails to analyse, even mention, the destructive

potential of the pro%ects and the region's vulnerability to climate change.

The report does not mandate cumulative impact assessment for all multiple"dam pro%ects,

as distinct from the discrete impact of individual dams. It fails to uphold the basicprinciple that all rivers must be allowed to regenerate themselves by having a free"

flowing length of five km between two dams.

To avert another Uttarakhand"type catastrophe, we must change course. Ee should stoppandering to the Indian elite's insatiable appetite for electricity, which is driving reckless

dam construction. 2ll dams should be stringently reviewed for environmental soundness.

Until then, there must a moratorium on further construction.

The problem identified should be logically linked to other studies on

the theme in the literature delineating the need for the presentin!estigation"'onceptual (rame$ork: The concepts to be used) their rele!ance andapplicability to the study and their operationalisation should beindicated"


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Research *uestions or +ypotheses: The research ,uestions to beans$ered addressed need to be une,ui!ocally stated"

Research Methodology

(a)'o!erage: The proposal should clearly indicate the uni!erse

of the study) sampling frame) sampling methods) sampling sie) unitsof obser!ation etc"

(b)Data 'ollection: The proposal should indicate sources of data typesof data) tools and techni,ues for collection of !arious categories ofproposed data"

(c)Data Analysis: .t should indicate the statistical techni,ues) if any)proposed to be used in data processing) specific packages for dataanalysis) content analysis) indicesscaling techni,ues proposed to beused etc"

.mplications: The proposal should state $hether this research $ouldbring forth any implications for policy making either for the regionconcerned or the country) any methodological inno!ations orcontribute to theory building"References: The proposal should include a /&ist of References/mentioned in the te#t along $ith other important recent additions tothe literature on the theme" The references should indicate the author)title) publisher and year of publication"

Duration of the Project: The durationof the project can be estimateddepending upon the scope and sie of the project but should notexceed two years" .t should indicate the time needed for !arioustasks such as preparation of schedules) pilot study 0if any1) datacollection) data analysis) report $riting etc"Personnel : .t should indicate the number and category of personnelneeded for !arious tasks) their ,ualifications and the man-monthsneeded $ith ade,uate justification"2udget: This should indicate the cost of personnel) tra!el 0 no" of days

and places $ith justification1) data processing) stationery and printing)books) journals) e,uipment) contingency and any other items"Summary: Five copies of Summary of the Research Proposal 0about344 $ords1indicating the statements of the problem) objecti!e of thestudy) research ,uestions or hypothesis or both) sample sie 0if any1and research methodology should be pro!ided"

N.. (Kindly note that all the documents should be typed or word


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processed (font:Tohima. size 12 point), singlesided, one and a halfspace on !"(#$ % 11$ or 21.& cm % 2# cm) whight paper. The length ofthe research proposal should not e%ceed eight pages and that of thebiodata two pages.)

discipline of the project

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