Brahmaputra Board's lessons for NEWMA

The establishment of a North East Water Management Authority (NEWMA) is pushed by the Central and the state governments to be the panacea for Assam's twin problem of flood and erosion. Unless active cooperation of all basin states is ensured, the proposed body may also end up like the ineffective Brahmaputra Board having a similar mandate. The Ministry of Law currently examining the draft bill along with draft cabinet notes related to the establishment of the NEWMA has brightened the Assam government's hope for the introduction of the bill in the parliament at the earliest. The draft NEWMA bill proposes to include management of Brahmaputra and Barak River Basin as a single system and in an ecologically sustainable manner as common pool community resource held by the basin states, under the public trust doctrine to achieve food security, livelihood support, and ensure equitable and sustainable development. It also proposes that basin states shall in their respective territories develop, manage and regulate the waters of an inter-state river basin equitably and sustainably, provided that the determination of optimum utilization of waters and adequate river flows shall be as per the river basin Master Plan. Thirdly, demand management of water shall be given priority, which economises on water use, maximizes value from water and brings in maximum efficiency in the use of water resources. The NEWMA will have two-tier arrangements comprising a Governing Council under the chairmanship of Union Minister of Jal Shakti and co-chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog and an Executive Board under the chairmanship of Chief Executive Officer of the authority. The proposed authority will be set up for integrated management of water resources for the entire Northeast region, Sikkim and Brahmaputra basin of West Bengal. The draft bill was circulated to all States concerned, NITI Aayog and related central ministries and a conference of Chief Ministers and ministers of the northeast region was held, and the consultation process primarily remained confined to state governments and central ministries and NITI Aayog details of which are not available in the public domain for experts to articulate a nuanced view. Lack of transparency in the consultation process has triggered doubts over NEWMA overcoming the challenges that posed impediments before the Brahmaputra Board and prevented it from playing its role for which it was set up. The stated Mission of the Brahmaputra Board is regulation and development of Inter-State Brahmaputra and Barak River Valley by planning and such other measures to achieve development and utilization of water resources of Brahmaputra. The vision of the board is integrated management of flood and river basins of interstate / international rivers of the northeast region by "involving expertise of domain experts, state of art knowledge and technology, working closely with State Governments and other stakeholders." The Brahmaputra Board is a statutory body and it was also set up under an Act of parliament- The Brahmaputra Board Act, 1980 and its jurisdiction cover the same geographic areas proposed to be covered by the NEWMA. The Establishment of the board raised hopes for a permanent solution to Assam's twin problem of flood and erosion, but the bitter truth has been revealed in a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources that as against the sanctioned strength of 161 technical posts, almost 38% posts are lying vacant, and in respect of non-technical Posts, out of 254, 66% posts are lying vacant. "The huge shortage of manpower adversely affects the proper functioning of the Board. Keeping in view the paramount importance of the Brahmaputra Board for management of floods and erosion in the North-East region, the Committee recommend the Department to fill up all the vacant posts on a priority basis to augment the manpower in the Board for enabling its smooth functioning," states the report. When the problem of flood and erosion have aggravated in Assam and other states over the past few decades, Master Plans prepared by the Brahmaputra Board undertaking painstaking research and scientific surveys of the river basins remained unimplemented. The Master Plan prepared by envisaged construction of multipurpose dams and water resources project for flood moderation, irrigation and other uses but Government of India, as well as Arunachal Pradesh prioritizing exploitation of hydropower potential of torrential tributaries of the Brahmaputra, the idea of multipurpose dams, were shelved, and flood management and anti-erosion projects of the Brahmaputra Board were reduced to piecemeal projects. While the Brahmaputra Board is blamed for the failure to deliver on its mandate, successive Central Governments abdicating their responsibilities of delegating financial and other autonomy to the Board for implementing the Master Plans for integrated flood and basin management is often brushed under the carpet. Transparency and extensive public consultations on the mandate and power of NEWMA are essential to ensure that the proposed body is not handicapped by the same deficiencies.