28-Mar-2022: Rejuvenation Work of Saraswati River
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed on 21.01.2022 between the Governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for construction of Adi Badri dam on river Somb in Himachal Pradesh, along with its linkages with Sarasvati river. Storage in Adi Badri dam shall be primarily used for revival of river Sarasvati and development of Sarasvati heritages.
Key aspects of the MoU are as below:
- Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited shall be the executing agency for construction of Adi Badri dam and its related infrastructure/ appurtenant works.
- A Committee comprising of Additional Chief Secretary, Irrigation & Water Resources Department, Haryana; Secretary, Jal Shakti Vibhag, Himachal Pradesh; Engineer-in-Chiefs and other representatives of both the States has been constituted for planning, supervising and monitoring of Adi Badri dam.
- The entire funding of the project as provided in the detailed project report (DPR) shall be arranged by Government of Haryana.
- A defined part of the stored water is earmarked for identified drinking water and irrigation requirements of the project affected villages in Himachal Pradesh.
Also, Sarasvati Heritage Development Board has been constituted by Government of Haryana for rejuvenation of Sarasvati river and development of its heritages in the State of Haryana.
Delineation and mapping of the palaeochannels of the Sarasvati river has been carried out by Indian Space Research Organization, Haryana Space Applications Centre, Central Ground Water Board and other scientific organizations. On the basis of revenue records, alignment of Sarasvati river and its tributaries in about 200 km stretch from Adi Badri, Haryana to Ghaggar, Punjab has been identified. The discovered river course has been validated by a variety of scientific data and investigations carried out by various survey agencies.
Many central agencies are contributing for implementation of the project in line with the MoU mentioned in as per details below:
- Central Water Commission (CWC) under this Ministry is working on designs and drawings of Adi Badri Dam, Somb Sarasvati Barrage and Sarasvati Reservoir. In addition, Geological Survey of India, Central Soil & Materials Research Station, Central Water & Power Research Station, and National Institute of Hydrology are providing technical consultancy for the project.
- Comprehensive studies to reconstruct the fluvial history of the palaeocourse of ancient Sarasvati river system in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat has been undertaken by Geological Survey of India.
- Archaeological Survey of India has constituted an Advisory Committee for multidisciplinary study on river Sarasvati. The key activities mandated to the Advisory Committee include defining the Sarasvati river and its basin, identifying special items of geo-technical nature for study of the Sarasvati basin, and to identify archaeological sites and areas for multi-disciplinary research.
In addition, Government of Haryana has constituted a Centre of Excellence for research on Sarasvati river in Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.
14-Mar-2022: Reviving of Saraswati river
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed on 21.01.2022 between the Governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for construction of Adi Badri dam on river Somb in Himachal Pradesh, and its related infrastructure/ appurtenant works. Water stored in the dam is primarily to be used for revival of river Sarasvati. Key aspects of the MoU are as below:
- Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited shall be the executing agency for construction of Adi Badri dam and its related infrastructure/ appurtenant works.
- A Committee comprising of Additional Chief Secretary, Irrigation & Water Resources Department, Haryana; Secretary, Jal Shakti Vibhag, Himachal Pradesh; Engineer-in-Chiefs and other representatives of both the States, has been constituted for planning, supervising and monitoring of Adi Badri dam.
- The entire funding of the project as provided in the detailed project report (DPR), shall be arranged by Government of Haryana.
- Water stored by construction of Adi Badri dam on river Somb shall be primarily used for revival of river Sarasvati and development of Sarasvati Heritages. However, a defined part of the stored water is earmarked for drinking water and irrigation requirements of the project affected villages in Himachal Pradesh.
10-Feb-2022: Revival of Saraswati river
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed on 21.01.2022 between the Governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for construction of Adi Badri Dam on River Somb in Himachal Pradesh, along with its linkages with Saraswati River. As per the MoU, a Committee comprising of senior officials from the two States has been constituted for planning, supervising and monitoring of the dam. Further, Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited has been identified as executing agency for construction of the dam and its related infrastructure/ appurtenant works. The MoU also stipulates that the funds for the project are to be arranged by Government of Haryana.
On request of the Government of Haryana, Central Water Commission (CWC) has taken up consultancy work for design and drawings along with hydrological studies including water availability, design flood and sedimentation studies of the project.
The water stored by construction of Adi Badri Dam is planned primarily for revival of River Saraswati and development of Saraswati heritage. Further, the project envisages providing 61.88 hectare-metre water per annum for drinking and irrigation in the State of Himachal Pradesh.
12-Jan-2022: River Saraswati played critical role in India’s civilisational existence: Shri Sanjeev Sanyal
Renowned personalities from various walks of life addressed at the first day of National Youth Festival 2022 today and offered valuable insights into their areas of expertise.
Asserting that understanding the close link between geography and civilisation, noted economist, author and historian Sanjeev Sanyal today highlighted the critical role River Saraswati played in our civilisational existence. “There is a close link between our geography and our civilization. This helps us to understand the fundamentals of our ancient civilization,” Mr Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India, said speaking at the National Youth Festival 2022 on the topic “Saraswati-The River That Gave Birth to Indian Civilization”.
Talking about the forgotten and lesser known history of River Saraswati and a critical role it played in our civilisational existence, he quashed some of the persistent myths about India. He spoke about the “actual proof of the River Saraswati as referenced across ancient Hindu texts.” He also showed actual maps and satellite imagery to buttress his viewpoint. He also spoke of the “Sapt Sindhu” and the rise of the Indic civilization.
During another session, captain of the Indian Women’s Hockey team Rani Ramphal had a word of advice for youth of India - strive for fitness as good health is a very important for all, not only sportspersons. “Health is a very important thing for all of us. Not only for sportspeople, but also for all of us…youth,” the Padma Shri awarded hockey player added. Rani Rampal, who shared the vision of the Indian Women’s Hockey team to push forward in the upcoming Olympic Games and spoke at length about her own journey as a sportsperson, thanked the Ministry of Sports for training world class athletes for the country by providing all possible support and better infrastructure. Rani said, “We are lucky to live in an environment where sporting talent is being nurtured in the country. All credit goes to our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Sports Ministry for the best performance of Indian Contingent and winning more medals for the country in Olympics.”
Founder and CEO of financial technology company Paytm, Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma asserted that India can offer to the world about how to make entrepreneurship ventures successful with “optimisation and frugality”. “Indian entrepreneurship can teach a lot to the world about optimisation and frugality as we all operate with limited resources and options…It is a big learning which we (Indian entrepreneurs) can offer to the world,” Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma said while speaking on the topic “What India Can Teach the World About Global Entrepreneurship” at the National Youth Festival 2022.
Speaking about his own experiences of growing up from humble background, Shri Vijay Shekhar said, “I am fortunate that this festival has given a platform to entrepreneurs like me to speak directly to the youth. I am grateful to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Union Minister Shri Anurag Thakur to bring such an incredible event of such magnitude for the youth.”
The Virtual National Youth Festival 2022 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Union Minister Shri Anurag Thakur in collaboration with the host - Government of Puducherry on 12th January, 2022. Taking into account the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival is a historic event being conducted as a virtual experience for the young audience - logging on from varied remote geographies and locations in India. The two-day festival is being hosted under the vision of the Prime Minister to forge a new India and harness the power of youth. The summit features contemporary themes like Environment and Climate Change Leadership, Tech, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Indigenous and Ancient Wisdom and National Character, Nation Building and Homegrown Intellectuals.
The summit witnessed personalities like Conservationist - Hans Dalal, Randeep Hooda, Historians like Sanjiv Sanyal and Hindol Sengupta who has written a biography on Swami Vivekananda, Manoj Kumar - a development economist turned agriculturist teamed up with stalwarts from the entrepreneurial world like Founder and CEO of Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Shri Dushyant Shridhar - who delved into Vedic wisdom for the young audience to deliver the doctrines and foundational principles of Brand New India.
24-Mar-2022: Increase In Temperature of Ocean Surface
In the recent decades tropical Indian Ocean has experienced a rapid increase in ocean warming with an average rise in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) of about 1oC over the period of 1951-2015 at a rate of 0.15oC/decade. In addition, a recent study by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences has investigated the marine heatwaves. The study shows that the western Indian Ocean had a total of 66 Marine Heat Wave (MHW) events while the Bay of Bengal had 94 events during 1982–2018.The western Indian Ocean region experienced a four-fold rise in marine heatwaves events (increasing at a rate of 1.5 events per decade) and the north Bay of Bengal experience a two-to-three fold rise (at a rate of 0.5 events per decade).
In the year 2021, there were 6 marine heatwaves recorded in the western Indian Ocean over a period of 52 days. In the north Bay of Bengal, there were 4 marine heatwaves over a period of 32 days. These heatwaves did not break all previous records but were above normal. The western Indian Ocean heatwaves in 2021 were in the top four years in terms of the number of events.
The monsoon forecast models used by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) incorporates the ocean surface temperatures as input data. These forecasts can be used for advance planning and disaster management.
24-Mar-2022: Pacer Initiative
Polar Science and Cryosphere Research (PACER) scheme comprising the Antarctic program, Indian Arctic program, Southern Ocean program and Cryosphere and Climate program is implemented successfully through National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Major achievements of the PACER scheme in the recent three years are as follows:
Executed 39th& 40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. 41st Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica is ongoing. Ten sediment cores were collected from lakes to reconstruct the past climate associated with the ice-sheet dynamics. Various glaciological and geophysical measurements were carried out in coastal Dronning Maud Land (cDML) to understand the modern snow accumulation patterns around the ice rises and the remote contribution to the glaciochemical processes. In addition, field-based studies were conducted in the lakes of Larsemann hills, East Antarctica for understanding of biogeochemical process in supraglacial environments. Clear-air atmospheric observatories containing automatic weather stations, a suite of sensors to measure aerosol and greenhouse gas concentrations has been established at Maitri and Bharati stations. Analysis of ice cores were carried out to understand dissolved organic carbon pathways and long-term climate variability over Antarctica.
Twenty-three research projects related to glaciology, marine science, polar biology, and atmospheric science were successfully carried out during 2019-20 Arctic Expedition. IndARC mooring system along with Hydrophone system was successfully retrieved and deployed in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Coastal cruises were undertaken in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago to carry out biogeochemical and microbial research in the glacio-marine system. Modelling initiatives were started for various applications using Arctic Regional Ocean Model, Arctic regional atmospheric model with Chemistry module, and Global sea-ice simulations.
Glaciological field campaigns were carried out in six benchmark glaciers in Chandra basin of Lahaul-Spiti region of Western Himalaya. Winter snow accumulation over the glaciers was recorded using snow pits and snow corer. Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey were conducted. Snow, ice, meltwater, water and cryoconite samples were collected from various glaciers and lakes. Two new Automatic Weather Station (AWS) systems were installed at Baralacha La, a high elevation site in the arid Spiti region to strengthen infrastructure across the Chandra basin.
The 11th Indian Southern Ocean Expedition was executed successfully. Various atmospheric, geological, oceanographic and biological measurements were conducted in the Prydz Bay as well as across various fronts of the Southern Ocean. Sediment cores were collected from 13 locations and Argo floats were deployed to measure the different ocean parameters.
The Polar Science and Cryosphere (PACER) scheme has been approved for continuation during 2021-2026.