The Art Of Living River Rejuvenation Project

Why in news ?

• The Art of Living, founded by noted Hindu spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi shankar, has found a mention in the ‘Limca Book of Records 2019-India for resolving the country’s severe water crisis through a major river revival drive across four states.
• The Art Of Living is currently working on reviving as many as 40 rivers and its tributaries in four Indian states.
• Major river revival drive across four states and making more water available by raising the water table especially in drought prone regions, benefiting 49.9 lakh people in over 5000 villages.

important points

• In January 2013, The Art Of Living, an NGO, launched a campaign in the river basin of four states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Odisha) to revive 40 rivers and streams, and 26 lakes and ponds of nine river basins…The project will benefit 5,055 villages and impact 4,993,840 people,” the Limca Book Of Records India stated.
• According to The Art Of Living, the gigantic task is carried out through community participation programs, contribution of Art of Living volunteers and over 5000 locals.
• The organisation also highlighted results of an independent, third party impact assessment that demonstrated that the ground water levels in areas with The Art Of Living interventions are 20 per cent higher than those without. Ground water recharge mechanisms have been reinstated leading to availability of water even in peak summers.
• Among the river rejuvenation project that The Art Of Living is currently undertaking includes
• Vedavathi River Rejuvenation, a 150 crore project undertaken under the ambit of MGNREGA scheme.
• Kumudvathi River Rejuvenation aimed at reducing Bangalore city’s water dependence on River Cauvery.
• Manjara River Rejuvenation in Latur in response to the acute water shortage in the city. In the first phase of the project, a 14 km stretch of the Manjara River was de-silted, in a span of merely 5 months, to mitigate the immediate water crisis.
• Palar River Rejuvenation which the organisation claims that when completed will not only bring back water to the parched districts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu but will also create a model in interstate River management. Under this project, 348 sq km of Chikballapur District has already been treated under the project, and the interventions are now being carried out in Kolar district of Karnataka and Vellore district of Tamil Nadu.
• Last year, The Art Of Living in association with Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (RDPR), Department of Karnataka, launched the Cauvery River Rejuvenation Project in Kodagu. Phase one of this project is expected to benefit 1.5 lakh people in 10 gram panchayats.
• The Art of Living is also hoping to take up cleaning up Bengaluru’s frothing lakes. For now, the lakes need government intervention to stop sewage and chemical waste being dumped into them.”

(Environment, Geography)(Economic times)

pic courtesy:Artofliving.org