Dr Srinivas Chokkakula’s (President & Chief Executive, CPR and Lead, TREADS) appointment as the Ministry of Jal Sakti (MoJS) Professorial Research Chair — Water Conflicts and Governance established a unique partnership between the Ministry and TREADS. The efforts of the Research Chair led to an MoU with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to pursue a collaborative research programme with two objectives.
One, improve the outcomes of the flagship Namami Gange Programme (NGP), being implemented by NMCG.
Two, support and inform conceptualising a policy and institutional ecosystem for rejuvenating India’s rivers.
More than twenty research projects have been identified to be pursued under the MoU. As part of the first phase, the following research projects have been taken up:
1. Interstate Cooperation for Namami Gange: Policy and Institutional Challenges and Opportunities: The Ganges is a transboundary river shared by 11 basin states. Interstate cooperation is a necessary condition for an enduring impact of the NGP. The research explores the possibilities and potential for interstate cooperation and identifies policy and institutional interventions towards the goal.
2. Master Plan for River-Centric Urban Planning: Limits, Potential, and Opportunities: The Ganges Basin is the fastest urbanising basin in India, with the densest urban agglomerations. Urban areas contribute to significant pollution of the Ganges. The statutory Master Plan is the fundamental instrument shaping urbanisation in India. The legal and instructional structures of statutory master planning predate environmental considerations and risks. The research aims to reimagine the statutory Master Plan as an instrument to accommodate water and environmental considerations.
The project also took up a pilot study, “Reading the Rituals of Maha Kumbh for River Rejuvenation” in the backdrop of the Maha Kumbh 2025. This study looks into rituals as manifestations of the profound relationship between the river and society embedding an ecological ethic and explores ways of mobilising populations towards enduring impact of river rejuvenation efforts.
3. How Relevant are the European River Rejuvenation Experiences for the NGP and Indian Rivers?: The Rhine River experience in Europe is often celebrated as a successful instance of rejuvenation through a collective action of riparian nations. The experience has inspired similar initiatives over other rivers in Europe, like the Elbe and the Danube. The experiences can offer useful lessons for the NGP, especially from the point of political and institutional processes of mobilising collective action for riparian entities. This research pursues the questions of relevance and applicability of European experiences to the Indian context.
