Kolkata, March 12 (IANS) A top American researcher has questioned the scientific accuracy of environmental impact assessment reports for India's hydropower projects, criticising the process behind environmental clearances as being "manipulative".
Kelly D. Alley, a professor of anthropology, Auburn University, U.S. has carried out research in northern India for over twenty years, focusing on public culture and environmental issues.
"I took two sets of hydropower cases that are important projects -the Subansiri and Dibang projects in north east India.
"My paper questions the EIA and the processes... how those (environmental) clearances are obtained. Basically the clearance process is corrupt in terms of rent-seeking. I wanted to highlight the clearance processes are manipulated so that in this dangerous situation we should do a better job," Alley told IANS here, after the study was released.
Alley is the author of books such as 'On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River' that explores Hindu interpretations of the sacred river Ganga in the light of environmental problems.
Some of her other notable publications include 'Water Wealth and Energy in the Indian Himalayas' and 'The Developments, Policies and Assessments of Hydropower in the Ganga River Basin' among others, a result of her work in the Brahmaputra basin and in Varanasi.
She was in the city as part of a delegation for the two-day 'Building Pan Asian Connectivity' conference. Alley released her paper titled 'Challenges for hydropower governance in Brahmaputra basin: Informality, Documentality and Citizen Mandamus' which will be part of a book and will be put in the public domain soon.
"I have shown some of the issues involved in clearing the projects such as forest, environmental clearances and the processes... the steps that a company would have to go through to get it approved and cleared for construction.
"It's not a completely scientific process and many people have questioned the quality of environmental impact assessments (EIA)," she said on Wednesday.
Citing the example of the devastating 2014 Uttarakhand floods and glacial lake outburst in Kedarnath, Alley said the way ahead is to incorporate scientific methods to plan sites of dams.
"When you have so much rain and have it mixed with this glacial melt, it just puts a lot of pressure on the dam and you have rocks and boulders getting shoved down the river bed... it's going to ruin the dam and create blockages," she explained.
To counter the potential hazards, the researcher stressed that 'lot of good science and clean science (not politically motivated) has to go into figuring out how to site dams properly and what are the best locations ecologically, in terms of water cycle for people etc."
"It all comes back to the regulatory process," she pointed out.
The other aspect, according to Alley, is to focus on climate-friendly infrastructure.
"You have the condition of more extreme floods happening. So you have to make sure that whatever infrastructure you built, it can somehow adapt to those conditions and you need some good science, engineers who are thinking about infrastructure adaptable to climate change etc.," she added.
Festival Sale: Flipkart's Diwali Sale offers great offers on these smartphones, buy phones at low prices
In this festive season, the sale of the e-commerce platform Flipkart continues. Previously, where customers bought fiercely in the company Big Billion Days Sale, now Diwali Sale is also going to start
4 lakh people affected by rain-floods in Odisha: Rescue of 10 fishermen stranded in the sea in Gujarat's Valsad; Chhattisgarh lost contact with Andhra-Telangana
Rain continues in many states of the country. Due to heavy rains in Odisha for two days, many districts are affected by floods. 4.67 lakh people are affected due to rain-flood in the state. The Banas
Vaibhav Suryavanshi smashed two sixes in the third youth ODI, a record anyone would dream of breaking.
Indian Under-19 team's explosive opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi missed out on a big innings in the third Youth ODI against Australia on Friday. He was bowled by Charles Lachmond on the first ball of the
Germany will change visa rules: Indians will get more opportunities, hope bound between job cuts in America
Germany, the world's 5th largest economy, is looking for skilled migrants. The German government is all set to open its doors to skilled professionals who can contribute to the development of the
Firing in US park for the second time in 4 days: 2 killed in Los Angeles; 2 people including a 6-year-old girl were killed in Iowa
In the US, there was a shooting in the city of San Pedro near Los Angeles. A police officer said the firing took place during a car show held at Peck Park. 2 people died in the incident. 5 people are
Corona in India: Research claims, Covid-19 virus is becoming more dangerous by changing form
Mumbai
IPL: Shreyas is the first captain to take three teams to the finals; Know when the same teams clashed in Q1 and title matches
Punjab Kings team has reached the final of IPL 2025. It defeated Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the IPL Qualifier-2 match on Sunday. With Punjab's victory, it was decided that a new team would
Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games: Helen Jones will clash with Nikhat Zareen in boxing at 10:30 pm, and Lovlina will enter the boxing ring at 12:30 pm
Today is the sixth day of the Commonwealth Games. The whole of India will once again expect medals from the players. Nikhat Zareen and Helen Jones will face each other in the minimum weight of
IPL 2025: Mumbai captain Hardik is happy after scoring a four off victory, said- I am happy that the team is going in the right direction
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya is very happy after winning four consecutive matches in IPL 2025. On Wednesday, the Mumbai team defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets. After this victory,
The government knew for three years that there were threats from these 59 apps from China, but banned them for sending messages 14 days after Galvan's clash.
New Delhi. Some 1500 years ago there was a philosopher in China. The name was Lao Tsu. They used to say- The journey of thousands of miles starts with a small step. India too has started a long
