Date:
Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:34:42 +0530
From:
"Rohan DSouza" <virtuallyme@gmail.com>
Subject:
Invitation to CASUMM-NIAS water workshop March 27, 2007
We
invite you for a workshop which CASUMM is organising along with
NIAS
on "Greater Bangalore and Water
Challenges" which is being held
at
the New Faculty Block at NIAS on March 27th 2007 .
The
urban poor and especially those living in slum areas comprising
25
-30 % of Bangalore's population do not have any reliable water
supply
even as other "posh" areas can be considered as water rich.
Many
areas in different parts of Bangalore are already facing serious
water
shortages from the BWSSB supply, while other areas have enough
and
more. The recently created Bruhat Bengaluru only increases these
water
challenges.
In
view of the above, making water available to the urban poor and
other
citizens in both peripheral and inner city parts of the newly
notified
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) assumes great
importance.
In addition to access, delivery of water and sewerage
services
are not necessarily determined by citizens needs but by
various
other factors, including the conditionalities placed on
foreign
loans taken for water projects.
Karnataka
has taken many loans from the World Bank, Asian Development
Bank
etc for urban and rural water supply projects. Many of these loans
have "conditionalities" attached which are agreed by State and
urban
local governments when they sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs)
/ Memorandum of Agreements (MoAs) or contracts with the banks.
Recent
loans taken by the Urban Development Department on behalf of
BWSSB,
from Japan Bank or World Bank, amount to almost Rs 5,000 crs.
How
do these affect the provision of water to the poor and middle classes?
Is there a need to develop a new State level Urban Drinking
Water
and Sanitation Policy more suited to the poor?
How
do we ensure changes in the mechanism of Governance and service
management
which delivers water to ensure greater transparency and civil
society involvement? There is clearly a need for more
transparency
and involvement of civil society and NGOs and CBOs, with
urban
poor membership, in determining the terms of these MoAs. The
proposed
workshop will discuss these issues, review current water
policies,
and make recommendations with the overall aim of moving
towards
equitable access to water supply and services for all.
We
look forward to your participation. For more information see the
workshop
agenda below. Please do confirm your participation by email
to
"Meera Baindur"mansilight@gmail.com.
Best
Wishes,
Lalitha
Kamath, for CASUMM
Workshop
on 'Water Challenges in
Greater Bangalore'
National
Institute of Advanced Studies and CASUMM, Bangalore
27 March 2007, 9.30 am to 5 pm
Tentative
Programme
Welcome
Dr. K.
Kasturirangan,
Director, NIAS
Keynote
address
*Mr. K.
Jairaj,
BBMP Commissioner
Introduction
to
workshop
Vinay Baindur
Session 1. Bangalore and water: the current
scenario
Chair
- *Samuel Paul (Public Affairs Centre)
Historical
and ecological background
Vishwanath (Director,
Rainwater
Club and Trustee, CIVIC)
Bangalore's
water supply, an overview Anand Jalakam (Independent
water
consultant)
Privatisation
and equity
issues
Clifton D Rosario
(Alternative
Law Forum
and
Narmada Solidarity Forum)
Changing
patterns of
usage
*Gopiprasad
(Independent
consultant
GIS
& planning)
Tea
break
Session 2. Governance and institutional
challenges
Chair
– Trilochan Sastry (IIM Bangalore )
Financial
challenges in water
sector Vinay Baindur
(CASUMM)
Governance
issues
Sharadini
Rath
(CBPS)
Presentation
of case study on
pilot
project
Meera Baindur and
friends
(NIAS)
Lunch
break
Session 3. Politics of water and social issues
Chair
- Narender Pani (Economic Times)
The
global experience with water reform Michael Goldman
(
University of Minnesota )
BWSSB
- water resources, access and
Salma Sadika (ex-Social
Development
Unit, accountability
BWSSB)
Tea
break
Session 4. The way ahead
Chair
- TBA
Greater
Bangalore and water
supply TBA
Equity
and water
pricing
Narender Pani
Open
Discussion
Moderated
by A.R. Vasavi (NIAS)
Overview
of issues and open discussion Lalitha Kamath
(CASUMM)
*
Speakers yet to be confirmed
