Mint Explainer: A panacea for the rivers of India’s Seven Sisters resurfaces
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Five years ago, the Union government decided to establish a water resources management authority with sprawling ambitions for India’s northeastern states. It would oversee water-related projects in the region, which has several crucial rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Manas, and Teesta, originating from or flowing to India’s northeastern neighbours.
The North East Water Management Authority, or Newma, was meant to manage all projects related to hydropower, agriculture, biodiversity conservation, flood control, inland water transport, forestry, fishery, and eco-tourism in the northeastern states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim. Newma was also meant to help spearhead India’s efforts to establish prior user rights to water from rivers originating in China. In these past five years, though, Newma hasn’t made it off the drawing board for various political and administrative reasons.
Government officials now say the proposed water resources authority is back on the priority list. Also read | Urban flooding havoc: Dig deeper for root causes The North East Water Management Authority will replace the Brahmaputra Board after parliamentary approvals, two officials said. Cabinet notes and a draft bill to establish the new entity have been prepared, which will likely be tabled in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha in the coming winter session, they said.
The officials added that Assam, Sikkim and West Bengal, which were not on board earlier have now agreed to the establishment of the new water resources body. West Bengal, on India’s east, shares the waters of its neighbouring northeastern states. “Due to political shifts in some northeastern
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