Why are Indian rivers facing danger?

S Venkateshwari
Why are indian rivers facing danger?

India's rivers are facing serious threats from the climate crisis, indiscriminate dam construction and the increasing shift towards hydropower, as well as local factors like sand mining. Most of the longest rivers are drying up rapidly due to dams and development projects. Today, about 96 percent of India's rivers are in the range of 10 km to 100 km. At the same time, the longest rivers are in the range of 500-1000 km. india needs long rivers.

According to environmental experts, the biggest reason for the increasing water crisis in the country is the loss of ponds. india, a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, is losing its ponds due to climate change, pollution, anthropogenic activities, crowded areas and people's behavior. Groundwater depletion is also one of the major reasons and overexploitation has negatively affected the situation.

According to the june 2018 niti aayog Comprehensive Water Management Index report, per capita water availability in india was 1,820 cubic meters in 2001, which decreased to 1,545 cubic meters by 2011. The same report predicts that this number may reach 1,340 by 2025 and 1,140 cubic meters by 20230.

Impact on sowing of grains

Niti Aayog's 2019 report says that about 74 percent of wheat cultivation area and 65 percent of rice cultivation area will data-face severe water shortage by 2030. Even though the country's budget has a plan to "supply piped water to all rural households by 2024" to solve water problems, planning a water budget becomes difficult due to the water consumption in India. About 80 percent of the country's annual rainfall occurs between june and September, and the heaviest rainfall during those months lasts for about 25 days. This means that about a seventh of the country is affected by flooding during the most intense periods of rain.

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