Mysuru: A  two-week ‘Management Development programme on  Integrated Water Resources Management’ for the Engineers of Water Resources Department, commenced at Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development (V-LEAD) in city on June 19.

The programme was inaugurated by Madhava, Superintending Engineer and Registrar, Advanced Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ACIWRM), Bengaluru.

Speaking on the occasion, he informed that the reservoirs and dams were primarily built for irrigation purposes. However, over a time due to rapid socio-economic developments, the priorities gets changed; it has now gathered adequate scope for Integrated Water Resources Management. As a result of increasing demand, dwindling water resources and  multiplicity of stakeholders, the engineers in the Department are working under  constraints. This programme would help them to develop their capabilities to manage the issues efficiently, he said.

He called upon the participants to actively interact with the resource persons and give suggestions for improvement in the policies and practices.

Dr. P. Somashekar Rao, Director (Technical), ACIWRM, who spoke as the guest of honour, felt that this programme would be significant for building the capacity of Water Resources Department in the State in the context of developing River Basin planning by different States and addressing the issue of Inter-State Water Sharing.  

He traced the development of Integrated Water Resources Management model in the country, drawing from the effective models of Australia and Netherlands. He advised the participants to involve and interact with the faculty and enrich themselves.

Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Founder & President of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), in his presidential address, lauded the initiatives of the Government of Karnataka for establishing ACIWRM.

He felt that the engineers need to understand political economy, anthropology and behaviour sciences for effectively managing the practical aspects in this  multidisciplinary role.

Dr. Balasubramaniam elaborated the salient features of public policy as disclosure based, administratively feasible, implementation practicability and politically marketable. He wished that AICWRM should have a multidisciplinary team.

He asserted that as SVYM believes in developing human and social capital, conducting this programme in V-LEAD is appropriate as ultimately it will have economic  impact on the families, State and the country. “We passionately believe in bringing change in the State and the society at large,” he added.

Dr. M.R. Seetharam, Vice-President of SVYM, proposed a vote of thanks and opined that all aspects of the universe is related and linked to water and there is an increasing need to take care of water resources.