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Mihir Shah
Mihir Shah is Chairperson of the National Water Policy Committee. He is a co-founder of Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS), one of India's largest grassroots initiatives for water and livelihood security, which works with 122 partners on a million acres of land across 72 districts in 12 states.
He was adviser to the commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court of India in the Right to Food case from 2002 to 2009. As honorary adviser to the Technical Committee on Watershed Programmes set up by the Government of India in 2006, he was largely responsible for drafting its landmark report that argues for radical reforms in India's watershed sector. In 2007, he co-founded the National Consortium of Civil Society Organizations.
He has combined 20 years of living and working at the grassroots level with academic research, and policy advocacy. He has received national and international recognition for his work, including the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the American India Foundation and the Doreen Mashler Award of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
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India’s new National Water Policy: A paradigm shift
In 2019, the Ministry of Jal Shakti set up a committee of independent experts – led by Dr Mihir Shah – to draft a new National Water Policy. To examine the recommendations made by the Committee, Ashwini Kulkarni speaks with Mihir Shah, beginning with a discussion of the key issues constituting the water crisis facing India today – in terms of dichotomies such as agriculture and industry use, rural and urban issues, quality and quantity of water, and so on. Dr Shah explains how the new Policy is a shift away from a supply-centric approach involving dam construction and groundwater extraction, to the management of the demand and distribution of water. He emphasises the importance of weaving our interventions into the contours of nature, rather than having a “command and control” relationship with nature – a lesson that is especially relevant in Covid times. Within the wider context of climate change, drying rivers and falling water tables, Shah noted that the past is no longer a reliable
India’s new National Water Policy: A paradigm shift
In 2019, the Ministry of Jal Shakti set up a committee of independent experts – led by Dr Mihir Shah – to draft a new National Water Policy. To examine the recommendations made by the Committee, Ashwini Kulkarni speaks with Mihir Shah, beginning with a discussion of the key issues constituting the water crisis facing India today – in terms of dichotomies such as agriculture and industry use, rural and urban issues, quality and quantity of water, and so on. Dr Shah explains how the new Policy is a shift away from a supply-centric approach involving dam construction and groundwater extraction, to the management of the demand and distribution of water. He emphasises the importance of weaving our interventions into the contours of nature, rather than having a “command and control” relationship with nature – a lesson that is especially relevant in Covid times. Within the wider context of climate change, drying rivers and falling water tables, Shah noted that the past is no longer a reliabl