Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe provisions of the Dam Safety bill is proposed to be applied to all specified dams in the country which have height of more than 15 metres, or between 10 metres to 15 metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Responding to the debate on the Dam Safety Bill, 2019, Jal\nShakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the centre has no intention of\ntaking over the powers of state through the draft law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shekhawat said that in 2016, states were consulted on the Dam Safety bill and most agreed that it is better than the 2010 draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister asserted that through the proposed law the\ncentre does not want to take control of the dams, water or power generated by\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also made it clear that there will be no interference on\npart of the centre or the Central Water Commission officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The centre has formulated emergency action plan for 180\ndams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Referring to Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, he said as\nthe state government has cancelled the tender, the cost of the project is\nlikely to go up over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Parliament has the legislative competence to draft\nlaws which relate to public security and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill envisages a two-tier structure at national as well\nstate level to ensure safety of dams in the country, said Jal Shakti Minister\nGajendra Singh Shekhawat while moving the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Observing that safety of dam is extremely important as it\nconcerns lives of people, property and flora and fauna, the Minister said\n“there is a need to have a common protocol for safety of dams in the\ncountry.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 5,745 reservoirs in the country of which 293 are\nmore than 100 years old. The age of 25 per cent of dams is between 50 to 100\nyears and 80 per cent are over 25 years old, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among other things, the bill also seeks to resolve the\ninter-state issues concerning maintenance and safety of dams, he said, adding\nas many as 92 per cent of dams in the country are on inter-state river basins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further said that 40 dams have collapsed in India since\nIndependence and worst such disaster occurred in Gujarat in 1979 leading to\nloss of thousands of lives of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dam collapse always becomes an international issue, he\nsaid, adding it would be a matter of national shame if it is found the collapse\nwas on account of poor maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The present bill is based on the earlier draft bill which\ncould not be pushed in the previous Lok Sabha, he said. It includes various\nsuggestions of the Standing Committee which had scrutinised the earlier bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill, he added, envisages constitution of a National\nCommittee on Dam Safety headed by the Chairman, Central Water Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While supporting the bill, Tajasvi Surya (BJP), however,\nsaid the legislation does not fix accountability if there is failure of\naparticular dam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
G S Damor (BJP) said that India should build big dams taking\ninto consideration demand for large quantity of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel will formulate policies and regulations regarding\ndam safety standards and prevention of dam failures, and analyse causes of\nmajor dam failures and suggest changes in dam safety practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislation also envisages setting up of a National Dam\nSafety Authority to be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Additional\nSecretary, to be appointed by the central government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main task of the National Dam Safety Authority includes\nimplementing the policies formulated by the National Committee on Dam Safety,\nresolving issues between State Dam Safety Organisations (SDSOs), or between a\nSDSO and any dam owner in that state, specifying regulations for inspection and\ninvestigation of dams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NDSA will also provide accreditation to agencies working\non construction, design and alteration of dams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed legislation also envisages constituting a State\nDam Safety Organisation whose functions will be to keep perpetual surveillance,\ninspection, monitoring the operation and maintenance of dams, keeping a\ndatabase of all dams, and recommending safety measures to owners of dams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill provides for two types of offences — obstructing\na person in the discharge of his functions, and refusing to comply with\ndirections issued under the proposed law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As per the provisions of the bill, offenders will be\npunishable with imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine, or both. If the\noffence leads to loss of lives, the term of imprisonment may be extended up to\ntwo years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Offences will be cognisable only when the complaint is made\nby the government, or any authority constituted under the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participating in the debate, Congress leader in Lok Sabha\nAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury said there are still issues to be resolved and urged the\nCentre not to encroach upon the rights of state governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
N K Premachandran (RSP) raised concerns about an additional\nsecretary rank official to be chairman of the Dam Safety Authority and absence\nof an appellate authority, saying the latter issue is against principles of\nnatural justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DMK’s A Raja said the bill is an onslaught on the federal\nstructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mahua Moitra (TMC) said the bill impinges on the powers of\nstates and the federal structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She urged the government not to bring pieces of legislations\nthat ride roughshod over the states’ rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BJP member P P Chaudhary emphasised that Parliament has full\nlegislative power to enact the law on dam safety, amid questions raised by some\nOpposition members on whether Parliament has the legislative competence to\nintroduce the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shirang Barne (Shiv Sena) through the Bill the government\nshould ensure that there is no encroachment on the rights of the states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunil Tatkare (NCP) stated that there were some lacunae in\nthe bill and added that it does not talk about the recovery of minor and medium\ndam projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B Mahtab (BJD) was of the view though the bill was good and\na lot of steps were taken to make it better, still there were many\nincongruities in the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the state should be empowered so that they can take\ncare of themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lok Sabha passes Dam Safety bill to set up an institutional mechanism for surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of specified dams across the country with the centre asserting it has no intention of taking over power of the states. Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2019 The provisions of the Dam Safety bill is proposed to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[342,184],"class_list":["post-4352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs-articles","tag-dam-safety-bill","tag-lok-sabha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4355,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4352\/revisions\/4355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}