National Seminar On Advances In Irrigation Technologies, Management Held In Guwahati

Guwahati: A National Seminar on "Advances in Irrigation Technologies and Management" has been organized on November 30 at the Assam Water Center, Guwahati. The event was conducted by the North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM) in collaboration with Central Water Commission, Central Ground Water Board, Brahmaputra Board, National Institute of Hydrology, ICAR, the Irrigation Department of Assam, and the National Water Academy, among others.

Speaking to Business North East (BNE), NERIWALM Director Pradip Kumar Bora said, “This seminar focuses on recent advances in the irrigation sector. It is not solely a NERIWALM initiative but a collaborative effort. We have invited experts and guests from various fields, including the water resources department of Maharashtra, professors from academia, and officers from irrigation departments.”

NERIWALM, a Government of India institution under the Central Water Commission, provides training to engineers, NGOs, and farming communities. The institute also collaborates internationally, with ties to Bhutan for training officers in hydrometry. “The Ministry of External Affairs assigned us to provide training under the Mekong–Ganga Cooperation initiative. Last year, we trained participants from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam,” Pradip Kumar Bora added.

Highlighting NERIWALM's facilities and contributions, the director noted the establishment of an international hostel and the institute’s commitment to free training programs funded entirely by the Government of India. “More than 70% of freshwater is consumed for irrigation purposes, and we train about 3,000 individuals annually,” he further stated.

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Emphasizing the institute’s work on critical issues affecting the Northeast region, he revealed that in 2004, NERIWALM identified the presence of arsenic in groundwater in the Northeast. "We submitted a report to the Government of India, which then acted on the findings,” he told BNE. Meanwhile, the seminar served as a platform for knowledge exchange and discussions on advancing irrigation technologies for sustainable water management in the region.