By Sanjay Kumar
Three organizations of the Ministry of Water Resources - Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Central Soil and Materials Research Station (CSMRS) and National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) are fully devoted to research and development in the water sector.
CWPRS is the premier national institute for research in the area of hydraulics of water resources structures related to irrigation, hydropower, navigation, coastal works and related instrumentation. CSMRS is involved in research related to construction materials, concrete technology, geophysics, rock mechanics, soil mechanics and rock fill testing technology. NIH is devoted to systematic and scientific studies in all aspects of hydrology with the objective of improving the present practices in planning, design and operation of water resources projects.
Promotion of Research in Water Sector
The Ministry provides financial assistance by way of grants to academicians/experts in the Universities, IITs, recognized research and development laboratories/institutes, Water Resources/Irrigation Departments of the Central and State Governments in the country and NGOs for carrying out research and studies related to water resources sector. Research proposals of applied nature as well as basic research are considered for financial assistance.
Research and Development Division under the Policy and Planning Wing of the Ministry coordinates the programme for providing financial assistance for research and development. Considering the wide range of topics covered under water resources engineering, five Indian National Committees (INCs) namely INCH (Hydraulics), INCOH (Hydrology), INCID (Irrigation and Drainage), INCGE (Geo-Technical Engineering) and INCCMS (Construction Materials & Structures) have been constituted to provide necessary technical and advisory support for the implementation of R&D Programme. The Members of these Committees are drawn from various Central and State government Agencies as well as experts from academic and research organizations.
Indian National Committee On Hydraulic Research (INCH)
The Indian National Committee on Hydraulic Research was constituted in the year 1990, and is the apex body in hydraulics with the responsibility of co-coordinating various research activities in the field of management of floods, hydraulic structures, river and estuarine hydraulics, river morphology, ground water hydraulics, instrumentation for seismic and geophysical measurements, open channel flow, pipe flow, hydraulic machinery, city water supply and ports and harbours. During the year 2007-08, 21 research schemes were under implementation.
Indian National Committee On Hydrology (INCOH)
Indian National Committee on Hydrology (INCOH) was constituted in the year 1982 and is located atNIH Roorkee. It is the apex body looking after hydrology, both surface and ground water with the responsibility of co-coordinating various research activities in the field of meteorology, surface water hydrology, evaporation control ground water hydrology and management, instrumentation, real time systems, application of GIS and remote sensing.
