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Citizen Action Network launched

By Staff reporter

GUWAHATI, June 6 - The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has collaborated with the National Water Mission (NWM), Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD & GR), Government of India, for operationalising �Goal 2� of the National Water Mission.

�Goal 2� concerns �Promotion of citizen and state action for water conservation, augmentation and preservation.�

NWM-TISS formally launched �Taranga�, a Citizen Action Network on the occasion of World Environment Day at B Borooah College on Sunday.

�Taranga� is a platform that will connect multi-stakeholder participants with the larger River Basins India Network of NWM-TISS Water Stewardship Programme.

�The objective to launch Taranga is to facilitate the creation of a compassionate and responsible citizenry which demonstrates collective citizen action at the local level and impacts the overall region in a sustainable manner. It will enable citizen organisations to augment water and environmental issues. It will include all the stakeholders united by a joint vision to � �manage water sustainably for all in the ecosystem,� Gohar Asif, Senior Project Officer, Communication & Advocacy, NWM-TISS Water Project, told The Assam Tribune.

This platform intends to support action in the water sector by offering opportunities to people to be in action, and for leaders from the government, corporate sector, academia and civil society to build action-based alliances for paradigmatic shifts.

This network will contribute in the Bramhaputra river basin by taking up water and allied sector issues, by creating awareness for citizen action to solve problems related to water pollution and wastage in a sustainable manner.

�Taranga will facilitate organisations with committed citizens coming together from across all sectors to take action in preservation and conservation of water. Such organisations will be formed in schools, colleges, universities, government offices, industrial setups, private institutions and at the community level,� Asif said.

The launch was attended by participating institutions, advisors and academicians and partner organisations.

Nilot Pal from Eco-Concept said a stronger resource base would strengthen the entire network. The discussions also revolved around how much work had been done by many institutions but has not been able to scale for sustainable change.

Professor Sambit Mallick from IIT Guwahati stressed the need for every small organisation within the network to take initiatives with specific objectives that could be delivered in a time-bound manner.

NWM-TISS Project Manager Dou Simte said participants as well as citizens must address their immediate localities and ecosystem to create a diverse set of solutions that can be replicated elsewhere.

The event closed with tree plantation and valedictory function at B Borooah College.

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