SANDRP’s Parineeta Dandekar takes a deep dive into our river and dam monitoring policies to show how we can carve a better water future.

As published in Nature inFocus on Friday, 29 May, 2020

“Who are you to report this?”

When a 13-year old Parineeta Dandekar called up local officials to report that she had spotted a dead buffalo near a polluted area of the Godavari river, this was the response she got. Perplexed, Dandekar turned to her father, who had encouraged her to bring this to their notice. In a calm tone, her father said, “tell them that you are a concerned citizen.” Even at that young age, she understood the power of those words.

Parineeta Dandekar continues to keep an eye on our rivers, but today when she reports an issue, not many authorities ask her who she is. Dandekar is the Associate Coordinator for the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) – an advocacy group that focuses on raising awareness and sharing relevant information about river-related infrastructures and policy issues. Born and raised in the city of Nashik, Maharashtra, along the banks of the Godavari, rivers have been an integral part of her life from a young age. When it came to deciding what she wanted to do for a career, there really was only one answer.

Dandekar holds a Masters degree in Environmental Science from Pune University, a Diploma in Integrated Water Resources Management from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, and a Certificate Course in Integrated River Basin Management from the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and Hohai University, China. She is the recipient of the JWH Environmental Leaders Fellowship by the Joke Waller-Hunter Initiative, Netherlands. In 2018, she was also awarded the Vasundhara Mitra Award for her contributions towards river conservation and rejuvenation. Dandekar is driven by her passion for seeing better water policies established in the country, a fact that becomes clear within minutes of conversing with her. She seamlessly steers the conversation from latest reports about a river to the etymology of its name and its references in our historical texts, giving a swift overview of its overall significance.

In this interview, Parineeta Dandekar talks about the reality of our dams and why we need better metrics to measure our dam performances and the impacts on our river ecosystems.

Read the complete interview here. 

Image: Screenshot from https://www.natureinfocus.in/