In the backdrop of various efforts in the past to address the critical concerns of governance of the transboundary Ganges sub-basin, the Ganga-Padma Devising Seminar was organized by Tufts’ University Water Diplomacy Programme, Observer Research Foundation, South Asia Institute of Harvard University and MIT Science Impact Collaborative Program on 10 and 11 August, 2017 in Kolkata. The Ganges sub-basin has been delineated as Ganga-Padma system in this devising seminar, which involved participants from not only the co-riparian nations of the Ganga-Padma system, viz., Bangladesh, Nepal, and India, but also experts from EU and the US. The prime objective of this devising seminar was to develop an array of actionable options (what was called good ideas) on issues of governance, technical capabilities and policy, from informed conversations of the relevant stakeholders. Like any devising seminar, no attempt was made to obtain commitment from any participant, but intense brainstorming sessions involving technocrats, bureaucrats, diplomats, researchers, academicians, activists, NGOs, etc. working in the domain of the Ganga-Padma system generated a matrix of coordinated strategies which can result in actionable options for governance.
The two day event was started off with a welcome address from Ashok Dhar, ORF Kolkata, followed by a special address on water programme of ORF by Sunjoy Joshi, Director of ORF, and a short description on expectations from GPDS by Shafiqul Islam, Professor and Director of Water Diplomacy, Tufts University. This was followed by an introduction of the participants hailing from revered institutions and various government organizations such as Oregon State University, International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, BRAC University, Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, IIT Guwahati, Uppsala University, International Water Association, Wright State University, Deltares, Water Conflicts, Government of Nepal and Government of West Bengal. From BRAC University Dr. Ainun Nishat, Professor Emeritus, C3ER, BRA University attended the two day event as an expert. After the initial plenary rounds with presentations on what devising seminars are all about from experts from MIT and Harvard, the GPDS involved intense brain storming sessions in the form of round table discussions which were modeled on three broad issues of governance, technical capabilities and policy. The discussions were focused to generate actionable options on the three time frames, which were immediate (0-5 years), intermediate (5-10 years) and long term (more than 10 years). There were four round tables of which the first three had discussions on three broad issues as mentioned above, in which each round table session was further subdivided into finer subtopics. The fourth round table acted as a summation of the first three and the participants in the three groups discussing in it, reconciled their difference of opinions and came up with mutually agreed actionable options, which were presented later. Lastly, considerable emphasis was put on the issue of rethinking cropping patterns and effective water demand management; so that water guzzling crops (i.e. sugarcane, boro paddy, etc) are replaced with more water efficient ones.