It is rare to find a work as readable and educative on an issue with resonances for this country and the world at large. River Mhadei has friends as thoughtful as they are articulate.--MAHESH RANGARAJAN, Professor, Ashoka University
A rich, lucidly written collection of articles that captures the Mhadei river’s ecological, cultural, and political significance. From its origins to ongoing legal battles and living traditions, this book demonstrates that the Mhadei is not just Goa’s lifeline—it is its soul. Essential reading for every Goan. Every river lover.—NORMA ALVARES, Senior Advocate, Bombay High Court
The River Mhadei: The Science and Politics of Diversion brings together a wide range of experts—scientists, ecologists, legal scholars, historians, planners, journalists, activists, and community practitioners—to explore a pressing environmental dispute. Centered on the waters of the Mhadei, which are contested by the states of Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, the volume moves beyond the narrow confines of technical and legal debates over water diversion and allocation to present a richly layered portrait of the river as a living presence.
Its chapters flow across time and discipline, from field-based ecological studies and hydrological analyses to the history of Goan riverine infrastructure, cultural memory, participatory art, and a critical perspective on the official adjudication of the dispute and the political maneuverings it has engendered. Some essays foreground the staggering—and fragile—biodiversity supported by the river; others explore local festivals, agricultural infrastructure, and the experiences and lived knowledge of riverside communities for whom the Mhadei is Amchi Mai—Our Mother. At the heart of the volume is the pressing question: What does justice mean in a time of ecological crisis? It warns against viewing the Mhadei solely as a resource to be exploited and highlights its role as a sustainer of ecosystems, a commons, and a memory archive.- Contents
- Figures and Tables 7
- Foreword: Keri Facer 11
- Acknowledgements 16
- Introduction (Peter Ronald deSouza, Solano Da Silva, Lakshmi Subramanian) 18
- Conserving the Mahadayi: Biodiversity, Water, and Cultural Resources (Rajendra P. Kerkar) 31
- The Many Pasts and Contested Present of the Mhadei (Lakshmi Subramanian) 50
- Abundant Mother Goddess or Scarce, Contested Resource? The Life and Times of the River Mhadei (Parineeta Dandekar) 71
- Saving the Mhadei: The Anatomy of a Movement (Meera Mohanty) 93
- The Political Economy of the Mhadei Dispute: Intersecting the Domains of Politics, Institutions, and Interests (Rahul Tripathi) 120
- The Unquiet Flow of the Mahadayi: A Logbook of Issues as Seen from the Eastern Face (Rishikesh Bahadur Desai) 135
- The Working of the Inter-State Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (Vaishali Kashyap) 157
- Sifting through the Water Laws: Securing the Mandovi River for Future Generations (Vasudha Sawaiker) 176
- Understanding Mhadei River Water Sharing (A. G. Chachadi) 201
- Threats to the Lesser-Known Biodiversity of the Mhadei Bio-Region: A Spotlight (Nirmal Kulkarni) 225
- Freshwater Fish Diversity in the Mhadei River in Goa (Vidyadhar Atkore and Nandini Velho) 247
- From the River to the Sea: The Mhadei River Continuum and the Impact of Interventions (Helga do Rosario Gomes) 264
- Valuing the River Mhadei: An Economic Exploration (Dhirendra Deshpande) 281
- Understanding the Urban Estuarine Ecology of the Mhadei: The Role of Khazans in Panjim, Goa (Leon Morenas and Manisha Rodrigues) 301
- The Privatization of Community Property and Gambling with the Future of Goa (Aurobindo Gomes Pereira) 325
- Mhadei: ”May the Great Mother Live Long in Letters and Spirit” (Narayan B. Desai) 343
- Participatory River Drawings and Political Capabilities through Library Practice (Sujata Noronha) 366
- Managing the Commons in a Climate Emergency: An Experiment in Good Governance (Maya de Souza) 391\
- Epilogue: The Currents of the River Mhadei (Peter Ronald deSouza) 419
- Contributors 442
Peter Ronald deSouza was the Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla, for two terms (2007-2013). Prior to that he was a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi (2003-2007) and even earlier was Professor and Head, Department of Political Science at Goa University (1996–2003). After serving as Director at IIAS, he returned to CSDS as Professor in 2014. He is a Senior Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (ACEPS), University of Johannesburg. Professor deSouza has served as a consultant to UNESCO, International IDEA, Stockholm, UNDP, the World Bank, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Ford Foundation, etc. His recent publications are with Mohd Sanjeer Alam and Hilal Ahmed, Companion to Indian Democracy: Resilience, Fragility, Ambivalence, Routledge, New Delhi, 2022; and with Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Keywords for India: A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century, Bloomsbury, London, 2020.
Solano Jose Savio Da Silva is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hu- manities and Social Sciences at BITS Pilani, Goa, where he teaches courses in development and political theory. His research has looked at electoral poli- tics, urbanization, and land use planning with a special focus on Goa. Before joining BITS, he worked at Goa University and at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. He completed his PhD on the dynamics of land-use planning in Goa in 2019. He has an M.Phil. in Development Studies from the University of Oxford as well as a Master’s in International Studies and a BA in Economics from Goa University. Professor Da Silva is also deeply involved with Goan social issues, occupying himself in particular with overseeing, analysing, and sometimes agitating against variants of the Goa Regional Plan—an attempt to develop a broad strategy for Goa’s development, which includes preparing a land-use plan.
Lakshmi Subramanian is a retired Professor of History, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, and BITS Pilani, Goa. She has had a long and distinguished research and teaching career and is credited with making major contributions to the fields of Indian business history and music history. She has many publications to her credit, the latest ones being Singing Gandhi’s India: Music and Sonic Nationalism (2020) and India Before the Ambanis: A History of Indian Business, Market and Economy (2024). She has been the recipient of several international fellowships, including the prestigious Mellon Fellowship and Adam Smith Fellowship.
Rajendra P. Kerkar has been involved in environmental education, protection, and conservation in Goa for the last three decades. He has been instrumental in initiating the movement for notifying the Mhadei and Netravali Wildlife Sanctuaries. He serves as the General Secretary of the Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan and as a member of the National Board of Wildlife, the Goa State Biodiversity Board, and other organizations involved in protecting the history, heritage, ecology, and wildlife of the Western Ghats.
Parineeta Dandekar is an environmental advocate and Associate Coordinator for the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People (SANDRP), where she works to ensure that India’s last free-flowing rivers remain protected. Her research uncovers the failures of large-scale water projects while amplifying the voices of communities, cultures, and ecosystems that depend on these rivers. She is pushing for policies that prioritize both people and the planet, ensuring a future where rivers continue to sustain life.
Meera Mohanty is Editor at The Economic Times. A financial journalist with twenty years of experience, she covers politics and business, and closely covers the business of mining.
Rahul Tripathi is a Professor in Political Science at the D.D. Kosambi School of Social Sciences and Behavioural Studies, Goa University. He specialized in South Asian Studies at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He teaches and researches in the area of international relations, global political economy, and South Asia and has published in International Studies, South Asian Survey, and the Economic and Political Weekly. He is also the co-convenor of the Multidisciplinary Cluster on Mhadei, a knowledge cluster at Goa University that brings together diverse perspectives on the river. His popular writings on Goa and Mhadei have appeared in national and local newspapers, including The Indian Express, Times of India, Navhind Times and O Heraldo.
Rishikesh Bahadur Desai is an award-winning Senior Assistant Editor at The Hindu, covering northwestern Karnataka. With experience at The Times of India, Vijay Times, and The Asian Age, he reports on governance, decentralization, agriculture, and social welfare. His 2024 Karnataka State Media Academy award highlights the impact of his journalism. Some of his best- regarded stories include a series on the Siddi African tribe getting ST certification, an inquiry into the alleged sale of a poor widow, and the restoration of the Surang Bavi Karez, an ancient heritage structure in Bidar. He has extensively covered Hyderabad-Karnataka’s backwardness, farmer distress, and infrastructure projects like Bidar’s multi-arch dams. His reporting on the kidnapping of actor Rajkumar gained wide attention. As India coordinator for BBC Radio, he worked on projects about the tobacco industry, the Kaveri dispute, and the IT revolution. Fluent in English, Kannada, and Hindi, he holds degrees in English Literature, Political Science, and Law. He also edits and translates, organizing initiatives like a Wikipedia edit-a-thon in Bidar.
Vaishali Kashyap is a doctoral research scholar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani K.K. Birla Goa Campus. Her on-going research explores factors behind livelihood change in a traditional fishing community in Assam. She holds a postgraduate degree in Water Policy and Governance from TISS, Mumbai. In the past, she has been a part of organizations like Tata Trusts and INREM Foundation, engaging with the development space with a particular focus on public health, nutrition, and water quality.
Vasudha Sawaiker trained in law at V.M. Salgaoncar College of Law, Goa University, and has a postgraduate degree in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. At TISS, she was awarded the prize and shield for being the best student in Dalit and Tribal Social Work. As a lawyer, she represented clients in cases on social justice and inclusion in public employment. Her legal research encompasses diverse areas such as organ donation, forest rights, and construction workers. She was awarded the UGC-JRF Fellowship in Social Work in 2016 and is presently a research scholar at the School of Sanskrit, Philosophy and Indic Studies, Goa University.
A. G. Chachadi, former Professor, Goa University, Goa, completed his M.Tech. and PhD at IIT Roorkee. Before joining Goa University as teaching faculty, he served as a scientist at the National Institute of Hydrology, Government of India, for seven years. His research interests and works are related to the fields of hydrogeology and water resources management, environmental science and exploration geophysics. He has published several research publications in national and international journals and has worked as a consulting hydrogeologist for several mining companies.
Nirmal U. Kulkarni is a herpetologist and nature photographer with over two decades of experience in conservation science and field herpetology in tropical forests of the Western Ghats and North East India. He has served as an Expert Member of the Goa State Biodiversity Board and Goa State Wildlife Advisory Board for two terms, besides being part of various state and national committees on wildlife and research. Nirmal is currently Chairman of the Mhadei Research Centre, Goa, India, and is leading research projects on the Leith’s soft shell turtle in Karnataka, a snake bite awareness project in Goa, and a monitor lizard project investigating illegal trade in India. As an ecologist, Nirmal is involved in long-term monitoring of the Chorla Ghats forests and the adjoining Mhadei bio-region. His research interests include field herpetology in tropical forests, tackling the organized illegal wildlife trade and conservation education.
Vidyadhar Atkore is a freshwater ecologist by training, interested in quantifying the anthropogenic and environmental factors on freshwater biodiversity across different scales. Currently he is a faculty member at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), South India Centre, Wildlife Institute of India, Coimbatore. He teaches wetland ecology and management, ichthyology, landscape ecology, GIS, human ecology and eco-hydrology.
Nandini Velho is a wildlife biologist working on the human dimensions of forest management. She has completed her PhD from James Cook University and was an Earth Institute Fellow at Columbia University. She has worked as a Policy Fellow with the Minister of Environment and Forests and with multiple forest departments and communities across India. She is interested in the intersection of art, science and action.
Helga do Rosario Gomes is a Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia Climate School. She graduated with a PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of Bombay and has held research positions in Japan and Maine. Dr Gomes is interested in large-scale climatic questions such as the impacts of the new and unusual planktonic blooms in the Arabian Sea, the effect of Arctic warming and ice melt on the American lobster, the impact of urbanization on wetland systems, and ocean acidification and deoxygenation of waters from harmful algal blooms. With her colleagues she has been developing ocean monitoring and decision support systems tailored to meet needs for sustainable management of coastal resources in tropical countries experiencing climate change. She mentors postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students, but her passion lies in providing guidance and support to high school students, some of whom have won national and international awards. She is a trustee and Science Advisor for Goa Chitra, an anthropological museum in Benaulim, Goa, that preserves and showcases the culture and lifestyle of the people of the west coast of India.
Dhirendra M. Deshpande has nearly four decades of experience in Indian higher education, starting as a Lecturer in a degree college in Goa, working in various capacities in reputed institutions such as Symbiosis, Pune, and KLE Society, Bengaluru, as Faculty, Principal, Director and finally retiring as the Vice Chancellor of ISBM University in Chhattisgarh. As a columnist for a leading daily newspaper in Goa, he has rich experience in writing on a range of economic and policy issues such as budgets, monetary policy, reforms and liberalization. As a faculty member at Symbiosis, he was associated with guiding and evaluating various finance-related projects that included building economic models for producing hydroelectricity and long- range demand and sales forecasting.
Leon Morenas is the Principal of the Goa College of Architecture. He was Associate Professor of Architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. He was also a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, where he worked on a project entitled “Mohallas and Smart Cities: Post-Colonial Development in Delhi.” He was a World Social Sciences Fellow in Sustainable Urbanization (2014) and Programme Coordinator of the Masters in Social Design at Ambedkar University, Delhi (2013). He is an architect with a Master’s in Urban Design from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and a PhD in Architectural Sciences—with a specialization in Informatics—from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. Professor Morenas’s research uses the disciplinary lens of Science and Technology Studies (STS) to understand the relationship of technology with contemporary design, architecture and urban planning. His most recent writings have focused on urban governance through technology, with a focus on smart cities and their command centres. He is also working on a set of essays that attempt to answer the question, “Is there an Indian way of thinking about technology?” using the foils of history, metaphysics and literature.
Manisha Rodrigues is an architect based in Goa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Goa College of Architecture and a Master’s in Architecture with a specialization in architectural conservation from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. With over a decade of experience in practice and more than three years as an assistant professor at her alma mater, the Goa College of Architecture, her work often explores the intersections of water, heritage, and the built environment. She was part of projects like the Serampore Initiative led by the National Museum of Denmark, which documented Indo-Danish heritage along the Hooghly River. Her academic and professional work reflects a deep connection to water and cultural landscapes—from the Sabarmati and Hooghly to the Sal and Mandovi rivers in Goa. As a fellow of the Goa Water Stories fellowship by the Living Waters Museum, she explored “What is a river?” through the lens of the built environment of the Mhadei–Mandovi–Mahadayi River. She currently leads her practice in Margao and continues to engage with architectural education as visiting faculty at the Goa College of Architecture.
Aurobindo Gomes Pereira is an Advocate, with an L.L.M. in Constitutional and Administrative Law, and a resident of the city of Panjim, Goa. He can be contacted at thegoanphilosophicalsociety@gmail.com.
Narayan Desai is a teacher and translator, columnist in local languages—Marathi and Konkani. His interest areas are language and culture. He can be reached at narayanbdesai@yahoo.com
Sujata Noronha is an educator specializing in early literacy and enjoys working with children and books. She is deeply interested in the power of the printed word and the pathways to access and growth emerging from it. In Goa, she works out of her organization called Bookworm, which provides resources and facilitates libraries and reading within the community of Panjim and in schools around the state. She consults with the Tata Trusts within the education portfolio.
Maya de Souza has an interdisciplinary background with over twenty years’ experience in public policy and the law. She graduated from Oxford University in Philosophy, Politics and Economics before studying and practising law. After an L.L.M. (London), graduating with distinction, she joined the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK Government Legal Services and later moved to policymaking. She headed various teams on better institutional structures for flood risk and integrated water management, where she led a project on holistic approaches to water management in the climate risk context. She has also headed the Business Environment Council Hong Kong’s Policy and Research Team, leading projects on climate resilience, and served on the BITC–UK Circular Economy team as Co-Director, Environment. Maya has been an elected Green Party councillor in London, playing an active role in town and country planning and scrutiny of the environment, among other policy areas. Currently, Maya lives and works in Goa and is a co-director of Act for Goa and co-founder of Materia Verde (a new biomaterials industry accelerator powered by Quicksand). She was previously with the Bangalore-based think tank, CSTEP. She also works with various consultancies on future-proofing and strategic insight. Available via mail order from Goa,1556 WhatsApp +91-9822122436 goa1556books@gmail.com
