Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers (DHARA - UPSC Notes)

The annual meeting of the members of the River Cities Alliance (RCA), known as DHARA, has been concluded for the year 2023. In this context, know what is DHARA, what is the River Cities Alliance and what role they play in urban river management. This is an important topic for the IAS exam infrastructure and environment sections.

Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers (DHARA)

DHARA stands for Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers. 

• It is an annual meeting of the River Cities Alliance (RCA).
• DHARA is organized by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
• This platform offers an opportunity to co-learn and deliberate upon effective strategies for managing water resources at a local level.
• The DHARA 2023 event showed a strong connection with India’s G20 Presidency and the Urban20 (U20) initiative. 
• One of the focus areas of U20 was to promote urban water security, and the event emphasized the significance of healthy rivers in enhancing the overall water security of cities. 
• DHARA 2023 covered ‘National Case Studies on Innovative River-related Practices,’ introducing participants to distinctive and innovative solutions for different aspects of urban river management. 
• These practices include lake and pond rejuvenation, de-centralized used-water management, enhancing river-related economy, groundwater management, and flood management. 
• It also featured international case studies which highlighted innovative river-related practices from various countries, such as Denmark, Israel’s reuse of used water, the Netherlands’ floodplain management, the USA’s river health monitoring, Japan’s pollution control, and Australia’s water-sensitive city design.

River Cities Alliance

In 2021, the River Cities Alliance (RCA) was established as a specialized platform for urban cities located along rivers in India to collaborate and share information towards achieving sustainable management of their urban rivers. 

• Initially launched with 30 cities in 2021, the alliance now boasts 95 cities as members across India. The Alliance is open to all river cities of India and any river city can join the alliance at any time.
• This alliance comprises cities from both the Ganga and non-Ganga river basins. 
• RCA is envisaged as a facilitatory platform for initiating river-sensitive planning and development.
• The River Cities Alliance (RCA) is unique in the world, as it represents the successful partnership between two ministries – the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. 
• The Alliance’s primary focus is on three main themes, which are Networking, Capacity Building, and Technical Support.

Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers (DHARA):- Download PDF Here