AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NT Bureau
Chennai, Mar 21:

        Asia has the largest arable land in the world, but it has to support and feed the largest population (59 per cent) unlike South-East Asia which is largely dependent on the unpredictable monsoon for meeting its water requirements.

        This was the observation made by Dheenadayalan, senior bureaucrat of the Tamilnadu government, while speaking on the behalf of the State Minister for Public Works and Law Durai Murugan at the inaugural function of a conference on 'Water Access and Conflicts: Implications for Governance' organised by the Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, and the South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (saciWATERS) today.

        He said that as much as 62 per cent of the South Asian population is heavily dependent on agriculture for their livelihood and stressed that this population's economic welfare depends on a proper irrigation system from the scarce, available water resources.

        Dheenadayalan said there was a greater need for research on many areas relating to the 'Integrated Water Resources Management'. He said

        research on river conservation and management may usher in new ideas on the concept of flow management.

        Vice-president of saciWATERS S Janakarajan said that many of the water-related problems in the country can be resolved by the interlinking of all rivers. Duraimurugan did not attend the function due to an administrative emergency.