Kamla Nath Sharma

Kamla Nath Sharma (Also K.N.Sharma, Hindi: कमलानाथ शर्मा, born March 1946) is a civil engineer from Rajasthan, India and an international expert in Hydrology, Water Resources, Irrigation & Drainage and Hydropower Engineering.[1] He is also an author of research papers on scientific subjects involving water, environment, ecology etc. as contained in the ancient Indian literature like Vedas and Upanishads,[2][3] and is a literary writer of stories and satires in Hindi language.[4] Born in Jaipur, Rajasthan (India), he belongs to a renowned Sanskrit family from Andhra that migrated to Jaipur at the time of founding of the pink city of Jaipur. His father late Bhatt Mathuranath Shastri and elder brother Kala Nath Shastry are widely known Sanskrit scholars. He graduated in Civil Engineering from MBM Engineering College (Jai Narain Vyas University), Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and obtained Master of Engineering degree in Hydraulic Structures from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. He travelled extensively throughout the world during his service tenure engaging in international dialogues, initiatives and specialised programs and contributing to the knowhow in the fields of hydrology, irrigation and drainage, flood management, etc.

Kamla Nath Sharma

Besides contributing to global issues relating to water resources, food security, irrigation and drainage in various countries,[5] he has published extensively on various scientific subjects of importance like environmental degradation, ecology, water pollution etc. based on references in the oldest Indian Vedic scriptures written in Sanskrit language.[6] He is also a known name in Hindi literature and his satires and stories have been appearing in various literary magazines of India during last about five decades.[7]

Career

K.N.Sharma taught water power engineering and civil engineering subjects, including hydrology, water resources engineering and irrigation to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology (then Malaviya Regional Engineering College) at Jaipur, Rajasthan from 1969 to 1981.

Later, as Head of the Hydrology and Water Resources Unit at the Government of India enterprise National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. (NHPC Limited) at its headquarters in New Delhi, he was associated with a large number of major hydro power projects in the country between 1981 and 1989.

Er. Sharma joined the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), a pioneer technical organisation dedicated to irrigation and drainage with a membership network of 110 countries, at its Head Office in New Delhi in 1989 from where he retired as Secretary in 2010.

Presently he is Chairman of an Organization 'Aqua Wisdom' and is a consultant in hydrology and water resources planning, advising Indian hydroelectric projects.

Honours and awards

K.N. Sharma was awarded Ford Foundation Fellowship in Water Management at the University of California, Davis (USA) in 1976–77. He also received British Council Fellowship for evaluating international networking in irrigation and drainage under the World Bank/FAO supported International Program for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage (IPTRID) at Oxford/Wallingford (UK), Montpellier (France) and Wageningen (Netherlands), March–May, 1993. He was honoured with Citation Plaque for his exceptional contributions to ICID and Global Food Security at the World Congress on Irrigation held in Montreal (Canada) in 2002.[8] He was also awarded Citation Plaques for "eminent leadership and enduring contributions to the worldwide advancement of the science of irrigation and drainage" at Sacramento, California (USA) in 2007[9] and at New Delhi (India) in 2009.[10]

Er. Sharma chaired, co-chaired and represented on several important meetings and conferences of international water organizations and Dialogues involving FAO, UNESCO, IUCN (France), Global Water Partnership, World Water Forums, IWMI (Sri Lanka), World Water Council, International Water Resources Association, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, Switzerland), World Agricultural Forum, etc.[11] He also worked on several International and National Technical Committees, such as those of ISO, viz., TC 30, TC 113, BIS (India) (BDC-46, River Valley Schemes), etc., besides having Fellowship of some professional bodies like Indian Association of Hydrologists.

Published Books, Research Papers, Articles

1. 'Water Power Engineering', Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Noida-201301, First edition 1979, Second edition 2013, ISBN 978-932596898-1.[12]

2. 'IPTRID – An ICID Vision, ICID, New Delhi, 1995.

3. 'Research in Irrigation and Drainage – A Review of ICID's Efforts', ICID, New Delhi, 1994.

4. Large number of technical research papers, commentaries, articles, presentations, interventions etc. on issues like global food security, ecology, water, environment etc. at national and international conferences, journals and encyclopaedia.

5. 'Sahitya ka Dhwani Tattva urf Sahityik Big Bang' (collection of satires in Hindi), 2015, Ayan Prakashan, New Delhi, India.

6. ‘Bhaunrya Mo’ (collection of stories in Hindi), OnlineGatha-The Endless Tale, Lucknow (India), 2015.

7. ‘Moorakh To Ekahi Bhalo’ (collection of satires in Hindi), OnlineGatha – The Endless Tale, Lucknow (India), 2016.

8. 'Laapata Chehron Ka Bhugol' (a collection of two long stories in the form of Novella, in Hindi), Shabdarth Prakashan, Jaipur (India), 2019.

9. 'Ek Shaam Hari Ghaas Par' (a collection of literary satires in Hindi), Shivna Prakashan, (M.P., India), 2019.

Besides the above, he has edited/assisted in editing many technical books and specialized volumes related to river valleys, such as Danube, Mekong, Indus, etc.; historical dams; multilingual technical dictionary on irrigation, drainage, flood control and environment; etc.

Lectures and Papers on Vedic Scriptures at International Conferences

K.N. Sharma has lectured and presented papers at international conferences in many countries like France, China, Japan, Germany, India etc. on various subjects and techniques in ancient scriptures of India like Vedas etc. which are relevant to the modern times. His papers have been published by the concerned organisations and encyclopaedia like Springer's "Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures",[13] International Water History Association (IWHA, Netherlands), UNESCO (Paris, France), Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS), World Water Forums, International Water Resources Association (IWRA, France), Rajasthan University (India), Aqua Foundation (India), etc.

Stories and Satires in Hindi Literature

With his first name Kamla Nath (Hindi: कमलानाथ), he has written satires and stories in Hindi language in different magazines of India since 1960s. These are compiled in many of the Hindi Compendia. His collection of satires in Hindi, titled "Sahitya ka dhwani tattva urf sahityik big bang" has been published in 2015 by Ayan Prakashan, New Delhi.[14] In 2015, his story collection "Bhaunrya Mo" [15] and in 2016 his satire collection "Moorakh To Ekahi Bhalo" [16] were published by OnlineGatha – The Endless Tale, Lucknow, India in paperback as well as e-book editions. Two of his books – a reminiscential narrative consisting of two long stories in the form of a ‘novella’ titled “Laapata Chehron ka Bhugol”, published by Shabdarth Prakashan, Jaipur [17] and a satire collection titled “Ek Shaam Hari Ghas Par”, published by Shivna Prakashan (M.P.) [18] have come out in 2019.

Rajasthan Sahitya Academy, Udaipur has honoured him with Kanhaiyalal Sahal Award for the year 2018-19 for his satire collection "Sahitya ka dhwani tattva urf sahityik big bang".

References
  1. "Water Power Engineering", KN Sharma, MM Dandekar, Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd., India, Second Edition, 2013, ISBN 9789325968981
  2. International Water History Association (IWHA), The Netherlands: International Conference on Water, Session on Images of water in religion, myths, literature and art, Norway, 2001
  3. "Water: A Looming Crisis?", Proceedings of International Conference on World Water Resources at the Beginning of 21st Century, Unesco, Paris, 3–6 June 1998.
  4. Hindi Gadya Kosh, India
  5. Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology University Library, Hannover, Germany
  6. Vedic Perspective on Environment
  7. Writer Kamla Nath
  8. ICID Newsletter, Issue 4, New Delhi, India, 2010
  9. Minutes of 58th IEC Meeting, ICID 2007, Sacramento, USA
  10. Minutes of 60th IEC Meeting, ICID 2009, New Delhi, India
  11. World Agricultural Forum, St. Louis, MO, USA, June, 2005
  12. Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., E-28, Sector-8, Noida-201301, UP, India
  13. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Springer International Publishing AG, Berlin, Germany, ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2
  14. "Sahitya ka dhwani tattva urf sahityik big bang" (collection of satires in Hindi), 2015, Ayan Prakashan, New Delhi, ISBN 978-81-7408-768-3.
  15. "Bhaunrya Mo" (collection of stories in Hindi), 2015, OnlineGatha-The Endless Tale, Lucknow (India), ISBN 978-93-85818-09-7.
  16. "Moorakh To Ekahi Bhalo" (collection of satires in Hindi), OnlineGatha-The Endless Tale, Lucknow, India, ISBN 978-93-85818-22-6.
  17. "Laapata Chehron ka Bhugol" (collection of two long reminiscential narratives in Hindi), Kamlanath, Shabdarth Prakashan, Jaipur, India.
  18. "Ek Shaam Hari Ghas Par" (collection of literary satires in Hindi), Kamlanath, Shivna Prakashan, M.P., India, ISBN 978-93-87310-59-9.

External sources

1. Water Power Engineering

2. Water in India: Spiritual and Technical Aspects

3. Rio and Vedas

4. Environmental protection

5. Profile

6. Food Security Imperatives in Developing Countries

7. Environment in Ancient India

8. Status of Water in Ancient Indian Literature and Mythology

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