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Open Forum
Landmark IPCC Report:Global Warming Likely to Continue,by Dhurjati Mukherjee, 24 March 2007 |
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People And Their Problems
New Delhi, 24 March 2007
Landmark IPCC
Report
Global Warming Likely to Continue
By
Dhurjati Mukherjee
The UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a
2500-member strong group of scientists, in its fourth report issued in Paris
recently, has presented overwhelming scientific consensus on greenhouse gas emissions and put the onus on these human-induced gases
since the Industrial Revolution. In the past, climate scientists had made
strides in pinpointing useful information and generating powerful computer
models. In the new report prepared by scientists from 113 countries,
researchers have gone one step ahead in using nearly two dozen models to
produce projections of temperature and sea-level rises, all anchored with multiple
lines of scientific evidence.
“Warning of the climate system is unequivocal as is now
evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean
temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global mean sea
level”, the report said. As expected, most of the increase in global averaged
temperatures since the mid 20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic
greenhouse gas concentrations. That is an advance since the Third Assessment
Report’s conclusion that “most of the observed warming over the last 50 years
is likely to have been due to
the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations”.
Discernible human influences now extend top other aspects of climate,
including ocean warming, continental-average temperatures, temperature extremes
and wind patterns.
Continued greenhouse gas emissions
at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes
in the global climate system during the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those
observed during the 20th century. It is indeed significant to note
that global temperatures are predicted to rise by 1.1 to 6.40C with
a rise of 40C most likely by the year 2100, which would have
disastrous consequences for the human race.
At Continental, regional and ocean basin scales, numerous
long-term changes in climate have been observed. These include changes in Arctic
temperatures and ice, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean
salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather, including droughts,
heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones. Indian
scientists, who were part of the IPCC exercise, said that most computer-based
models predict an increase in monsoon rainfall when the rise in only atmospheric
carbon dioxide is taken into account.
The obvious effects may be summarized as follows: loss of food production with global levels expected to
fall by 10 per cent while African crops slumping between 15 and 35 per cent; increased
flooding with sea levels rising up to 59 cm. and Bangladesh and Vietnam to be
the worst hit countries along with coastal cities such as London, New York,
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kolkata and Karachi; upward trend is very likely in hot extremes and heat waves will continue;
melting ice of West Antarctica and Greenland; more diseases exposing 80 million
additional people; 25 to 50 per cent land species threatened with extinction;
and water shortages affecting southern Africa and the Mediterranean
severely.
In fact, the situation today has reached a critical stage.
It has been clearly stated in the report that even if concentrations could be
held at the current levels, the effects of global warming would continue for
centuries because it takes very long to remove the gases from the atmosphere.
There is need to seriously ponder what needs to be done at this juncture as it
goes without saying that eliminating the threat of global warming would require
radical action.
The report has pointed out that a concerted action could
stave off the direct consequences of global warming such as widespread
flooding, drought and extreme weather conditions. Stabilizing atmospheric
levels of carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to global warming, would
require reducing carbon dioxide emissions
by 70 to 80 per cent. Such a reduction would bring equilibrium with the
planner’s natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide. It may be worthwhile to
recall here that the last time the planet was in balance was more than 150
years ago before the widespread use of coal and steam engines.
Scrapping all fossil
fuel powered electricity plants worldwide and replacing them with wind mills,
solar panels and nuclear power plants would make a serious dent in the problem
but the question remains whether this will become possible
in the immediate future. Compounding the problem is the fast pace of industrial
development that has been taking place in the Third World countries, especially
in China and India.
The impact of climate change on food production has been an
area of great concern. The effect of high temperatures may affect India’s rice
production. Temperature is a major determinant of crop development and growth
and studies reveal that rice yields would dip by 10 per cent for each degree
increase in minimum temperature during the growing season. Climatologists
expect that global mean air temperature may go up between 1.4 to 5.8 0C
by the end of the century, depending on changes in greenhouse gas
concentrations.
With rapid population growth, rice production in the country
has to be enhanced to about 122 million tonnes by the year 2020 to meet the
increasing demand. But scientific studies presented at a recent conference of
the International Rice Research Institute (in October 2006) have contended that
the results of climate change impact may adversely affect rice yields not just
in Northwest India but all over the country.
Even an impact assessment of climate change carried out on behalf of
the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) indicated that though in
the short-term, rice production may not be affected significantly; in the
long-term climate change would have serious impacts. In another study on Northwest India by the ICAR, researchers pegged the range
of yield reduction from the technological determined level from 7 per cent in
2020 to 25 per cent in 2080.
The Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme,
Achim Steiner, stated and very rightly: “Anyone who would continue to risk
inaction on the basis of the evidence presented will one day in the history
books be considered irresponsible”. Another report by the Panel is expected
later this year that would address
the most effective measures for slowing global warming.
The Kyoto Protocol has so far been the main plan for capping
greenhouse gases until 2012 but it has been severely weakened since the US pulled out
in 2001. Though talks are under way for its post-2012 commitments, the
participation on America and
China
is an urgent necessity. By some
estimates, today’s emissions must be
reduced by half globally by 2050 to peg the temperature rise by 2100 to 20
C compared with post-industrial levels. However, at this juncture
scientists the world over would eagerly await the measures, preferably
country-specific and time bound, that are expected to be announced by the IPCC
to control the pace of climate change and reduce global warming to the extent
humanly possible.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Growing Drug Addiction:Holi Hola Party: Oh Boy is this India? by Dr. Syed Ali Mujtaba, 17 March 07 |
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People And Their
Problems
New Delhi, 17 March 2007
Growing Drug
Addiction
Holi
Hola Party: Oh Boy is this India?
By Dr. Syed Ali
Mujtaba
The news flashed on the front pages of the major dailies on
Monday, March 5, about the arrest of some 280 Holi party revellers at a Farm
House on the outskirts of Pune city for drug abuse is an eye-opener to many Indians
accustomed to reading about starvation deaths, farmer suicides, and female
feticides in their newspapers.
The revelations though a freak incident, undoubtedly point
at three significant societal changes taking place in our country. One, India
is moving on the path of high-end economic model. Two, drug abuse and alcoholism
is on the rise among the youth. Three, certain sections of the youth, especially
the yuppie crowd, is looking for promiscuous life style.
All these things come out glaringly if we recap the
happenings at the rave party on the Sunday night. The participants had
contacted the organizers through a website, www.isratrance.com that was promoting the event from February 27. They had received invitations via SMS, e-mails
and through Orkut chat, paying hefty sums through credit cards. Some of them
travelled from far off places like Kolkatta, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad to attend the party.
Allegedly organized by suspected international drug peddlers
from Pune and Mumbai, the party had the guests served some 3000 `California drops, an
acid that is put on a stamp and chewed. Each drop costs between Rs. 350 and
500. The party peaked at about 2 a.m and the crowd was in high spirits dancing to
high voltage music, when a team of 100 policemen in plain clothes swooped on the
venue and rounded up the revellers on charges of drug abuse and other crimes.
This was the first incident of such a high number of persons
rounded up for such offences in the country. Those arrested were mostly youth aged
between 22 and 30, including 29 girls. There were ten foreigners---three
Africans, three Palestinians; two each from Germany
and Iran.
The girls ranged from students to air hostesses
to Naval officers' daughters.
The items recovered from the spot included 2.5 kg of
marijuana (ganja), 100 grams of hashish (charas), seven bottles of phenylfine
hydrochloride, 15 crates of beer, 17 cheelams,
cigarettes and condoms, all valued around Rs. 5 lakh. The police also seized a
Dolby Music System, 45 four wheelers and 29 two-wheelers from the venue.
The big picture about the Sunday’s party is that too much
money is going into the hands of a very small section of our people. This symptom
has been evident since the liberalization of our economy some 15 years ago. The
trickle down impact of the economy that was much touted really has not taken place.
Instead, a small section of people has cornered a large portion of our wealth
and resources. The kith and kin of such neuve riches are loaded with money and
they look for spending opportunities. Such rave parties to them are tempting
propositions no matter what these may cost.
The second noticeable trend is the mushrooming of IT
offices, BPOs, and call centres in urban India. These places mostly thrive
on outsourcing of jobs from abroad and provide tremendous opportunities for the
urban youth. Young persons working in such offices are taking home hefty pay
packets. With little expenses to bear, they have plenty of money to spare. Such
people look for non-traditional source of entertainment. The rave parties are one
hell of a place to spend the money and satiate one’s various desires.
Such parties are also in demand for breaking the boredom of the
insipid jobs that these flashy call centres, BPOs and IT offices offer. The jobs
get on the nerves of the youth that are stuck there in the lure of big money. Many
are forced to work for long hours and some even find themselves reduced to
being slaves of their key boards and the monitor screens. Such persons, at the
first opportunity, want to break their monotony and look for outings to unwind
themselves.
The other fall out of the high-end economy is growing drug
addiction among certain sections of the youth. Recently, we had the high
profile case of Rahul Mahajan, son of the BJP’s late leader Promod Mahajan, who
had to battle for his life after taking drugs. The incident took place at a private
party in his home where his father's secretary lost his life due to overdose of
the drugs.
The Sunday Holi party confirms that Rahul Mahajan’s case was
not an isolated event to be brushed under the carpet. Such parties for drug
consumption are regularly taking place in some urban centres among select
circles of friends without anyone knowing about it.
The other offshoot of the high-end economy is that youth is
increasingly getting attracted towards alcoholism. It is common to see youth these
days revelling in the company of friends with alcohol and drugs. Come any
festival, Diwali, Dusherra, Holi or New Year, such activities are fashionable
among the urban youths.
The high-end economy is also triggering promiscuity among sexes,
particularly among the neuve riches. Recently, there was the high profile case of
teenagers making pornographic video through the cell phone camera and sending
it on the SMS to their circles of friends. This, in turn, made rounds of many
handsets in the country and even hogged the limelight of the media. The public
was shocked and asked: “Oh Boy is this India?”
In the mad and reckless
race to catch up with the West, the things that are least admirable are being
aped by our young generation. The movies, the TV serials, the pictures on the dailies
and the tabloids are all pushing the youth towards promiscuity.
Even though the Holi party was a freak incident of some
adventurous people caught off guard seeking fun, it certainly hints at the societal
changes taking place in our country. It is also indication of the fact that Indian
values that hold high moral ground are losing their sheen due to the onslaught
of the Western influences. This underlined the need to cultivate the right family
values among our young so that when they become adult they don’t go wayward
like the Holi Hola revellers at Pune.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Power Generation Target:TOWARDS PROMOTING SOLAR ENERGY, by Radhakrishna Rao,10 March 2007 |
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People And Their
Problems
New Delhi, 10 March 2007
Power Generation
Target
TOWARDS PROMOTING
SOLAR ENERGY
By Radhakrishna Rao
Though India has an enormous renewable energy potential, the
current installed capacity of around 8100-MW derived from renewable energy
sources including sun, wind and biomass
constitute abut 7% of the total installed power generation capacity in the
country, even though India is one of the pioneers in utilizing a part of its
huge reserve of renewable energy sources.
Against this backdrop, India’s Ministry of
Non-Conventional Energy Sources has set an objective of achieving an installed
power generation capacity of 10,000 MW from renewable energy sources by
2012. Of course, the non-polluting and
abundantly available solar energy constitutes an important component of the
strategy aimed at boosting the popularity of renewable energy sources in India, which
are considered both cost effective, local specific and non-polluting.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has decided to install 10- million metres
of solar collectors during the Eleventh Plan period. As it is, the Plan would
involve installing solar heaters in about 3.5 million individual houses in the
country. In addition, industrial units and commercial establishments spread
across the country would also be
covered under the solar energy popularization programme.
As envisaged now, this ambitious programme, when implemented
in full, is expected to result in peak saving about 5,000 MW in addition to
abatement of 7.5 million tonnes of highly polluting carbon di oxide emissions annually.
Union Minister for Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Vilas
Muttemwar points out that the availability of solar energy for upto 300 days a
year in various parts of India
is a major positive factor for going ahead with the popularization of solar
energy devices in the country. He drives home the point that India has a
total potential for generating about 200,000 MW energy from non-conventional
energy sources.
Meanwhile, there is growing conviction that inexpensive and
flexible solar cells could help avert the looming energy crisis haunting the
humanity. For right at the moment, the technology for designing and developing
solar energy gadgets continues to be far from economically viable and as such
the current thrust is on refining and upgrading the technology to the level at
which it would be possible to
develop inexpensive solar cells.
For decades, solar cell researchers have tried to develop
cheaper alternatives to silicon. For instance the US-based Konark Technologies
has come out with a technology appropriate for developing inexpensive and easy
to carry solar energy devices. Konark plans to join hands with the
multi-national Siemens for taking some critical steps towards changing how we
think about harvesting energy from the sun who has been glorified in the Hindu
spiritual literature as a “powerhouse of inexhaustible energy”.
Interestingly, a couple of years ago, Indian President Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became the first global citizen to get two refrigerator-cum-vaccine
coolers, totally powered by the sun. This solar chill uses a breakthrough
technology aimed at making the process
of refrigeration accessible even to
the remotest parts of the world and hence help several social causes such as
vaccination projects for polio eradication.
This device was developed by Rajendra Shinde who as the head
of the Ozone Action Unit of the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) was keen on engineering a solar power driven chilling device
with a view to reduce the emission
of green house gases responsible for global warming. In fact, the idea of
developing such an innovative cooling system struck him during a bus ride in
the poverty stricken African country of Burkina Faso in 2000.
Looking out of the bus window at the children of the rural
poor and thinking about their fragile health, it occurred to me that the plenty
of sunshine does not mean plenty of health. I thought that if we could develop
vaccine cooler that uses solar energy abundantly available there, it will be an
environmentally perfect product” quipped Shinde.
All said and done, the energy efficiency of the currently
available solar photovoltaic system which convert sun light into electricity is
rather low at around 7-17%. If the efficiency of the solar photovoltaic could
be pushed up further, it could lead to a drastic fall in the cost of energy
generation. As such efforts are on to
use materials like thin films and gallium arsenide in place of silicon for
solar energy devices.
Of course, some experimental solar photo voltaic cells now
convert nearly 40% of the solar energy into electricity. The cost of production
is quite high due to the high price of silicon crystals. Of course, research
efforts are underway for engineering new and cost effective fabrication
techniques. In India
state owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Central Electronics Ltd.
(CEL) are in the forefront of engineering and producing devices meant for
exploiting the solar energy.
As it is, the solar photovoltaic power system developed by
BHEL have been pressed into service
in various locations of India---from 30 KWP supply to data collection platform
at Leh in Jammu and Kashmir to 10 KWP hybrid power plant at Lakshadweep island
in the Arabian sea to photovoltaic system for offshore platforms and for
railway signaling panel interlocking and microwave repeater stations.
A recent success story
of the BHEL’s solar energy system was in Mousuni island in West
Bengal where the country’s largest solar power plant is in
operation. Designed, manufactured and commissioned
by BHEL, the 105 KWP plant has changed in many ways the lives of the islander
who had for long been deprived of the benefits of electricity. This solar
energy plant caters to individual houses, schools, street lights and
waterpumps.
Interestingly, the BHEL has also supplied space grade solar
cells for the satellites designed and developed by the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) The Bangalore-based TATA BP Solar is a major player in the
solar water heater systems.
Meanwhile, the New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources
Institute (TERI) has warned that if India fails to speed up and augment the use
of renewable energy sources, India’s import of costly and highly polluting fossil fuels would continue as usual. “The country
needs to undertake all possible
options on the demand and supply side simultaneously to reduce total energy
requirements as well as diversity its fuel resources mix”, says the TERI study.
---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Coal Vision-2025:CENTRAL PLAN TO BOOST PRODUCTION, Dhurjati Mukherjee,3 March 2007 |
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People And Their Problems
New Delhi, 3 March 2007
Coal
Vision-2025
CENTRAL PLAN TO BOOST PRODUCTION
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
The coal sector is destined to
receive lot of attention in the coming years and Coal India Ltd. (CIL) would
invest Rs. 15,600 crores to increase production to 521 million from the present
363 million during the Eleventh Plan period (2007-12). An additional Rs. 8,000
crores would also be invested under the Coal Vision-2025 for coal beneficiation
up to 2025 while the investment during the Eleventh Plan would also be quite
substantial, according to Dasari Narayan Rao, Union Minister of State for Coal.
In the Integrated Energy Policy, the
demand projection made for coal for the year 2031-32 was about 2500 million tonnes
as against the expected demand of 473 million tonnes during 2006-07. The Government
has decided to increase production from underground mines and the production
target has been increased to 75 million tonnes by 2011-12 (from the earlier
projection 54 million tonnes) through induction of latest technology and
collaborative ventures. Moreover, coal production from captive mines would also
increase from 15 million tonnes to 105 million tonnes during the Eleventh Plan.
The demand for washed coal has
inspired CIL to set up washeries under the Build & Operate (B&O)
concept where private companies with core competence in state-of-the-art coal
washing would be encouraged to set up such units. Only washed coal would be
supplied to various categories of consumers other than the pithead power
plants. A time frame and a detailed plan in this regard would be formulated by
CIL.
As is well known, India ranks
third amongst the coal-producing countries of the world. Through a sustained
programme of investment and greater thrust on application of modern
technologies, it has been possible
to raise production of coal from a mere 70 million tonnes at the time of
nationalization in the early 70s to over 400 million tonnes presently. Most of
the coal produced in India
comes from open-pit mines, contributing over 80 per cent of the total
production.
It is a well-known fact the country
has rich coal reserves and extensive exploration carried out by the Geological
Survey of India and other agencies down to a depth of 1200m have estimated 245.69
billion tonnes of coal resources. The coal resources are available in
sedimentary rocks of older Gondwana formations of peninsular India and
younger tertiary formations of the Northern/North-Eastern hilly region. The States
with high coal resources (including proved, indicated and inferred) are
Jharkhand, Orissa and
Chattisgarh.
With increasing trend towards
industrialization, power requirement has gone up considerably and is likely to
increase further in the coming years. Coal is obviously the most important
source of energy though in recent times alternatives are being explored. About
70 per cent of coal is consumed in the power sector and the rest in industries
such as steel, cement, fertilizers paper etc.
In the transport sector, however,
direct consumption of coal by Railways is going down on account of phasing out
of steam locomotives. To cope with the increasing demand for coal, there is an
imperative need to gear up production and productivity.
The present demand of 445 million tonnes of coal per annum is
expected to go up to 1260 million tonnes by 2025. And the Government is poised
to take necessary steps to increase
coal production to meet the demands in steel, power and cement industries with
an expected increase of 150 million tonnes per annum.
It is a well known fact that coal will continue to be the
leader in meeting the energy needs of the country and obviously is the focus of
attention as the power sector has been growing at the rate of 5 per cent per
year. To keep up this momentum, the Coal India has been stressing the need for adoption of modern technology, as
open cast reserves may not last for more than 50-60 years.
According to CIL sources, the following areas of research
are being given major thrust for advancement of technology: CBM resource assessment
and recovery techniques suitable for Indian conditions, including technology
for commercial utilization; underground coal and lignite gasification of
deposits, which are not techno-economically amenable to conventional mining methods;
hard roof management for underground mines by establishing technologies like
hydro-fracturing or safe blasting with explosives or non-explosive materials; trials
of suitable mining methods for sleep and thick seams; detection and mapping of
old and unapproachable workings; wireless
multimedia communication for underground mines; and dry beneficiation of coal
and improvement in fine coal recovery techniques.
Apart from this, modern IT tools as also R&D efforts to
achieve technology adoption, adaptation and assimilation,
particularly to suit Indian conditions, and achieve process
efficiency and consistency are also being implemented. In tune with the Vision
Statement-2020, prepared by the Union Ministry of Mines, already some positive
developments have taken place, but safer and more conformable automation of
increasing number of tasks and application of computer technology would become
necessary in the foreseeable
future.
Technological innovations in the mining industry, and especially
in the coal sector is indeed vital for achieving the production growth and
meeting the demands of the country. At the first Asian Mining Congress held in 2005, the efficacy of longwall mining and
its success in major coal producing
countries like China, USA, Australia
and South Africa
made experts acclaim this technology. In a remarkable presentation, the authors
(Dr S.K. Sarkar and Prof. A. K. Ghosh) had rightly pointed out that in spite of
the failure of longwall mining in India, the ground realities have
changed over time and this would be the preferred option in many locales.
Mention may be made of factors such as locales being at high
depth where open casting is not possible
and any variant of bord and pillar mining is not feasible, steady rise in
labour rates over the years and lack of interaction between foreign agencies
instrumental in executing the longwall programme and Indian scientific institutes.
However, recently the Longwall Powered Supports have been introduced in a
limited scale
At such a juncture, many developing countries like China, India,
Mongolia and Iran who
greatly benefited from technological innovations in the mining industry have
the potential to further surge ahead in the coming years through tie-ups with
the advanced countries and also among themselves.
As regards coal is concerned, the Government has expressed its intention for 100 per cent foreign direct
investment in the sector to meet the increasing needs. Moreover, experts are
also examining the existing bottlenecks and obstacles to tap resources to
advanced technological means, which are vital for increasing coal output.
India is endowed with rich mineral
deposits but the pace of industrial growth has necessitated
development of modern mining technology to explore more yields of iron ore,
bauxite, copper and chromites apart from coal and lignite. It is expected that
sustained research would yield better results, leading to higher production and
productivity of coal, so as to keep pace with the projected 9 per cent growth
this year.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Global Warming Worries:Dimension Of Water Crisis,Radhakrishna Rao,24 February 2007 |
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People And Their
Problems
New Delhi, 24 February 2007
Global Warming
Worries
Dimension
Of Water Crisis
By Radhakrishna Rao
A recent report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) points out the possibility
of progressively declining rainfall
and fast depleting snow in the mountain ranges by 2030. India is worried that the water
crisis arising out of the global warming could adversely affect the food yield
in the country. According to
researchers, a two degree increase in surface air temperature would mean a fall
in yields between 4% and 34% by mid-21st century.
The well-documented report highlights the fact that small
land holders and subsistence farmers are likely to suffer complex, localized
impact of climate change. In the ultimate analysis crops like sorghum and
millet could be at the greatest risk, both from drop in productivity and loss in crop genetic diversity.
As experts point out, agriculture irrigation demand in arid
and-semi arid regions of Asia is expected to
increase by 10% for a temperature increase by one degree centigrade. Whether the affected countries could be able
to meet the growing demand for water for the farm sector, none is sure as yet.
Meanwhile, a recent report compiled by the Stockholm-based
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) states that the growing demand
for irrigation to produce food and bio-fuels is likely to aggravate scarcity of
water. “One in three people is enduring one form or another form of water
scarcity” says IWMI. Going ahead the
report observed, “conquering hunger and coping with an estimated 3-billion
extra people by 2050 will result in about 80% increase in water use for
agriculture on rain-fed and irrigated land”.
Interestingly, water resources management expertise opine that
solutions for such a problem include helping poor countries in Africa and Asia
to grow more food with available fresh water via simple, low cost measures in a
shift from past policies that favoured expensive dams or canals. Prof. C.H.
Hanumantha Rao, a well-known agriculture economist drives home the point that
there is an immediate need to regulate water usage by involving local
communities in the water management. He advocated immediate, stringent measures
to conserve water in order to avoid a major water crisis in the future.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), progress in meeting the water needs of the world in the
years ahead would depend on a shift from what the FAO calls, “a culture of
supply management”. Says the FAO: “While the specific objective is to provide a
more reliable and adequate water supply for crops, proper management of water
resources will always have significant impact on economic activities,
environmental processes and people’s
health”.
Indeed, the FAO stresses
that the environmental concerns must be a part of the modernization in water
use and management. Clearly and apparently, extraction from rivers and the
construction of irrigation infrastructure invariably displaces natural
wetlands, which are highly productive components of agro-ecological systems.
Abundant and sustained availability of fresh water is vital
for industrial and economic growth, as well as for the well-being of the
community. However, uneven distribution of water resources due to a combination
of climatic and geological factors makes for water deficient and water surplus
areas within a country. Indeed, as water
resources experts point out, transfer of water from surplus zones to deficit
zones in an environmentally-sustainable and economically-viable manner holds
the key to ending the cycle of droughts and famines haunting many parts of the
country with recurring regularity.
Studies carried out by various agencies show that in the
past 35 years, water table has come down to as much as 30-60 metres in several
parts of India. In particular, the green revolution Punjab has witnessed
the decline in water table by around 30 metres on account of the sinking of
around a million tubewells. At this rate, the Washington-based think tank,
World Health Institute warns that underground aquifers in India could go
dry by 2025.
On the other hand, in the coastal State of Gujarat, sea water incursion and increase in
salinity level in several areas have made water unfit for human consumption.
Indeed, studies by the IWMI point out that a large part of the western and
peninsular India
is all set to face a serious water crisis in the coming 25 years. According to
the IWMI studies, marginal and small farmers operate only 15% of India’s total
farmland but are saddled with 73% of the abandoned tube wells due to lower
water tables and higher energy costs.
As it is, ground water continues to support more than half
of the country’s irrigated farmland. Inefficient use of irrigated water leads
to low water productivity even in crops that have higher water use
efficiency. Sunita Narain, Director of
the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) advocates water
harvesting as an important tool to manage water scarcity. The thesis of the
World Bank is that tubewells play an important role in preventing social
conflicts and political upheavals over water in India.
A study by John Briscose, a water resources expert with the
World Bank, observes that urbanization and changing patterns of cropping are
putting severe pressure on the fast
declining ground water table in the country. He is of the view that investment
in water infrastructure will provide some respite to the excessive exploitation of the ground water resources.
The water usage trend, Briscose said, suggests that while
irrigation from underground aquifers has gone up, canal irrigation has not made
much headway. The future, he observes, will also witness
major transformation in the way public water services are provided to the
farmers, households and industries.
Briscose also points out that issues
concerning water entitlement, financial sustainability, accounts and regulation
will assume importance in the days
ahead.
Clearly and apparently, the World Bank report forecasts that
India
might face a turbulent future in so far as water availability is
concerned. Unless
drastic changes are made and made soon, the way in which the Government manages
water, India
will have neither the cash to maintain and build a new infrastructure nor the
water required for the economy and the people” says the World Bank study. The
study highlights in a very clear cut manner that failure of India to build
sufficient water storage capacity will prove to be undoing of the country.
While the rich countries have built over 5000 cubic metres
per capita storage capacity, the middle income countries like Mexico and China have a per capita capacity to
store 100 cubic metres of water. In contrast, the Indian water storage capacity
per capita is at a low of 200 cubic metres. As such the World Bank argues that
the role of the State must change from that of a builder and controller to the
creator of enabling environment for the water supply system. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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