|
Political Diary
New Delhi, 3 March 2012
Court Charts New Water
Course
WILL UPA DROWN OR
PLAY SAVIOUR?
By Poonam I Kaushish
Phew, as political India grapples and dissects the
poll outcome of the five State Assemblies, lost in the deluge is a quite path-breaking
Supreme Court order which is all set to chart a new course for riparian
disputes. Underscored by a clear message to our netagan, time to get back to governance!
Three cheers, to the Court for giving a go ahead to
much-awaited inter-linking of rivers project which has become a major bone of
contention between various States and a headache for a hapless Centre playing
ineffective referee. Disposing a decade-old PIL, the Bench instructed the
Government to set up a high-powered committee with a defined agenda to “plan,
construct and implement” the project by 2016 “for the benefit of the nation.”
Undoubtedly, the timing of the verdict could not be better.
As the search for water has become the most harrowing and frustrating task for
21st Century India.
Imagine four train loads of water are the lifeline for 128 Rajasthan villages
and towns. Ten towns get water once in three days and 31 once in two days. In
Andhra, only 34 out of 116 municipalities get regular water for an hour twice a
week.
In Maharashtra’s Aurangabad
three crore people depend on tankers for water supply! In Gujarat’s Saurashtra
and Kutch regions there is no water at the
depth of 1200 ft. Cherapunji which records the highest rainfall in the world
has to depend on tankers for its daily water supply! The problem has been
aggravated with the boom in population. While the country accounts for only
four per cent of the water in the world, its population is 17 per cent that of
the world.
If this is bad news worse follows. Water and has now become
a major politically volatile issue. Inter-state disputes over water-sharing
have grown over the years. More so after the bifurcation of some of the bigger
States, leading to inter-state political and legal battles. Worse, instead of
finding a durable and sustainable solution to the problem, the Centre has taken
recourse to short-cuts and quick-fix remedies which have compounded the mess.
Bringing it to such a pass that the concerned States have started taking
independent action in brazen violation of the Constitution.
Additionally, the fracas gets more pronounced when a Party
is in power both at the Centre and the State. Any unfavourable decision vis-a vis an inter-State dispute is
bound to result in political fallout. The Opposition could derive political
capital out of it and make life hell for the Government. Tragically, in their
squabbles our polity fails to realize that rivers are being over-exploited and
getting increasingly polluted by being used as dumping grounds for industrial
waste and garbage. The Ganga and Yamuna are
the two cases in point.
Sadly, not a few parties and leaders rake up these issues
for their political survival, ignoring the consequence of their action. At
other times, State interests override national interests. Many a time a State
refuses to honour a tribunal award or it rescinds its agreement.
Already, the Centre is embroiled in sorting out
water-sharing disputes between Andhra and Karnataka over the Krishna waters,
between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over Cauvery, between Maharashtra and
Karnataka over Godhavri and between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat
over Narbada et al. Despite the Inter-State Waters Dispute Act 1956 having set
up five tribunals to go into the matter.
Look at the absurdity. Water is managed by six Union Ministries
– Water Resources, Rural Development, Agriculture, Urban Development, Food
& Environment. Predictably, there is no effective coordination between
them. The Agriculture and Water Resources Ministries work in opposite direction
and various rural development programmes are independent of others with each
Minister and his babus guarding their
fiefdom with zealousness.
Shockingly, according to Water Ministry’s forecast 11 river
basins including Ganga will be water deficit
by 2025, threatening 900 million lives. Vast deforestation has played havoc
with the environment. Not only is it
generating more heat, but the soil is retaining less
and less water. Resulting in uprooting
people and resettling them elsewhere, as experienced in the ongoing Narmada dam controversy.
Also, there is a severe resource crunch even for ongoing
projects. Scandalously, 169 projects
pertaining to the Fifth Five Year Plan continue to be in limbo due to lack of
funds. And only six out of 30 feasibility reports have so far been studied.
Simply, because no State is willing to say it has surplus water.
The way out? “The
Centre has to go in for durable-long-term solutions. There are no short cuts.
Water has to be treated as a national asset. It needs national planning geared
for local solutions. States need to maximize a fair distribution of water and
minimize its use as a weapon of conflict,” asserts Suresh Prabhu Chairman of
the Task Force on Inter-linking of Rivers set-up by the NDA.
“If the Court’s directive is implemented it could take the
economy to new heights, by increasing the agriculture production manifold, solve
the drinking water shortage and arrest farmers suicides. Besides, the recurrent
problems of drought and flood which ravage the country on a yearly basis would
be a thing of the past,” he adds.
For instance the surplus flood waters from Brahmaputra
Mahanadi, Ganga and Godavari would be diverted through a network of canals to
water deficient rivers in south India.
This would help boost agricultural production, increase the forest cover and
bring down pollution.
Further, it would help generate 40,000 MW clean and green
energy wherein an additional nine crore acres of wetland would become farmable
which would benefit 45 crore people. Inter-linking of rivers would also raise
the irrigation potential to 160 million hectares for all types of crops by
2050, asserts another hydrologist.
True, inter-linking of rivers is not a panacea for all
issues as water cannot be created, manufactured in a factory nor imported like
oil. Therefore, management of available water resources within our boundaries becomes
vital to cater to the growing population and changing life style. India could take a leaf from countries in N
America, Australia and Africa where inter- basin water transfer projects are
implemented quite effectively.
All in all, the Apex
Court has shown the way. The ball is now in the
Centre’s and State’s court. They must show magnanimity and adopt a
give-and-take approach. Our leaders need
to pull up their socks and put an end to their reckless drift on a subject
involving basic human requirement.
Will our polity rise above petty politricking to give the
people the elixir of life? Or will State interests continue to override
national interests? How long will we allow them to continue muddying the
waters? Will the UPA Government act as the saviour to quench India’s growing
thirst for water! ----- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|
Archives 
