Water! Water!

"Water, water everywhere, yet not a single drop to drink.." sums up the present state of millions of our brethren around the world. With Medha Patkar (see picture) continuing her fast at AIIMS, the spotlight regarding the Big vs Small (dams) shifts to India yet again.

The other day, I heard Ms Arundhati Roy say that we are on the brink of a civil war! I suggest we rein in the rhetoric a bit and put everything in perspective.

Let's face it, rehabilitation (like it should have been) is a farce. I came across a Hindu editorial dated 23 March, 2003 spelling the beans on the government's efforts to provide respite to PAFs(Project Affected Families). Sadly, things have only gone from bad to worse and the recent approval of the Supreme Court to further increase the height of the dam by 10 metres gave NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) leader, Ms Patkar the required impetus to go on an indefinite fast.

Needless to say that I for one, belong to the 'Small' lobby. The recently concluded triennial WWF4 (Fourth World Water Forum) in Mexico City reiterated what the World Commission for Dams (WCD), constituted nearly a decade ago by none other than the World Bank(that promoted the Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada river initially but pulled out in the face of the opposition), had to say in not as many words that large dams, whether built for irrigation, power, water supply or flood control, have failed in varying degrees to meet their goals on various fronts, and that they have adverse ecological impacts and governments have done little to ensure that the 80 million people displaced worldwide have been adequately compensated (10% of them are surely in India).

Abbreviations like SD (Sustainable Development), RWH (Rain Water Harvesting) and IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) mustn't remain dead letters any more. Decentralisation is the keyword with PRIs (Panchayati Raj Institutions) capable of creating magic and transforming the present dismal state of affairs, provided they are duely vested with enough resources and power- muscle and financial both.

With President Kalam and the Supreme Court rooting for the 20,000 crore ILR (Inter Linking of Rivers) Project, I cannot help but be pensive with a tinge of skepticism about our future. On the one hand, I remember the tragedy in early twentieth century that was popularly called the Aswan dam and on the other, I cannot help but marvel at our ingenuity when it comes to solving our (often self-inflicted) problems. Libyan leader Muammar Al Gaddafi laid the foundation of the Great Man-Made River Project in 1984 aiming at utilising fossil water and in the process altering the desert country's fortunes.

With the biggies keen on investing in only the bigger projects in light of the economies of scales involved, the masses are left to fend for themselves. We, as worthy citizens of the third rock from the sun mustn't shy away from doing our bit in judiciously utilising this precious resource. For starters, kindly ensure that the water is not running while you brush your pearly teeth, avoid taking bath with a shower and change the washers of leaky taps asap.

Source of SOLACE: Having read about what each party involved in the issue had to say, from Ms Patkar to Mr. Modi and Mr. Soz, I felt a unique calmness of sorts. I realised that I was happy to see that in our country, atleast the people were empowered enough to voice their respective grievances.