7/28/2019 Cavary Water

1/1

The political, social and economic problems over sharing of the Cauvery river water is a case in point in India. And this time around, the problems seem to be more crucial due to poor monsoon and its late arrival. Which is why when the Supreme Court recently asked the Centre whether the rivers could be put in the Central list of the Constitution in the light of row between Karnataka and Tamil Naduover the Cauvery water sharing, it threw up an interesting debate. Is the nationalisation the right solution? Will the mere change of the decision-making authority resolve the whole issue? Isn't the issue more of a political nature ratherthan an economic one? Says Prof D B Gupta from NCAER who is also the convenor ofthe India Water Partnership: "Water is an economic good, and is no longer a social good. The non-optimal use of total water resources available to us is a major problem.

If we can have a common pool of water, and through nationalisation, have a common authority to distribute the water optimally, it should serve the purpose. We have a National Grid for electricity. Similarly, we can have a national grid forwater which can optimally distribute it. In the US, you have a water banking system. If you are a water-deficit state today, you can bridge the gap by taking itfrom a water-surplus state. Also, we should not ridicule the nationalisation issue just because Jayalalithaa has opened it up. There should be more debates onit."

Agrees Sunil Ghorawat, CEO of Everything About Water.com: "We've long felt thatvarious issues related to water management, like river management, should be und

er the purview of the Central government. As the recent river water-sharing problem shows, political posturing makes it difficult to make proper decisions in anumber of cases. There is a need for apolitical institutions or tribunals to take independent decisions, based on the merits of the case."

But there is also a strong case for decentralisation of resources rather than bringing it under the narrow banner of centralisation. Says Sunita Narain, director, Centre for science and Environment: "Nationalisation would be a mindless strategy. The ideal solution will be communitisation. There should be less control from the government that will lead to more causes of negotiation between communities. Instances like water being drawn out of villages to be used in cities are very common. It is leading to tension across the villages. The government shouldplay a proper role in conflict management, and the allocation of water by the Ce

ntral water Tribunal should be more transparent.

But at the heart of the matter is efficient utilisation of the scarce natural resource and controlling wastage. Says A T Dudani, founder president of Society for Citizen Concerns: "The scheme proposed by M S Rao for inter-linking of all rivers remains on paper and instead we are content either to flood our lands or getflooded from waters from Nepal or let the surplus water go to the oceans. We have dried up all our lakes and silted our rivers, reducing the water storage andholding capacities and ground water sources. We have had serious problems of water sharing between Punjab and Haryana and over the Cauveri. Although the PM is the chairperson of the Water Sharing Commission on Cauveri, nobody seems to abideby his decisions. Also, it is not clear that unless there is a rule of law, whowill truly implement even the agreements or SC orders."