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Blast from the past Needless battles |
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Coming in the way of VVIPs
The waterlogged existence of Muktsar
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Blast from the past Documents
released in the UK indicate that the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent a military adviser to India in 1984 to help in planning "to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple". Letters released by the British National Archives under the rule that unseals most government records after 30 years are of interest both in India and the UK. The British Prime Minister has ordered an inquiry into the role of the UK government in the assault on the Golden Temple, while the Indian government has kept quiet on the matter. Various military officers who participated in the 1984 assault have vociferously asserted that there was no British hand in the operation. However, these particular letters were written in February 1984, much before Operation Bluestar. Indeed, the possibility of someone advising one of the several security establishments that were active at that time cannot be ruled out. The shadowy 'Establishment 22,' that reports to the PMO, has been cited as a possibility. Whether a British SAS officer came to India or not is moot. What is clear is that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sought British assistance months before the assault. Was it just contingency planning or had the government made up its mind so much earlier than June 2? There has always been a certain amount of fog surrounding the events leading up to Operation Bluestar. Accounts by various people who were directly involved have still not been able to clear the air. The declassified documents provide another twist in a saga that already has had more than its share of intrigue and cost the nation dearly. The government must realise that the old-fashioned veil of secrecy no longer works in an era where documents that governments would like to keep under wraps come into the public domain more often than not. The Centre should explain the context of the letters and clear the air.
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Needless battles A department set up for the supposed welfare of ex-servicemen and war widows in 2004 has decided that in six categories of litigation, including disability pensions, the Ministry of Defence will automatically appeal against unfavourable verdicts up to the Supreme Court level. Much of litigation can be avoided if the department is run by officers who are efficient, pragmatic and humane. Even if litigation becomes inevitable, the department should accept the first unfavourable court judgment gracefully and rectify the wrong. However, the bunch of officers manning the department seem to believe that they can't go wrong and should lose no battle even if it takes years of litigation and wastage of the taxpayers' money and courts' time. To deter such officers from mindlessly persisting with needless litigation, courts should impose hefty fines payable by them from their own pockets. At the MoD level there should be investigation of, and punishment for, apparently wrong decisions, overturned by courts, which make the retired soldiers or their dependents run from pillar to post just to get what they think is their due. Already, ex-servicemen with modest means and unable to fight the might of the institution they once proudly served give up legal cases midway. Now it seems to have become the official policy of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare to tire out the soldiers who dare challenge its decisions. The department, headed by a Secretary-level officer and functioning under the Minister of State for Defence, Jitendra Singh, is well aware of the plight of former soldiers. Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, whose disability entitlement was raised by just 5 per cent by the 5th Pay Commission, was denied his dues and his case dragged on for years. The MoD, perhaps, wanted to set an example for others thinking of entering a legal battle. Why so many soldiers are forced to move courts against what they perceive as arbitrary decisions and injustice to them needs to be looked into.
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Thought for the Day
A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower.
— Kin Hubbard
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Income tax collection THE resolution moved by the Hon'ble Mr. Rama Rayanengar at the Imperial Legislative Council on Wednesday to appoint non-official advisory committees to help the income-tax officers in correctly assessing the income of the people, has been accepted by the Government. The Hon'ble mover pointed out the harshness with which the income tax levied and the complaint petitions of the people who felt the burden of over-assessment. The revenue authorities have no means of accurately estimating the income of the people and are practically guided by their subordinates. He observed that a non-official local committee would be in a better position to find out the actual earnings of the people and their assistance would lead to a less objectionable standard of assessment. The resolution was supported by a number of non-official members, among whom were the two Punjab representatives. But Bengal and Bombay members opposed it on the ground that tradesmen would strongly object to the examining of books and accounts by their fellow tradesmen and that they would prefer the exclusively official method of assessment of the tax, that has been in vogue. Special and university education One of the most effective ways of promoting Mahomedan education is to provide an adequate number of qualified Mahomedan teachers and Inspecting officers who will stimulate education in the backward Mahomedan districts. We are not in favour of water-tight compartments in any sphere, much less in that of education, nor do we believe that Mahomedan education has hitherto suffered in any way from lack of encouragement on the part of non-Mahomedan teachers or Inspecting officers. On the other hand if the conditions of a particularly backward community demand the appointment of a specially qualified officer of that community in the interests of its educational progress.
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The legacy of Dr Manmohan Singh When Dr Manmohan Singh assumed office in 2004, there was a sigh of relief, as the Congress had chosen a respected economist with a reputation of impeccable personal integrity to lead the government. He took over at a time when the policies of economic liberalisation initiated by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had set the country for an era of high growth. The preceding NDA years had been marked by prudent fiscal management and a process of defence modernisation was under way to deal with challenges from Pakistan and China. On foreign relations the UPA-1 government inherited policies which had led to better relations with the USA, Russia and the EU together with moves for greater economic integration with the countries of the South, Southeast and East Asia. In what was evidently his valedictory press conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh candidly admitted: "My best moment as PM was when we struck a nuclear deal with the US". The government, however, failed to explain to people in India what the India-US nuclear deal really involved. It was never clearly explained that as a non-signatory to the NPT, India was facing sanctions on access to all high-tech items which had dual uses, and that its economic growth and modernisation was suffering because of sanctions by 45 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. A country facing such sanctions could obviously not globally play the role of a responsible, technologically advanced power. Moreover, given its vast resources of thorium, India has virtually unlimited potential for development of nuclear energy. But for this process to kick-start, India needs vast amounts of uranium ore for installing new uranium-fuelled nuclear power reactors. It lacked exploitable indigenous uranium resources for such a programme — a vital shortcoming — which the nuclear deal has overcome. The most significant aspect of the India-US nuclear deal was that it ended global nuclear sanctions without eroding or compromising our nuclear weapons programme. Despite this, the deal faced serious domestic political opposition, especially from the UPA's communist allies. India's communist parties, unlike their Chinese counterpart, are still wedded to the dogma of Marxism-Leninism, which has been discredited and discarded everywhere, especially with the collapse of the Soviet Union and China's economic reforms. Adding to Dr Manmohan Singh's troubles was the fact that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was never enthusiastic about the economic liberalisation and was averse to countering the communist effort to torpedo the nuclear deal. The Prime Minister's spokesman Sanjay Baru was compelled to quit his job for observing that the Congress was not backing the Prime Minister. Baru's departure from the PMO had far-reaching effects on the functioning of Dr Manmohan Singh and his office. The Prime Minister lost his only aide who could keep him frankly informed of media and public opinion. Most independent analysts were convinced that the UPA's electoral victory in 2009 was primarily because Dr Manmohan Singh had quietly overseen a period of rising economic growth and prosperity with manageable and publicly acceptable levels of inflation. The Congress, however, chose to interpret this victory as a ringing endorsement of the party president's populist policy programmes and a rejection of economic liberalisation. Moreover, UPA-II saw ministers from not only the Congress but also its allies openly disregard the Prime Minister's wishes. This was all too evident in the actions of A. Raja in the 2G scam and the inefficient and less than transparent manner in which the Commonwealth Games were managed amidst allegations of widespread corruption. Moreover, two successive environment ministers, political lightweights who have never won even a panchayat election, stalled, delayed and even denied clearances for vital industrial and infrastructure projects with the Prime Minister unwilling and evidently unable to rein them in. Things inevitably reached a state where the Prime Minister was seen as being unable to even select officials for the PMO. He was saddled with a spokesman known to have been chosen by the courtiers at 10 Jan Path. Even his Principal Secretary, who is a competent official, was known to be a choice of 10 Jan Path. The Prime Minister soon did not have a spokesman, while his office had a functionary initially designated as "Communications Adviser to the Principal Secretary". In the meantime, the Congress decided to return to its old ways of populism and fiscal profligacy, while neglecting the reforms process that commenced in Mr. Narasimha Rao's tenure and was taken forward by the NDA government. Moreover, while the Prime Minister retained his reputation for probity, his government was soon seen as the most corrupt in independent India. To make matters worse, economic populism and a growing budget deficit slowed growth, spiralled inflation and led to an unacceptably high current account deficit and inevitable devaluation of the rupee. In this environment India's standing in the world suffered with global agencies contemplating downgrading the country's credit rating. Internationally, the Prime Minister was seen as losing control and authority, most notably on relations with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister's inability to devise a political strategy and overrule his own Cabinet ministers from Tamil Nadu who were publicly eroding his influence to decide rationally on his visit to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Summit only confirmed that the Prime Minister's writ over his government and in his party was waning precipitously. Not surprisingly, chief ministers in states like West Bengal did not see any merit or gain in being influenced by New Delhi when the writ of the Prime Minster was limited in the capital itself. Dr Manmohan Singh spoke emotionally about his legacy. He held that history would judge him more positively than the media was inclined to do. There is little doubt that if he had called it a day after his first term, he would have left in a blaze of glory as a Prime Minister who took economic growth to near double digits, ended global nuclear sanctions and was a shining example of personal financial integrity. This reality cannot be wished away. At the same time, condoning corruption is a charge that will continue to haunt him. It is a pity he did not realise in 2009 that a fractious parliamentary democracy dominated by an all powerful Congress leader with power and no constitutional responsibility on the one hand and a Prime Minster with constitutional responsibility but very limited executive power or political influence on the other was a recipe for the disastrous failure of governance.
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Coming in the way of VVIPs Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh felt outraged after his official car was held up in traffic whose movement was stopped by the military police to allow passage to the Chief of Army Staff near the Rajaji Marg official residence of the Chief. In fact, the predicament Jairam faced on the day was his own making because the minister believes in travelling with no fuss and trappings of office. His official car does not flaunt the red beacon and he is not tagged by gun-toting policemen, both ubiquitous symbols of power. At times he walks back home from work. Wonder what would have happened had the minister got caught in a situation two decades ago on the very road when commandos of the Delhi Police and military personnel faced each other in positions that could have seen a few rounds of automatic weapons spewing fire. It happened when Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao was preparing to leave his South Block office and the SPG alerted the Delhi Police about the impending movement. Its personnel deployed on the route got active and were aghast to see a vehicle coming out of the Rajaji Marg residence of the Army Chief gliding in the direction the PM's convoy was scheduled to arrive anytime. Trained by instincts, the Delhi Police commandos promptly took positions after the Army vehicle refused to slow down. Slighted by guns being pointed towards them, the military policemen too jumped out taking counter-positions. Neither team was willing to blink. Fortunately, quick thinking by senior officials defused the situation with the police allowing the military convoy pass perhaps aware the split second was the only window available to avoid an embarrassing showdown. The clear message is in matters of security, the personnel tasked to protect the VVIP will brook no interference, while the soldiers too wear "izzat" with pride: ``Who dare stop the Chief of the Indian Army!'' If that happened in the mid-nineties, in 1987 Delhi Police Commissioner Ved Marwah earned the wrath of the Prime Minister when the top cop's car almost ran into the motorcade of Rajiv Gandhi, who was travelling with visiting Russian Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzkov to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Marwah's crime was giving a lift to Union Minister Natwar Singh to his South Block Office. The quick-thinking Commissioner ordered his driver to reverse the car to save the day, barely managing to escape ramming into the then Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's vehicle. Recounting the situation in his book "Walking with Lions", Natwar Singh writes: "We avoided the motorcade by a hair's breath. Rapid-fire events followed. The Prime Minister asked Home Minister Buta Singh to suspend Ved Marwah. I came to know of this a few hours later. At lunch the PM walked up to me and gave me a well-deserved tongue lashing. 'Don't look so innocent', he said. 'The commandos could have shot you for breaking the strict security regulations'". Lesson: The VVIPs have the right of way, while the ordinary mortals should better make way rather than be bumped off the way.
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The waterlogged existence of Muktsar
The
Muktsar Sahib region was listed as ‘crown wasteland’ in the early British records because of its relatively low rainfall or aridity, sand dunes (‘tibbas’), coarse cereals cultivation and scanty cover of natural vegetation. Intensive investments into research and development, canal irrigation, connectivity, land development and levelling and other infrastructure revolutionised into the cultivation of commercial cash crops of cotton and water-guzzling rice (basmati) etc. Canal water allowance was very high and vertical drainage — like in other parts of Punjab by privately invested tube-wells — was not feasible due to high concentration of salts and unfit ground water aquifer for irrigation. Indigenously unfit, poor quality ground water came up by about 40 m in 50 years and is now within 2 m below ground (waterlogged) due to seepage from canals, distributaries, inefficiency of flood irrigation and unprecedented expansion of cultivation of rice. The rising ground water table picked up salts and transported them upward from deeper horizons, accumulated them in the surface layer to the extent of toxicity for crops production. As on August 2013, about 2.4 lakh hectares of geographical area was severely afflicted with salinity and waterlogging having water table in the range of 0 to 2 metre below ground, mainly in Muktsar and a small parcel in Faridkot.
Extreme weather conditions An area of 1.47 lakh ha (3.6 lakh acre) with water table in the range of 2 to 3 metre below ground is another immediate potential risk, especially for deep-rooted kinnow orchards with a longer gestation period as compared to seasonal crops. High salinity of the shallow water table has weakened even the cement plastering and baked bricks of boundary walls, buildings and other civil works. There are several similar historical examples elsewhere in the world like Mesopotamia (between Euphrates and Tigris) in the deserts of present Iraq, Nile river basin of Egypt, Caucus region of Central Asia, neighbouring Sind province of Pakistan, etc. Second-generation problems of land degradation of green revolution and non-sustainable agricultural practices were further aggravated by extreme high rainfall in June and late August 2013 around Muktsar. High intensity and frequency of occurrences of extreme weather events is well accepted manifestation of climate change due to carbon footprint of industrialisation and other anthropological processes. In 2013, there was a significant shift of rainfall from ocean to land mass, causing widespread floods globally. In North India, monsoon arrived 15 to 20 days in advance. On June 16, there was bursting of clouds and a glacial lake at Dev Bhumi of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Hemkhund Sahib, Kinnaur Valley, etc. that caused deluge and destruction. Punjab also received 854 per cent excess rainfall by the end of June 19. Withdrawal of monsoon was also delayed and the region around Muktsar received an unprecedented event of high rainfall ranging from 214 to 275 mm in the fag end of the extended monsoon season around August 19, 2013, when rice, cotton and other crops were in the advanced stage of growth.
Anthropogenic factors The rainfall during the week ending August 19 was 969 per cent more than the corresponding normal amount in Muktsar. Since the entire soil profile was saturated with previous rains and shallow water table, it could not absorb rainwater, leading to sporadic flooding, breaching of drains, ponding in local depressions and damage to crops, houses, infrastructure, etc. Losses of human and animal lives were also reported. More frequent occurrences of such intensive events are expected due to climatic changes. There was excessive rainfall in other districts of Punjab also, but rainwater did not stagnate in fields and crops were not damaged because of available sink in soil due to the deep water table. There are other anthropogenic factors that aggravated flooding, waterlogging, crop damage and economic losses. Massive levelling of sand dunes after the introduction of canal irrigation disrupted the natural inter-dunal drainage system and created a vast network of localised depressions. Large quantities of earth excavated for constructing canals and embankment in filled up sections, manufacturing of tiles and establishing brick-kilns for canal lining also created large number of depressions which accumulated rainwater. It was a case of developmental upheavals. There are traditional ponds for rainwater harvesting from roofs, courtyards and paved village lanes and roads that store good quality run-off water. Most of them have silted up, as also encroached upon. Now most of the rural households are using flush toilets that discharge untreated effluents into ponds. The ponds need desilting, removal of encroachment and land-based safe disposal of effluents in the form of irrigation. It is better to apply pond water to fields as soil has tremendous potential of neutralising, decomposing or degrading contaminants. A man-made Chand Bhan system of surface drainage was constructed in 1959-61 and part of its outfall was blocked due to feuds with Pakistan and Haryana. In view of the exceptional high rise in water table, Water and Power Consultancy (WAPCOS) of the Centre prepared a regional drainage plan for Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in 1993. This problem was diagnosed about 20 years ago by an independent and competent organisation of the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. In response to WAPCOS recommendations, another two drainage systems of Abul Khurana and Aspal were invested in phases. Ultimately, drainage density of 0.25 km/sq km in Faridkot and 0.24 km/sq km in Muktsar is the highest among all districts of Punjab.
Water courses Unfortunately, the drainage system was obstructed by 4,233 obstacles along roads, network of canals, distributaries, field channels and other cross works. ‘Wara bandi’ system should have been re-worked to minimise crossings of water courses over the drain. There should be proper regulation of water releases and escapes from canals during monsoon. A battery of 280 tube-wells was installed to attempt vertical drainage along the Sirhind Feeder Canal but became defunct 10 years ago. In this way, the planning, designing, implementation and public investments in drainage network did not work up to the expectation. It is, therefore, logical to analyse failures or malfunctioning, learn lessons, identify responsibilities, apply remedies and avoid repetition of mistakes. Planning, designing and construction of drainage system was based on contour surveys in 1960s and that too at 10 m interval, which became redundant due to massive public and private investments into land levelling, construction of roads, railways, canals and irrigation channels. Alignment of drains and their outfall was also compromised with 90 degree sharp bends, with powerful farmers avoiding their land acquisition and fragmentation of holdings. Some drains passing through Haryana and falling into the Ghaggar were blocked at the interstate boundary due to interstate conflicts. While digging drains, continuous embankments were made that were used as earthen or even metalled road and interfered with the free fall of flood water into the drains. Embankment of drains in the filled up sections were breached deliberately by farmers to ease out ponded water from local depressions. In all, 4,233 obstructions were enumerated after the 2013 floods due to faulty cross drainage works of roads, canals, tractor tracks, water conveyance, distribution systems, etc. Inadequate or compromised alignment of drains and outfall led to tidal locks, backflow of the Satluj flood waters into drains and its injection into Muktsar. Electric supply to 280 pumps installed during 1998-2000 along the Sirhind feeder for vertical drainage was disconnected about a decade ago due to bill payment defaults.
Model system Solutions should be based on well designed malady remedy analysis. De-novo contour survey at 0.5 m interval is called upon before making further investments into drainage systems. Removing deficiencies in already invested irrigation, drainage and other infrastructure should be the priority of implementation. For permanent solutions, one should emulate the experience of Indira Gandhi Canal downstream in Rajasthan. The second phase, completed about 20 years after the first phase, utilised its water in the first phase and the excessive water allowance raised ground water level in Hanumangarh and other districts. Excess water allowance was withdrawn from phase-I since 2000 and passed on to the completed second phase. The same, but politically challenging decision of reducing water allowance should be applied in the waterlogged area of south west Punjab. Massive transport of Himalayan water into the region at the current high rate is going to negate all other technical solutions and investments. Reducing area under paddy cultivation and preference to short duration basmati varieties may be promoted. Re-diversification should be enabled by innovative and incentivised policies. Fish farming and other forms of saline water aquaculture would be the best bet for disposal by utilising poor quality ground water and augment farm income. Diversification into robust and resilient animal husbandry and dairy farming can also restore the income of farmers. Bio-drainage by planting genetically uniform tissue cultured trees of commercially high productive clones of eucalyptus and poplar trees along canals for intercepting seepage and depressions or waterlogged spots is another way of raising farm income while lowering water table. The PAU and GADVASU should play a significant role in promoting diversification. Lining of the Rajasthan carrier canal, Sirhind feeder, distributaries and water courses will be another very effective measure of preventing seepage and rise in water table. Most efficient micro-irrigation, other farm water management practices, conjuctive ground water use and re-diversification is called upon to prevent waterlogging. The cost of laying sub-surface drainage with perforated and cased plastic pipes is relatively high in Punjab as compared to Haryana. It may be a case of different designing or other consideration and optimisation of costing is also required before launching integrated or inter-departmental converged curative and preventive solutions of waterlogging. High salinity, toxicities of radioactivity, arsenic, selenium, nitrates and fluorides of ground water pose special problems of disposal of sub-surface drained effluents. Keeping in view environmental activism, effluents may be collected into artificial ponds for evaporation and raising aquaculture instead of discharging into river or surface drainage system. The approach should be diagnostic, prescriptive, policies enabled, economically optimised, sustainable, environmentally benign and farmer friendly.
— The writer is CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority, Planning Commission, New Delhi. He visited Muktsar to assess the situation in September 2013 as then Chairman, Central Water Commission.
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