Wake-up call for Punjab & Haryana

THE private tubewells of Punjab and Haryana have been the backbone of the Green Revolution in these states. However, these have not been an unmixed blessing. They are responsible for causing a continuing decline in the level of ground water which, in turn, has been making the tubewells’ operation more and more expensive.

As a damage control measure, the state governments have been increasing the subsidy for the electricity consumed by the tubewells, but this failed to neutralise the ever-increasing loss suffered by farmers. All said and done, relief of this nature could only treat the symptom and not the disease. The only professional remedy for the disease is to somehow arrest the decline in the level of ground water.

For this, two options were available. The first was to reduce the withdrawal of groundwater; this would have been an anti-development action and hence could not be adopted. The second was to accelerate the recharge by artificial means; this was a desirable one but for some unknown reason, neither of the states adopted it and the man-made crisis of tubewells continues. What is surprising is that this important lapse has not only escaped the notice of the Press but also failed to catch the imagination of farmers in general and the bureaucracy in particular. That is why till today this issue is not even on the agenda of the states.

Readymade technology for accelerating the recharge is not available from any other state in India. As a matter of fact, the factors governing it are so variable that every state has to develop its own, depending upon its specific conditions. Necessity being the mother of inventions, both these states are expected to show enough of enterprising spirit for experimentation with innovative ideas. In the public interest, irrigation professionals can lend a helping hand to the states by giving their suggestions for tackling this problem.

One such suggestion is that both states should make use of the rain-water which at present is being allowed to go waste via a network of drains. This can be done by setting up recharging stations all along the length of drains where water can be desilted round the clock in a foolproof manner before injecting it into the specially designed bore holes. This has not been tried anywhere in India.

Such stations are perhaps the last hope of private tubewells facing the threat of extinction. No other surplus water is available with these states. Not only this, if the present decline in the ground water is not arrested, brackish water from the adjoining areas can intrude into the sweet water zones. This can be an irreversible ecological disaster and needs to be guarded against at all costs.

No government, much less the farmer-friendly and progressive ones of Punjab and Haryana, can afford to ignore these danger signals any longer. Enough damage has already been caused by following the policy of “wait and watch”. The minimum that they should now do as a token of their earnestness to tackle this problem is to set up 50 such stations on a pilot basis before the monsoon season in 1999. And while doing this, they shall be killing two birds with one stone — saving their tubewells from extinction and washing off the stigma of allowing their rain-water from going waste in this age of water shortage.

S.P. MALHOTRA,

Formerly Engineer-in-Chief
Irrigation Deptt, Haryana
Panchkula

Hardcore fundamentalists

I fail to understand why Mr Madan Lal Khurana says that his head hangs in shame over the killing of an Australian missionary and his sons by fundamentalist forces. Instead, he should claim the Arjuna Award for their Bollywood style bravery, because after all Mr Khurana belongs to the party which has been instrumental in turning the ordinary citizens of this country into hardcore fundamentalists.

If the dreams of the BJP are now coming true, why all this shame?

However, even the crocodile tears of the gentleman are welcome if he at least chooses to call these forces by their original name — Hindutva forces, instead of pseudo-Hindutva forces. Otherwise, poor dictionary shall run into many volumes if every word is preceded by “pseudo”.

SATISH KUMAR
Ambala Cantt

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Electoral reforms

With reference to Mr Hari Jaisingh’s thought-provoking write-up “Electoral reforms: two-party system only way out” (January 29), the fact of the matter is that party politics has been having a tough time lately, denounced by voters and despised by some politicians themselves. What the nation needs to realise is that there is one entity called the country and another called the party. The former is virtuous and the latter is wicked but, as it so often happens in this veil of tears, the wicked have so far triumphed. Sincere efforts need to be made to neutralise the wicked.

The existing system need not lead to instability provided it is slightly modified. Once an elected government assumes office, there should be a constitutional prohibition on a motion of no-confidence for a specified period, say two or three years. If a Bill is defeated, if the modifications on the budget suggested by the Opposition are voted, it would not amount to a vote of no-confidence.

The advantage of the above system would be that after the specified tenure Parliament could decide that it no longer reposes confidence in the government and the government would then fall. Having a security of two or three years’ tenure, the Prime Minister and his government could proceed to govern without having to succumb to political blackmail which has become the order of the day.

K.M. VASHISHT
Mansa

PERSONALITY POLITICS: In his analytical assessment of the growth of the multi-party system in India, the writer has highlighted the degenerating impact of defections, money power and criminal elements on our electoral process. With the focus of political activity shifting to regional grievances, many a personality-based splinter group has sprung up, with no firm ideology or definite programme. Such regional parties, through their “nuisance value”, exact their share of the spoils.

The personality politics, which started with Indira Gandhi, has now flowed down to smaller groups of the likes of Mr Laloo Yadav and Ms Jayalalitha. Even today’s Congress is more of a reflection of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s personality than the ideology of Gandhian and Nehruvian vision.

The suggestion of a two-party system needs a serious consideration.

VED GULIANI
Hisar

PERTINENT DEMAND: There is no gainsaying the fact that the existing loophole-ridden electoral system has been crying for reforms since long. The nation at large has, over the years, voiced the pertinent demand with a shrill crescendo. However, sadly and strangely, the powers that be have all along betrayed a painfully lackadaisical attitude in the matter. Apparently, it appears that the country's political parties/politicians have developed a vested interest in the status quo and, as such, they prefer to maintain the obtaining "anarchy" so that they can manage to be in power, as the writer bluntly observes.

No doubt, the multi-party system has failed to deliver the goods. The sooner it is replaced by a two-party system, the better for the polity. The question is: would the powers that be opt for the drastic recipe/reform as suggested by Mr Jaisingh? Well, I have my doubts. To my mind, the desideratum would remain a far cry unless some cataclysmic change takes place, or some messiah appears out of the blue.

TARA CHAND
Ambota (Una)

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No will to prevent violence

This has reference to the editorial “Guilty by consensus” (Jan 26). The long rule of the Congress party failed to instil a sense of secularism and religious tolerance among the countrymen. The bureaucracy equally disregarded its responsibility as if the duty to protect the life and property of an individual was of someone else.

Several incidents of routine communal violence, which generally take place on religious occasions and the occurrence of which can be anticipated, continue happen as the authorities have never bothered to take any precautionary measures. The agonising incidents like the anti-Sikh riots and the destruction of the Babri Masjid could have been prevented had the government been honest. Now the way deliberate and well-planned attacks on the Christians are made shows that the present government has no will to prevent this kind of violence.

Maj NARINDER SINGH JALLO (retd)
Kapurthala