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River link needed only in Haryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu On Record |
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Profile Comments Unkempt
Diversities — Delhi Letter
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River link needed only in Haryana, THE
concept of interlinking of rivers is very old in India. Dr K.L. Rao, the celebrated engineer and former Union Minister, wrote about linking the Ganga with the Cauvery through a 2640-km-long canal in his famous book “India’s Water Wealth”. But this idea did not catch up because construction of such a long canal in reverse slope and pumping of 60,000 cusecs of water with a lift of 400m from the Ganges (at Patna), was simply impossible. On the other hand, Punjab engineers linked the Beas with the river Sutlej through a tunnel and open channel link of 9,000 cusecs capacity. Likewise, the Ghagra was linked to the Sharda canal system in UP. But the idea of interlinking of rivers really caught the imagination of people when Captain Dastur gave the concept of Garland Canal along the 450-m contour. No one took up this project seriously again because of its impracticability, but the concept continued to rankle the imagination of future generations. Incidentally, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been advocating the need for interlinking of rivers to tackle the twin problems of drought and floods. Taking a leaf out of the President’s speech, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to translate this concept into reality. On Oct 31, 2002, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to link all rivers to combat the problems of drought and floods. The Union Ministry of Water Resources established a Task Force on Dec 16, 2002, to get major rivers linked by Dec 31, 2016 — a very tall and unachievable order indeed. Based upon the earlier work on this subject, the Task Force came out with a proposal of establishing 30 river links, 16 in northern rivers and 14 in Peninsular rivers costing Rs 56,00000 crore. Environmentalists decried this project on grounds of submergence of large forest areas, uprooting of a large number of families, change in the climate as a result of large-scale irrigation of arid lands. Interlinking of rivers will not help control floods. Interlinking is desirable if the flow conditions in two rivers vary considerably. The flow generated during the normal rainy season in all the 12 major basins of India is more than twice the crop water requirement. In the case of the Brahamputra river, the ratio is 250. As a first step, we need to harvest at least 80 per cent of the annual flow in each basin by constructing a series of dams across the tributaries followed by extension of irrigation facilities through canals, distributaries, minors and watercourses to ensure 80 per cent intensity of irrigation. Except the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi and the Chambal, no river basin has been harvested to the extent of retaining 80 per cent annual flow so far. The bracketed figures indicate the total annual flow in billion cubic metres and percentage of the harvested water in different basins — Indus (40-80 per cent Sutlej, Beas and Ravi only), Brahamputra (510-0.002 per cent), Ganges (489-7.5 per cent), Narmada (41-50 per cent), Mahanadi (67-20 per cent), Godavari (105-12.5 per cent), Krishna (68-40 per cent), Cauvery (21-30 per cent). Therefore, there is no point in interlinking these rivers till the water in each basin is fully harvested and canalised. The states which chronically suffer from drought are Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and southern districts of Haryana. In Tamil Nadu, only one major river i.e. the Cauvery passes through the southern part of the state. In all, 65 per cent of the catchment area of this river lies in Karnataka where it has been harnessed to a great extent. There is always a tussle between the two states about the release of water. Therefore, this state requires 6 MAF of water from the Godavari-Krishna rivers through a 800-km-link canal of 20,000 cusecs capacity at the head regulator along 150-m contour through Andhra Pradesh (and crossing the river Pennar). This is required to irrigate a strip of 100 km width along the eastern coast. It has a uniform topography like the Indo-Gangetic plain. But the possibility of this link would depend upon the Andhra Government’s endorsement of the plan. In fact, the Supreme Court would do a great service to the nation if it sets guidelines for allocation of water for different states if the river happens to pass through more than one state. Rajasthan is very unfortunate because the river Chambal passes through the southern tip of the state. Secondly, there is a big ridge in the central part of the state because of the Aravali Hills and irrigation of this land requires huge lift. The western part is irrigated by the Rajasthan Canal and the river Ghaggar. Therefore, irrigation of the remaining state could be ensured by the following three measures. First, provide a lift scheme from the Yamuna (near Mathura) to irrigate the adjoining areas of Rajasthan. Secondly, provide a link canal connecting the Parvati, the Sindh, the Kali tributaries, the Chambal (d/s Rana Pratap Dam) with the river Banas and extend it further at 325- metre contour around the Central Ridge. In fact, this canal at 325-metre contour will form a garland around the central high land of Rajasthan which occupies 40 per cent of the land area. And thirdly, provide a link canal connecting the river Mahi (d/s Kadana Dam) and the Sabarmati rivers to irrigate the areas of Luni valley of Rajasthan. In case of southern Haryana, the intensity of irrigation will increase once the waters of the river Yamuna are harvested to the extent of 4 MAF in Uttaranchal by constructing Keshao and other dams. Except these three states, we do not require any river link for the purpose of flood control and irrigation of arid areas. The entire country can be covered with 70 per cent intensity of irrigation by local utilisation of water within the river basin itself. It is, therefore, suggested that the utility of 30 river links should be reviewed afresh and save the country from blindly investing huge funds in this impracticable
project.
**** The writer is a former Engineer-in-Chief (Public Health), Haryana |
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On Record
I. Hemochandra Singh, MLA from Singjamei Assembly constituency in Imphal city and coordinator of the Opposition Forum, was in Delhi recently to sensitise political parties and civil society on the North-East, particularly Manipur. The Opposition Forum comprising the BJP, the Trinamool Congress, the Janata Dal (U), the Democratic Revolutionary People’s Party (Manipur), the Manipur National Conference and the Manipur People’s Party, is spearheading the movement for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. He became Minister of State for Education at the age of 27. He was also Deputy Speaker of Manipur Assembly. He left the Congress in 1997 and formed the Manipur State Congress Party. Thirty-nine year old Singh, a product of St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, wanted to be a civil servant but has no regrets about joining politics. Excerpts: Q: Do you think that there is a crisis of leadership in Manipur? A:
The current turmoil in Manipur is a disaster brought by misgovernance over the years. This should not be construed as lack of will with persons in Manipur who influence decisions but the administration has failed to address people’s grievances. Infrastructure development is not at par with other states. The present situation is a result of neglect by both the Centre and the state. Manipur, a princely state for 2000 years, merged with the Indian Union in 1949. At that time, the perception was that we would be able to join India and end the miseries under an autocratic regime. The youth then saw a better future in being with India. But Manipuris are far behind their peers today in every sphere of development. For instance, though Manipur got statehood in 1972, the benefits of Five-year Plans and other goodies doled out to states like Punjab and Haryana were a far cry from what we got. Q: Do you think the Ibobi Singh government’s hold on the state is slipping? A: Absolutely. It has completed two-and-a-half years in office. This is enough for a government to put the state on its rails, but this was not to happen. There is no long term vision and a roadmap for development. There is the problem of insurgency. Our most promising youth have picked up the gun and this phenomenon which is common in the North-East should be seen in a different perspective. The Centre and the state should realise that the road to peace is through negotiations and not the gun. Manorama Devi’s custodial death and the aftermath including the unprecedented nude protests stirred the conscience of the entire country. Q: What about the Centre’s plan for a commission to review the situation in Manipur? A: It is a welcome move but the Armed Forces Special Powers Act should be repealed. Q: The CPI has demanded a dialogue with the agitating people. A:
Any move to engage insurgents and other groups for a lasting solution is welcome, but the government should send emissaries and explore the possibility of opening a dialogue with these groups as has been done in the case of the Mizos and Nagas. Q: What are the demands of the insurgents? Do you feel the need to re-examine the utility of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act? A: They want a separate State. When our Maharaja Bodh Chandra Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on October 15, 1949, we merged with the Indian Union. Our aspirations, however, were dashed to the ground. Manipur which had been an independent kingdom was relegated to the status of a ‘C’ class state. After much wrangling, it was raised to the status of a Union Territory. We fought for statehood and finally got it in 1972. By then, the modern Indian Republic marched ahead of us by 22 years. In the North-East, it is not a mere law and order problem but a deep-rooted politico-economic problem. The Act should be scrapped forthwith. It is absolutely wrong to use the Army for these operations. The Army is trained for fighting conventional enemy and primarily to protect the country from external aggression. In the North-East, it is neither a problem which the Army is trained to tackle nor a situation of conventional war. One must, however, recognise that the Army has been doing a commendable job in areas where our governments have failed to build roads and bridges in inaccessible areas and give medical and infrastructural support to the needy. In Mizoram, peace has not been brought about by ruthless operations by the security forces but through vision and correct political approach. The only solution to lasting peace in the North-East is through the political and democratic process. The operational command structure of Assam Rifles needs to be reviewed. It is time to examine whether the Assam Rifles, which has been raised to serve the North-East, should be put under the command of the Indian Army. Q: Do you feel that the Manipur Chief Minister doesn’t want to confront the government on revoking the state’s disturbed area status? A: Yes. The Idobi government is spineless. It does not want to antagonise the Centre which, it fears, may dislodge Idobi. Manipur’s long struggle to walk along with other States and live as an equal partner in shaping the destiny of this vast nation takes a drubbing when one has draconian Acts like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. This is playing havoc with the lives of common people, eroding the foundation of our democratic institutions and belief in the rule of law. Q: How do you view the differences between Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the question of withdrawal of Assam Rifles from Manipur? A: This has to be seen in the context of the administrative control of the Assam Rifles under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Since the operational command is with the Defence Ministry, it often leads to differences of perception. But unfortunately, the Defence Minister sings one tune and the Home Minister another. This adds to the confusion. This is the time when the Centre should come out with a singularly unified approach and no conflicting statements. Q: The Union Home Minister has not ruled out the possibility of imposing President’s Rule in Manipur. A: President’s Rule should not be imposed as it will create more problems than it can solve. This will further alienate people and gag their voice. The solution lies in strengthening the democratic institutions by infusing more accountability in the existing political set
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Profile In fact, he had already put in his papers to Sonia Gandhi soon after the Congress was routed in the Lok Sabha election in the state, but the Congress President asked him there was no need for him to take the extreme step. Antony was never comfortable since then. Bitter factionalism in the state unit of the Congress with K. Karunakaran pulling the rug from under his feet and repeated attacks on his government, made his resolve to quit firm. One charge against Antony was that he would co-operate with anyone who agreed with his principles and policies even if they belonged to another party or group. This was not taken kindly by his colleagues in the ruling UDF even as his bitter rival, K. Karunakaran, bayed for his blood. Influential Church leaders too joined hands with the left parties to oppose some of his policies including education. The Marxists look to streets on almost every issue and dubbed Antony as "a spineless Chief Minister" but whatever the allegations against him, he has come out cleaner by resigning. Earlier, Antony was Kerala's Chief Minister twice — in 1977 and then in 1996 — but he had to resign without completing his term. Antony had also quit the Narasimha Rao government in 1995 when as Union Civil Supplies Minister his name was sought to be dragged in the sugar muddle. It took barely seven minutes for him to tender his resignation while three scam-tainted ministers — B. Shankaranand, Rameshwar Thakur and Kalpnath Rai — made last-minute efforts to retain their ministerial berths. While Rao was keen that the three ministers should put in their papers, he did not forward Antony's resignation to Rashtrapati Bhavan, hoping that the Kerala leader might reconsider his decision. Antony, however, did not have second thoughts. Many unknown facets of Antony's lifestyle came to light when he was living in a ministerial bungalow in Delhi. His wife, Elizabeth, worked as a clerk in a bank in Thiruvananthapuram. He lived alone. He did not have a functional kitchen and got his lunch from Delhi's Kerala House. His meagre breakfast was cooked by inmates of his servant quarters and for dinner he depended on friends. While the houses of his ministerial colleagues were flooded with electronic gadgets, Antony's sole possession was a transistor radio. Hailing from a poor Roman Catholic family of Kerala, Antony had to struggle at very step to make his way in life. Hardships made him more of an idealist. He became a vegetarian during his student days as he learnt somewhere that the production cost of 10 kg of rice or any other cereal is equivalent to one kg of meat. The real reason, however, was that he wanted to
economise on expenditure. The habit still continues and he prefers a vegetarian meal. His style of living was more of a Bohemian. Even after actively joining politics in Kerala, he lived in a small room in a rather cheap hotel. The tiny room continued to be to be his "home" for about a decade. Only after his marriage at 44, he moved to a small
tenement. Though belonging to a religious Catholic family, Antony became an agnostic quite early in age and shunned religious rituals. He carried on a relentless struggle against the Church-run educational institutions as a student leader and, later, as the President of the Kerala unit of the Youth Congress. So much so that he was described in Church circles as heretic. The Kerala leader came to limelight in 1976 when Indira Gandhi's national emergency was at its peak. At the Guwahati session of the AICC when everybody was praising Indira Gandhi and the then party President D.K. Barooah's coined the slogan "Indira is India…", Antony called for restoration of democratic functioning in the party. Indira Gandhi did not react then. However, a year later when Karunakaran had to resign following an adverse remark in a court case, she made Antony the Chief Minister. The Congress-led front had emerged victorious with a thumping majority in the 1977 Assembly elections. Antony did not last long in office, having resigned abruptly after a year as his supporters sided with Indira Gandhi in the Chickmagalur by-election. It was out of conviction that he did not go with Indira Gandhi in the 1978 Congress split. He returned to the party fold in 1981 and was welcomed by Indira Gandhi herself much to discomfiture of Karunakaran. He was made general secretary of the AICC in
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Comments Unkempt AT home in India there cannot but have been a surge of admiration at the superlative performance of China in the Olympics. Second after the United States with golds only a little less, it was a superb record and this after taking part in all the conventional games and, beyond them, in sculling, the marathon, field hockey, tennis, synchronised swimming, shooting, fencing, rhythmic ground exercises with ball and hopp, taekwondo — you name it and the Chinese were there — is something the nation which finished sixty-fifth can only applaud with wonder. What the Chinese record will be at the Beijing Olympics one can only wait for. The USA should be prepared to lose its first place. Now take game at which India is supposed to excel — newspapering. Here, too, the Chinese are on top with 85 million copies of newspapers sold daily. In fact there is some doubt if India can stand the pace, with television and computers cruising alongside, ready to leap forward at any time. In all the newspapering countries there is a fear that print might wither and die. Last year the world circulation of newspaper fell by 0.12 per cent. The newspaper share of the world advertising market declined from 31.2 per cent to 30.8 per cent in 2003 and the share in the world’s ad revenue, too, declined. Does that mean that in the near future we will no longer, in the early morning, sit in a comfortable chair quietly with a smaller and slandered digital newspaper in our hands and steaming tea inches away? Actually newspapers are putting up a strong fight — with mobile telephony for gathering and storing information, with new designs and printing with digital control, with trying to enlist new readers especially among the young and so on. The head of one of India’s biggest papers said that 62 per cent of his readers are between 15 and 34 years of age. Other world studies show that female readership is the most regular and loyal. India has not yet felt the full blast of the competition because there is still a huge gap in literacy and therefore space for newspapers to increase in circulation. But some of the other symptoms have already started — like mergers, take-overs and foreign ownerships. To take a foreign instance of last year, mergers and take-overs in Britain amounted £ 6.5 billion and in the USA $ 1.2 billion. Rupert Murdoch, originally from Australia but now a US citizen, is said to be bigger in the media world than Citizen Kane of OrsonWelles’ famous film. Our readers pick up a newspaper and start reading it without for a moment pondering about the world of newspaper production — of declining young readers, the beckoning of mobile and digital media, new designs and formats, increasing classified advertisements, Internet strategies, and emerging markets. They never even think once that in a country like Senegal a newspaper costs as much as a kilo of rice. This is surely the situation, too, in some of our depressed and tribal areas. So far we have got on well without much attempts at innovation. Imitating what is happening in the developed countries has been good enough, our only ‘novel’ development being to open up editions in different cities, fending off the American and European trend of having only one newspaper in a city, a monopoly situation. But we cannot bypass for long the need to produce much better editors and journalists, the absolute need for internal democracy and thinking and rethinking the challenge of foreign ownership. This last has already started through the back door with the production of copies of the International Herald Tribune daily from Hyderabad. The challenge from television comes not from quality but from a lowering of taste by the entertainment of pelvic thrusts. This is a worldwide wave which is difficult to buck but in developed countries there is a niche demand for higher quality and a going beyond the superficiality and swiftness which are too often the gifts of television. One of the last bastions against mindless entertainment has recently fallen. Bhutan kept cable TV away from its people. The other day the ban was lifted and now Indian cable TV garbage will flood the carefully cultivated mental environment of Bhutan. And no doubt the people will love it, clamouring for ever more infusion of sex and violence. This will be the gift of Indian colonialism just as some countries in Europe are worried about American colonialism. We have that too but don’t seem worried. India is rapidly becoming a country of baseball caps and designer jeans. One of the new developments in the Indian Press has been the space and coverage given to sports. But the interest is that of spectators, not participants. For the sportsmen the obvious lure is that of advertisement opportunities. It may sound unsporting and negative but I feel a withdrawal in the pit of my stomach when I see yet another cricketer singing, on screen, the praises of yet another consumer good. I suppose my revulsion will be put down to jealousy but I would protest. I suppose he had retired long ago but I don’t remember seeing any commercial with Don Bradman in it unlike today’s Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar. I feel the same way about actors and actresses. My generation is, of course from an Anglophile world so the icons of my time are Greta Garbo, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, the Redgrave family, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft and so on. I have never seen them in any commercial. Our own renowned actors, like our renowned sportsperson, have all died in poverty. What more can I say of China? Its economic growth rate has been 95 per cent for the past 20 years; more than 300 million people have been lifted out of poverty; and the country’s per capita income has recently passed US $ 1000. Analysts say that more of the same is predicted over the next 15 years during which the government aims to increase its GDP by four times. I know that Deng Xiaping Ping (whose centenary it is this year) would not have flinched at shooting 200,000 students in Tienanmein. It would have been horribly wrong, of course, but can we not improve over Olympic rating with
autocracy?  |
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Diversities — Delhi Letter
INDIA Habitat Centre's Visual Arts Gallery has a week-long exhibition titled 'Marriage, marriage, marriage' It will remain open till September 8. The exhibition covers response entries received for the Sixth All-India Unnati competition on the theme "What do you think of marriage?". Sponsored by the United Nations Fund for Population, the entries bare some of the inner most sentiments of our youth — how the very concept of marriage is undergoing a change. An entry by Dolly Rani, a home science student from Agra, questions why was it necessary for a woman to marry in the first place. Why couldn't she remain single if she chose to? There's this poem, 'The M Factor' sent by a Jammu resident, Dr Anuj Wadhwa, “Marriage, marriage, let's play at it...” And there's this one too — 'Ever After' by Shivangi Singh which has bagged an award — "They married and lived happily ever after/Thus ends the tale of Cinderella." It's a relief to know that the young in our country are living in no fool's paradise. And since this is a travelling exhibition, thousands would be able to grasp these sentiments and perhaps add
their's.
Manipur in focus About five years back after I had read through Sudhamahi Reghunathan's book on the North-East, I had realised the seriousness of the turmoil taking place there, as though a pot was boiling with great intensity. Now, of course, at the eruption stage most of us are taken aback. A single incident — the rape and killing of Manorama Devi — was enough to ignite and spill out. Last week a play was staged here at the Constitution Club by NGO Anhad to highlight this crisis. Directed by Parnab Mukherjee and titled "Essentially Yerma in Imphal", it focussed on the sense of alienation amongst the people of the North-East, as though cut off from the mainstream in every sense of the term, together with the current situation of human rights violations.
Stretching out in
the evenings One event after another stretches out. Monday is reserved for Janmashtami celebrations. Prominent will be Swapnasundari's dance along the theme "The Blue God". If you follow Alliance Francaise's list of programme, you would simply throw your legs in different directions, but in between keep asking why they have tilted their brochure 'Agenda'(!). Then the national day celebrations of different nations are on. September 8 for Libya and September 23 for Saudi Arabia. The national day of Iraq passed by last month with no celebrations.
Book on gender
expression French Ambassador to India Dominique Girard will host a reception here on September 6 to mark the release of Dr Alka Pande's latest book,
"Ardhanarishvara — The Androgyne: Probing the Gender Within" (Rupa). The book "dares to challenge, question, muse over, analyse and compel you to stretch the frontiers of your mind towards the hard hitting realities of gender expression". It wouldn't be a simple function. The book release will be laced by reading of poetry by Vivek Mansukhani and Kuchipudi dance by Kalakrishnan and, of course, the author's opening or closing speech. This is Alka Pande's sixth book on different aspects of art and expression; somewhere between the two, the human being simply can't be pushed aside. When Alka is not writing, she is busy curating art shows. Incidentally, she is the Consulting Art Adviser and Curator of a prominent art gallery of the
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Religious feeling must establish itself as a rational way of living. If ever the spirit is to be at home in this world, and not merely a prisoner or a fugitive, spiritual foundations must be laid deep and preserved worthily. Religion must express itself in reasonable thought, fruitful action and right social institutions. — Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching. — Aristotle The teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron. — H. Mann I will not be a traitor to God to please the whole world. — Mahatma Gandhi There is only one God and hence there can be only one way. Accept only that one way and reject all others. — Guru Nanak |
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A.K. Antony is a rare leader in the weird world of politics. He personifies idealism and probity in public life. But he has to pay a heavy price for his virtues and step down as the Chief Minister of Kerala. Known to be the epitome of unpolluted politics, Antony has no fascination for power. He had demonstrated many a time that he has no craze for the chair. So when it came to stepping down as Chief Minister last week, it did not take a minute for him to decide to quit.