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Water policy for Punjab Profile |
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Virus of organised crime Police reforms: Structural changes needed On Record
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Water policy for Punjab Punjab
is endowed with good quality surface water resources through rivers and streams as also underground water reservoirs. The three perennial rivers originating from the Himalayas flow through the state with a water potential of about 14.54 million acre feet. The waters of the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi have been barraged with multipurpose hydroelectric projects which feed the land with canals and distributaries running in the plains. The state has about 14500-km-long canal network and about 1 lakh km of water courses providing irrigation to 1.6 million hectare. With 82.24 per cent land under agriculture, of which 94 per cent under irrigation, and with a cropping intensity of 182 per cent, the irrigation sector is the major use of water resources. It accounts for 85 per cent of water consumption in the state. With the ushering in of the green revolution, the demand for irrigation water increased in the Seventies. The spread of irrigation has played a crucial role in the production of food grains. By making available more water for irrigation, the cropping pattern and intensity has increased. However, canals could not meet the irrigation needs in the Nineties due to their reduced carrying capacity because of siltation and stagnation in investment in the irrigation sector. With large areas having substantial accessibility to ground water acquifers and easy availability of credit facilities by the banks for tube well installation, liberal facilities for electrification of tube wells, Punjab land has been punctured excessively with about 1.168 million tube wells today. According to the PAU, Punjab has been facing water shortage to the tune of 1.25 million hectare metre every year. The State of the Environment Punjab 2007 gives a grim scenario of ground water resource in the state. Of 137 blocks, 103 are overexploited, five are critical, four are semi-critical and only 25 blocks are safe. Excessive exploitation of ground water is mainly attributed to free power supply to the agriculture sector, faulty production practices, support prices for produce of a few favourable crops and disproportionate installation of tube wells by farmers. The average annual decline in the water table has been a whopping 55-57 cm. Lowering of water has compounded the problem further. As the water table goes down, farmers tend to bore the tube wells deep to extract water, which adds to their cost of cultivation. The problem is more acute in the canal irrigated areas. Large tracts of south-western Punjab are facing water logging and salinity problems. The problem has largely been due to excessive irrigation and low efficiency of water use in technical and economic sense. Except the Ravi and parts of the Beas up to Mukerian, most river waters have become unsafe for drinking, bathing and aquatic fauna. Direct discharge of industrial wastes (both solid and liquid) in the river systems and drains not only pollutes the ground water but also harm the cattle and other animals dependent on this water. Reports of high pH, BOD, DO and feacal coliform indicate that water quality is poor and has high concentrations of iron, lead, nickel and pesticides like DDT, BHC, endosulfan and aldrin in water. Recent studies by Guru Nanak Dev University and PGI, Chandigarh have linked these obnoxious and poisonous substances to deadly diseases like cancer, skin diseases and miscarriage cases. Drinking water in some villages has become toxic due to the seepage of pollutants in the ground water which, in turn, has entered the food chain. Experts say, genotoxicity may alter or damage the DNA, causing irreparable loss to both human beings and wildlife. The flood drains and urban storm water channels which used to control run-off in the monsoon are choked with solid waste and non-biodegradable polythene bags. To ensure protected and safe water for drinking and other purposes, the government has to pump additional amounts for piped water from international funding. Rehabilitation and improvement of the existing systems, containing ground water use within sustainable limits is vital. The problem of depletion of ground water aquifers should receive attention. Hard decisions like lifting of free power subsidy to the farmers, conservation of village ponds, baulies, wet lands and local water structures, partitioning of water in the towns and cities, have to be addressed. Today, the government’s water pricing policy has perverse effects on water conservation. Providing water from public systems and energy used for pumping under ground water at rates far below costs leads to a larger and fresh growth of demand for water and reduces the incentives for its careful and prudent use. Increasing water charges and price of energy used for pumping combined with strong user involvement in management, insistence on financially self-reliant operation of systems and strict enforcement of penalties for violations will make users avoid waste and conserve water. Recharging of ground aquifers by water harvesting, construction of check dams in the Shiwalik hills to conserve soil and water, conservation of wet lands and drains are the primary measures on which the government should think of enacting laws. We need a comprehensive water policy which will address issues such as conservation, drinking water supply, irrigation water, pollution control and inter-related problems like use of pesticides and fertilisers, promotion of organic cultivation practices to maintain soil health, growing of less water demanding crops and diversion of areas towards agro-forestry and horticultural crops for sustainable yields of food grains. There is a need to promote effective water use by modern techniques like sprinkling, better regulation of water distribution and improving water management to ensure better match between water deliveries and crop needs. The pace of the falling ground water could be controlled by classifying blocks according to the potential for exploitation, restricting the construction of new wells in areas which have exceeded or close to exceeding the potential and granting power connections. Reducing wasteful use by adopting water conservation technologies, recycling treated wastewater from domestic and industrial use can increase effective supplies for consumptive use and reduce the demand for fresh water. At the same time, the government should share the responsibility of design, construction and funding of the irrigation and public water supply systems so that they are maintained and sustained in the future with community participation. Delimitation of command areas, rules regarding water entitlements, permissible crop patterns, scheduling of canal supplies and extraction of ground water in the command areas though a government prerogative are generally old and based on the assumptions regarding water availability and crop patterns at the time of construction of these systems. These laws have to be seen and modified under the present circumstances when there is a deficit in the water supply. The rationale underlying the rules and process of instituting and changing them has to be told to the stakeholders by redressing their grievances. Determining water quality criteria for various after uses is an important step in solving water pollution problems and establishing a rational water quality management programme. Checking of water quality of drains, municipal water supplies, proper disposal of sewage, placement of water supply pipes away from sewage systems to avoid contamination and corporate responsibility to ensure treatment of effluents before discharging them into the water bodies are some of the steps to restore water quality. The Bein model of reviving rivulets and cleaning polluted drains need to be adopted because it will ensure community participation. The policy for reorientation of strategy and priorities in this crucial sector and for restructuring institutional arrangements for planning, management and regulation of water use and measures to create strong incentives to induce a more efficient and prudent use of water by all concerned have become imperative.
The writer, an Indian Forest Service officer, is the Chief Conservator of Forests,
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Profile Hailing from a small village of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Moheeth Ramgoolam, lived in dire poverty in the island. Grinding toil broke his health and he died at an early age, leaving behind his exceptionally brilliant son, whom he had named Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. In course of time, he led his country to independence from the British rule in 1968 following Mahatma Gandhi’s footsteps. So much so that Seewoosagur came to be known as ‘Gandhi of Mauritus’ and ‘Father of the Island nation’. However, like Gandhiji, he did not renounce power; he became the first Prime Minister of Mauritius. The third generation of Ramgoolams, Navinchandra Ramgoolam, stepped into the shoes of his father and he too became the Prime Minister. Navin was the chief guest at the annual conclave of NRIs in Delhi last week. He was decorated on the occasion with the ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman’ award by President Pratibha Patil. The citation said, “the award was not only honouring “intrepid Indians who left the shores of Indian nearly two centuries ago to courageously build a new country in difficult circumstances” but also to pay tribute to his father, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who is known as the father of Mauritius. Sixty-year-old Navinchandra represents the new breed of global PIOs who have made it big before taking up political positions. He has provided exemplary leadership to the Indian diaspora. The grandson of the indentured labourer from India did not choose politics as his career but took medical profession as he avocation. He studied at Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and became an intern with St. Laurence’s Hospital there. From 1977 to 1980, he was clinical Assistant in Cardiology at the University College Hospital in London before practicing as Resident Medical Officer in England. Even though a medical man, politics had always attracted Navin; possibly it was in his gene. He went through a gruelling course of Bachelor of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Later, he completed a vocation course at the Inns of Court School of Law in 1993. He was called to the Bar at Inner Temple, UK, that year. Even though Navin had lived for long years in UK, he always pined to return to his country. Images of young people two hundred years back, torn away from their families, bundled into ships, chained and made to row, conjured up in his mind. His grandfather was one of them. Navin decided to move back to Mauritius in 1985 but continued his medical practice in various capacities till 1990. Circumstances and political development forced him to takeover the leadership of the Mauritius Labour Party in June 1991. Since then, there is no looking back for him. From 1991 to December 1995, he was a Member of Parliament and Leader of the Opposition. On December 27, 1995, he became the Prime Minister, but in October 2000, his party having been defeated, he again became Leader of the Opposition. In 2005, a coalition involving his Labour Party won the elections and Navin become the Prime Minister for the second term. One of the objectives of his government is to facilitate the change of name of slave descendants. They were given derogatory names when they were forcibly shipped to Mauritius to work as labourers. Prime Minister Ramgoolam now wants his country to become a pivotal centre for distribution and re-export trade for the southern African sub-continent and has invited Indian firms doing business with Africa to use Mauritius’ free port logistics for their transit and re-export. |
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— Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata after launching Nano, world’s cheapest car — Senator Hillary Clinton after winning in the New Hampshire primary I am still fired up and ready to go…Voters are not going to let any candidate take anything for granted. They want to lift the hood, kick the tires. They want us to earn it. — Illinois Senator Barack Obama after he lost to Hillary Clinton There aren’t too many political leaders in India to have taken the trouble to write their autobiography. Indian politicians are probably too busy with politics and too lazy to pen down their experiences. — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh We want capital, both foreign and domestic. After all we are working in a capitalistic system. Socialism is not possible now. We had spoken about as classless society but that was a long time ago. — Veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu The reality today is that capitalism alone can fund industrialisation without which economic growth is simply not possible. — West Bengal CM Buddhadeb It would take just 3-4 months to deal with Naxalism if the government has the will and ends corruption in police. — K.P.S. Gill, former DGP, Punjab There is no use having a great vision if the implementation is lacking. Implementation holds the key to economic growth. — Canada’s Minister for Small — Nayantara Sahgal, author — Gulzar on R.D. Burman’s profound interest in music
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Virus of organised crime Organised crime is not unique to India. In the advanced West also, where huge profits are available in the flesh trade, drug peddling, money laundering and arms and human trafficking, thousands are organised in criminal syndicates ready to kill or maim for profit. However, the extent to which hardened criminals have found entry in our legislatures, ministries and big businesses of late and accumulated power, prestige and apparent immunity from the rule of law in populous states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is a matter of immense concern for the whole nation. According to the Intelligence Bureau’s latest estimate, nearly one-fourth of MPs and MLAs from the two states have heinous criminal cases registered against them. In this context, the introduction of the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) by the Mayawati government to counter the menace of a well-entrenched mafia should have been widely welcomed. Yet, the cancer of criminalisation has spread so far today that any reckless surgery also threatens to aggravate it further now. The opposition to the wide ranging powers bestowed by the above legislation on police and magistrates has thus emanated from all political parties in Uttar Pradesh barring the ruling BSP. The criminal-politician conundrum in our society needs to be examined very closely in this complicated scenario. The N.N. Vohra Committee, appointed in the wake of the 1993 bomb blasts, had observed that in several parts of the country “the mafia is virtually running a parallel government, pushing the state apparatus into irrelevance — criminal gangs and armed senas have developed extensive contacts with bureaucrats, politicians, media persons — (and) even the members of the judicial system”. A decade after the publication of this report, even this alarming portrayal appears rather dated as the virus of criminalisation seems to be crippling not only the polity today but also the civil society as a whole. The Deol Committee Report submitted by the Intelligence Bureau to the Prime Minister’s Office spells out the same in some detail. Till the early sixties, for example, criminals could hardly dare to stand in elections. However, today, in some states, they have graduated from aiding politicians to controlling them. Honest officers are transferred, promoted and sometimes murdered at their instance. Their henchmen can run kidnapping and extortion rackets even from jails while agents from enemy states use them for unleashing terror, riots and separatism at times. Their “businesses” are not only run along corporate lines but industries such as real estate, bootlegging, entertainment and lately, the printing of currency too seem to be swamped by them. Yet, this is not the entire story of criminalisation in India. The problem has actually infected the very core of our society. For instance, extortion and molestation have been reported even from places of worship; vice-chancellors of some of our universities have been known to have hired criminals to maintain “order” on campuses. In several smaller towns, it is scary for anyone to move alone on a new vehicle or with cash; youngsters from affluent families are also taking to kidnapping and carjacking just for “fun”. Prostitution rackets have moved beyond brothels and hotels to middle class housing societies and government offices. What is even more worrisome, we the people have not only watched the spread of the rot silently but have also learnt to laugh at it as evident in block busters flooded with the underworld’s lingo and paeans sung for filmstars who would not hesitate to dance like bar girls for the underworld. Even in smaller towns and villages now, mobs seem ever ready to lynch petty offenders but “ethnic” dons have enough clout to win elections with huge margins. Sadly, our academic discourses and textbooks seem nowhere ready to even register the problem in spite of this grim scenario. The need for a major overhaul in our legal system to plug the loopholes which enabled the mafiosi to spread its tentacles so wide is pressing. According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau, the rate of conviction in the adjudged cases, in 2004, was less than 40 per cent while the percentage of cases pending was as high as 85 per cent of the total. Yet, an overdependence on laws which merely inflate the powers of the police and the ruling party to hang “criminals” selectively, may turn out to be a case of killing a patient through over-medication. Undoubtedly, the gauntlet thrown by Ms Mayawati at the bahubalis is bold and praiseworthy. Yet, just as in the case of POTA and TADA, the critical point is whether we need firm and fair implementation of existing laws or partisan application of draconian new acts. Fortunately, Uttar Pradesh, despite being high on crime and violence, has until now remained relatively free from the problem of Naxalism and separatism. If the legal process is misused for crushing dissent, this saving grace of the Hindi heartland may also erode. A number of inquiry commissions have listed a slew of small but vital steps for checking organised crime including a speedier criminal justice system (the pendency of 2.5 crore cases in the lower courts and another 3.5 lakh in the High Courts is truly demoralising for the nation), better collation of intelligence —nationally and internationally, foolproof protection to witnesses daring to help the law against murderous gangs, electoral reforms to debar history sheeters from elections and prison reforms to turn jails into reformatories rather than universities of crime. In addition, extensive computerisation of banks and property transactions as well as police stations and, above all, a resolve among political parties to not grant tickets to criminals for elections are needed. Unfortunately, a few of these have been meaningfully implemented. In this scenario, the media can make a vital contribution by keeping a relentless focus on the reach of the mafia, particularly the criminal antecedents of politicians and bureaucrats whether calling themselves nationalists, socialists, revolutionaries or watchmen of tradition or community. The stakes in this war are very high indeed. Organised crime not only creates a spiral of violence and insecurity but also stalls development and perverts the functioning of democratic institutions entirely. Once over the hill, the slide into chaos or, its obverse — fascism — may be extremely difficult to arrest in the present state of our political culture.
The writer is Reader in History, Zakir Husain College, University of Delhi |
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Police reforms: Structural changes needed THE Supreme Court was, in a manner of speaking, “compelled” to issue the detailed directive, as it did on September 22, 2006, for pushing in police reforms in a public interest litigation. The compulsion arose because the existing arrangement was based upon the obsolete Indian Police Act of 1861, which was totally incongruent or least consonance with the spirit of democratic functioning of the state as envisaged under the Constitution of independent India. This was so both as a law and order enforcing agency and as an institution to protect the rights of the citizens. In the absence of structural changes, the situation had become very grave. Moreover, there was total uncertainty as to when the requisite reforms would be introduced by the government. Lest the judicial directive remain a pious wish, the Supreme Court adopted an unprecedented stance that involved a two-fold strategy. One, the judicial directive bears detailed directions of structural changes in the form of clear seven steps to be taken. The measures underlying these steps are not mere hypothetical enunciations, but concretely culled out from the hitherto research based reports of the persons who are highly competent and qualified professionals to undertake the serious business of criminal reforms. The apex court framed guidelines in the light of the National Police Commission Report (1977-81), read with similar subsequent reports, including particularly the Malimath Committee Report, the report of the Human Rights Commission and the Ribeiro Committee report, and also the latest report by the Soli Sorabjee Committee, which presented its draft outline of the new Police Act only on September 9, 2006. Secondly, in anticipation of bureaucratic inertia, the apex court made the implementation of the judicial directive time-bound within a period of about three months. The first critical question to be responded is, why do we need structural changes? In the process of administering justice during the past more than five decades after Independence, we have become acutely aware of several basic flaws. Perhaps the most glaring one, in cumulative form, is the brazen abuse of police power by the instrumentalities of the state itself. Worse, such an abuse is being perpetuated and sanctified on the strength of misplaced loyalty! Where should lie the loyalty of the police? Should it be in favour of fulfilling the personal purposes of the people in power or for protecting the basic rights of the hapless citizens? Hitherto, the apex court has been issuing directions for doing justice in individual cases that are brought before it for adjudication. Without undermining the value of Article 141 of the Constitution, which proclaims that the law declared by the the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts, such a judicial directive is woefully inadequate to control the sprawling incidence of crime. It would have been ideal if such directives should have prompted the executive and the legislature to go in for such structural changes as would make the police force truly independent of all vested political interests that exploit them with impunity for extraneous considerations. Without going in for structural changes, crime rate is increasing. According to the National Crime Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, during 1999-2000, on an average, about 50 lakh crimes are registered in each year in the states and Union Territories. What is the end result? The conviction rate is abysmally low. The Best Bakery Case in Gujarat is an instance of the sloppy work done by the prosecution — the investigating wing of the state police for protecting the rights of the state’s subjects. Fourteen persons were burnt alive in that case. The state police collected evidence and framed charges against 21 persons, called “accused”. The trial court acquitted all of them. Does it mean all of them were falsely implicated? Or, the police did not know how to do their job? Sadly, the whole police complex founded on the Police Act of 1861 is structurally defective. It continues to bear reflection of the colonial mindset. It is for changing such a structure that the apex court has issued the directives on police
reforms.
The writer is a former Professor and UGC Emeritus Fellow, Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh |
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On Record
WHEN the Central BJP leadership selected him to take the reins of the state after the Assembly elections in February 2007, skeptics outlined a tough way ahead for Uttarakhand Chief Minister Major-General B.C. Khanduri (retd). His success was largely perceived to be hinging on his ability to tackle his party detractors and steer the state out of the financial mess. Comfortably saddled after completing 300 days in office with a string of achievements to boast, he talks about his challenges and priorities in an exclusive interview to The Sunday Tribune. Excerpts: Q: How do you rate your government’s performance? A: A year is too short for a government that got huge fiscal liabilities and administrative mess from the Congress regime. Yet, we took measures like transparent recruitment and transfer policies to check corruption, fund development activities despite resource crunch and streamlined the bureaucracy. Q: What about the state economy? A: This requires long term planning and sincere efforts. Now, we are paying Rs 400 crore as interest out of Rs 4300-crore budget. Repay-ment of the total loan with interest comes to around Rs 24,000 crore. After assuming office, I cut wasteful expenditure and chalked out long term resource mobilisation by improving the core sectors of tourism, religious tourism, marketing and processing of agricultural, herbal, aromatic and horticultural products. Q: What is your major thrust area? A: Uttarakhand is endowed with great potential for power generation. It can generate 40,000 MW. Of this, around 20,000 MW has been identified. If all goes well, selling this can help the state clear its fiscal liabilities. I am pretty optimistic in this regard. Q: But what about the power crisis resulting in long power cuts in Dehra Dun, Mussoorie and Nainital? A: This situation should not have arisen but for the unscheduled shutdown of the ONGC platform. The delay in commissioning the state-owned 304 MW Maneri-Bhali Phase II project following technical snags has compounded the problem. The problem has been rectified and the trial process has begun. I am hopeful the normal power supply should be restored by this month-end with a generation of 80 MW. This project can take care of the whole energy requirements of the state. During the Congress regime, not a single MW power was generated. Q: Did austerity measures help restore fiscal discipline? A: I have directed MLAs, ministers and officials not to use the state helicopter and instead travel by train. Others too have followed suit. I have also cut my official convoy from eight to three vehicles despite security reservations. Q: Will this make any difference in curbing wasteful spending? A: This may not matter much in terms of saving money, but such measures have brought in a sense of thrift and responsibility. Q: There is an impression that you are a spendthrift and that your government overlooks funding of development works. Is it true? A: This is a wrong impression. I don’t believe in gimmicks like doling out of grants without accountability. Our larger aim is to put the economy back on rails without affecting development. For example, I have sanctioned 70 gravity ropeways in remote hill areas to facilitate marketing of agricultural and other products by bringing them to the nearest roadheads. Q: Your opponents say you are not accessible even to your party workers? Is it true? A: This is all propaganda. I am a soldier and I believe in doing my job with larger public good in mind. Q: Any pressure from the RSS in running the government? A: Would you call it a pressure if someone gives you sincere and constructive advice? Q: Any major achievement so far that has given you satisfaction? A: We are able to generate public faith in our government. I am making honest efforts to address their problems and provide solutions. This will be clear from just one example in which I put in place a foolproof, transparent recruitment system without interviews. Even my recommendation won’t work. |
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Exactly
We set out to do what people said it is not possible. It is the same people that are now following... I am in a lonely phase of my life. This is the biggest thing I have ever done.
Some people think elections are a game, lots of who’s up or who’s down. It’s about our country. It’s about our kids’ future. And it’s really about all of us together.
My novels have political backgrounds because politics happened to be my natural material. It was not something out there, happening in the country. It affected our family life at home.
When a tune struck R.D. Burman, he would not relax until he had shared with me. Often he got the hang of a tune while driving to a recording. He would then pick me up on the way, and play the tune on the dashboard of the car! 