The vision for the new government, unveiled by President Pratibha Patil, had no mention of water scarcity, which is causing tensions in many states
Promises are always pleasant to hear. And when it comes to a new government’s promises, they are no less so, provided the words are backed by a vision that goes beyond the next five years.
One thing that was missing in President Pratibha Patil’s address to Parliament this week while laying out the agenda for the new government was the idea of environment sustainability, specifically, the need for clean water. There was almost no mention of depleting water tables, water scarcity and contamination, which is plaguing various states. It mentions a list of things the government intends to do in the next 100 days. Unveiling a vision for water-sustainable development is not one of them.
The agenda opens up visions of heightened infrastructure-building activity, with a promise of low-priced grain for the poor, livelihood for all and an emphasis on scientific innovation. But what use are these if there is no water to drink?
Water scarcity is now a regular feature in most states. In Kerala, which is blessed with rains for nearly half the year, drinking water is being supplied in tankers to residential areas in many districts.
Rivers in Kerala have been heavily sand-mined. With ground levels falling, wells have dried up in most areas. There are grim reports from Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa about people fighting for water, and wells and pumps going dry. The agenda of the UPA government to provide water for all failed mainly because the objectives were initially only to provide bore wells and water pumps. But the government discovered its folly of depending on ground water as a universal solution and switched over to other solutions. The previous government was working on promoting harvesting rain water and check dams but these have not picked pace yet.
Meanwhile, water abuse remains unregulated. In Delhi, water is getting scarce in many parts, the real estate boom has seen a spurt in the number of swimming pools in the suburbs of Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad. Pools are fine, but there is no agency to monitor their sustainability and there are no penalties for wasting water. Nor is there any urgency to encourage restoration or revival of old ponds to conserve ground water. Builders are also not under compulsion to raise trees around their concrete towers to create green zones that can reduce the need for energy-guzzling cooling gadgets.
The manifestos of various parties in the recent elections make one thing plain — that political parties are yet to take their green agendas seriously. There is no environment expert who can be identified in any major party. And the parties are hardly apologetic about it. If the labour minister in the US Administration is a well-known labour leader, the environment minister is known for his work on green issues. Portfolios reflect expertise of those who hold them even in small countries like the Netherlands, where if you scratch an agriculture minister, you find an expert beneath. Here, political parties are yet to discover experts in various fields who will wear their colours and think for them.
Last week, the Delhi government unveiled a mammoth mural on climate change showing an apocalyptical vision of floods and rains and nature gone berserk. Maybe the mural should be reproduced inside the rooms of policymakers and law makers in every state to force them to take nature more seriously and to keep all other agenda subservient to it.
