The Hindu Business Line : Govt moves hold no water

At school in the 1960s, math was never my strongest subject so most of the math being explained in the class was totally lost on me. I recall with horror a test where the whole class sat quietly, working on the math problems in the question paper, I had the most byzantine tickle — it was as if the entire contents of my head were trying to escape.

My teacher had advised me to tackle the hard questions first and the simpler ones, last. Miserably, by the time I had finished with all the incorrect answers for the tough questions, it was time up. The straightforward problems where I could have scored were left unrequited.

I have qualms when I hear my European friends cynically comment of a very much similar obsession, in India. From the 1960s, we have been sweating over all the so called “tough” issues such as atomic tests, space missions, satellite launches.

In the intervening time, we chose to ignore and continue to do so on the rather simple, straightforward, uncomplicated but significant affairs that have direct upshot on the life of our citizens, such as education, healthcare, infrastructure and water.

While Europeans are full of praise for the country’s progress and its perceived ‘can-do spirit’, it is a fact that India has close to a hundred million children who still don’t make it to school.

And even as gay rights activists in India have been successful in legally decriminalising homosexuality, the fact is that in the past 60 years, India as a nation, has utterly failed in providing its populace with as basic a necessity as clean, uncontaminated, potable drinking water.

In contrast, our ancestors were not just rapt and enthralled but even engrossed and fascinated with the art and science of water. Respecting Nature was inborn. Water was considered divine.

Rig-Veda and Srimad Bhagavatha are full of shlokas in praise of Water, Sun and Air, three essentials of the environment. One of them is Aapo vaa idam sarvam; viswa bhootani aapah, meaning “All this verily is water. The entire cosmos and all beings are water”.

Stagnant waters

Water is a major concern, but at the national level, it does not seem to figure very high up in the considerations of major political parties. The successive governments that held power at New Delhi and in the various States have failed miserably in their duty to provide access to drinking water.

In its recent pre-election promises, the Bharatiya Janata Party announced that if it came to power it would make ‘access to drinking water’ a fundamental right and conservation of water a fundamental duty. I wonder what is stopping the BJP from teaming up with the ruling Congress to make this happen.

Evidently, at the national level, water does not seem to figure very high in the considerations of major parties.

In the recent Budget of the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, there was no serious mention of any planned allocation for improvement of water resources.

It’s a national shame that even the capital city, New Delhi, has a deplorable, pitiable water supply scheme. The need of the hour is for governments at the Centre and the States to place water right at the top of the national agenda.

The reality is that the borders on our political maps also create borders in our minds! To trounce these borders, State governments need to work together.

Europe model

As Europeans see it, the best way forward when resources are scarce is to co-operate. Only then can we build a future from which we all stand to gain.

So water can and must — in India — become a reason for States to intensify co-operation. For Indians that may sound like a rather strange idea. Yet, there are a host of examples of successful regional water co-operation in Europe that India can imbibe.

Five possible parameters

In the light of my observations on Europe, let me outline five possible parameters for an India water initiative.

First, we must intensify the transfer of successfully tried European know-how as regards sustainable water management. That would be a real investment in the future.

Second, users should seek judicial redress if their right to water as consumers, users, or citizens is not respected.

This is the case in Europe, for example, when the water distributed is polluted, when wastewater is not collected, when street fountains or latrines are lacking, when the municipality has not extended or repaired the network and when excessive pumping of groundwater deprives users of water.

Third, the European mindset is based on the assertion that water services can only function sustainably if users cover all the supply and sanitation costs and taxes. In India too, water must not be given free.

Fourth, considering the growing water scarcity and degradation of fresh water sources due to pollution, the time has come for the government to amend the Constitution to make Right to Drinking Water officially part of the Fundamental Right to Live.

Last, water is not State property and therefore, must be removed from the State list. In Europe, water is a national property, a basic need and has stayed under the control of the sovereign and society which dedicates itself to its conservation and judicious distribution.

I cannot but end my column with Samuel Coleridge whose Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner haunts me even today: “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink”. Water security is clearly a dream most Indians cannot aspire for, in the near or distant future.

The only certainty in the ignored and hardly debated issue in India is that the waters are murky, muddy and unclear. Metaphorically and, literally.

(The author, a former Europe Director of CII, lives in Cologne, Germany. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)