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A. LE FLOCH
The river-linking project would lead to degradation of land and adversely affect the rural majority
Gilt-edged Securities worth Rs 650,000 crore, in the form of a project for inter-linking the major Indian rivers, were floated in 2002. Legalised forthwith by a time-bound implementation order of the Supreme Court, it was blessed with instant approval from political formations of all hues.
Notwithstanding the mandate from the upper crust, the proposal was castigated over the internet and at numerous conferences by concerned citizens from many sectors of civil society. Sharply adverse reactions poured in from other countries in the region too, since India’s river network transcends political boundaries.
Such a massive tinkering with it would affect the whole of South Asia. The pertinent objections encompassed scientific, technical, social, economic, political and environmental aspects.
This unearthly proposal smacks of a nexus between the government and the powerful ‘engineer-contractor lobby’, which would gain immensely from such a gigantic construction project. It was proudly vaunted in the public media by the previous (NDA) government as a panacea for floods and droughts, with the principal avowed focus as being on transporting water to the parched Deccan. Noting the hue and cry that followed however, the present (UPA) government initially put the proposal on the back-burner. But the recent spate of ominous developments belie such hopes!
The President has recently reaffirmed to students in Mumbai that river-linking will solve drought and flood problems. “The Brahmaputra and the Ganges flood Assam and North Bihar every year, while certain parts of the country face drought simultaneously. There is a proposal to direct the surplus waters to drought prone areas.”
In early December last year, the Minister of State for Water Resources clarified that in compliance with the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme, a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of linking the rivers of the country — starting with the southern rivers — has been done in a fully consultative manner. It was decided after the assessment, to continue river-linking, with a focus on the peninsular rivers. But such an assessment for feasibility in just a few months, would be beyond anyone’s capability.
In reality, the Deccan would be inviting a disastrous fallout by importing water through river-linking. Terrain conditions, besides rainfall, regulate water availability in various natural regions. Most of the ‘designated deficit regions’ like the Deccan, Chotanagpur and Vindhayan plateaus, have low water retention capacities, high monsoon variability indices, and low irrigation suitability.
The problem stems from the water loving Hybrid strains of green revolution vintage, which engender recurring situations of severe water shortage with a dependence on chemical fertilisers and agro-chemicals for survival. The ingestion of such toxic stuff through the food chain affects future generations. The recent focus on the shortage of “food grade” water shows the extent of spread of the malady!
Those deriving benefits from this subsidised farm system are the big farmers, sugar barons and corporate farm systems, besides the multinationals and input providers. Paradoxically, despite the short-term production bonanza, such a violation of land capability and irrigability cannot protect the lands from terminal degradation. In fact, most of the prime lands have already succumbed to this process.
The current stand-off between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh exemplifies the fallout of this unsustainable farming system. Earlier, the excessive abstraction of the Krishna waters by Karnataka had left Andhra Pradesh in dire straits. The long-drawn controversy surrounding the Alamatti Dam also remains unsolved.
This imbroglio could well be avoided by allowing the traditional alternative of diversified dry land farming to continue. A package of drought-resistant coarse, palatable grain; grass and fodder; and horticulture-cum-forestry with a wide array of suitable plants, could have been the “dominant resource value” of the Deccan. The warring states could derive substantial and socially more equitable benefits with such a ‘dry-land’ system, but the vested interests would prevent this.
Powerful pressure for river-linking emanates from the ever-expanding urban and industrial sectors spawning in naturally ‘low water availability’ regions like the Deccan. These cater to the global market forces, their Indian and the minuscule fraction of affluent consumers.
The social fallout is manifest in the spate of suicides and the state of penury among the rural majority, who are the mute victims of an alien farm culture.
Unless the paradigm is altered, the vast rural empire is bound to strike back forcefully!
The writer is a former deputy director general, Geological Survey of India.