Yes, in a significant way!
Yet the state governments would keep the issue for electoral politics!
The Union minister for Water Resources Mr.Parshottam Rupala, was in Coimbatore the other day and he took the opportunity to reassure the farmers of Tamil Nadu to say that the Central government was not taking any partial stand with any of the Southern states, either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery river waters issue.
There was no politics, he said!”That is good. Mr.Rupala also took the opportunity to inform that the Modi government was their first in history, he said, that took the steps to benefit farmers, to assure that farmers incomes would be doubled and the government had set aside Rs.50,000 crores for 99 irrigation scheme that were pending for the last 25 years.
That was good news, we have to acknowledge and thank the minister. These sorts of information must be propagated more widely. We request the hon’ble minister to reach out to specialised media like the Vadamalai publications!
In high priority sectors like river waters, rural drinking water and electricity supplies, the concerned ministers must be more talking and more visible!
Cauvery river water dispute settled for good?
Yes, we have to say and move on!
The long-pending Cauvery river water dispute has been settled in a final manner by the sagacious judgement of the Supreme Court. The contending states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have to settle for an amicable settlement by the decision of the apex court which acknowledged the priorities of drinking water for the fast expanding Bangalore city and also at the same time the court recognising the potential of ground water capacity in the Tamil Nadu river basin.
Yes, it was bit of wrenching for the Tamil people who for long years, under the historic past of the Southern states of the old Mysore and the then Madras Presidency rule. In that historic context Mysore didn’t comprise the northern Karnataka, the so-called Karnataka-Hyderabad geography which also fell into the old Maratha regions too.
The newly constituted Karnataka state therefore went on to claim its share for the new state which also meant more claims of the share of the new state and also the state went on a spree of dam building that claimed more share of the natural resources.
For the Tamil Nadu that came into being in 1956, the geographical area lost some claims on the water resources that came and also some amount that went to its own neighbouring states like Kerala and Puducherry.
In the new evolving shape of the new areas under the Southern states, Tamil Nadu too gained we have to say from the dams came along, namely the Aliyar-Parambikulam dams and reservoirs.
Now, one more positive development from the recent Supreme Court judgement is the declaration by the apex court that from onwards the inter-state rivers that pass through more than one state, the river water would be recognised as a national asset, the rivers would be owned by the entire state, owned by the entire population of the country and not ,as it was so far, some sections some regions, as for instance that Tanjore Cauvery basin claimed a traditional; high proportion of the water share or Mandya region in Karnataka that claimed more water in its dams for the sugarcane farmers.
The water lobbies that so far operated raised ugly situations, why even ugly scenes, as we saw the Tamil Nadu farmer s camping in Delhi at the Jantar Mantar area a central place in Delhi and these lobbies went on creating more and more ugly scenes by conducting some unseemly agitations. Unfortunately such lobbies also didn’t get proper recognition from the Prime Minister’s Office(MO).
It is really unfortunate for people at large, in different parts of India did get a negative picture of the Central government was not sensitive enough to show sympathy and an emotional response to people in distress, especially in a subject like river waters for agricultural irrigation purposes.
The conduct of the Central government, more so the agriculture ministry conducted themselves in a very unfortunate manner. This we have to condemn as an act of insensitivity.
This is not the way for a democratic government to conduct itself in relation to a highly sensitive water crisis.
So too the issue of Drinking Water Missions of many types.
Here too we take this opportunity to stressing that rural drinking water is a subject, again of higher priority.
The Panchayat Development Ministry must be seen as high profile ministry and we must be hearing more on the actions and achievements and the targets covered in this, again, a sensitive ministry.
There are even in such advanced states like Tamil Nadu there are w villages where even after 70 years of freedom there are villages as close as 25 kilometres from advanced cities(like Coimbatore) there are villages where there no sanitation facilities.
So too the electricity supplies in the villages.
It is not the Prime Minister alone who should be doing the talking and exortation. Ministers in such high priority sectors must be more visible and more audible!