Water politics

Caste and religious politics have become threadbare and thus are likely to become Impotent rallying point for political parties. Water as a scarce natural resources has the potential to setoff all the inadequacies that the caste and religion paradigm have incurred in these recent years. Water as a basic necessity is the prime compound needed for survival of not only living beings but also primary and secondary industrial sectors of the country. It is the fundamental right of a person to get potable and uninterrupted water supply under article 21, and any deprival of that inalienable and inviolable right tantamounts to human rights violation.
The revamp of our water utilities under the auspices/aegis of international agencies like world bank and others have engendered a political qualm of whether to go for privatization or not. Private efficiency or Govt. beauracracy in the water utility is the choice of the day. Drought in the countryside has virtually become a blessing in disguise for the political parties. The more the distress and adversity ,the more the opportunity for political parties to declare populist sops and criticize each other. Displacement and rehabilitation of marginalized section settled near rivers has been a subject of political interest, due to which the flagship programme of interlinking of rivers nation wide could not take off. MNCs using ground water and other polluting industries often have to take the patronages of major political parties to setup their plants without any hiccups. Sardar sarovar project on Narmada has also been a festering sore which has long been pending untreated. Inter-state water dispute settlement mechanism as envisioned under article 262 are not being able to work properly because of political chauvinism , regionalism and linguistic brinkmanship. Often the verdicts of the river authority are flouted or challenged in the appellate court by the losing party.
Going to international dimension , India has serious difference with Pakistan on the implementation of the Indus water treaty of 1960 .Though the Raymond laffite committee gave a clean cheat to India on baghliar hydro project , pakistan has again challenged it before world bank. India’s preoccupation with Bangladesh on east flowing rivers is also a case in point. “THE next world war will be over water," remarked the former Vice-President of the World Bank, Ismail Serageldin, some years ago.