A river sutra, without links

"There are less disruptive and cheaper alternatives than connecting rivers to reduce the misery of floods and droughts."

As plans for inter-basin transfers of water across vast distances, from surplus to deficit areas, appear to have got a lot of attraction for a country exposed all too often to droughts and floods, these need to be seriously evaluated and debated. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : A river sutra, without links


In practice, people in so-called surplus areas do not agree that they have spare water which can be transferred to other, faraway areas. At a time when there are problems relating to the sharing of waters, transfer of water across distant areas can easily aggravate these tensions. This should be avoided.

Also, any neat division between "deficit" and "surplus" areas becomes more of a problem in these times of climate change when erratic weather patterns are more frequently seen. The tensions are likely to be much greater when inter-basin transfers also involve neighbouring countries. Given the real world of shifting rivers, land slides, seismic belts, etc. it makes the task difficult, enormously expensive, energy-intensive and hazardous. We also have not explored how the bio-diversity flourishing in a particular river system will react when it is linked to another river.

A combination of traditional water-collection/conservation practices and other drought-proofing methods — which also use modern technology — still provides the best available answer (also the cheapest one) to water scarcity in drought-prone areas. A good drainage plan — so that flood water clears quickly — combined with a package of livelihood, health, education and other support suited to the needs of flood-prone areas and communities is what is really needed.

With all due respect, My Lords

"It is not for the Supreme Court to decide how the government should ensure the right to water; in any case, the connection between this right and the river linking project is tenuous."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : With all due respect, My Lords: Supreme Court, in its order, explicitly directs the Executive Government to implement the Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) Project, and to set up a Special Committee to carry out that implementation; it lays down that the committee's decisions shall take precedence over all administrative bodies created under the orders of this court or otherwise; it (graciously) authorises the Cabinet to take all final and appropriate decisions, and lays down a time-limit of 30 days for such decision-making (though it has the saving grace to say “preferably”); and it grants “liberty to the learned Amicus Curiae to file contempt petition in this court, in the event of default or non-compliance of the directions contained in this order”.

The Supreme Court was clearly entitled to ask the government to state categorically where it stood on this project. What it was not entitled to do was to issue a direction to the government to implement the project. It has done so since the Supreme Court is convinced that the project is good and urgently needed; and that a very important national initiative is getting bogged down because of various reasons and needs to be galvanised.

The view that the country faces a looming water crisis; that the answer lies in augmenting supplies; that given the magnitude and distribution of India's future water requirements, the ILR project is the best possible answer; and that it is in the national interest to implement it quickly. It is that conviction that provides, in the Supreme Court's view, the justification for its intervention. If that view of India's water crisis and its solution is challenged, the whole basis for the Supreme Court's order collapses. There is a diversity of views on it, which the Supreme Court has failed to consider.

Chasing a mirage

"The Supreme Court direction to the Centre to constitute a special committee to pursue the outdated plan of linking India's rivers is based on a misplaced premise. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Chasing a mirage: The national record on resettlement of people displaced by mega dam projects does not inspire confidence. As importantly, the plan's environmental aspects or cost-benefit calculus have not been considered. There is the additional challenge of taking along states let alone neighbouring countries.

The way forward to improve the prospects of water-deficit basins is to work on more efficient and less destructive options, like devoting resources for rainwater harvesting programmes of scale, raising irrigation efficiency, curbing pollution.