Volume 1, No. 4, June 2000

During the French Revolution when the starving people demanded bread, the queen said "if they do not have bread let them eat cake." In India, todays rulers have a similar unstated policy of providing Coke, Pepsi, mineral water, but no drinking water. Today, in the dhabas of the drought-hit areas you can get colas, but not a drop of drinking water. A few months back, Clinton after dancing with Rajasthani women, said all villages must follow the example of Nayala and have computer/internet connections. Now this has become a new mantra of our political class : "computers for all villages". It is repeated by Chandrababu Naidu, Mahajan, Krishna, Ghelot and the entire gang. Even the `swadeshi’ mouthing Advani wanted desi software to take computers to all villages. They have even surpassed the French Queen — so what if they do not have water, food, give them computers !!

With or without the drought, each summer, drinking water is getting scarcer and scarcer. The present drought, was only the last straw that broke the people’s (and cattle’s) back. The fragility of the situation can well be realised from the fact that such a severe drought has been caused not by the total failure of the monsoon, but by a drop in rainfall of about 25% to 45% in the affected regions. That too, after eleven successive years of good monsoons. One could then, well imagine what the state of our country would be, if just one monsoon were to fail.

How then have our rural areas been brought to such a state of devastation, where a drop in rainfall can cause such havoc ? Who is to blame for the rape of the countryside that has resulted in the death of thousands in the drought-affected areas through starvation, dehydration and disease ? Who is responsible for the massacre of lakhs of cattle that are dying like flies on the parched earth ? All accept that the present drought/famine is a man-made tragedy. Then who are these men, the criminals, the murderers, the butchers, responsible for these countless deaths and the horrendous suffering of millions ? What should be their punishment ?

But, before answering these questions, let us be warned that the present tragedy could be the beginning of a gigantic holocaust whose full impact will depend on the nature of this year’s monsoon. Meteorological reports are predicting the worst monsoon in decades. The political scum wish away such reports, saying that it is merely creating panic. Hopefully, the report turns out wrong, but it is for the rulers to take the necessary precautions. It amounts to criminal negligence to wish away reports of their own scientific department. Already 10 crore people and 6 crore cattle in 12 states of the country have been hit by the drought. In Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa frightening reports have come, of the human tragedy.

Thousands and thousands of people are migrating in search of food and water. The old and infirm are left behind in empty villages to die an agonising death. The cattle become food for the scavengers. And while families trudge along in the scorching heat, with little children in their arms, in search of work, many fall by the wayside. The government says, a natural death ! No compensation. The rest, drinking water from muddy pools, reach the few relief sites, where some get ‘employed’ in road construction. After back-breaking toil in the burning sun, they are paid Rs. 8 to 10 for the day, instead of the stipulated Rs. 60. The comparatively fortunate get Rs. 15. With this meagre sum they have to buy rice or wheat at the hiked up rates of Rs. 5.5 per kg for rice and Rs. 4.5/kg for wheat. Though BPL foodgrain prices were raised by 75% just a month earlier, the central government was not prepared to give even one paisa concession to the drought-affected. The finance minister could gift away an added one thousand crore rupees to the IT (Information Technology) sector while passing the budget on May 4th, but was not prepared to ‘waste’ even a single paisa for the starving masses. This amount could have fed 1.6 crore families for two months, but he preferred to gift it to a handful of powerful multinationals and Indian compradors.

And for all those who yell about this ‘great democracy’, there was no ‘democratic’ way of reversing these cruel, inhuman decisions. So, people must die by the thousands, and cattle by the lakhs — sacrificed at the alter of our ‘democratic’ institutions. Joining the ‘political mainstream’ means becoming party to this willful, premeditated massacre of thousands.

In this article we shall first look at the role of the central government in dealing with the drought. Then we shall take a look at the actual situation in some of the drought affected states, and the role of the state governments. Finally, we shall look at the causes and solutions for the current drought/famine syndrome.

The media has sought to castigate the government for its apathy in drought relief, portraying it as mere negligence. This is a gross understatement; for, it has been a conscious, well-thought-out policy to neglect the drought-stricken masses, in its fanaticism to promote the market economy. After all, even if lakhs were to die, they were immaterial to the present market fetishism that drives government policy. These worst affected, are the poorest of the poor. The government’s only concern regarding the drought/famine, is that it may deplete the market for industrial commodities, thereby affecting the profits of big business. And those who will perish, even in the best of times, anyhow, never have had the purchasing power to reach the market. They are therefore dispensable; whether they perish or survive they have no impact on the existing economy. Infact, to ‘waste’ resources on their survival, would mean diversion of funds that could be ‘fruitfully’ used, as in the IT or infrastructure sector. And, if at all there is any concern for the rural populace, it is for that section of the rich and upper-middle peasantry that may lose its purchasing ability due to the drought. It is this rationale that governs government policy, not apathy or negligence. If lakhs must die .... so be it; economic reforms is supreme. ‘Market’ and the ‘Dollar’, is the God, to be worshipped with fanatical devotion. Sacrifice of a few thousand, nay lakhs, is but a small offering, for worship of this deity.

This logic has been reflected in the present government policy towards the drought and famine. The reality was known well in advance, the magnitude of the impending tragedy was visible months earlier, yet the government did not raise a finger. Take the facts.

Top ministers of the central cabinet are from the affected regions — Home Minister, Advani has been elected from Gujarat, and External Affairs minister, Jaswant Singh, is a defeated candidate from Rajasthan. While Advani nurses his constituency, he cannot but be aware of the reality in his backyard; Jaswant Singh spent a large part of March and April in Rajasthan entertaining Clinton, Chelesea and Robin Cook, and could not have been totally oblivious to what was happening in the neighbourhood. Even the prime minister, Vajpayee made a high-profile visit to Gujarat in mid-April to attend the Sardar Vallabhai Patel celebrations, but chose to visit the water-rich areas of central Gujarat rather than the drought-stricken districts. None of these ‘leaders’ raised even a single word of the impending calamity.

But, it was as early as September last year, that the indications of drought first appeared, when reports were received of people fleeing their villages in Gujarat and Rajasthan. In fact during the then Lok Sabha elections, Advani, while campaigning, was greeted with the slogan "Pehle Pani, Phir Advani" (First water, then Advani). It was well known that in Saurashtra (Gujarat) only 9% of the dam’s capacity had been filled during the last monsoon, and even that dried up by January !

Details of the shortfall in rainfall in central and western India was reported by the CMIE (Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy) in its October, ’99 monthly bulletin. Ignoring this, the government sought to dupe the public giving out ‘official’ statistics of a normal rainfall. While their ‘official’ figures stated that 80% of the country had received normal rainfall, the actual fact was that there was a shortfall of 38% in Gujarat; 36% in Tamil Nadu; 25% in AP, Rajasthan, Haryana, UP and Kerala; and 20% in Madhya Pradesh. In South India the failure of the North-East monsoon between October and December was also well known. All these facts were ignored by the central government who merely quoted the all-India figure, which showed a drop of just 4%.

According to the National Remote Sensing Agency, despite clear indications, including satellite images, that pockets of the country would face a severe drought, the signals went unheeded by the government agencies. As early as March 2, Yoginder Alagh reported the magnitude of the crisis in the Rajya Sabha. Ofcourse, at that time, the government was too preoccupied making elaborate preparations for Clinton’s visit to bother about such mundane matters as drought and famine !!

Surprisingly, during this entire period, upto mid-April, the media too appeared to be a party to the conspiracy of silence regarding the drought conditions. Finally, with water riots occurring in many places of Gujarat, starvation deaths, carcasses of cattle strewn all over the countryside and migration of lakhs of people, the reality could no longer be suppressed from public view.

With news breaking out in the media, around April 20, of the devastation already existing, the central government staged a great drama, pretending concern. But, if its policy had earlier been to ignore the reality and suppress the facts, it was now a policy of make-believe, and to do the minimum possible. In fact the BJP-led government’s policy was reminiscent of that of the British colonial rulers who infact raised the tax on the peasantry during the famines of the 1940s.

Hardly had news appeared in the press of the drought/famine, when Vajpayee appeared on TV to make a dramatic appeal to the country to donate generously to the PM’s relief fund. It was great theatrics, suspiciously too immediate to the public reports. After having done nothing for months, it was a ruse to divert attention from the government’s negligence. Besides, it was a defacto abdication of responsibility, by getting the public to donate, rather than the government itself spending on drought-relief.

What did the government actually do ? It said it would release 2 lakh tonnes of foodgrains for Gujarat and Rajasthan (later also for AP), to distribute 20 kg of extra foodgrains to families in the drought affected areas. But this was not to be given free. This was not even to be given at the earlier BPL (below poverty line) rates. .... But had to be sold at the rates just hiked up by a huge 75%. When, in non-famine areas people have been unable to pay these hiked up rates, it would be utopian to think that famine-stricken people could afford such rates. While a small proportion would be purchased by the people for want of any alternative, the bulk would find its way into the open market allowing the merchants and officials to make a killing.

Then it released a mere 15,000 tonnes for both the states for the food-for-work programme .... also to be paid for at the hiked up BPL rates. The only money that it released, was that which is anyway due to the states, through the various calamity relief funds. The total amount thus released to the four worst-affected states was not more than Rs. 750 crores, which was a pittance. It was not even a small fraction of the huge gifts given to big business in the current budget. And in a great show of magnanimity it released 2,000 tonnes of foodgrain — totally free. That is, foodgrains that had been destroyed and was unfit for human consumption, was given away free, ostensibly as fodder for cattle !! Besides, from the vast sums collected in the Prime Minister Relief Fund, after Vajpayee’s appeal (all the Associations of industry, have made it mandatory for all its members to donate in lakhs/crores to this fund), a mere Rs. 30 crores (Rs. 20 crore to Rajasthan and Rs. 10 crore to Gujarat) has been given for ‘nutrition programmes’. It is not being disclosed, what is being done with the huge amounts collected in this fund !! Though the appeal was public, the accounts are kept secret.

In addition the government’s lack of concern can be seen from the fact that its revised Draft National Water Policy is gathering dust. Prepared in October ’98, it has not even been taken up for discussion. And when a specific meeting of the Water Processing Council was called on April 3, to discuss the draft policy, the government arbitrarily postponed the meeting without fixing any new date. Also the government’s lack of priority towards the rural areas and water management can be seen in its budgetary policy. The present budget slashed provisions for rural areas and rural employment programmes by as much as 30%. The current Union Budget provides an outlay of Rs. 19,455 crores for communications and Rs. 20,992 crores on transport; in contrast irrigation and flood control have received just Rs. 452 crores. The lopsidedness of government planning is evident from an NCAER survey which says that the number of villages that boasts of telephone connectivity (50%) is equal to those having safe drinking water.

So, the government’s lack of action in the face of drought is not just apathy or negligence, but a willful neglect of the rural masses, both in its immediate reaction and also in its long-term planning. Ofcourse, this lack of concern was not only of the BJP-led government, but was reflected in all the parties. This came out crudely, when during the 5-hour debate on the drought conditions in the Lok Sabha, only 55 members of parliament were present. Even worse, in early May, Pramod Mahajan, of the BJP introduced a Bill in parliament, seeking a big hike in the perquisites of the MPs. Though this would entail an addition expenditure of crores of rupees, at a time when the government is claiming a lack of funds for drought relief, it got ready acceptance from all the parties and was passed even without discussion.

Now let us look at the real situation at the ground-level in the four worst affected states, and the reaction of the state governments towards the drought affected people.

Disaster relief is a gigantic money-spinner for the local politicians and bureaucrats. In no other sphere can fortunes be made so fast. Development projects, allow funds to be siphoned off over the entire period of the project. Disaster relief gives fortunes overnight as vast sums have to be disbursed immediately. What is more, there is no accountability as the destitute masses are desperate for even the smallest crumb. These vultures exploit people’s situation.

So it matters little whether it is the BJP government in Gujarat, or the Congress (I) in Rajasthan, or the TDP in AP, or Naveen Patnaik’s outfit in Orissa — their approach has been exactly the same towards the drought affected people. It is basically one of clamouring to extract the maximum funds from the Centre, World Bank or any donor; and spending the least possible on the affected people. All seek to downplay the tragedy, so no one ever gets to know the real number of deaths due to malnutrition, dehydration on disease. All are more interested in reeling out statistics, either half truths or outright lies, of the relief work conducted.

In all the four states detailed reports have come in from village after village where no relief whatsoever has reached. And where water tankers have gone, often people are forced to pay Rs. 500 to Rs. 600 to the contractor. The extra 20 kg of food grains, often have not reached the villages, and where it has, most cannot afford to buy it at the hiked-up rates. Regular reports appear in the press of the same grain being sold in the open market.

The so-called food-for-work relief sites is the biggest scandal and money-spinner of them all. Though it may be the only source for survival in these desperate conditions, the political vultures extract the maximum through this scheme, where the bulk of the relief funds go. In many places, particularly in AP and Orissa, these schemes have not even been started, while ofcourse they may exist on paper. In the other states too, people in the villages complain that hardly a handful get work on the sites. And even those who do work, have complained that they get a fraction of the official rate. The records invariably have double the number of workers that actually work on sites.What is even more callous, instead of using these sites to build reservoirs, check-dams, ponds and other forms of water-catchment schemes, most are wasted in roadside projects, most of which are of nominal value.

While such was the general picture of relief work in the four states, let us take a look at the actual situation.

Gujarat is said to be reeling under the worst drought in a century. Of the 25 districts, 17 have been declared as drought-affected. Drought has struck 9,421 villages in 135 taluks affecting 25 million people and 7 million cattle. Foodgrain production has been 30% less than the normal and starvation deaths have already been reported in the northern districts; though the government denies it.

In 12 districts of Gujarat there is no water left at all. Of the 147 big and medium dams, all but seven have gone dry. The worst affected regions are Saurashtra and Kutch. In North Gujarat 24 dams have gone dry.

In Saurashtra farmers have lost Rs. 4,250 crores in unrealised crops. By April a total of 91 out of the 113 small and medium sized dams had dried up. In Kutch district, though the shorfall in rainfall was only 25%, 787 villages out of a total of 884, had no source of water in April. In Rajkot district, for the first time in 35 years, the four major dams have gone dry. More than 33% of the kharif crop has been affected, and the rabi crop has not been sown.

Let alone the plight of the rural areas, even major towns are suffering from acute water shortage. Cities like Rajkot, Surendranagar and Jamnagar are getting only half an hours water every week, while in the smaller towns, such as Jodiya, Dhrol, etc., water is supplied once a fortnight. Even in the Chief Minister’s own constituency, Junagadh, which is not declared a scarcity affected area, many towns get water only once in 15 to 20 days; that too for a mere 30 minutes.

Water riots have broken out in Rajkot, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and other parts of the state over the shortage of drinking water. Women in Junagadh attacked the town’s mayor following prolonged non-supply of water. In Rajkot residents attacked municipal authorities, accusing them of shutting off the water supply. In Falla village near Jamnagar, where farmers blocked the highway in protest against a reported move to divert water from a local dam to the town, three were killed in police firing. On the Bhavnagar-Rajkot highway police had to burst tear gas on April 7, to disperse a road-block by farmers demanding water.

What is then the reason for this devastation ? The roots can be traced to the World Bank sponsored green revolution. In the 1970s, with only 16.6% of villages (mostly in the water-rich central and south Gujarat) having piped water, in order to push cash crops, the policy makers promoted tube wells and big dams which has resulted in the depletion of the ground water supply. Added to this have been the impact of big projects like Reliance’s petro-chemical complex at Jamnagar which has dried up underground water resources through indiscriminate drilling.

The disastrous impact of this is to be seen to be believed. In the past decade alone over one lakh borewells have been sunk in these areas. In Gujarat, where earlier water would be struck at 150 feet, now they have to drill 1000 feet.

What is the biggest tragedy is that, in the fire-fighting measures taken by the government, the problem is only being accentuated. The Ground Water Supply Scheme of the Gujarat government envisages the supply of drinking water, pumped from deep borewells and piped into water-scarcity areas of the state. This scheme has already been pressed into action at Wakaner tehsil, where 120 deep borewells are pumping out 14.5 million gallons per day to supply Rajkot and Surendranagar districts.

The ruling elite of Gujarat, place the blame for the drought on the NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) for delaying the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project as though this project will solve all the water problems of the people. This is a big lie. The reality is, that in the last 15 years as the Sardar Sarovar has swallowed up 80% of the irrigation funds of the state government, smaller and more local schemes have been neglected. This has resulted in silting and poor maintenance of the existing projects. Reservoirs like the Aji dam of Rajkot are buried in silt. Even the Bhadar dam which was supplying water to the region, went dry last monsoon. As far as the project itself is concerned, even if we ignore the sugar factories, golf courses, water parks and five-star hotels planned along the route, according to their own project documents only 1.8% of the cultivable land of Kutch and 9% of Saurashtra would get irrigated by the scheme — that too, by 2025. The rest would go to the already water-rich regions of central Gujarat. And as for providing drinking water to the much propagated "40 million people of Gujarat", providing drinking water to villages was never the vision of the Narmada project planners.

Finally, a word about the role of the RSS chief minister during this drought. For this racketeer, swadeshi is not to be found amongst the poor of Gujarat, but amongst the Gujarati big business mafia situated in Indian and abroad. During the peak of the crisis in April, he spent 10 days in the USA supposedly wooing foreign investors. On returning, his first decision was to refuse to ban water parks and water resorts, which utilise millions of gallons of water, even while lakhs of people did not have a drop of drink. Finally, while clamouring about the lack of funds for drought relief, he struck a mysterious sales tax deal with the Ambanis. As a result of this deal, Reliance Petroleum will get a huge gift of Rs. 450 crores every year. So, in this one deal, he has given away more to just a single family, than he has spent on the millions of drought stricken people of the state — the Famine Relief Funds expended by Gujarat were just Rs. 216 crores. Now one knows, where the RSS’s ‘swadeshi’ really lies !!

The drought/famine has brought back memories of the disaster of 1856. This year, the famous Rajasanand Lake of Mewar, built in 1660, which gives succor to four districts, had gone dry for the first time in living memory.

In Rajasthan, 26 districts out of the 32 have been hit by drought. Three-quarters of the state’s population in 26,000 villages have been badly affected. 26 million people and 34 million cattle are suffering the disastrous effect of the second successive crop failure. About 50% of the affected population belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The loss of crops range from 75% to 100% in 16,085 villages, another 5,321 villages faced damage between 50% and 74%. Roughly 78 lakh hectars of land is as hard as stone.

People are migrating in hordes. From the tribal areas more than 40% of the population has migrated. In Jaisalmeer 20,000 people have migrated as there is no water. Farmers are reduced to daily-wage earners at relief sites. In villages here a tanker comes once a fortnight, and villagers are given just 10 to 15 litres of water. In Bikaner district people have to walk 10 kms for water. In Barmar district people have been cutting trees to stay alive. The wood is sold in Jodhpur for Rs. 1000, but the villager gets only Rs. 300 from the middleman. With temperatures going upto 500 C dehydration has become an acute medical problem. While landless labourers have migrated, middle farmers have been reduced to penury overnight. Moneylenders have swamped the area offering loans at 60% interest. Many farmers have mortgaged their land, for money to buy food and water.

In Rajasthan carcasses of cattle have been strewn all across the countryside since early March. All along the route from Jaipur to Jodhpur, from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, from Jaisalmer to Barmer, and from Barmer to Jodhpur, carcasses can be seen all over. More than 10 lakh cattle have already perished in the 13 worst affected districts. An estimated one crore cattle may not survive the summer.

In Rajasthan too, traditional water harvesting systems like ‘nadi’ and ‘khadia’ gave way to borewells. According to the Jodhpur-based Central Arid Zone Research Institute the water-table has been steadily declining at the rate of 3ft per year. It is the same story everywhere. All rivers, wells, traditional ‘handas’ for storing water, streams, rivulets, have gone dry. Irrigation systems, or what remains of them, have become irrelevant.

Here too relief work is minimal and seaping with corruption. The Congress(I) government was the first to clamour for relief funds. Out of the 70,000 hand pumps set up, 50,000 are non-functional. Of the 6,000 fodder depots planned only a few have been set up; but here too fodder is sold at Rs. 120 a quintal with another Rs. 80 for transport charges. Relief work was planned for 8 lakh people but not even half that have got work, though the official records show 6 lakhs.

Though this is the second year in succession that drought has hit the state, the priorities of the state government have been geared to the IT sector instead of rural development or water management. In a Clintonesque mania, the state budget of 1999-2000 allocated a massive Rs. 568 crores on providing telecommunication facilities. This included Rs. 153 crores spent in the rural and tribal areas of the state. Though the villages do not have any crops nor water, out of the 39,483 villages, 23, 727 villages have been connected up with village public phones. In contrast, a sum of Rs. 278 crores has been ‘officially’ allocated for relief work.

Besides, the centre rejected a state government plan for assistance to buy vaccines, medicines and feed for animals. Also, it withdrew the original allotment of 20 kg foodgrain to below poverty-line families.

In AP, 18 of the 26 districts have been declared drought affected. Large parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema have been the worst affected involving a population of 40 million people. The loss from the farm sector due to drought is estimated at Rs. 2,556 crores. Reports from just two such districts gives a grim picture of the people in the area.

In Anantapur district of Rayalaseema, a minimum of 3,000 villages are trapped in a slow unfolding massive tragedy, which could be worse than Gujarat. Though last year’s rainfall deficit in Rayalaseema was just 25%, with a decade of drought-like conditions and low rainfall, starvation has reached saturation point. The Kharif groundnut crop has again failed. There is not a drop of water in most places and several areas like Rayadurgam mandal are being declared as "new deserts" of AP, with sand dunes taking over the dry rocky soil. This desertification has already affected 40 villages in five mandals and is spreading rapidly. Most locals allege that the "Janmabhoomi" programmes of the government have been hijacked by contractors, bureaucrats and politicians. They say, relief measures have not even symbolically been enacted, and that the PDS system has been turned anti-poor with the price of rice being raised from Rs. 3.5 to Rs. 5.5 per kg. and rates of kerosene having been raised from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6 per litre. Most dalits, backward castes and tribals are starving or migrating, or doing back-breaking jobs in scorching heat for projects camouflaged as food-for-work programmes. Here too, they are paid a fraction of the legally stipulated amount, and most often after weeks. Nalabommanapalli is a village in Anantapur district. Villagers report : "Not a single government relief measure has reached our village since the crop failed in November last year. Not a single water-shed project nor food-for-work programme has been initiated in the village. A huge dry hole has been dug in the hill as part of Naidu’s high profile Janmabhoomi for water conservation. For four months we dug it, working 10 hours a day and have not been paid, though Rs. 40,000 has been allocated for it. What remains is a dry hole in the hill." The entire village is malnourished. There is a dead pond at the entrance of the village, which is now a dirty puddle full of mosquitoes, filth and fungus. The villagers dip their face in the puddle and drink the water.

Mahaboobnagar district of Telangana is in the throes of the worst drought ever. It registered 45% less rainfall last year. All the 64 mandals have been declared as drought-affected. By end April it was estimated that over 5 lakh people have migrated. Labour from this district provides construction workers throughout the country. In this district alone, till end April, 19 farmers have committed suicide unable to repay their debts. This is the official figure, grossly understated by a government unwilling to pay compensation. In fact in just a few villages around Jadcherla town a list of 13 suicides have been recorded which are not in the official list. Inspite of drought and famine, moneylenders, pesticide/fertiliser traders and even the banks, demand immediate repayment of the loan, together with the exorbitant interest charged. Some farmers sold their property, others committed suicide. The widows who survive, face sexual exploitation by the sharks to whom they owe money. This year, when the first suicide occurred on March 20, the government tried to pass it off as a natural death. Later, the fascist CM announced that the government will cease giving the Rs. 1 lakh compensation to the deceased’s family, as such payments are encouraging suicides !! Life, for this gangster, is so cheap !

While actual work in the villages has been insignificant the AP Chief Minister is one of the greatest stunt men. High profile announcements and schemes, accompanied with the full blast of the media, hides a high level of incompetence and conscious neglect of the people. His much propagated Janmabhoomis and 10,000 water users’ associations have had no impact in preventing the current drought. And now, yet again he has set up one more ‘Water Conservation Mission’. Announced with great fanfare, with large amounts of imperialist funds, this ‘Mission’ is nothing but a top-heavy bureaucratic publicity stunt. Involving big ‘experts’ like Anna Hazare and bureaucrats from Delhi, together with representatives from the World Bank, Swiss Development Corporation, and Netherlands Assistance Project — the bulk of the funds will get expended in organising five-star treatment for these Indian and foreign ‘experts’ while actual ground work will be nominal.

While imperialists praise his ‘Missions’ and ‘Visions’, the people have been disrupting his 12th Janmabhoomi, launched in April, demanding immediate water, not pompous scheme.

Orissa, though it has not been officially declared drought-affected is facing one of the worst droughts in decades. It has struck 13 of Orissa’s 30 districts, affecting over 12 million people. The worst affected are those in the western region, and also the coastal districts.

But, the people of Orissa are suffering not only from drought but also from the after-effects of last year’s cyclone and the intense heat wave. The last has already officially taken nine lives.

Lack of rehabilitation work in the coastal cyclone hit areas has made life a living hell in the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Puri, Khurda, Bhadrok and Balasore. In these districts except for the block headquarters electricity has not yet been restored. Water is unavailable except at a distance. In many villages of Erasama, one of the worst affected regions by the cyclone, not a single house has been built, with entire villages being accommodated in two or three tents. Temperatures in these tents are 4 to 50 C above the 450 C prevailing outside, due to over-crowding, the total destruction of the tree cover of the region and the hot tarpaulin. To take an example, in the Kothi colony housing 150 dalit families there is no food and no water. The government promised 2.5 kg rice plus Rs. 15 per day in lieu of work, but nothing happened. In April they promised to dig a borewell, but nothing happened. When an NGO tried to help, the government prevented them, accusing them of converting people to christianity.

Such criminal neglect by the BJP supported Naveen Patnaik government is to be seen everywhere. In the scarcity hit districts of Kalahandi, Koraput and Bolangir lakhs suffer from water shortage, with rivers, water bodies, ponds and borewells going dry. Titilagarh recorded temperatures of 480C, and with a population of 30,000 has not a drop of water, though the Jel river is just 15 kms away. In Berhampur at least 5 people died and 200 were ill with serious diarrhoea as a result of contaminated water brought by train — which smelt of diesel and was unfit for human consumption. Yet the government insisted that the deaths were from natural causes.

While people have been starving, grain was lying for weeks at the railway stations as the government did not want to distribute it until the PDS prices were raised. As a result the PDS distribution in the state had come to a standstill and even food-for-work programmes had not been started. On the contrary, the Patnaik government in fact stopped the mid-day meal being given to 40 lakh children, in the name of food shortage.

In Bolangir district the situation was even worse. The villagers complained that the government has done nothing....instead, they get beaten up and arrested while searching for a livelihood.... they are harassed if they try to organise and protest against water shortage. One village commented, "we have tried everything, from demonstrations to hunger strikes, but suffered nothing but harassment."

Such then is the situation of a major part of the population of four of the bigger states in the country. But, it is not confined to these states; the scarcity conditions are fast spreading. Now, with a forecast of a 10% shortfall in the coming monsoon (compared to a mere 4% last year) the situation can only worsen.

Let us now turn to the cause for this disaster.

India gets more than average rainfall; but has less than average water for use. India gets 300 mm more average rainfall than the world average of 800 mm. But, two-thirds of India’s fresh water is lost either through evaporation or by flowing into the sea. So the per capita availability of water is just 2,300 cubic metres, compared to a world average per capita availability of 8,500 cubic metres.

When water is plentiful, why the shortage ? Infact, in 1947 the per capita water availability was 6,000 cubic metres. That too, after 180 years of colonial rule, where the British allowed the bulk of India’s traditional water conservancy schemes to collapse. In 50 years, of the ‘Indian’ rulers the availability has been brought down to 2,300 metres. The reasons for this catastrophic collapse is a result of the profit-oriented rural schemes of the government; most of which have been dictated by the World Bank in the interests of the imperialists.

Depletion of the groundwater is a major reason for the present devastation. In earlier times, even failure of a single monsoon would not result in the drying up of wells, ponds, rivers etc. The water-table would be good and there was a certain resilience of the rural population to withstand monsoon failure. Now, with the four decades rape of the countryside, the situation is so fragile, that even a shortfall in rain results in all water sources drying up. Not only that, even with 11 successive years of good rainfall, large parts of the countryside get parched every summer, with large sections of the population depending on water tankers. Such has been the ruthless devastation of India’s countryside by the profit-seeking sharks.

Deforestation of valuable catchments due to logging, mining and mono-cultures is an important factor in the creation of drought and floods. When catchment forests are eroded, or replaced by industrial mono-cultures, eco-systems lose their capacity for infiltration and percolation; the rain runs off immediately to cause floods in the monsoon, and in the summers dry streams and rivers are left behind. Besides, forests help the precipitation of rainfall.

In these four decades vast tracts of forests have been cut down. The main culprits have been the forest department themselves linked to contractors and forest mafias. In addition gigantic ‘developmental’ projects involving mining, big dams, etc., have cleared huge tracts of forest. As a result of this wanton destruction, the forest cover in the country has been reduced to just 19%, when the minimum required should be at least 33%. This too, is the official figure, the reality will be far less. Besides this, large tracts of what is notified as forest are nothing but teak and eucalyptus plantations. These too, products of World Bank schemes to earn massive profits, resulted in the cutting of rich virgin forests, to be replaced by these mono-cultures that destroy the eco-system.

The rate at which the forest cover is being lost, can be seen from the fact that in just the two years 1995 to 1997 forests declined by 5,500 sq. kms. But this still does not portray the disastrous impact of the speed of deforestation in its entirely. Forests, in order to act as catchment areas must have a certain density of tree coverage. In the government’s official forest figures even scrub-land appears as forest. In fact, in a virgin forest if one-third of its trees are felled it loses its capacity of storing rain water and preventing soil erosion. In the two years 1995 to 1997 as much as 20,000 sq. kms was degraded from ‘dense forests’ to ‘open forests’ — i.e., 6% of the total dense forest was degraded in just the two years. It is this huge area that brings out the extent of damage done to the environment.

So, while on the one hand percolation is retarded by this devastation, on the other hand, there has been a maniacal tapping of ground water to service the needs of the Green Revolution — introduced in the country, in order to promote the imperialist market for fertilisers, pesticides, seeds, tractors, etc. As this was introduced without creating the necessary irrigation infrastructure, the quickest and cheapest recourse was the digging of borewells, introduced in the country by the World Bank. Here, drought-resistant local varieties, were replaced with seeds that have a high response to chemicals, but need 3 to 4 times more water than indigenous seeds. Also monocultures, typical of green revolution practices, also increased risks of crop failure. For example, sole cropped sorghum has been found to fail once in 8 years, pigeon pea once in 5 years; but a sorghum-pigeon-pea inter crop fails once in 36 years.

The devastation of our ground water by the introduction of such water-guzzling cash crops can be understood from the fact that today ground water accounts for some 70% to 80% of the value of farm produce attributable to irrigation.

This ruthless exploitation of ground water is in addition leading to dropping returns on crop yields and, in fact, even desertification of vast tracts of land. The rate of growth in yield of foodgrains has dropped from 2.35% in the 1980s to 1.37% in the 1990s. Also there has been an absolute drop in the area under cultivation from 128 million hectars in 1990/91 to 126 million hectars in 1998/99. These drops in yield and land under cultivation has been inspite of continuous successive good monsoons.

The governments, at both Centre and state, are not seriously bothered, as for the elite, whom they represent, water is not a problem. They either dig their borewells deeper or pay for it by tankers. However polluted the water may be, water purifiers give infection-free water for their personal use.

These class distinctions were clearly visible in the present drought hit areas. The upper caste landed sections not only could pay for their water, but caste discriminations came back sharply with reports from all areas coming in of upper castes preventing dalits from taking whatever limited water was available, or allowing them last. In the urban areas the rich paid for their water through tankers. Those who have suffered are the poor and middle classes. It is they who are dependent on the public water schemes.

This privatisation of water is to be made big business world wide, with major multinationals entering the field and the World Bank asserting pressure for its privatisation. In fact, from March 17 to 22 of this year, the Second World Water Forum and the Ministerial Conference on Water was held at the Hague.The ‘Vision’ that emerged from this Forum, strongly affirmed its support for the concept of full cost-pricing of water and water services. The ‘Vision’ went on to elaborate, that : these services must be provided by transparent and accountable private water companies, competing in the open market and located in national and international regulatory frameworks with well defined water rights and a pricing formula. So, the World Forum has set the detailed blue-print for the privatisation of water throughout the world. The Indian government, as servile puppys, have already fallen in line, and announced its intention to privatise water distribution with major French TNCs already entering the country. In line with this policy the new CII chief, Bharat Ram, made a public statement on May 4 saying that the government should collect user charges for water consumption.

While this is the stated policy, they have recently been silent on it, in the wake of the drought. It was for this reason that the meeting to discuss the New Water Policy was postponed. This will no doubt be passed once the drought atmosphere has passed over. Meanwhile the government is resorting to yet more subterfuge and gimmickry to fool the public. While it is making a lot of noise about local watershed harvesting, it is still talking about a Rs. 3.3 lakh crore Ganga-Cauvery link project. Ofcourse, water harvesting show pieces are being set up, as at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, to cater to the water needs of the swimming pool, and lavish gardens.

While the government is heading towards the privatisation of water, the media is making much noise on the watershed harvesting by NGO and private parties. Though technically these may be feasible, they have been built with vast funds being pumped in. For example, the 210 dams built on streams that service 100 villages of Junagadh, Bhavnagar and Rajkot in Gujarat, have seen an investment of Rs. 1 crore put in by diamond merchants and Rs. 35 lakhs put in by the villagers. Such projects are not possible on a countrywide scale, especially in those regions which are most poverty stricken. In fact, most of the NGO schemes cater to the upper-middle/rich peasantry.

If water for both drinking and irrigation is to be taken to the people, it can first and foremost be achieved by a more equitable distribution of the water. This ofcourse can only be achieved by a more equitable distribution of the land and other property relations in the country. It is only then that the vulgar consumption by the elite (personally, in luxuries, in tourism, in Colas, etc.,) will cease, and the poverty-stricken will get at least their minimum requirement. Such equitable property relations and water distribution can never be achieved within this system, but only by overthrowing the system through a New Democratic Revolution.

As far as the watershed conservancy schemes are concerned, they must be people oriented and not capital oriented. All afforestation programmes, watershed schemes, soil conservation methods etc., must be implemented by mobilising the masses and by the assertion of their political power on their environment. The forest, the land, the water resources must all belong to the community, and it is they who must assert their rights over it. Only then will it have long-term sustenance to rejuvenate the earth. It is only when people establish their authority in the locality, will they realise that voluntarily work through shramadan, will result in the fruits of their labour coming to them and not be usurped by some alien outfit. This alone will encourage sustained and creative work by the locals. Again all this is not possible in the present setup. Such local power can only be asserted through a revolution.

A good example of this is what the CPI(ML)[People’s War] has achieved in the guerrilla zones of North Telangana and Dandakaranya. After one and a half decades of armed struggle against the government the people have now set up their alternative organs of power at the village level. And it is through these that the people have been able to take up development projects like building check-dams, lakes, ponds, compost pits, etc., and implementing afforestation schemes. It is only through the people’s control and assertion over any project, big or small, that can make it a real success. Besides, any people’s government will give priority to agriculture over all else. Only then will the water problem be solved.

Meanwhile, with the government’s policy of privatisation of water soon to be introduced, conditions will only go from bad to worse.

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