The Hindu : `Backdoor privatisation' of water opposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 04, 2003

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`Backdoor privatisation' of water opposed

By Gargi Parsai

Sewagram April 3. The entry of private players and multi-national companies in the water sector as part of the Government's reform policy caused concern at the just-concluded National Water Convention organised by the Jal Biradari here.

The attempt to allow private and multi-national companies to control, manage and distribute water even at the level of municipalities was seen as an attack on the sovereignty of the country, especially with the apprehension that future wars would be over water, not oil.

The proposal to interlink rivers was also seen to be "socially and ecologically destructive with the potential of harming future generations and creating new sources of conflicts". The project was being rushed through without assessment, proper planning or transparency in order to secure the people's mandate for "narrow political gains". The meet announced an alternative National Water Policy which was centred on the premise that water was nature's gift, the basis of all life-forms and could not be `commodified' and privatised. The Centre and State Governments could not assume a role larger than creating an atmosphere for open discussion with people on an agreed policy, it said.

The convention categorically opposed the Centre's National Water Policy as one which propagated "backdoor privatisation of water" through schemes such as `pani panchayats' and water users' associations. The right of water was the basic right of all living beings and a fundamental right of all human beings, said the alternative policy released by Magsaysay award winner, Rajinder Singh Rana, who is leading the national water rally (`rashtriya jal yatra') against the interlinking of rivers and privatisation of water. "Communities are the custodians of water resources and the rights for conservation, management, sustainable utilisation and equitable distribution should be with the community," the policy said.

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