William Blake saw a ‘world in a grain of sand’. In the summer of 2018, we will see the world in a drop of water. Even before peak summer sets in, drinking water shortages are being reported across India. From Srinagar to Bhopal to Bengaluru, lakes are shrinking and taps are running dry.
Water stress is the new normal. But can it become an election issue? Can it punch a ‘moisture gap’ in political votebanks? If voters want to put water on the agenda of political parties, the time is now, with a water crisis looming larger than the 2019 general elections.
The Central Water Commission reports that the storage of water in the 91 main reservoirs in India is at 29 per cent of capacity, much less than it was last year. In fact, it is significantly below the average of the last ten years. Conditions can only get worse, with the weatherman predicting a hotter than normal summer.
Small wonder, given that the rainfall (and snowfall) during the winter was far below normal. In terms of percentages, the shortfall in January was 85 per cent. February was better. But put together, the ‘winter rain’ deficit was 63 per cent. To get an idea of just how big the deficit was this winter, consider these figures: against normal rainfall of 41.4 mm, the country received just 15.4 mm.
Few denizens of north India could have imagined Nainital running short of water. The queen of the Kumaon hills is sorrounded by lakes, or tals, from which the settlements of Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal, Sat-tal, etc take their names. This year, a drastic dip in the level of Naini lake has led to a rationing of water. Ranikhet hill-station too, is facing its second consecutive year of severe water shortage. In Shimla, the pride of Himachal Pradesh, the winter rain deficit was 72 per cent and the state government has already warned of a drought-like situation.
Overall, this year India received the least winter rainfall of the last 100 years. The Indian Metereological Department puts it down to the ‘La Nina’ effect. The fact is that climate change is no longer an abstract concept. It is here, impacting our lives.
Water has long been a subject of inter-state disputes: between Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Goa and Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Maharashtra and Telengana and so on.
With the BJP in power in 19 of 27 states, surely the major water disputes should be peacefully resolved. But that isn’t the case. Regardless of the fact that the same party is in power in two warring states, the ‘hydrological warfare’ continues. For example, Gujarat farmers were promised a greater share of Narmada waters, but Madhya Pradesh refuses to release more water, citing its own needs. CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan cannot be blamed; he has an election to face this year, whereas the Gujarat elections are already over.
In view of the Karntaka assembly elections, BJP president Amit Shah has promised to deliver water from the Mahadayi (Mandovi) river to drought-prone northern Karnataka, but where does that leave Goa? The BJP’s alliance partners in the state have categorically refused to allow diversion of
river waters.
In terms of water, it’s every state for itself. Politicians are well aware of the importance of delivering water to their constituents. As Sharad Yadav said two decades ago: “The only thing the farmer needs is water. Everything else he can manage by himself”.
During assembly elections, every party promises to deliver water, but this usually involves squeezing water from other states (as Delhi does from Uttarkahand). They talk of major irrigation and drinking water schemes to deliver water from ‘somewhere’, but not of water management in their own states. So, in a Lok Sabha election, no party brings out a separate agenda paper on water.
The proposed inter-linking of rivers is the only country-wide water management project offered so far. Given the huge capital investment, the environmental concerns, the timelines involved and the fact that the flow rates of all major rivers are falling, it’s a pie-in-the-sky concept.
Voters have yet to realise that their livelihoods and quality of life are directly linked with the degradation of the environment. Only in localised pockets, particularly tribal areas, is environment seen as a livelihood issue. The Chipko movement in Garhwal was a case in point. In urban areas like Delhi, environmental issues materially affect the quality of life, but voting behaviour is impacted far more by infrastructure and utilities than pollution.
Voters must understand that water is not a concern for environmental activists alone, but for each and every citizen. Only by creating awareness that the country’s survival depends on sound water management can voters be motivated to put pressure on political parties and force them to make water a central issue in their election manifestos.
Bhavdeep Kang is a senior journalist with 35 years of experience in working with major newspapers and magazines. She is now an independent writer and author.
