NaMo, Announce National Water Grid Authority: Centre-piece interlinking of rivers on fast track -- Uma Bharti gets unanimous support of MPs This could prove to be a revolutionary moment in the socio-cultural-economic history of Bharatam, the unanimous support of MPs achieved by Sushri Uma Bharti ji, carrying forward NaMo mission of Bharat Vikas. The inter-linking of rivers for which, in an unprecedented judgement of three-judge bench of Honble Supreme Court presided over by the then Chief Justice Kapadia, a clear road-map including a Monitoring Committee presided over the Prime Minister, has been provided for achieving this national mission should become the centre-piece of National Water Grid. NaMo should announce the creation of a National Water Grid Authority in furtherance of the following time-bound objectives: Objectives of the National Water Mission 1. 24X7 swacch paani (clean tap water) to every home in 6.2 lakh villages. 2. 24x7 paani to every farm all over Bharat. Time-bound programme for achieving the objectives Declaring water as a national resource, a national asset, inter-linking of rivers should become the centre-piece of National Water Grid to ensure that these two objectives are met within the next 5 years. A National Water Grid Authority (NWGA) with mandate comparable to the Telecom Regulatory Authority should be constituted to achieve coordination among the stake-holders, consistent with the federal structure of Bharatiya polity: every Panchayat, every State Government, every agency of both Central and State Governments, Private and Public Sector joint enterprises in achieving specific goals of the national mission. Specific project components of the National Water Grid NWGA should ensure an integrated approach to ensuring National Water Mission as a sustainable, environmentally eco-friendly, social objective by defining the Grid as composed of supply components and demand components: supply components to include water resources of Himalayan glaciers water resources of nations rivers rain water resources managed through networks of lakes, tanks, reservoirs, wells ground-water resources and re-charge of such resources desalination of sea-water resources along the long 8,000+ km coastline of Bharat desalination of saline river waters management of floods in particular in Himalayan glacier rivers such as Brahmaputra and Ganga to ensure equitable distribution of flood-waters management of water resources in upland regions such as Sahyadri ranges by managing contour canals and tunnels to augment the resources of east-flowing rivers south of the Vindhyas sustainable water flows to maintain fresh-water aquatic resources such as fishes, prawns sustainable water flows in water-ways in the National Waterways Grid as complementary transport alternatives for passenger and freight traffic -- water-ways as alternatives to Airways, Railways and Roadways demand components to include use of water resources for every home in every one of 6.2 lakh villages of the nation ensuring supply of tap water on demand (as the tap is opened) every farm ensuring 24x7 water supply on demand (as the water-pump is switched on) to facilitate upto 3 or 4 crops per year depending upon the soil conditions and cropping patterns including plantations, herbals, cash crops, food-crops maintenance of water flows in waterways land management consistent with the needs of the samajam for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes including the management of demand water for non-agricultural uses maintenance of water-bodies including distribution canals at the Panchayat level by empowering the Panchayats to undertake works such as desilting of storage lakes, tanks, reservoirs equitable distribution -- at the rate of one acre per family -- of 9 crore acres (35 million hectares) as additional wet land which are likely to be generated in the arable land of the nation with assured 24x7 irrigation supplies of water to 9 crore poor, landless families which will unleash a social revolution of unprecedented grandeur, making about 45 crore Bharatiyas as land-owners (assuming 5 people per family). This will be a social-engineering challenge of a magnitude which requires mechanisms for close coordination and consultation with all stake-holders and for judicial oversight ensuring fairness and justice in the distribution arrangements through empowered Panchayats of the nation maintenance of tirthasthanas consistent with the millennial traditions of sacred baths in waterbodies by devout pilgrims provision of Maritime Museums along the coastline cherishing the heritage of marine bio-reserves and aquatic resources maintenance of forest cover in uplands and other regions of the country ensuring adequate water resources for trees and plants An integral part of the NWG management should be the use of satellite technologies for monitoring and managing the water flows, water bodies and water resources of the nation. The National Water Grid implementation The employment potential of the NWG implementation will be phenomenal. All water distribution systems and water-bodies such as lakes, tanks, wells (identified in each Panchayat for distribution of drinking water and distribution of farm water or water for sanitation and other industrial uses) should be clearly earmarked for employing the youth at each Panchayat level. The employment of youth under NWG should replace the limited employment guarantees of the MNREGA schemes. Private-Public coordination can be achieved by providing for vehicles for private investments to augment the investments by governments under infrastructure project/ urban development/ rural development project schemes. Nationalised banks, non-banking financial institutions, India Inc. and India Uninc. companies should be involved in taking the funding for the NWG forward as a cooperative enterprise. Coastal people should be involved in the schemes for desalination of sea-water and salt-water consistent with the development of Marine cooperatives as Special Marine Economic Zones with facilities for airconditioned storage facilities for aquatic products and augmented arrangements for berthing fishing vessels. Waterways management should be modernised consistent with the steps envisaged for foreign investments in Airways, Railways and Roadways Govt. of India should announce cooperation arrangements with nations of the Indian Ocean Community to share technologies and talent for management of glacier river waters from the Himalayas, with particular reference to Irawady, Salween rivers in Myanmar, Mekong river flowing through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos. Govt. of India should announce the involvement of Indian Space Research Organization in furthering the NWG objectives and in the monitoring of Himalayan glacier water flows, floods and weather-reports from the Indian Ocean waters affecting the Indian Ocean Community nations. The NWGA will be a stellar example to be followed by many nations of the Indian Ocean Community as cooperations among 59 nations of the IOC develop leading towards a Free Trade Zone and the setting up of Mudra, as a common currency in international financial transactions. NWGA activities can be a vehicle for international cooperation and cooperation with international financial institutions to fast-track the National Water Mission. Central to this Mission is the declaration of Water as a Fundamental Right of every citizen of the globe and a sacred responsibility of every Government to ensure the upholding of this Fundamental Right. The potential impact of the National Water Mission as a socio-cultural-economic revolution is to double the agricultural production of the country to over 200 tons per annum, to combat recurrent draughts and floods, to effectively, equitably distribute water to every farm and every home an to effectively carry forward the Swachch Bharat Mission and the imperative of Indian Ocean Community (IOC) as United Indian Ocean States, in an environmentally sustainable manner as a cooperative enterprise to benefit over 2 billion people of the globe and .to take the countries of IOC to their fare share of world GDP which they had in 1CE (pace Angus Maddison) Figures attached: Share of World GDP in 1CE Indian Ocean Community Interlinking of Rivers India Himalayan glacier rivers flowing in Indian Ocean Community Networks of tank irrigation: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu Major desalination plants worldwide Nuclear powered desalination plant from Kalpakkam (BARC) which can be carried on barges along the Indian coastline and along the coastline of Indian Ocean Community to provide drinking water to coastal people Draught-prone areas of Bharat, monsoon-failures No rains in North, Floods in north-east highlighting the dichotomy to be resolved by water mission of India National Water ways No. 1 to 6 India (including contour canal on Sahyadri)
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 06:20:16 +0000
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