When it was predicted about a decade back that the next World War would be fought for control of water, sceptics dismissed it as a mere hyperbole. Now, with killings over water being reported from across the country, the spectre of the past is becoming a scary reality. The team of anil sharma, raju kumar and nishant bhadreshwar take stock of the situation
This year the first incident of killing over water was reported from the Bakshibagh locality of Indore on March 31. A 16 year old girl, Poonam Yadav, was stabbed to death by one of her neighbours. On April 7, Ramchandra of Alot was shot dead by his neighbour. On May 9, a few people killed 60 year old Madholal of Dhakora village in Rajgarh district following a squabble at the village well. A similar incident was reported from the Naryavali village in Sagar district a day earlier where a few people attacked with an axe and injured one Pushpabai at a well. This is besides the daily squabbles over water in the state capital Bhopal where water is being supplied only once in 48 hours. People have to unfailingly wake up very early in the morning to fill their tanks. Others choose to keep a vigil whole night lest they miss the chance.
Water is hard to find even at 600 feet at some places in MP. Scores of rivers and water bodies have dried up. Gauri Shankar Bisen, a minister in the MP government, accepts that the crisis in the state is real. “There is acute water crisis in the state. We have allocated sufficient funds for the supply of drinking water to all the districts. We are paying special attention to the districts where the situation is more serious such as in Shyopur and Neemach,” he informs B&E.
In Maharashtra, farmers are the worst hit because of the water scarcity. “I had 3,200 trees of pomegranate on my farm. Of them, just 600 are left now. I had to cut down most of them due to lack of water,” says Ranjeet Patil who owns 30 acres of land at Chakur town, 13 kms. off Latur. It’s not that Patil did not try to get water. There are as many as 17 bore wells on his farm but there is no water. The first bore well was 300 feet deep and the 17th one was dug at 625 feet.
Presently, about 36,65,000 hectare of land is under irrigation in Maharashtra. The figure was12,20,000 hectare in 1960. With no considerable change in the rainfall pattern during the last 50 years, farmers had to rely on the underground water to meet the increasing need. But that too is now out of sight. Ecological Expert Atul Deolgaokar says, “According to a report by ‘International Water Management Institute’, if the use of water for drinking and farming continues in same way, then 70% of the groundwater would be used up by 2020.”
In a survey done in March by the ‘Maharashtra State Groundwater Survey and Development Department’, it was found that out of 47 towns in Konkan division, groundwater level in 11 towns has gone down by one metre. In Aurangabad division it has dipped by one to three metres at different places. And this is what has affected farmers like Patil.
This year the first incident of killing over water was reported from the Bakshibagh locality of Indore on March 31. A 16 year old girl, Poonam Yadav, was stabbed to death by one of her neighbours. On April 7, Ramchandra of Alot was shot dead by his neighbour. On May 9, a few people killed 60 year old Madholal of Dhakora village in Rajgarh district following a squabble at the village well. A similar incident was reported from the Naryavali village in Sagar district a day earlier where a few people attacked with an axe and injured one Pushpabai at a well. This is besides the daily squabbles over water in the state capital Bhopal where water is being supplied only once in 48 hours. People have to unfailingly wake up very early in the morning to fill their tanks. Others choose to keep a vigil whole night lest they miss the chance.
Water is hard to find even at 600 feet at some places in MP. Scores of rivers and water bodies have dried up. Gauri Shankar Bisen, a minister in the MP government, accepts that the crisis in the state is real. “There is acute water crisis in the state. We have allocated sufficient funds for the supply of drinking water to all the districts. We are paying special attention to the districts where the situation is more serious such as in Shyopur and Neemach,” he informs B&E.
In Maharashtra, farmers are the worst hit because of the water scarcity. “I had 3,200 trees of pomegranate on my farm. Of them, just 600 are left now. I had to cut down most of them due to lack of water,” says Ranjeet Patil who owns 30 acres of land at Chakur town, 13 kms. off Latur. It’s not that Patil did not try to get water. There are as many as 17 bore wells on his farm but there is no water. The first bore well was 300 feet deep and the 17th one was dug at 625 feet.
Presently, about 36,65,000 hectare of land is under irrigation in Maharashtra. The figure was12,20,000 hectare in 1960. With no considerable change in the rainfall pattern during the last 50 years, farmers had to rely on the underground water to meet the increasing need. But that too is now out of sight. Ecological Expert Atul Deolgaokar says, “According to a report by ‘International Water Management Institute’, if the use of water for drinking and farming continues in same way, then 70% of the groundwater would be used up by 2020.”
In a survey done in March by the ‘Maharashtra State Groundwater Survey and Development Department’, it was found that out of 47 towns in Konkan division, groundwater level in 11 towns has gone down by one metre. In Aurangabad division it has dipped by one to three metres at different places. And this is what has affected farmers like Patil.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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