Cauvery water dispute

The sharing of waters of the river Cauvery has been the source of a serious conflict between the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for quite some time. But recently it has assumed dangerous proportions. It is a well established and internationally accepted norm that in the case of international/ interstate rivers the lower riparian nations/states have primacy over the right share the water. Many water sharing agreements have been reached among many countries and by and large they are rarely breached. India has water sharing agreements with Pakistan as well as Bangladesh. Although India’s overall relationship with Pakistan is acrimonious and contentious the agreement between the two countries in sharing Indus' water is relatively secure. Similarly after  a comprehensive bilateral treaty was signed by the then-Indian Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda and the then-Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on December 12, 1996,the sharing of the Ganges' waters is no more an acrimonious issue. This is because of clear laid down rules of Law on water sharing. Because India is a federal democracy, and because rivers cross state boundaries, constructing efficient and equitable mechanisms for allocating river flows has long been an important legal and constitutional issue. Numerous inter-state river-water disputes have erupted since independence. A recent dispute over use of the Yamuna River among the states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, was resolved by conferences involving three state Chief Ministers, as well as the central government after intervention by the Supreme Court had failed. However inter-state water disputes continue to fester. Of all such disputes, the Cauvery River dispute between Tamilnadu and Karnataka rages on without a resolution in sight. The two sister states fighting, where everything is common, is a shame on the politicians on both sides. Historical natural flow at Cauvery dwindled due to intervention in the upstream by Karnataka, i.e. by unilaterally constructing numerous dams and barrages. Tamilnadu being a lower riparian state has been subjected to bullying on the Cauvery water and over the years the quantum of water released by Karnataka to Tamilnadu has progressively been diminished, which is totally against the water sharing agreement between the two states. It has become a characteristic feature that only the surplus water is being  released to Tamilnadu.

Once Cauvery was a perennial flowing river and water flowed upto the tail end almost throughout the year. As a result agriculture was developed in the delta area of Cauvery over centuries. And the Cauvery delta was one of the most prosperous regions of India as well as the whole world. The numerous big temples found all over the Cauvery delta region is the standing indicator of the prosperity of the region. But in the past, when agriculture was widely practiced in the delta region, the area now covered under the upper riparian region in the present Karnataka state agriculture was not developed and the people of the region continued to practice tribal farming methods. But in the course of the twentieth century the people of the upper riparian region now in Karnataka also slowly learned to undertake modern farm in and started drawing more water form the river Cauvery for agriculture. Moreover due rapid growth of population more and more area of land has been brought under cultivation in the recent decades, particularly after independence, and stated drawing more and more water. Similarly, large quantity of water has been drawn for drinking water needs. But the Karnataka state never took any steps to make efficient use of water. Because of expanded agriculture and increase in supply of drinking water, Karnataka state started  drawing excessively large proportion of Cauvery water. It constructed so many dams and barracks across Cauvery due to which the Tamilnadu’s legitimate share of Cauvery water was denied. The saddening aspect is that the Karnataka state constructed new dams without the consent of the lower riparian states and clearance from the central government. Now the situation has become very dangerous and paddy crops over 12 lakh acres are withering. The pity is that the Kuruvai crop raised by the delta farmers also had failed due to water scarcity.  Now the Samba crop is also under threat of failure. The Cauvery delta farmers in Tamil Nadu are deprived of their source of livelihood due to crop failure.

While the Tamilnadu government is taking all possible steps to save the Samba crops, the Karnataka state is adamant in refusing to release the legitimate share of the former. Moreover, the Central government is keeping stony silence on the issue of Cauvery water dispute. The attitude and actions of the central government are unconstitutional and favouring Karnataka state. It is the constitutional duty of the Prime Minister of India and the Cabinet headed by him to intervene strongly at times of natural calamity such as drought, flood and epidemics. Moreover, when crisis occurs in a states due to rioting and other forms of public disorder the Central government has to intervene and provide necessary assistance to the states. Similarly, when other crises like fiscal problems arise due to unforeseen contingencies arising out of natural calamities, riots and so on, the centre has to rise to the occasion and impartially render assistance to the states. Although the Prime Minister of the country is elected on party lines, he has to rise above politics and treat all the states equally irrespective of which party is in power in a state. It is the basic tenets of the functioning of a Prime Minister and the government in a federal democracy like India. Now the question is whether our Prime Minster and the central government are free from partisan attitudes and treating all the states equally and impartially? The answer is big no, particularly in regard to Tamilnadu. Tamilnadu is now reeling under severe power cut due the wrong policies and priorities of the previous DMK regime, which is now the major partner of the UPA II government headed by Dr.Manmohan Singh. He has not taken efforts to provide relief to the power starved state of Tamilnadu. Now, coming to realities regarding Cauvery water dispute, the Prime Minister never cared to take any tangible step to solve it. While he is taking undue efforts to canvass support of various political parties for FDI in retail trade through dinner diplomacy and stooping to the level of offering various concessions to leaders of certain political parties in order to garner support, he has not found time to call the Chief Ministers of Tamilnadu and Karnataka and tried to find an amicable solution. Moreover, he has not properly attended to the request of the Tamilnadu Chief Minister through numerous letters for center's help. Tamilnadu has again and again been forced to approach the Supreme Court for some remedy. And only after the direction from the Supreme Court, he convened a meeting of Cauvery   River Authority, in which he is the Chairman, and directed Karnataka to release some water for Tamilnadu. But why has not he taken any steps to implement his order? Is he not partial and favouring Karnataka? Has he not shirked his responsibility as the head of the country and supreme authority? What is more, the final order issued by the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007 about the sharing of water is yet to be gazetted by the central government, apparently because that could raise the hackles of Karnataka. It is time for the Prime Minister and the UPA government to apply reason and intervene strongly to resolve the issue amicably and thereby save the farmers of Cauvery delta.

Chidambaram pleads Indian human resources to return

   

The call by the Union Finance Minister,  P Chidambaram, to the youth who migrate to USA or elsewhere in the world to return after spending few years in other parts of the world to meet challenges of their own country is ill-conceived. India has the largest reservoir of economically active age group population in the world.  But due to unemployment a large proportion of this age group is not economically active. According to a recent report (October 2010) by Labour Bureau, in the 28 States/UTs surveyed, the total  population is estimated at 1182 million with 63.5 per cent population (751 million) in the working age group of 15-59 years. The worker population ratio is 325 persons per 1000 population at the overall level and 465 in the working age population (i.e. 15-59 age groups). Thus, out of the  total  estimated population of 1182 million, 384 million constituted the working population ( employed persons). The unemployment rate in 2009-10 is estimated at 9.4 per cent at the overall level as per the usual principal status. In the rural sector, the unemployment rate is around 10 per cent, while in the urban areas the unemployment rate is about 8 percent persons out of 1000 persons in the labour force. Moreover, according to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), over half the country's workforce is self-employed and women receive less pay than men for similar jobs. While 51% of the country's total workforce is self-employed, only 15.5% are regular wagers or salaried employees and 33.5% casual labourers. The number of people self-employed is higher in rural areas at about 54.2%, against 41.4% in urban areas. Moreover, according to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), over half the country's workforce is self-employed and women receive less pay than men for similar jobs. While 51% of the country's total workforce is self-employed, only 15.5% are regular wagers or salaried employees and 33.5% casual labourers. Moreover, many of those in the economically active age group lack skills. So skill development is the need of the hour. All out efforts should be made to impart skill to the youngsters. .At the same time, India is not able to provide suitable employment to all the qualified and skilled persons. Therefore, many of them migrate to USA and other countries in search of better pastures. Some of them stay back in the host countries. When there is no dearth of manpower,  asking them to return and end up in odd jobs is meaningless.

   Dr. C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Dec.2, 2012.

Left urges people to attend Delhi rally against FDI

All right thinking Indians should fight for the scrapping of the decision to allow 51% FDI in retail trade. The Communist parties have been consistently opposing is the governments decision to open the retail sector to multinational retail giants like Walmart. All of us will have to cooperate with the Communist parties in the struggle against FDI in retail trade irrespective of party affiliations. India is only country in the world which thinks that the foreigner is better for us than a local. For a country that has experienced colonial rule, this is bizarre. No doubt, FDI in retail trade will eventually lead to economic colonialism. Therefore, we have to fight to emancipate our country form falling into colonial control under the multinational corporations of America and the Western countries. Indeed our fight against FDI in retail is akin to second freedom struggle. All of us should be prepared to sacrifice to attain the goal of scrapping the notification on FDI. The government’s propaganda that FDI in multi-brand retail will bring benefit to farmers and consumers is   nothing but deceptive misinformation, which is not supported by facts. The argument that FDI in retail trade will lead to generation of employment opportunities is fallacious and not supported by historical evidences. On the contrary crores of people who earn their livelihood from the millions of existing retail outlets may be put out of business by the retail biggies. Most ridiculous contention of the government is that it be possible to bring down inflation by allowing FDI in retail trade.  There is scarcely any evidence to show that foreign investment, especially FDI, has acted as an enabling factor for controlling inflationary pressure anywhere in the world. On the contrary, there are ample proofs of foreign investment causing inflationary spiraling of prices in the host countries. The government has not explained how and in   what manner FDI in retail trade will lead to fall in prices; and how long the fall in prices, if any, will be sustained. Is there any guarantee that prices will be stabilised and thereby the real income of the people will increase on a long-term basis? Moreover, many recent research studies have shown that FDI in retail trade will be disastrous for the country. A most recent study by this commentator, the results which have been published in the form of a book entitled, “FDI in Retail Trade in India: a Retrograde Step” by M/s RAC Publications, No. 38 (Old No. 76-A) Choolaimedu, Chennai-60094, concludes as follows: “Evidences from various parts of the world indicate that   widespread   emergence of big format retail super stores have lead to extensive ruin of retail stores/shops thereby resulting in the loss of employment and livelihood to millions of persons involved in retail trade.…The inescapable conclusion is that any disruption of the prevailing system of retail trading will affect all sections of Indian society.  FDI in retail trade will not serve any purpose. It will do more harm than benefit the people”

Dr. C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Dec.2, 2012.

Disinvestment of NPCIL

It is unfortunate to note the central government is resorting to various anti-people measures, conveniently termed as reform.”  One such measure is the disinvestment of public sector undertakings. On September 8, 2013 the government initiated the process to sell stakes in two blue-chip PSUs - NALCO and NMDC. It was expected it mop up around Rs 9,000 crore based on present stock prices. Later it had sought merchant bankers for Neyveli Lignite, where it plans to sell 5% stake, again through the auction route. The total amount expected to be moped up is around Rs. 10,000 crore. The stated purpose of the proposed disinvestment is to bridge the deficit that the Centre. In the cases Neyveli Lignite and NALCO - the share is also said to be necessitated to comply with the new SEBI norms that mandate at least 10% non-promoter holding in listed companies. The government has proposed to sell 10 per cent of its stake in Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) through an initial public offering ( IPO) that will list the company on the stock exchanges. Reports show that a section of the politicians and bureaucrats have developed the mind set against the public sector. They are lobbying to privatise the public sector units, including the profit making units. One of the routes suggested by them is disinvestment.  The assets owned by the public sector units are the property of the people of India. Th government is only the custodian of the property. Therefore, the government should be careful in diluting the assets of the general public. Already vast resources of the people of the country have been looted by the crony capitalists with the support of corrupt politicians and connivance of corrupt officials.  The country has lost nearly Rs.15 lakh core in illegal mining and fraudulent allocation of mining rights, allocation of coal blocks, gas/petroleum blocks, and spectrum, besides allotment of land, quarrying rights,  liberty to collect tolls, etc. As a result, a few industrialists, businessmen, real estate tycoons and others have benefit ted vast amount running to lakhs of crores of rupees.  If the natural resources of the country are fairly and judiciously allocated, the country can raise thousands of crores of rupees every year, which will be more than sufficient to wipe out fiscal deficit of the country, besides facilitating investment in development programmes and welfare schemes. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of crores of public money is lying with banks and post offices as unclaimed deposits as well as interest, and remaining with the insurance companies as unclaimed policies for a long period. Such unclaimed amounts can be mobilised by the government for bridging the fiscal deficit and raising resources for development programmes and welfare schemes. Similarly, thousands of crores of rupees is lying unspent in several schemes and programmes, which can be re-channelised to bridge the fiscal deficit. Moreover, if the  huge amount of black money and property  lying on foreign banks comes back to India, the entire foreign debt can be liquidated. And after paying the entire foreign debt, India will have huge resources to invest in development programmes and welfare measures. Under the circumstances, disinvestment of public sector units is warranted and unadvisable.

Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Dec. , 1, 2012

Donations/capitation fees in Schools

In 1991, India liberalised the economy by initiating a package of wide ranging reforms known as new economic policy. The neo-liberal policies included opening for international trade and investment, deregulation, initiation of privatization, tax reforms, and inflation-controlling measures. The overall direction of liberalisation has since remained the same, irrespective of the ruling party. After liberalization of the economy, the central and state governments slowly started to withdraw from the policy of providing free education. The education has been thrown open to private sector, which led to commercialisation of education.  Recently a new type of educational institutions has come into existence, namely self-financing (unaided) institutions. These institutions have been promoted by capitalists, businessmen, real estate tycoons politicians, religious heads, communal associations, money launderers, liquor barons, smugglers, profiteers, bureaucrats, politicians  and other such individuals, who rarely cherish the idea to serve the society. Admittedly the growth of such institutions has led to the commercialisation of education. These institution woefully lack infrastructural facilities and qualified teachers. While they collect huge amount as capitation fees and as tuition fees, the salary paid to the teachers (including fully qualified teachers) is often a pittance compared to those employed in government and aided educational institutions. These teachers are not only denied proper salary but also security of service and other benefits.It is quite disturbing to note that    more and more such schools are resorting to the collection of donations/capitation fees in various names and different methods. How is it that the authorities are turning a blind eye when collection donations/capitation fees are prohibited?  Today, more and more people have too much money with them, which is not hard earned but gained through  tax evasion, corruption, bribery, embezzlement, plundering of the resources of the country, black marketing,  hoarding, miss-invoicing, money laundering and other such shadow activities. Such people are prepared to pay their black money to the unscrupulous school managements who indulge in the unlawful act of collecting donations/capitation fees. Such rich parents are making difficult for those who cannot make out huge payments.  Education is like a basic necessity and should be offered free or at nominal cost to everyone. The politicians and bureaucrats are also colluding with these unscrupulous managements of unaided schools which are promoted  for profits. These needs to be changed and the government should take effective steps to curb this unlawful practice of taking donations/capitation fees by school managements.

Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Nov.27, 2012