The Ravage of floods –Is there a solution in interlinking ?

Recent news reports indicate that there is a serious flood situation in North and North East India. States of UP, Bihar, MP, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Assam and other states are reeling due the affect of floods caused by heavy rains.

Large tracts of land are submerged destroying crops, houses and bringing misery to people .Lakhs of people are evacuated and crores of rupees have been allocated for flood relief .This is an annual phenomenon in North and North East India where the major rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada and Brahmaputra flows .Floods occur in these states every year and each year the devastation caused by these floods are increasing .Millions of people are displaced and left with nothing.

Sharing of water and disputes about it 

Meanwhile in South India the rains have been insufficient especially in Karnataka and TN .Recently a delegation of farmers from Cauvery delta in TN met Chief Minister of Karnataka to urge him to release water to TN for the Samba crop. The CM expressed his inability to do as the water levels in Dams in Karnataka are low because of insufficient rains.

Sharing of water in a very emotional issue .There are fights going on between various Indian states on this issue. There is a dispute going on between Goa and Karnataka for release of water from the Mahadyayi River and it has become a very sensitive and emotional issue in Karnataka right now. There is an ongoing water disputes between almost all South Indian states and between some North Indian states .There is also International water disputes going on between India and its neighbours.

Water has become a very precious commodity these days .Due to destruction of forests, climate change due to Global warming the rain patterns have been changing and some times it has become most unpredictable. Some years there will be sufficient rains, some years insufficient and some year’s very excess rains .Here also rains received by different regions of the Country vary year by year.

India still being a predominantly agricultural country heavily depends on the Monsoons rains .The farming output of the country depends on seasonal and sufficient rains; otherwise it will either cause floods or draught in various part of the country.

So how can we find a solution to this problem?

Inter linking of rivers has been suggested as a solution for a long time now.

The British first muted the idea; as they wanted to transport goods for export from India and Imports from England which can be easily transported all over the country. Also it would have addressed water shortages and draught in many parts of India.

In the 1970s, Dr. K.L. Rao, a dam’s designer and former irrigation minister proposed "National Water Grid". He was concerned about the severe shortages of water in the South and repetitive flooding in the North every year. He suggested that the Brahmaputra and Ganga basins are water surplus areas and central and south India as water deficit areas. He proposed that surplus water be diverted to areas of deficit

Subsequently the National Water Development Agency was created and they have done detailed studies ,surveys and feasibility of interlinking of rivers ,produced many reports on this but nothing was done on this till 2013.

Now the proposal has been modified as inter river basin water transfer development from the idea of interlinking of rivers.

Is there a need for this project?

There is a clear need for interlinking or rivers or sharing of excess water from rivers caused by floods. India receives about 4,000 cubic kilometers of rain annually, or about 1 million gallons of fresh water per person every year. The nation sees cycles of drought years and flood years, with large parts of west and south experiencing more deficits and large variations, resulting in immense hardship particularly the poorest farmers and rural populations. Lack of irrigation water regionally leads to crop failures and farmer suicides. Despite abundant rains during July–September, some regions in other seasons see shortages of drinking water.

Population increase in India is the other driver of need for river inter-linking. India's population growth rate has been falling, but still continues to increase by about 10 to 15 million people every year. The resulting demand for food must be satisfied with higher yields and better crop security, both of which require adequate irrigation of about 140 million hectares of land. Currently, just a fraction of that land is irrigated, and most irrigation relies on monsoon. River inter-linking is claimed to be a possible means of assured and better irrigation for more farmers, and thus better food security for a growing population.

How can we do it?

But this is not going too easy .This project involves heavy expenditure of  thousands of crores of rupees, huge planning, huge labour force and first and most important political will to implement the project. Currently India have successfully implemented the linking Krishna and Godavari rivers through pattiseema lift irrigation  scheme in Andra Pradesh which shows it is possible to do it .

The need right now is the political will and the realization of the need for it by all major political parties’ and others .As I have mentioned this is a very emotional issue political and religious groups should realize the need and stop exploiting it for furthering their political ambitions.

All stake holders should sit together, discuss various ideas to implement the projects and decide on the best way to achieve it .This should involve all sections of the society and with patience and political will I am sure an ideal solution can be found and implemented .The tendency to put unnecessary legal hurdles in the way of project should be avoided and it should not be encouraged by Judiciary .A fast track redressal mechanism should in place to address any grievances arising out of the project.

This kind of a project involves huge cost, manpower, expertise to be implemented successfully. The Central and State Governments can manage the financial part by pooling the resources .India have a large pool of manpower which can be used through the NREGA and other schemes for the construction and other related activities which will guarantee employment for the rural population and will prevent migration of people to cities in search of employment .For design and implementation  part India have enough talent for designing ,engineering ,implementing the project .We do have the expertise to use the latest computer and satellite technology to aid the designing, monitoring and implementation of the project .

Environmental impact is a major concern, so a detailed and in depth study should done on these aspects and suggestions from these studies should be included during the implementation of the project.

What benefits it will bring us?

If successfully implemented it will change the face of rural and urban India, will

ensure food and water security, steady employment and agriculture income.

This will change the whole face of rural and urban India and we will become a truly

21 st century India

There are many examples globally where this kind of interlinking has been done

successfully .Some of them are Rhine-Main-Danube canal in Europe, Illinois water way , Tennesse-Tombigbee water way,Gulf intercoastal water way in US, South-North water transfer project in China .

Recently the law makers and political parties sat together and passed the GST bill which is the first major financial reform implemented in India after Independence .This will revolutionise and simplify tax and revenue collection in India and increase our GDP at least by 2%.

This is an example which shows it IS possible to generate consensus on major issues affecting the nation and implement these kinds of projects in India

The first and foremost need  is the political will .Let’s pray the current and future administrators will take this up on priority  and all political parties ,civil society groups ,industries ,environmentalists  and common man of India will work together to make this a reality .We certainly and desperately need this kind of projects to ensure overall welfare people and the country .

Reference: Wikipedia