The war over water is having its ugly ramifications in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This has been the situation despite the matter being subjudice and in an apparent reaction to the Supreme Court’s week-old order. The emotive issues being linked with the regional interest have to be supported by a ruling party, more so when it is a regional one. What has erupted in the case of Cauvery should ring a warning bell for us in Odisha. Being traditionally slow in our preparedness and our reactions, we are now gearing up under the championship of the ruling BJD to orchestrate a public agitation in the completion with different political parties.
Study of the relevant data and the law regulating the subject are not necessarily governing the over-emotive, destructive and indiscriminate agitation with the BJD always trying to project itself as the champion of the underdogs of Odisha. In this scenario, fringe elements have a field day. They take undue advantage of the situation and destroy private and public property in a cavalier and wanton manner. They want a de-civilised atmosphere as the same met the need of the hour. If Cauvery water could cause such havoc in two States, which are used to inter-State river water disputes, an otherwise sluggishly prepared State like Odisha would find itself to be at the receiving end when it faces Mahanadi and Pollavaram as the new “waterloos”.
The real motivating factor seems the panchayat elections due in a few months. The hype has to be kept up by each political party. The worry lies in neglecting knowledge-based armoury to take on the unreasonable neighbouring States in the appropriate court of law. Alongside, administrative measures ought to continue. But we are busy with the populist announcement of 1,000-crore rupee crop loan advance to be given within the next 21 days through cooperative banks. let history not repeat itself through the neglect of appropriate preparation for the presentation of our case and cause before the judicial fora. Different parties being in power in different States and at the Centre has further added to the complications involved in the problem.
On the Pollavaram issue, the political parties, including the ruling one, seem to think that the agitational mode will yield adequate results. Actions through judicial fora have not been pursued with due diligence with a concerted strategy so as to yield equity and justice. The eventual remedy, in the given arithmetic structure of political parties, will have to be found through judicial fora. Elementary things like the reduced quantum of water available to Odisha have not been appropriately projected and publicised. A detailed justification of the legitimate share of Odisha is yet to be available for public knowledge. The experience of Cauvery water tensions indicate that the Central Government is not able to assert itself unless the States are prepared to acquiesce. There have been some news reports regarding moving “water” into the “Concurrent list” of Schedule VII to the Constitution. But for our limited purpose, the Union Parliament could exercise its powers under Entry 56 of list-I of Schedule VII to the Constitution by declaring by law and by taking over the control, regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys. A comprehensive regulation in this regard could come to the rescue of the federal fabric and protect our national unity. It is also overdue that we consider a think-tank piloted by the Government to study the relevant laws specially relating to the natural resources so as to adequately protect the interest of the State. A legal monitoring mechanism has become a need of the hour as the competing interests of the neighbouring States will clash with the interests of Odisha.
A hurtful example is the Mahanadi case. We duped ourselves into believing that Chhattisgarh had not discharged its duty of informing us, or the Central Government has not discharged its obligation of consulting the Odisha Government. In the days of advanced technology, we cannot claim ignorance over six years or so about the barrages that have been coming up in Chhattisgarh. We have not been alert and agile enough to protect our interests. But the core of that fight has to be through brain than brawn. The brawn power is at the moment itching to gallop and there is cause to worry as we may well have the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu episode repeated. If, after all, in a political circus we achieve nothing substantial, it may be a source of continued concern.
Harping back to the Mahanadi, the simple statistical data regarding available water resources in this river did not attract the benign attention of any of the political leaders or the bureaucratic soldiers when a series of MoUs were signed with fanfare with different industrial houses. These MoUs included promise of / for supply of water with no further detailed study to back it up. In other words, the implementation part was post-MoU, and the MoU promises were very often non-translatable into reality at the ground level. It has also been alleged that the total quantum of water promised to industrial houses probably exceeds the total quantum of water available for any such purpose. Irrigation ought not to be taken the back seat.
The Chhattisgarh Government has proceeded with at least six barrages upstream of Hirakud in the last few years with industrial houses stated to have invested in these projects. Irrigational benefits would, therefore, emerge out of public-private participation. That being the situation, Chhattisgarh having commenced the projects and almost coming towards their completion will make every attempt to quietly fulfil its own interests as the past conduct indicates. We, the people of Odisha, would have been taken for a ride. Many elections from panchayat to Parliament levels would have taken place in the meantime. Public agitations would have been organised with all their new faces in the competition amongst political parties to make their presence and relevance felt. But we cannot dismay into a situation of being without any avenue of remedy.
The generation to whom the future belongs should now come forward and many of them are technocrats who can study the technical details and build up a network of brain trusts to study and devise appropriate protective measures and finally put in place a strategically dynamic decision-making process so that we are not deprived of our legitimate share. In this venture, lamp lighting and garlanding are not the real essential events, but the brain-storming part would pioneer the new strategies to protect the future of our progenies. Academic institutions, universities, professional organisations of lawyers and chartered accounts, economists and, for that matter, every stakeholder in the society must now goad the Government and the political parties to get on to the right path and not drift towards the hydra of the Cauvery water dispute that has manifested in the ugly events, both in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Such constructive measures could only be set in motion when there is a sharing of thoughts between the policymakers in the Government and the representatives of professionals, who deliver to the average citizen the fruits of a democratic polity.
We stand at the crossroads. We must be very cautious in our stepping forward, especially in the direction in which we move forward. It’s never too late to learn. It was very befitting of the Chief Minister of Odisha to have invited suggestions from individuals or institutions regarding the Mahanadi issue. The time for the purpose may have been short, but this can be the beginning of the process towards participatory and informed decision-making. But all this requires a contributory effort on the part of everyone having an interest in the State. It involves our future and, to a great extent, our survival. We cannot leave it in the risky hands of the swinging pendulum between relaxed inaction and irresponsible agitational aberrations. Structural changes often require a participation by all, however nominal. Surely, it is axiomatic that this concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)