THE ELEXIR OF LIFE

Whoever believed that water would invite raging controversies? Water has been the only resource available to living beings plentiful in nature from time immemorial. It may aptly be termed the elixir of life on earth. For mankind it determines prosperity or disaster. Civilizations flourish with its magical presence and perish as it fades. Perhaps no other substance exercises its influence on life on earth as H2O does.

The planet Mars has always excited the imagination of man. Scores of tales abound on the lost civilization of Mars and the oceans and rivers that had vanished from its surface. It reiterates that life is solely dependant on free accessibility of water. Back on earth we have the mythical Saraswathy that had disappeared into oblivion. The Thar desert is nowhere else but in India and throws a finger at the probable desertification of our country if the resources are frittered away injudiciously. Fatehpur Sikri, the beautiful city that Akbar had built, was abandoned when the populace found the supply of the essential resource drying up. Deserted, it stands alone as a monument to improper management of natural resources.

The world’s growing thirst for water has the potential to trigger major wars. The risk is accentuated by global warming. The sharing of water in the rivers that flow across different nations remains vexed threatening the very existence of mankind. Fierce national rivalries over water resources could contain seeds of violent conflict. In the prehistoric times wars were fought over fire. Current tensions among nations over the precious resource are indicative of water wars in future. When the demands of a surging population exceed the supply from lakes, rivers and all known sources, the resultant water crunch may arouse passions to a peak the world has never experienced before.

India is no stranger to the phenomenon. Cauvery arouses passions. Non-natural borders segregate people to artificial segments. Karnataka ignores the ruling of the apex court. The people of Tamil Nadu rear for action. Indus remains a flash point between India and Pakistan. Bangladesh feels threatened over Ganges and Brahmaputra flowing in from India. Narmada has remained in the focus for decades. Periyar and Bharathapuzha have suddenly become topics of animated discussion in Kerala. What happens if our rivers are sold away? Perhaps the day is not far off when we are made to pay for water for our daily necessities through the nose as we are doing at present for bottled mineral water.

Chhattisgarh shows us what we have in store. A 22-year renewable concession by the authorities has ceded 23.6 km stretch of the semi- perennial Sheonath River to an entrepreneur, through a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) agreement, signalling India’s first ever-private water supply scheme, in Chhattisgarh’s Durg area. Everybody is happy over the arrangement since private entrepreneurship in water supply is proving to be financially viable, cost-effective and environment friendly. The entrepreneur makes money. The industrialists are happy that perennial supply of water is assured at an unimaginably low cost. The state of Chhattisgarh is happy because it is able to attract industry through availability of water and power in plenty. Only a few thousands of poor villagers scattered along the banks of the river are affected. Who cares for them?

The villagers have carried on with their lives beside the semi perennial Sheonath River for centuries through droughts and floods. The river has nurtured them, watering their crops and supplying them with fish in plenty. They were washing their clothes and bathing in the river. They believed that the river belonged to everybody. But not any more. The ghats used by them still dot the banks of the river. They however can now access the river only at the pleasure of the entrepreneur. Fishing is an unauthorized activity. Diversion of water from the river to irrigate fields is illegal. The entrepreneur has the right to cruise in the river in his boat. The villagers are at the wrong end of the law when their expensive nylon nets are entangled in its outboard engine. Law cannot be flouted. They have placed the nets in the monsoon-swollen river that is privately owned. The right to catch the fish swept downstream during monsoon is not theirs any longer.

The entrepreneur’s agreement with the authorities covers ground water as well. Meters have been installed on tube wells supplying water to local industries that have to pay for it. Look at the hurdles to cross if you wish to utilize the only resource Mother Nature has bestowed upon her inhabitants in abundance.

Bolivia had a chastening experience when it had privatized the water supply in 1999. The water concession covered reservoirs, ponds and other water bodies and even collected rainwater. The rates spiralled with the supply and distribution firmly in private sector. Water became expensive than food. The middle class could not afford it. The World Bank blocked the government’s effort to subsidise the supply of water to the poor. Bolivia was on the verge of a bloody revolution. The reversal of privatisation finally saved that country from chaos and anarchy.

Privatisation of water may ensure supply of clean water to the middle class at affordable rates. But how can the poor be alienated from even water? Water is a natural resource. Its privatisation will create a frightening situation where bulk of the population loses its natural right to water. It will disrupt the age-old relationship between land-use and water-use. The entry of profit-motivated firms into this sector will only hurt the society. Water must remain a community resource. The elixir of life shall never be a tradable commodity.

The simile is revealing. Just as man cannot manage his life on earth without water, he needs money for his sustenance. Money certainly is precious. And banks are the vehicles that manage money for man. When banking was mostly in the private sector it had excluded all but the rich from its ambit. Poverty was endemic. The management of money, if left to the private sector in its entirety would lead to a situation identical to the disastrous policy on water. Privatisation of banks and thereby money is the precursor to the revival of the dark ages where the majority had been enslaved by a very few.

A time was in our country when money belonged to very few. Banks that were the custodians of money were accessible to them only. They had enslaved the people and lorded over them. From the heady days of Bank nationalization till the dawn of LPG it had been the people who had mattered. It was the even flow of money to the people that had ensured equality to our people to a great extent and resulted in alleviation of poverty in the country at least to a little.

We face a terrifying predicament. We are bombarded with the exhortation that Liberlisation, Privatisation and Globalisation are essential for the survival of banks and financial institutions. In fact it is drummed into us each day that privatisation is the lone solace for the travails of the banks in India. The sad truth is that banks are slowly shifting the focus away from the common man. He is no longer welcome. Mergers and closures evince a keen desire for profit alone and not development of the society. In the global village nations have to build up huge reserves of US Dollars or Euros for strengthening their own currencies. We can never forget for even a moment that global trading in currencies has the potential to sweep away all the economic gains a country achieves by hard work. The Barings Bank disaster is still vivid. If LPG eradicates galloping unemployment and rural poverty it must be endorsed. The economic advancement of a country has to benefit its people. The riches of a country belong to its people Riches are not the exclusive preserve of the chosen and fortunate few alone. Banks are no exception. Money like water must never be the monopoly of a few.
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written sometime in 2005/06