Water Scarcity Compounds India’s Food Insecurity

      A woman carries firewood in Gujarat on Aug. 6, 2012, as others rest under a tree after they migrated because of a water shortage. Reuters photo: Ahmad Masood

Since India’s independence, the mammoth task of feeding its hundreds of millions, most of whom are extremely poor, has been a major challenge to policymakers. In the coming decades, the issue of food insecurity is likely to affect almost all Indians. However, for the poorest amongst us, it could be catastrophic. India ranks 65 of 79 countries in the Global Hunger Index. This is extremely alarming.

In the past few years, uneven weather patterns combined with over exploited and depleting water resources in various parts of India have wreaked havoc on food security, particularly for small and marginal farmers, as well as the rural poor.

The recently launched Global Food Security Index (GFSI) estimates that in 2012, there are 224 million Indians, around 19 percent of the total population, who are undernourished. The same report also estimates that while the Indian government has various institutions designed to deal with the impact of inflation on food prices, it only spends 1 percent of agricultural GDP on research to build food security for the poorest. Overall, India ranked 66th on the GFSI. It is estimated that one in four of the world’s malnourished children is in India, more even than in sub-Saharan Africa.

Water insecurity, further exacerbated by climate change, is arguably the most important factor for India’s food security. India’s total water availability per capita is expected to decline to 1,240 cubic metres per person per year by 2030, perilously close to the 1,000 cubic metre benchmark set by the World Bank as ‘water scarce’.

Factors such as increasing usage, poor infrastructure, and pollution have led to a decline of water quantity and quality in India. Climate change, meanwhile, is expected to cause a two-fold impact.

One, increasing temperatures have hastened the rate of melt of the Himalayan glaciers, upon which major Indian rivers like the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra depend.

Second, the effect of climate change on monsoons in India will cause them to become more erratic, arriving earlier or later and lasting for shorter, more intense periods of time. India’s farming communities depend overwhelmingly on the monsoon, as their cropping patterns are built around it. The combined effect of climate change and over exploitation is violating the water cycle, degrading aquifers and  eroding ground water resources.

Over 50 percent of agricultural land in India depends entirely on groundwater. In North and Northeast India, where perennial rivers (rivers that have water year round, i.e. glacier fed rivers in India, such as the Ganges) sustain the agricultural land, have to deal with issues such as flooding caused by climate change impacts such as speedier glacier melt and erratic monsoons.

Meanwhile, farmers in states in West and South India, where rivers are seasonal, have to depend heavily on rapidly depleting groundwater resources.

The worst affected by this type of water-fuelled food insecurity are the small farmers of India. Estimates suggest that between 1995 and 2010, over 2,50,000 farmers in India, mostly from states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, killed themselves. Most of these farmers were drowning in vicious cycles of debt caused by failed monsoons and increasing droughts.

Responses to this crisis, including the National Action Plan on Climate Change, lay out various solutions and intended interventions, but most focus on the long term. To secure the future of India’s water resources vis-à-vis its agriculture in the future, it is important that certain steps be taken immediately. First and foremost, authorities will have to remove the mindset that water is an endless resource and the solution to water woes is simply a further development of India’s fast depleting groundwater.

Indeed, Dr. Mihir Shah, co-Founder, Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) and member of the Planning Commission of India has stated that the ‘era of further water development may be over’ and emphasized that we have to urgently introduce more efficient water management. In this regard, promotion of irrigation efficiency will be crucial in the future.

Systems such as drip irrigation and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to farmers across India will be essential. It will also be necessary to promote water conservation methods such as rain water harvesting, which has been successful in urban India, in villages as well.

At the same time, reducing inefficiencies and water wastage through conveyance losses will require governmental and NGO support in actions such as replacing faulty pipes and pumps.  Hence, India needs to invest on improving its water productivity, and any capacity to produce more food like rice with less water will be an important contribution to sustainable water and food security.

In short, India is facing a bleak future of becoming water scarce and painfully food insecure. How exactly are the country’s hundreds of millions, who depend entirely on agriculture for their livelihoods, as well as those that depend on agriculture for their food needs, to make ends meet?

Delaying this issue is simply not an option for India as this could lead to increased instability, poor human development and enhance inter-generational poverty. India needs to ensure food security through sustainable development and create resilience amongst the most vulnerable in the country: the poor.


reuters.com

Race for Dams May Trigger Water Disputes Between India, China

Despite the prevailing calm along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh since the end of India-China war in 1962, anxiety still prevails among the people of Arunachal. However, the apprehension is not about another impending war, but this time it is about the dam-building spree on both sides of the LAC.

While over 100 large and small hydroelectric projects were being planned in almost all the tributaries of Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh, it is believed that China also has similar plans on the river which originates from Jima Yangzong glacier of Mount Kailash in Tibet. 

Brahmaputra in Tibet is called Yarlung Tsangpo. China had earlier announced construction of a 1.2 billion dollar run-of-the-river hydroelectric power project known as Zangmu dam on Yarlung Tsangpo. Strategic analysts here said that as China has plan to exploit the water resources of Yarlung Tsangpo in a big way, India needs to be well-prepared to assert its rights over Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh.

"Water of Brahmaputra remains a major concern for India and China. To my view the future dispute between the two countries will be on water. Both the countries should sort out the differences on exploiting water resources amicably before the dispute reaches a flashpoint," said Ashokanand Singhal, president of Jana Jagriti, a Guwahati-based NGO spearheading against China's hydro-projects on Yarlung Tsangpo. Last year Jana Jagriti came out with coordinates and maps of China's purported plan to construct hydroelectric projects and water reservoirs on the river.

Singhal is a votary of India's plan to tap water resources of Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh, saying that the country needs to establish user rights over the river before China goes full steam ahead.

Of the 100-odd projects in Arunachal Pradesh, 13 are planned in Tawang alone, the birthplace of VIth Dalai Lama. China claims Tawang as southern extension of Tibet.

People of Tawang, who predominantly belong to Monpa tribe, have opposed the hydroelectric project as they claimed many of the projects were located in Buddhist sacred sites. Save Mon Region Federation (SMRF), a Tawang-based NGO, said that the discontent caused by the proposed projects would only benefit China which has not yet given up its claim over Tawang.

Even as China denied any plan to divert water from Yarlung Tsangpo last year, strategic analysts here are of the view that India should go ahead with hydroelectric project constructions in Brahmaputra's major tributaries to counter China's similar move. They said that the hydroelectric dams on Brahmaputra tributaries should be looked as strategic projects.

In 2010, during a public consultation on dams here, the former environment minister Jairam Ramesh said that construction of dams in major tributaries of Brahmaputra is necessary for India to have a "negotiating position" with China.


timesofindia.com

India's Top Court Orders Toilets, Drinking Water for Schools Nationwide

                                                      Indian Muslim boys react to the camera as they walk home from school on a street in New Delhi, India, 

India’s Supreme Court has ordered that schools nationwide must be provided with toilets and drinking water within six months, calling it part of children’s right to an education.

The court said in the judgment seen by AFP on Saturday that research showed wherever toilet facilities are inadequate, parents are reluctant to send their children to school – especially if they are girls.

Lack of toilets and drinking water “clearly violate the right to free and compulsory education of children,” the court said in the judgement handed down earlier in the week.

The court stated children need to “study in a clean and healthy environment” and said its ruling applied to state and privately run schools.

State governments must provide “toilet facilities for boys and girls, drinking water facilities, sufficient classrooms, appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff etcetera, if not already provided, within six months”.

The top court was acting on a petition filed in 2004 by a charity organization but still not implemented despite several rulings.

An activist group, Right to Education Forum, reported in April that one in 10 Indian schools lack proper drinking water facilities while 40 per cent do not have toilets.

In 2010, India launched a landmark education program obliging all states in the world’s second most populous nation to provide free schooling for every child between the age of six and 14 but child labour remains common.

Critics of India’s ramshackle education system also say the nation’s schools suffer from poor infrastructure and rampant teacher absenteeism, raising fears of tens of millions of badly educated young people unable to find jobs.

The problem of lack of basic sanitation is also widespread in Indian homes with census data showing more households in the country of 1.2 billion people have a telephone than a toilet.

Some 47 per cent of India’s 330 million households have toilet facilities while 63 per cent of homes have phone connections – mostly mobiles – showing how the nation’s rapid communication revolution has spread through society.

afp.com

Anti-Water Privatisation Group Warns of Protests in November

New Delhi: The fight against privatization of water is expected to pick up pace in the coming days. The water privatization-commercialization resistance committee has warned of a massive mass movement in the coming month against DJB's pilot public private partnership project of water distribution in three areas, starting with Malviya Nagar.

Retired Justice Rajinder Sachar said that a protest at Jantar Mantar was on the cards and the team had been rallying to get public support on the issue. "We have been asking the government to explain to us the terms of contract between it and the private party but have not received any response from them. We are also trying to seek an appointment with the chief minister but have not been able to meet her yet. We have studied the model that Delhi Jal Board has suggested and have several problems with it. Why can't they address these problems and why are they going about privatization in such a surreptitious manner. I will be writing to the CM and asking her to address our concerns," he said.

Anil Nauriya, president of the committee said that they wanted a public debate so that concerned residents would be able to make an informed decision regarding the 24x7 water supply model. "Based on the information we have, 24x7 water supply is only to be ensured till the entry point of each district metered areas. Beyond this there are no controls on which individual unit gets how much water. At present, water tariff increases by 10% each year but what is the rationale behind it. What happens when there are improvements in the system and the efficiency increases. Would this tariff increase still apply. There are several points on which there is no clarity. The government should be prepared for a massive movement within the next month," he said.

timesofindia.com

States to Discuss Setting Up a Forum to Settle Water Disputes

NEW DELHI, OCT 2: 

Amid growing disputes over water sharing, the Centre has proposed setting up a permanent forum to enable states evolve consensus on these sensitive issues.

Setting up of a ‘permanent forum of Water Resources and Irrigation Ministers of state governments’ is part of the agenda of a national level conference being held here tomorrow.

The 14th National Conference of Water Resources and Irrigation ministers of states and UTs is being held after a gap of seven years.

“ ...it is, therefore, proposed to set up a permanent forum of Water Resources and Irrigation Ministers (of States) to deliberate on the issues related to water resources...it may be desirable to have a permanent forum at the national level to deliberate upon issues relating to water and evolve consensus, co-operation and reconciliation amongst states,” according to the agenda circulated to state governments.

With water being a state subject and UPA government repeatedly coming under attack from the opposition as well as allies over the issue of infringement of federal structure, the Centre also wants to use the proposed forum to discuss issues like water laws.

“Even while it is recognised that states have the right to frame suitable policies, laws and regulations on water, there is a felt need to evolve a broad overarching national legal framework of general principles on water to lead the way for essential legislation on water governance in every state,” said the agenda paper.

The issue of overarching national legal framework had come under attack from state governments when the Draft National Water Policy (2012) was being discussed earlier this year.

thehindubusinessline.com

An Atlas of India's Groundwater Aquifers

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has released an Atlas on Aquifer Systems of India with detailed data on 14 principal and 42 major aquifers. This pulls together archival information from the Board on aquifers in these states and presents it in graphical format through tables and maps. It is available at http://cgwb.gov.in/AQM/. The atlas also provides detailed data on six states: Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu.

The atlas presents the Board’s plans to manage different aquifers at the national level as well as in these six states. It also depicts areas identified for water conservation and harvesting, groundwater development and artificial recharge, both at the national level and within these states.

States for aquifer management	Type of aquifer
Parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu	Gneiss
Parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh	Banded Gneissic Complex
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh	Basalt
Western Indo-Gangetic Plains	Alluvium

Consequences of ravaging the Aravalli

It also highlights what has been known for a long time—groundwater levels across India are falling and the quality of ground water is also declining. The decline is particularly sharp around Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. “Construction around the Aravalli hills has severely disturbed the ground water recharge in the entire region,” said CGWB chairperson S C Dhiman.

Certain areas of peninsular India are also severely affected by over-extraction of groundwater, the atlas shows. Dhiman, who retired the day the atlas was released on September 28, said the recharge process was faster in this rocky part of the country, and a few years of good rainfall could restore the health of the aquifers. Maps in the atlas indicate priority areas for water conservation and ground water recharge, and areas where water quality is affected by arsenic, fluoride and nitrates.

The baseline data of CGWB has been depicted using a GIS platform for initiating a National Aquifer Mapping Programme (NAMP) and demarcation, said water resources and parliamentary affairs minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Maps in the atlas show various thematic layers such as climate, topographic settings on the occurrence of aquifers, movement, and chemical quality of ground water. The compilation has been done on a scale of 1:250,000 by integrating the geological and hydro-geological data of CGWB, the Geological Survey of India, and other agencies. Tables provide information on the characteristics of aquifers as they occur in different parts of the country. The atlas took two years to prepare and the purpose was to provide a broad overview of the groundwater situation in the country, said S K Sinha, scientist-D with CGWB.

Long-term sustainability plan

Groundwater expert and head of the Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), Himanshu Kulkarni, said the atlas will help to identify vulnerable areas and can be the basis for further research. However, “it is not a replacement for the aquifer mapping exercise to be conducted during the 12th Five Year Plan.” In this atlas, CGWB has brought its numerical and digital data into a map framework.

CGWB is contemplating NAMP on a scale of 1:50,000 or more during the next two Five Year Plans (12th and 13th). This will involve compilation and synthesis of all relevant data collected by CGWB and various other agencies. It will identify existing data gaps, create additional data and bring out comprehensive aquifer maps along, their groundwater potential and realistic and scientific management plans to ensure long-term sustainability.

Other groundwater information systems

There are already several groundwater information systems in India run by different government agencies. They all use base data from CGWB. CGWB’s own system is called the Groundwater Estimation and Management System. Funded by the World Bank, it has been implemented in nine states. It provides to compile, visualise, and analyse hydro-geological and allied attributes of groundwater resources. This system has been built using MapInfo Professional (GIS), MapInfo Vertical Mapper (spatial interpolation and contouring), SPSS (statistical analysis) and R2V (raster vector data conversion).

Another, also run by the Ministry of Water Resources, is the Generation of Database and Implementation of Web Enabled Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS). This again uses CGWB data and is a joint venture of the Central Water Commission, the ministry and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It aims at providing a single window solution for comprehensive, authoritative and consistent data and information of India’s water resources along with allied natural resources in a standardised national GIS framework (WGS-84 datum and LCC projection) tools.

By Nitya Jacob, Amandeep Kang@downtoearth.org.in

Monsoon Withdraws from Punjab, Haryana; Rainfall Deficiency 46%, 39%

As the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from Punjab and Haryana, the overall rainfall deficiency in the two States stood at 46 and 39 per cent respectively, while Chandigarh received normal rains between the June-September period.

From June 1-September 26, Punjab had received 266 mm of rains against normal of 488.2, a deficiency of 46 per cent, said Rajinder Singh, a MeT official with the Chandigarh Meteorological Department.

He said neighbouring Haryana had received 277.8 mm of rains during the period against a normal of 454.3 mm, leaving a deficiency of 39 per cent, following the said monsoon’s withdrawal on Tuesday.

The monsoon rain deficiency, which hovered around 70 per cent due to scanty rains in June-July period in the two agrarian states, had improved somewhat after the weather system picked up pace in August, during which Punjab (105.1 mm) and Haryana (161.6 mm) received bulk rains.

Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, received 759.7 mm monsoon rains as against normal of 837.7 mm, leaving a deficiency of 9 per cent, which Singh said is considered as normal.

With rain deficiency high in Punjab, the State’s Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had recently accused the Congress led UPA government for allegedly ignoring the claim of Rs 5,112 crore drought relief for the farmers despite the State having “maximum rain deficiency in the country”.

According to Rajinder Singh, in last year’s monsoon season (June-September), Punjab and Haryana had received 459.3 mm and 374.4 mm of rainfall respectively, and the rains were deficient by 7 per cent and 19 per cent.

thehindubusinessline.com

Stratfor Asia analyst John Minnich discusses the importance of India's monsoon season, not only for the country's farmers, but for the internal political system as well.

Delhi Inaugurates Its First Solar-Powered Water Treatment Plant

A government school in New Delhi, India is now home to the city’s first solar-powered water treatment plant. The plant will use solar power to treat brackish water and produce 5,000 liters of water everyday. The water will be used by around 750 families of the economically weaker section living around the school.

The plant, which will cost around $45,000 to set up, will use solar panels to power the micro-ionising water purification equipment. The water produced from the plant meets the potable water standards of the World Health Organization.

The plant has been implemented by an NGO — Social Awareness, Newer Alternatives (SANA) — which has transferred the ownership and maintenance of the plant to the students of the school. Senior students of the school have been trained in special workshops to help them understand the operation of the plant.

The plant will also help offset carbon emissions, as the water would have otherwise been treated through the use of fossil fuels like charcoal. This makes the plant even more significant, as millions of people in India still lack access to potable water.

Such a model can be and should be implemented in other parts of the country as well, especially in the rural areas where people have to travel for several kilometres to get drinking water. Such a project in the rural areas would also provide employment to local people. The technology can also be used for coastal cities at a large-scale reducing dependence on limited freshwater and depleting groundwater resources.

The cost of such plant is still very high, as a result its development is currently restricted to the development sector. Hopefully, private companies will soon realize the potential of this technology and implement such projects at large-scale in a more cost-efficient manner.

BY MRIDUL CHADHA@cleantechnica.com

India Floods Displace Nearly 1.5 Million People

Floods have forced nearly 1.5 million people to flee their homes in northeastern India where authorities have declared a health alert, officials said on Monday.

"Eighteen of 27 districts of Assam have been hit by floods with 1.4 million displaced and 11 people drowned in separated incidents in the past week," the Disaster Management agency said in a statement.

The floods, caused by relentless rains, marked the second round of massive flooding in two months to hit India's impoverished northeast and come towards the end of India's June-to-September monsoon season.

Nearly 130 people died and six million were displaced by floods in Assam state in July.

Rescue officials said in the latest floods, at least 2,200 villages had been swamped by overflowing waters from the rain-swollen Brahmaputra River.

Himanta Biswa Sarmah, the health minister of Assam state, told AFP that a "maximum health alert" to avert outbreaks of diarrhea or diseases such as typhoid had been declared in the devastated zone.

The annual monsoon provides vital irrigation for India's farmers but also claims many casualties from flooding and landslides.

Officials said flooding victims had been evacuated to temporary shelters on higher ground.

"We've dispatched doctors and paramedics to ensure there is no outbreak of disease," Sarmah said in Guwahati, Assam's largest city.

Victims and an opposition party staged protests in flood-hit areas against what they said were shortages of emergency supplies in the Congress-ruled state.

"The government has failed to provide adequate relief supplies including food and medicines," said Sarbananda Sonowal, a local leader of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. "In many parts of the state people are even living without food," he added.

Rehab India Foundation, a voluntary group said heavy rains disrupted its plans to supply food and other essential items to flood-hit people.

Almost the entire 420 square kilometres (162 square miles) of Kaziranga National Park was also flooded, the Press Trust of India reported.

The wildlife park is home to the world's single largest population of one-horned rhinos. A 2012 census in Kaziranga counted 2,290 of the rhinos, out of a global population of 3,300.

The species declined to near extinction in the early 1990s and is listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Kaziranga has fought a sustained battle against rhino poachers, who kill the animals for their horns that fetch huge prices in some Asian countries where they are deemed to be an aphrodisiac.

In neighbouring Pakistan, flash floods triggered by record rains have affected around 700,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of crops in the south-west of the country, officials said.

At least 51 people have died across the impoverished province of Baluchistan and Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf on Sunday declared three districts as calamity-hit areas.

afp.com/en

Improving Women's Access to Water

                                   Women walk carrying metal pitchers filled with drinking water to their homes in Nani Shinoli village in the western Indian state of Gujarat. 

As factors from droughts to urbanisation add to the dire global watercrisis, the ensuing misery falls even more on women and girls in the world's poorest countries. The statistics are staggering: around the world, women and girls expend a total of over 200m hours daily collecting and hauling water. In sub-Saharan Africa, 71% of the water fetched and gathered for household use falls under the responsibility of female family members.

As Lakshmi Puri of UN Women told an audience at last month's World Water Week in Stockholm, water scarcity leaves women particularly vulnerable. Subsistence agriculture in much of the developing world is dominated by women, and tenuous land rights can quickly lead to the loss of access to water and then more abject poverty and hunger. The precarious legal status of women in these countries exposes them to further risk. Add the burden of carrying water for household chores or to prepare food that women sell to help their families scrape by, and the daily struggle for water becomes a harsh barrier to women's equality and economic empowerment.

Girls who must spend time carrying water instead of studying in class then find themselves caught in the same cycle of poverty as their mothers and grandmothers. Finally, policymakers often exclude women from local decisions that have an impact on women's rights to water, pushing them outside the margins of discussions over water usage when in fact, they should have a seat at the table and be at the centre.

Companies that search for business opportunities in emerging markets now realise that water must be at the core of their long-term planning and strategy. But water remediation and conservation projects are not enough. Despite their untenable legal status in much of the developing world, women often make many of their family's purchasing decisions. So efforts to ensure women's access to clean water are not just about checking a box on a corporate responsibility to-do list: companies that implement such plans will improve the health and economic security for millions of women.

Well-planned initiatives create a chance to lift women out of poverty and can avert social unrest should water shortages increase in the coming years. As a Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) report last year outlined, improving women's access to water can free up to hundreds of hours annually that they can instead devote to more lucrative economic activities. Families and communities will not only strengthen as they have access to adequate water supplies, but businesses will also eventually gain customers and engaged local stakeholders where they commit to a sustainable development plan with water at its core.

Beverage companies have been among the most proactive in working with NGOs to improve women's rights to clean water. Understanding that they must partner with local communities to build trust and share diminishing water supplies in regions from Africa to south Asia, the makers of soft drinks and beer have the core competencies that can help solve some of the world's most pressing water problems.

Coca-Cola, for example, is attempting to solve water and sanitation problems that adversely affect women and girls, in several African nations. The bottling company's philanthropic arm dedicated $6m toprogrammes that they claim will benefit 250,000 girls and women, and in turn should provide a total of 2 million people with access to clean water by 2015.

Water is the foundation for security and strong communities, so bolstering access to this precious resource is critical to enabling companies to take the next step and undertake initiatives that focus on skills and job training. Strangely, we live in a world where more people have access to a mobile telephone than safe drinking water. But without water, both health and wealth for women and girls are almost impossible to secure, and business must step in where local governments have failed girls and their mothers.

By Leon Kaye is founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com@guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/hubs-water

Indian-American filmmakers Abi Devan and Sudhi Rajagopal return to their homeland to document life in the desert communities of Rajasthan. Their journey leads them to the Panihari (women who fetch water). The film centers around one woman, Paru, a shoemaker's wife, as she struggles against nature and society to attain self-reliance for her family and herself.

Paru's story coveys the richness and complexity of desert life as well as the extreme obstacles women in India still face today. Vibrant imagery, music, and folklore combine to paint a vivid picture of life as a Panihari.

India: Making Better Use of Water Resources

Farmers in many parts of the country utilised groundwater to save their crops when monsoon played truant this year.

Groundwater’s use for agriculture assumes significance since only 44 per cent of the net sown area of 140 million hectares is irrigated.

OVER USE

Due to unplanned development, overexploitation of ground water resources has resulted in considerable decline in ground water.

About 15 per cent of the blocks, talukas and mandals in the country are currently in the over-exploited zones.

Also, the over-use of surface water has resulted in drainage problem in irrigation, causing water logging in some areas.

POLLUTION

Pollution of river and deterioration in the quality of ground water are other added problems.

Pollution has mainly been caused by untreated sewage from the urban areas and effluent from the industry.

Excessive use of chemicals and fertilisers and pesticides is another reason for pollution.

These issues call for further development of water resources to meet the growing demand, particularly for irrigation, industrial use and drinking.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, there is a need to bring more cropped area under assured irrigation to increase productivity and production.

A policy paper of the Ministry has estimated the irrigation potential of the country at 140 million hectares. Surface water is seen meeting the requirements of 76 million hectares and ground water the rest.

WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

The Ministry is in constant dialogue with various arms of the Government to harness the available irrigation potential.

In fact, the Centre prefers to see irrigation potential beyond the identified 140 million hectares through better water management practices. Given the hydrological features and topographical constraints in the country, this is a challenging task. But surplus flood water is one source that can be utilised to tap the irrigation potential.

POSSIBILITIES

One way for this could be interlinking of rivers and this is seen as helping to provide irrigational facilities for 35 million hectares.

Artificial recharge of ground water could also help in additional water availability of about 36 billion cubic metres that can be utilised for various purposes included irrigation.

Water is seen as the solution to challenges of food security and climate change impact in developing countries.

Though the impact of climate change on water resources is yet to be made, various studies say that this could lead to intensification of the variation in the availability of water. In particular, there could extreme events of flood and drought.

SAVING METHODS

The emerging situation calls for various methods to save water. One of the ways could be to harvest rain water.

Very few States in the country have taken the initiative. The other way could be to construct check dams so that water can not only be preserved but the groundwater can also be recharged.

Recycling water for irrigation and industrial use can be another way. Also, water for irrigation is free in the country and power to draw water is also free in most States.

A review of these is another way to preserve water besides ensuring its proper usage.

M.R. Subramani@thehindubusinessline.com/

India’s Water Terrorism

I need to point out that this article is written from a Pakistani point of view. An article written by an Indian would have a different perspective.

Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad on Friday, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said: “If India launches any power project in disregard of a formula agreed with Pakistan, we will strongly resist it, besides challenging it in the International  Court of Justice (ICJ).” The construction of controversial hydropower projects by India on Pakistan’s share of river waters is indeed violation of Indus Water Treaty, but the government has not approached the International Court of Justice to check New Delhi’s plans to destroy the agriculture and economy of this country. Of course, Pakistan had taken the Baglihar and Kishanganga Hydropower Project to the World Bank, which appointed arbitrators to resolve those disputes. India had to make modifications on the verdict by the arbitrator. And now Pakistan is waiting for the verdict from theInternational Court of Arbitration (ICA), which is expected any time in this month. 

India continues with its sinister designs and water terrorism by making dams and reservoirs on Pakistani rivers in violation of Indus Water Treaty. Last year, India had released 80000 to 100000 causecs of water only after its dams were filled and could no longer accommodate additional water. On 16th August 2011, India spilled more than 70,000 cusecs of additional water into River Sutlej without prior information to Pakistani authorities, inundating dozens of villages in Ganda Singhwala area of Kasur district, which had caused billions of rupees loss to the farmers of the area. Water experts say that New Delhi, in sheer violation of the Indus Water Treaty, released more than 70,000 cusecs of water into River Sutlej at Pakistani side, which mounted its level to an alarming extent and washed away dozens of villages in Kasur after creating an emergency flood situation in the entire area. Agriculturists suffered, as the floods had destroyed the standing crops on a vast land comprising hundreds of hectares. 

In addition to the loss to the crops, thousands of stranded people had stayed under the open sky in most parts of Kasur district. It is worth mentioning that during the Pak-India parleys held in March and May 2010, India had agreed to install telemetry system on the rivers in its territory to check real-time water flow. But later, New Delhi backtracked from its promises vis-à-vis issues raised by Islamabad. In such an eventuality, the question remains, how insidiously India is violating the Indus Water Teary (IWT-1960) by diverting the river courses. Experts say that on one hand India is stealing Pakistani water by building dams on rivers flowing into Pakistan from Occupied Kashmir, whereas on the other hand New Delhi deflects river-courses during monsoon season to release floodwater towards Pakistani side. According to reports, India is constructing many dams on River Jhelum, out of which 4 big and 16 small dams have started functioning. India is constructing the third largest dam of the world in Kargil on River Indus, which will block 45 % flow of water to Pakistan.

This is being done under well thought-out strategy to render Pakistan’s link-canal system redundant, destroy agriculture of Pakistan, which is its mainstay, and turn Pakistan into a desert. Reportedly, India has plans to construct scores of hydroelectric units on Rivers Chenab and Jhelum, which will render these rivers dry by 2014. Using its clout in Afghanistan, India succeeded in convincing Karzai regime to build a dam on River Kabul and set up Kama Hydroelectric Project using 0.5MAF of Pakistan’s water. It offered technical assistance to Afghanistan for this project, which would have serious repercussions on the water flow in River Indus. Unfortunately, Pakistani leadership failed to construct large reservoirs during the last thirty years to meet the growing food requirements of ever-increasing population, which has exacerbated the situation. It has to be mentioned that conscientious leaders in other countries plan 50 to 100 years ahead to construct such projects. But Pakistan does not have that category of leaders.

Today, agricultural sector in Pakistan contributes 24 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); two-third of population living in rural areas depends on it; absorbs more than 50 per cent of the labour force and provides the base for 75 per cent of exports in the form of raw materials and value-added products. India’s think-tanks have been working on river diversion plans with a view to creating acute water shortage in Pakistan, which could lead to shortage of wheat and other crops and also stoke inter-provincial conflicts in Pakistan over distribution of water. Last year, US Senate had released a report, which warned that the Indus Water Treaty may fail to avert water wars between India and Pakistan, acknowledging that dams India is building in occupied Kashmir will limit supply of water to Pakistan at crucial moments. Currently, the most controversial dam project is the proposed 330-megawatt dam on the Kishanganga River, a tributary of the Indus. And verdict by the ICA is expected any moment. 

In the past, there have been wars between many countries of the world over religions, usurpation of territories and control of resources including oil. In view of acute shortages of water in Africa, Middle East, Asia and elsewhere, the future wars could be fought over water. In addition to Kashmir dispute, the Indus River Basin has been an area of conflict between India and Pakistan for about four decades. Spanning 1,800 miles, the river and its tributaries together make up one of the largest irrigation canals in the world. Dams and canals built in order to provide hydropower and irrigation have dried up stretches of the Indus River. In parts of Pakistan, ground water levels are falling so rapidly that from 10 percent to 20 percent of agricultural production is under threat. Shortage of power has also adversely impacted our economy, as electricity is not available to make up the shortfall of water through the use of tube wells. Having all said, Pakistan must expedite the construction of Bhasha-Daimler project to overcome water and electricity shortages to keep the wheels of its industry moving.


By Mohammad Jami@pakobserver.net

India-Pakistan Heading Towards Water War

                                                                                                 Wullar project under threat?

The Wullar Lake, the largest fresh water body and a scenic picnic spot, is turning into the conflict site after a group of heavily armed militants appeared at Ningli part of the lake where a mega water conservation project is under construction, late on Monday night. The armed militants beat up the engineers and labourers present at the site and asked them to leave the place and stop the work. The militants also damaged a portion of the project by blasting it by explosives.


Official sources said that the security of the project site has been tightened and vigil in and around the lake intensified following the threat. They said that the security forces stationed in the area have been alerted and patrolling by army, police and CRPF increased. The unit of the Indian Navy that is stationed at Watlab in Wullar lake is assisting the security forces. Sources said that the lake was presently thick with plantation and it was not possible to conduct a thorough search operation. They however said that every effort would be done to avoid any ‘misadventure’ from any quarter.


Highly places sources said that 5-7 heavily armed militants appeared at site, around 5 kilometers from Sopore, at around 11:30 p.m. and beat up 5-6 engineers and workers of the project who were putting up in the hutments at the site. They also blasted off a portion of the construction work ad terrorized the engineers and workers. Government of India is also construction an ambitious project on Kishenganga River in Bandipora much to the disapproval of Pakistan.


Authorities believe that the militant threat to Wullar project could be the part of conflict India and Pakistan have been engaged in over usage of water resources in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has serious reservations over construction of power projects and dams by India that will allow it to release water during the river's lean winter months. Pakistan understands that it would give India the power to control how much water flows downstream to its farmers. After two and a half decades of deadlock and 15 marathon rounds of bilateral talks — the most recent occurring in late March — the countries appear a long way from finding common ground.


Pakistan’s minister for information and broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira, on Tuesday, came up with scathing attack on India for constructing dams and power projects on rivers in Jammu and Kashmir. In a press conference at Muzzafarabad he said “If India launches any power project in disregard of a formula agreed with Pakistan, we will strongly resist it, besides challenging it in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).” India and Pakistan share water of rivers in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir under an internationally agreed upon agreement known as Indus Water Treaty. Pakistan considers the construction of projects on rivers in Jammu and Kashmir as violation of this treaty.


Pakistan has also fears that the water could be used as ‘weapon of war’ during hostility between the two countries. Last year (August 16, 2011) Pakistan accused India of releasing 80000 to 100000 cusecs of water only after its dams were filled and could no longer accommodate additional water into River Sutlej without prior information to Pakistani authorities, inundating dozens of villages in Ganda Singhwala area of Kasur district, which had caused billions of rupees loss to the farmers of the area.



kashmirmonitor.org


A five minutes documentary on how lingering water dispute between Pakistan and India is leading them towards the fourth war---- this time it may be a nuclear war.Alleged stealing of water by India is unnerving many within Pakistani government to a tipping point of foreseeing a war with the nuclear rival if the dispute is left unresolved.

It gives vivid graphic illustration of how Islamabad and New Delhi are potentially equipped with self destructive weapons to use against each other in the event of war. The dispute may also engulf China into fray which faces charges from Delhi of diverting its share of water from Northern region of Tibet through building small tunnels. 

Women Spend 40 Billion Hours Collecting Water

                                          Women in Africa spend 200 million hours collecting water. Credit: Charles Mpaka/IPS

As the weeklong international conference on water concluded Friday, it was left to one of the keynote speakers from the United Nations to focus on a much neglected perspective on water and food security: the role of women.

Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of U.N. Women, told delegates that development can be neither sustainable nor inclusive if it does not free women and girls from “carrying heavy buckets of water every day”.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 71 percent of the burden of collecting water for households falls on women and girls, says the U.N.’s 2012 report on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Currently, women in Africa spend an estimated 200 million hours collecting water. Worldwide, it’s a whopping 40 billion hours.

“And that’s a billion with a B,” Puri emphasised to IPS hours after she made an impassioned plea for gender equality and women’s empowerment in relation to food and water security.

Speaking at the closing session of the conference, she pointed out that although women carry, literally and metaphorically, most water-related tasks – playing a key role in food production, especially in subsistence farming, and performing most of the unpaid care work -their participation in decision-making processes on water and food management remains very low.

“This does not only result in biased and misinformed decision-making, it jeopardises the achievement of women’s human rights,” she added.

The annual conference, one of the world’s largest gathering of water experts, drew over 2,000 delegates to the Swedish capital this year.

Rita Colwell, the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, said women in Bangladesh were using their saris to filter contaminated water, resourcefulness that has helped reduce cholera by nearly 50 percent.

“The key area of empowerment is in empowering women,” she added. ”In educating women on the value of safe water, we are then educating the household, and through that the entire country, to change their behaviour.”

At a side event, “Why African Women Matter in Sustainable Food Production”, it was pointed out that women do much of the farm work, and also grow most of the food crops, yet men control most of the land, farming inputs and equipment and agricultural markets.

The bottom line: women are key actors in agricultural activities but they are not key decision makers.

There are few or no women in national water boards governing the management and distribution of water, and fewer still holding decision-making jobs at ministries for gender affairs.

In 2012, women held less than six percent of all ministerial positions in the field of environment, natural resources and energy, according to the United Nations.

Agriculture has not fared any better. “Only five percent of women in Kenya own land registered in their own names,” said Dr. Akinyi Nzioki of the Centre for Land, Economy and Rights of Women (CLEAR) based in Kenya.

Violet Shivutse of Grassroots Organisations Operating Together in Sisterhood (GROOTS) of Kenya said today’s land tenure system continues to undermine rural women’s efforts to access land when they rely so much on agriculture for their livelihoods.

She said most inherited land is transferred primarily to sons, not daughters. And there were instances of widows with HIV/AIDS who were evicted from homes and denied access to land.

Bethlehem Mengistu, regional advocacy manager for WaterAid in East Africa, told IPS that most African countries do have national legislation and are state parties to international conventions protecting the rights of women.

“We have made lots of progress,” she said, “but there is a gap between policy and implementation.”

Puri, who attended the Rio+20 summit meeting in Brazil in June, said the outcome document adopted by world leaders there set in motion a number of processes, including the development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will follow the completion of the U.N.’s  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015.

It is important not only that these SDGs include a specific goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment, but also that gender perspectives are mainstreamed in all other goals, including a SDG on water, she noted.

“This will give the goals a better chance to be achieved and, at the same time, contribute to the achievement of gender equality.”

She said the combined impacts of the recent economic and financial crises, volatile energy and food prices, and climate change have exacerbated water and food scarcity, along with their detrimental impact on women and girls. Creating a water and food secure world requires putting women and girls at the centre of water and food related policies, actions and financing.

On the positive side, the global movement towards gender equality and women’s empowerment has also shown results, albeit limited.

In Morocco, for instance, the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project of the World Bank was aimed at reducing the burden of girls, traditionally involved in fetching water, in order to improve their school attendance, said Puri.

In the six provinces where the project is based, it was found that girls’ school attendance increased by 20 percent in four years, attributed in part to the fact that girls spent less time fetching water.

At the same time, convenient access to safe water reduced time spent collecting water by women and young girls by 50 to 90 percent.

She said it has also been proven that improvements in infrastructure services – especially water and electricity – can help reduce time women time spend on domestic and care work.

In Pakistan, putting water sources closer to the home was associated with increased time allocated to market work. In Tanzania, a survey found that girls’ school attendance was 15 percent higher for girls from homes located 15 minutes or less from a water source than for those in homes one hour or more away.

“We need to address the multifaceted gender discriminations in accessing and controlling productive resources such as water and land, assets and services,” Puri noted.

She said evidence suggests that investing in women-owned food and agricultural enterprises could narrow the resource gap and increase agricultural yields to potentially reduce the number of hungry people by 100 to 150 million.

By Thalif Deen@ipsnews.net

In Lao People's Democratic, women and girls are faced with the hardship of collecting water for multiple purposes. They travel far distances and make numerous trips—often across uneven terrains. Ms. Buakham's story is one of many whose life has changed as a result of an ADB-financed water supply system in Sing district. It has helped to ease women's domestic burden and enhance their economic role through local markets and ecotourism opportunities. The system supplies piped water to more than 1,700 homes and businesses since it began operations in 2010