Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Gyan Pathak

There is an ancient adage - A ruler is a representative of God. This seems to be our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's new mentality. If he succeeds, we would be paying charges to the government for using the gift of god, like water even if government does not supply it. To begin with he has planned to charge people for use of ground water, starting from the national capital state Delhi itself.
This move is being pressed by the PMO, and the Chief Minister of the National Capital Territory Region Sheila Dikshit who on his behalf has once again moved Delhi Water (Amendment) Bill and tried to get it recommended by Delhi Jal Board on October 9, 2006. It would not be out of context to mention here that a similar legislation, the Delhi Water (Amendment) Bill, 2005, had been rejected by a select committee of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha on February 2 this year.
Going by our past experience of our Present Prime Minister's policy, on can expect collection of such charges through privatization. World Bank is already pushing privatization of Water bodies in India, and our rulers are working day and night for it. Some water has already been privatized for big companies who are selling water even at the rate of Rs 12 a litre, against the philosophy of law and justice. It is a case of private parties selling public property without hindrance while the public, owner of the public properties, are being tried to be charged for their natural use.
The problem in the very thinking process of our Prime Minister is over emphasis on accumulation of wealth at any cost to the people and most of the time he trespasses his legal boundary and encroaches on the philosophy of justice. This is seen in all his economic and other policies of the PMO.
Let us understand the ownership of a property. There are only three kinds of properties in this world - Individual Property, Property of a State, and Property of the people in general.
And a property can be sold or charged for it by none other than its owner. The gift of god or nature like water and air cannot be sold or charged for their use, because no one is their owner. Their ownership is vested in people.
Since water is not a property of a state or an individual, it cannot be sold or charged by them. At best, a state can arrange for equitable distribution of water, and it can charge only for the services rendered to the people.
As for the ground water, it is not supplied by any individual, private parties or a government. Therefore, its sale by anyone who is not owner of the property to the people on whom the ownership is naturally vested is illegal and immoral. When we extend this logic to charging people for use of ground water it becomes illegal and highly objectionable.
On the other hand, questions can be raised on private parties and governments on their illegal activities of polluting the properties of people like water and air.
We have a birth right on water and air to drink and inhale. What right they have to pollute these and compel us to drink and inhale them endangering our lives?
The river water of Yamuna in Delhi is highly polluted and unfit not even for human consumption but even for bath. Ground water in Delhi is also highly polluted and not fit for human use. Yet, more than half the population of Delhi is using ground water because government is unable to supply them safe water. There are many areas where Delhi Jal Board is extracting and supplying even this unsafe water to people and already charging for this unsafe water.
It's strange, on the one hand, that government is not ready to charge heavy penalties to the people who are polluting the natural resources and creating serious health hazard to people. On the other, the government is more than willing to charge people if they use this natural underground unsafe water immorally and against all the philosophy of law. They are trying to legalize “charging the people” by introduction of Bills.
At present, there are stiff resistances even in the Jal Board and in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. However, people should be extra alert on such issues, because such a mentality of the government is dangerous. If PMO succeeds in introducing it in Delhi, sooner of later, it would be implemented in the whole country, where majority of the people depend on ground water for drinking and many other purposes.