UPA hopes there will be no trouble but is leaving little to chance

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

North block moves

The ghost of Ayodhya is looming large on the minds of the ruling coalition. In the last meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by the Prime Minister, home minister P. Chidambaram was briefed about the possible deployment of paramilitary forces to handle the turbulent situation in J&K and to tackle the Maoists.

Someone raised the question of possible deployment of security forces in the wake of the upcoming verdict of the Allahabad High Court on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. The meeting was unanimous that the government could not afford to repeat the mistake of the Narasimha Rao government. Caution was the need of the hour. During the meeting, Chidambaram briefed the CCS members about preparations of the home ministry to tackle any sort of situation that might arise after the court verdict.

The government has listed 35 sensitive cities where communal harmony could be jeopardised. Therefore, an additional secretary-level officer has been deputed to monitor the situation particularly in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. The Centre has sent an advisory to these states to be on their guard.

The Centre has assured Uttar Pradesh of all help in case things threaten to get out of hand. Though the government has clearly stated that it is not possible to send 400 battalions keeping in view the tight security arrangements for the Commonwealth Games, it would try to do its best to provide all the support that the UP administration might need.

Sources in the UPA reveal that the government has conducted a survey through local Intelligence agencies. What concerns the Congress think tank is the political battle that will be fought. The party has sought parallel reports from state Congress units. On the basis of these reports, Sonia Gandhi has advised the government to make foolproof arrangements to handle any eventuality.

The BJP and RSS are understandably hopeful of making political capital out of the issue once more. The Congress believes that if the verdict goes in favour of the Waqf Board, then it would be easy to handle the situation. UP Congress has cautioned the party high command about the political tactics that might be adopted by the BJP to cash in on this emotive issue. The BJP might try to polarise voters in ensuing election in Bihar. Pressure is mounting on the government to act in a decisive manner. The Congress is of the view that if peace is disturbed, the BJP will try to derive political mileage. The ruling coalition is already worried over alleged failure of the government in tackling inflation and it does not want to concede any more political ground to the Opposition. The onus now rests on Chidambaram. Intelligence chiefs have warned that Azamgarh, Mathura, Kashi, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Delhi, Nagpur, Gorakhpur and Ranchi are among the more sensitive areas. The Prime Minister wanted to know about preparations of the home ministry regarding UP's demand for 400 battalions of paramilitary forces.

The home ministry, in its reply, has said that it is ready to send 40 battalions of paramilitary forces and 15 units of Rapid Action Force. The government has also sought reports from home secretaries of different states. They have been told to remain vigilant and be ready to handle any situation.

Amid all this, the RSS has already started chanting of Hanuman Chalisa in temples across India. The chanting will reach a crescendo on September 16. The BJP has called off its planned Jammu conference.

However, the apex body of the BJP is not in favour of a direct confrontation on the issue of building a temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. It has even advised its front organisations such as VHP and Bajrang Dal to maintain peace even if the court delivers a verdict in favour of the Waqf Board and allots Hindus a piece of land near the disputed site. They have also sent overtures to Muslim groups to consider giving up their claims on Mathura and Kashi.

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Awaiting the verdict, TSI analyses why religion and caste do not pay in the long run

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

Gainers turn ultimate losers

Will the Allahabad High Court's verdict on the more-than-century-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute put an end to the matter? Most possibly no. No matter which way the verdict swings, the aggrieved will most definitely appeal to the country's highest court. The procrastinating judicial process, though none can beat the Liberhan Commission in this regard, will definitely make sure that years down, a new generation of Indian Hindus and Muslims wakes up one fine day and disdainfully looks at newspaper headlines, wondering: 'What is wrong with these people? Why are they obsessed with something that happened so many years back?'

The people of India have moved over from 1992. I just wish I could say the same about BJP. The Ram Mandir agitation has served the Saffron political front well. L.K. Advani's momentous Rath Yatra traversed the length and breadth of the country, drawing support from Hindu religious leaders and common people swayed by religious fervour. His opposite numbers like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav similarly reached out to Muslims by projecting their avid anti-mandir stance. The Mandal guarantee of lower caste votebank was already there. It was time to ride the wave. The Temple Movement culminated in the gathering of 1,50,000 frenzied kar sevaks in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, the disputed structure was brought down. While the act led to riots in parts of the country which claimed 1,000 lives, it consolidated the BJP's conservative Hindu votebank. The party swept the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1995. In the parliamentary polls of 1998, the BJP-led NDA attained a thin majority. In the interim elections of 1999, the NDA increased its tally.

An issue as vague as the Ram Mandir could bring BJP to power but could not perpetuate its stay. BJP failed to understand this. The Kandahar hijack fiasco and the Gujarat riots of 2002, coupled with the extreme negative publicity that the NDA's 'Shining India' campaign generated, made sure of its defeat in the 2004 elections. If 2004 was shocking, 2009 was tragic. Its tally was reduced to 159 seats, factionalism engulfed the party. Today, the party is at its wit's end to re-brand itself. A section still feels return to the old Hinduvta will pay dividends. But that section is marginalised today. The new leadership has a serious predicament. Neither can it abandon the mandir cause. And sticking to it is making the party look more ridiculous.

With the BJP threat receding, Lalu and Mulayam have also had their Muslim vote bank slip. When you toss a coin into muck, both sides get dirty. Eighteen years have passed since 1992. An entire new generation has started exercising its right of franchise. They are not bothered about mandirs and masjids. They are bothered about unemployment, development, equitable distribution of wealth, access to quality education and healthcare. The BJP had a lemon to juice. They squeezed it to its bitter end.

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Syed Khurram Raza finds that the Muslim voice can't be heard as a monolith

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

Bracing for judgment day

The Muslim community is very often considered a monolith. But on the eve of the Babri Masjid verdict, different voices from the community are echoing different thoughts.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Jalaluddin Umri categorically states that nearly all Muslim organisations have already announced that they would respect the verdict of the court. He is of the opinion that 'Muslims should respect the decision and there is no need to react'. In case the verdict is not in favour of the community, he thinks that Muslims should appeal in the Supreme Court.

Speaking to TSI, the Shahi Imam of Shahi Jama Masjid, Delhi, Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, says, 'Muslims have the fullest faith in the judiciary and that is why for the past 60 years, Muslims are fighting the case in the court. The other party does not believe in the judiciary and that is why they regularly say that it is question of faith (aastha) and it cannot be settled in a court of law.' On whether the verdict may lead to communal disturbances, he tells TSI, 'It will not be from the Muslim side, it will be Hindu communal forces who could pollute the atmosphere and it is the responsibility of the government to keep an eye on all such elements. As far as Muslims are concerned, they are the citizens of this country and they will not live under fear or pressure'. He further adds that Muslims were cheated in 1992. Asked if there was any scope of negotiations, he says, 'The question of any negotiation does not arise because there cannot be any solution through negotiations. The solution will come through the court only.' He also appeals to Muslims that they should respect the court order and should demonstrate maximum patience and restraint and should not get provoked. Veteran journalist Zafar Agha says, 'Indian Muslims cannot live imprisoned with one incident, there was a period in which the tragedy of demolition took place which was unacceptable in any society. But that period is over and now Muslims should see beyond this tragedy.' He stressed that 'Masjid and Mandir are the two realities and identities of our country and secularism is the essence of this country. Demolition of the mosque was not only an unconstitutional act but it was against the culture of this country.' He said, 'There is a need to marginalise the former players and start a fresh initiative to resolve this issue.'

Senior scribe Nafees Ahmed says, 'If the verdict goes in favour of the Muslims, they should demonstrate largeheartedness and take a decision which could marginalise the communal forces'.

Navaid Hamid, member of National Integration Council, says, 'There is no other solution but to abide by the court's verdict.'

Lecturer in Kirori Mal College Khalid Ashraf says 'Both Muslims and Hindus should respect the verdict of the court and it is the government who has to see to it that the court order is implemented in its true spirit. It is high time that leaders of both the communities understand that education, peace and development are more important than these masjids and mandirs. If there is no peace and no welfare, then the basic purpose of the mosque and temple is defeated. If human beings live in peace and harmony, then the purpose is served whether the mosque or the temple exists or not.'

Syed Shahabuddin is very categorical that once a masjid is always a masjid. He says, following the Hanafi school of thought, that a masjid's place cannot be given to anyone nor can be used for any other purpose. Shahbuddin does not blame Rajiv Gandhi and says that the late leader was misled. He says, 'When I met Rajiv Gandhi, he told me that he was misled by two persons and he named them.' Shahabuddin says 'If the title suit is decided in favour of the Muslims, then in my view Muslims need not build a mosque at the mosque site. But they should not also give it to anyone else as the Islamic law does not permit anyone to sell or gift masjid land. But they can give the adjacent land to the Hindus.'

However, there will be few takers of this formula as hardliner Hindus will stick to the Garbh Griha demand.

There are some other Muslim leaders who are in favour of giving the land to Hindu organisations but with the condition that the land goes to Shankaracharya and that the VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena is kept away. One leader, who does not wish to be identified, says, 'We want to restore the glory of Shankaracharyas and keep these elements out. We are having talks in this regard.'

Two senior members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board fully endorse Shahabuddin's viewpoint of not building the mosque in case the verdict goes in favour of Muslims. They are of the view that this issue should be buried once and forever.

During the monsoon session, several Muslim parliamentarians sat together when one MP got an information that inputs from Intelligence agencies suggest that the verdict can go against the Muslims. One of them immediately called up Zafaryab Jilani to get the exact feedback. When Zafaryab Jilani assured them that there was very little chance of such a thing happening, they were relieved. However, they have decided on the immediate need to ensure that Muslims take the verdict humbly and do not celebrate or hail the verdict.

Muslims born after 1992 are not even interested in this issue. They are more interested in social networking sites, big money, football or Shah Rukh Khan.

According to sources, the Centre is already drawing contingency plans. There is a feeling at the Centre that some stray incidents could take place. It does not apprehend anything major as the losing side will have the option to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Mayawati, has already asked for more forces from the Centre. A strong message has gone out to the DMs and police officials that if anything untoward happened in their areas, strong action will be taken against them.

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Whither Pakistan

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

Relief efforts are in full swing in Balochistan and Sindh but the flood victims continue to face many insurmountable adversities

Pakistan has suffered an estimated loss of about 500 billion rupees due to the worst flooding in its 62-year-old chequered history. The disaster is essentially man-made and a result of climate change.

The losses have occurred because standing crops of sugarcane, paddy and cotton have been badly damaged by the floods. 'Fifty per cent paddy crop has been submerged,' says Kaiser Bengali, an eminent economist and adviser to the chief minister of Sindh. Mr Bengali said that besides cash crops, water courses have been damaged severely and they will have to be built again.

As many as one million houses have been damaged in Sindh, adding up to a loss of about 200 billion rupees. About 30 per cent of these houses have been in urban and the rest in rural areas, Mr Bengali said. Similarly, roads have been badly damaged and the exact estimate of the damage could be made only after flood water recedes completely.

However, livestock has not been damaged to that extent because farmers shifted them to safer places after a flood warning. Sadly enough, there was colossal damage to livestock in Shikarpur in Sindh and Jacobabad in Balochistan because a timely warning could not be issued there, the economis said.

The schools, already in a pathetic condition, have been damaged so badly would remain closed for at least six months due to flooding.

In Balochistan province, the worst damage has been done to Kohlu area because of its height. However, since it is mainly inhabited by people of the Marri tribe, the military establishment tried its level best not to allow relief operation to reach that area, according to a source in a non-governmental organistion (NGO) that wished not to be identified due to security reasons.

But Mohammad Siddiq Aftab of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Balochistan rejected the notion that Kohlu area has been ignored.

'On July 22 when I reached my office in the morning, the deputy commissioner of Kohlu was already sitting there. In fact, he was the first person to reach my office,' Aftab said.

'He informed me that 30 villages in Kohlu area have been washed away, while 20 were at risk, and about 1500 families have been displaced,' Aftab continued. Mr Aftab said that as many as four trucks laden with relief goods were immediately dispatched to Kohlu. The relief goods included food items, tents, clothing, among other things of daily use.

He said that in the adjacent district of Bakhran, the civil bureaucracy coordinated with the army and dispatched three trucks laden with relief goods. The very next day, four more trucks were sent there, he said. Aftab also rejected the allegation that NGOs were not allowed to freely operate in that area. There is no truth in this notion, he asserted.

'As a nation, we are not good enough,' he said. 'In the beginning, the military ordered the NGOs not to operate in that area without seeking prior permission, but when I went to the chief minister of Balochistan and showed him the circular that had been issued by General Nadeem, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, the chief minister said it was of no value,' Mr Aftab said.

Mr Aftab said that his department did everything it could to coordinate the relief operations that were launched by the NGOs, but made sure that these well-meaning initiatives did not overlap with the main rescue effort because a large number of NGOs were active in Balochistan province.

Shahbaz Khan Barozai, the Risaldaar Levies (Federal) of Sibi District, endorsed Mr Aftab's view. He asserted that if anybody was stopped from going to Kohlu area, it was strictly for security reasons. The step, he insisted, was taken in good faith because the situation in that area was far too dangerous to allow for free access for everybody. To a certain extent, Mr Barozai was right because the situation in Balochistan is extremely tense at the moment and Punjabi and Urdu-speaking people were leaving the province in great haste fearing for safety.

Asiya Asif, 30, general manager, NCBP, an NGO, said that she had lost her younger brother Atiq Ahmed some two years ago in a bomb blast at the court. As many as 17 people, including several judges, died in that blast.

'It's true that Punjabis are being systematically targeted here. My brother was only 24 years old and was a source of strength for me,' she said. Asiya said her grandfather had migrated from Amritsar, Punjab in 1947 and settled down in the city of Quetta.

'Now we are facing the music. Many of my family members have already migrated to other places.

But 'target killing' is not taking place in Balochistan province alone. It is equally rampant in the 18-million-strong megalopolis of Karachi. Nobody knows who are the people that aree behind these target killings. There are only assumptions at best. However, the land mafia in this part of Pakistan appears to be a major player in these target killings. Islamic fanatics also have had a role in these target killings despite the fact that the government has imposed a ban on such violent organisations. Despite relief goods being distributed by national and international NGOs in Balochistan, the situation is pretty unsettling in the camps that have been set up for the flood-affected. The people there are suffering from diarrhoea and other communicable diseases.

'The World Health Organisation (WHO) works as a part of the government. We don't work separately and independently. The provincial government had forwarded to us a demand about medicines and we met that demand as early as in the month of July,' said Dr. Tahira Kamal, the WHO spokesperson in Balochistan.

But visits to the flood relief camps show that the affected people are still facing innumerable problems on a daily basis. The main issue here is that they do not trust the governments, whether provincial or the federal. The opposition parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Tehreek-e-Insaf led by former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan, besides the media, are openly apprehensive about the tall claims that the government has been making regarding the rescue and relief operations being conducted in the flood-hit expanses of Pakistan.

There is a general perception among the populace that the assistance given by donors, whether international or national, will evenbtually be misappropriated by the government. Some people are going to the extent of looking for military intervention to allay these fears.

But this perception seems to be somewhat far-fetched, firstly because the Americans are in favour of a civil government in Pakistan and secondly because the army is unlikely to intervene in such a difficult situation after the 10-year mess left behind by the former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf. Yeh hai Sibi!

By shahid husain

Quetta: Journalists, especially Urdu-speaking and Punjabi-speaking ones, are scared to visit Balochistan. Even if some TV channels are covering the disaster, they are doing so under the army's protection. Sources in NGOs claim journos are not allowed to go to Kohlu. The reason: nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bux Marri holds sway there.

When I reached Quetta I was asked not to speak Urdu on the way to Sibi. I speak only Urdu and English. If I kept mum how would I interview Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have arrived in Sibi from the interior of Sindh?

On my way to Sibi, I noticed that all the sign boards were in English and Urdu. Advertisements and graffiti, too, were in Urdu. Even the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) chalking on a wall and a mountain against Punjabis was in Urdu!

The distribution centre of Church World Service/Pakistan-Afghanistan (CWS/PA) in Sibi was established in the Divisional Public School. The District Coordination Officer (DCO) kindly permitted CWS/PA to carry on its distribution from here. It seemed to be a good school with clean classrooms, a computer lab, spacious playgrounds, two staff rooms and a tidy principal's room.

However, Sibi is one of the hottest places in the world. Everybody was perspiring, especially the labour force that was shifting goods for distribution from warehouse to the spacious playground.

"In hathoon ki tazeem karo" (Respect these hands!), I recalled a line from a poem by eminent Urdu poet and one of the founding members of Progressive Writers' Association (PWA), Ali Sardar Jafri. Who says Balochis are lethargic people?

I remember Sardar Jafri. Tall and handsome! He had a firm grip when he shook hands. I met him in Karachi in the early 1970s when he came to Pakistan from India probably to make a documentary on great Urdu poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib whose centenary was then being observed across the world.

Waheedullah of CWS/PA told me the relief goods his organisation was distributing to 750 families had 40 kg rice, 80 kg flour, 8 kg daal (pulses), 4-1/2 kg oil, 10 match boxes, 4 Safeguard soups, 1 packet of salt, ' kg tea, 1 plastic sheet that could also be used as a tent, and 1 tent.

Ahmed Nawaz, CEO, National Capacity Building Programme (NCBP), partner organisation of CWS/PA in Balochistan was fasting. So was Aysia, the cool-headed general manager at NCBP.

I was not fasting but had slept only for one-and-a half hours the previous night. The rising sun was making me mad. I interviewed Shahbaz Khan Barozai, Risaldaar Levies (Federal), Sibi District and a couple of IDPs in a nearby camp. Exhausted and drained I found it difficult to work..

On our way to Sibi, we saw Mach that reminded me of Tarek Fatah and Intezar Zaidi, my student day's friends who braved imprisonment in Mach jail.

We also passed through the mountains of Bolan that reminded me of a poem by eminent Baloch poet and natinalist leader Gul Khan Naseer and of course Chakar Khan who was hanged by military dictator Gen. Ayub Khan. Also saw IDPs on both sides of the road.

I was escorted in Principal's room. An impressive room, indicating that it was surely the office of a dignified person. On the wall behind principal's chair were portraits of Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Mohammad Iqbal. I asked the young peon Mian Khan if there was an ash tray in principal's room. He brought a waste paper basket. He also brought cold drinks and water for me. Yet I was perspiring profusely.

"Kitni garmi hay!" (How hot it is!), I said. Khan replied: "Yeh hai Sibi!" (This is Sibi!) reminding me of the song: "Ye hai Bombay meri jaan! (This is Bombay my darling.); Sadly, there were rains in the area and when I visited Sibi two days later, the goods distributed by the NGO had been washed away.

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The Real Watergate

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

The frequent grim calls to 'Save Water' are not coming from the prophets of doom; they may be Voices from the Waters... indira parthasarathy joins chorus for protection of this very limited resource'

Is the quest for the 'elixir of life' still on? I daresay one needn't look beyond the glass of water perched at the far end of your table. What the chemists call H2O in what is a case for oversimplification, is that which is believed to be one of the cardinal five constituent elements of the universe, and that which is the most critical lookout in the hunt for extra terrestrial settlement. Celebrating water then, as did the Voices from the Waters (VFTW) Festival in Bangalore between the 27th and 30th of August, is a fine way to remind us how precious this unique gift of nature is, and how exigent is the need to protect it.

In what has been a long time coming, the United Nations recently declared clean water a fundamental human right, but the move is only a step towards acknowledging the problem, and not quite a solution in itself. According to the UN World Water Development Report, 2009, an estimated 90 per cent of the three billion people who are expected to be added to the population by 2050, will be in developing countries, many in regions already in water stress where the current population does not have sustainable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Increasing urban migration and resultant industrial and municipal contamination only compounds the crisis. Says Ganesh Pangare, IUCN's Water Coordinator for Asia, 'Strategies for investment to reduce the vulnerability of cities will need to include maintenance and restoration of watersheds, wetlands, rivers and coasts.' Outside the environment conference halls however, investments can only be found in places like Alberta, the centre of Canada's oil sands industry. 'H2Oil', screened at the fifth edition of VFTW, the largest international film festival on water, highlighted how River Athabasca in Canada, which is the biggest energy satellite of the US, was being sucked dry considering extraction of one barrel of oil from the tar sands used up to four barrels of fresh water. With the government firmly behind the industry, incriminating evidence of explosion of cancer cases in the community owing to carcinogenic effluent discharge leaking into the river amounts to nothing. On the subject of bureaucratic complicity, director of 'Goa Goa Gone', Kurush Canteenwala stated that nearly 38 of the 40 legislators of Goa hold mining leases directly or indirectly. Mining across the small state threatens to cut off rivers flowing from the western ghats towards the sea, as also induce saline water intrusion in the hinterlands. As The Stockholm International Water Institute puts it, the world's water crisis is not related to the physical availability of water, but to unbalanced power relations, poverty and related inequalities.

Inequality is the mildest word that comes to mind when one talks of 'private water rights'. The subject of 'Life on Sale', Chile's model of a water market where private individuals own quantities of water as big as a small European country could have been stuff for satire, if it wasn't for real. Needless to say, the poor local communities in a land that is home to the driest desert on earth ' Atacama ' are condemned to thirst and more poverty. Hopefully, with water reforms underway to reclaim it as a public resource in the country, and with the UN Declaration in place, the model won't find any more takers.

With global warming turning on the heat in the polar ice caps which are the storehouse of 70% of our fresh water supplies, and with states choosing to look the other way as indiscriminate Environment Clearances render our lands barren and dry, there might soon be a time when we see no meaning to Bruce Lee's iconic words 'Be water, my friend..' Water, water'

Anil Naidoo, coordinator, blue planet project, and a key figure in mobilising support for the un resolution for fundamental right to water, talks about proactive measures to address the impending water crisis'

97% of the planet is water. Is science and technology doing enough to make more and more of it usable as fresh water?

It is a fantasy to think that we can actually use science to create more fresh water in anything but emergency and critical situations. Desalinisation technologies, for instance, require massive energy at a time when we are dealing with a global energy crisis as well as leaving a legacy of toxic effluent. This is only a stopgap in the wealthiest countries and is not a sustainable solution for the global water crisis.

The mining industry uses up tremendous amounts of fresh water in many parts of the world. What, short of closing all mines and revoking all leases, is the solution to preserve our fresh water sources?

Simply, we must demand a water conservation and protection plan before the licensing of new mining operations, and alongside this a plan for watershed restoration. It is impossible and not productive to demand closing of all mines, but there will certainly be areas where mining should not be allowed as the damage to the ecosystem and the people and life which depend upon those ecosystems.

If these companies are allowed to exploit the water without consequence and leave it heavily polluted, then they will not invest in a different way of managing their need for water and their ecological footprint. There needs to be global governance structures to ensure a strict level of accountability and compliance.

The pro-water rights lobby defends privatisation as the only way to highlight its scarcity, and price signals being indicative of its valuable status. Some cite increased hydropower development in Chile following privatisation as an example. How do we refute this?

The so-called economically productive uses of water will certainly be increased through price signals. By charging for water, users will be chosen based on their ability to pay and their ability to out compete rival users. To acquiesce to a society where human life and ecological integrity is allowed to be traded away with water rights, or where the thirsty are left to struggle as water goes to less critical uses is abhorrent to most people.

Water is a human right and these rights must be progressively realised which requires us to be vigilant against mechanisms, such as markets and pricing for profit, which exclude people and violate their human rights.

Distribution of water is often a political conundrum too, as in the case of River Cauvery in India. How do we ensure equitable distribution of water?

By engaging the people who depend on the water to live and by factoring in the needs of the natural environment' More than a political process, we would benefit from a democratic process which fosters community participation in decision-making. Water discourse is often about power and acknowledging and redressing power imbalances in all communities must be at the core of water distribution mechanisms.

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