War Over Water; Jagan Speech-less; BJP rudderless…

“The most bitter conflicts of the next 50 years won’t be over oil. The prize commodity of the future is the stuff of life – water. How we manage it now will determine if we’ll survive tomorrow… Rivers and lakes are what experts call "blue water", but most at issue is "green water" - the stuff that sits in the soil. Modern farming's withdrawal of green water is like an open-ended blood donation - the planet's surface, in developed areas, is becoming cadaverous as its life drains away. This threatens the modern agricultural revolution in which crop yields in some countries quadrupled since the 1960s and fed the huge population boom.“
http://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2010/03/water-cyprus-pakistan-yemen

The next war between India and Pakistan could be fought over water, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has claimed….
http://news.rediff.com/interview/2010/apr/12/next-indo-pak-war-over-water-lashkar-chief-hafeez-saeed.htm

In India, we are witnessing a war within the country, between neighbouring states: Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh over the Babli project. Don’t ask me the details, but these states are almost at war. In the past, there was a similar feud between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. . Within some states, there are regions which have plenty of water and areas where water is scarce. Increasingly, water deficient parts of states want to opt out of large states (such as Telangana from Samaikyandhra) on the grounds that their interests are not served efficiently in the larger state. Hyderabad Karnataka also may see similar agitations. The formation of smaller states is recommended by none other than B R Ambedkar: he suggested the formation of 48 states (2 or 3 states out of Andhra Pradesh).

All in all, water is going to be the commodity which is going to cause conflicts within countries and between countries. On the other hand, we have floods which cause devastation, and big dams which cause conflicts between states, and chaos all around. We now have to get together and figure out how to distribute water resource, how to conserve water (well, consuming beer is of course not the alternative :), and how to cooperate and not conflict – in the first place.

Jagan Is Speech-less

The Congress high command seems to have left Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy speechless. He is going through the motions of the Odarpu Yatra, but he himself is inconsolable after the state A.P. government wrote to the center to put the Bayyaram mining lease in abeyance. He seems to have run out of steam already. He speaks very little in the meetings, on the grounds that there is no time. He is indeed running out of time. Fewer of his followers are coming out now in open support; everybody wants to be in the good books of the high command. It (the yatra) seemed to be an unstoppable Juggernaut initially, but his followers have now indicated that it will stop on the 28th, the day after the Telangana election. He will go to the parliament, three days after it has been convened. It is doubtful if he would get an audience with the high command during his stay in Delhi.

By the end of next week, we will know what Jagan will decide: he may wait until September 2nd but the effect will be the same. The very statues of YSR he installed in the north-eastern states will repel people once the facts are known. Imagine more than one lakh crore given away as dowry to Brother (in-law) Anil Kumar! Think of what per-capita income for all the people of Andhra Pradesh that would get: Rs 12 000/- And compare it to Rs. 25 000/- or so given away to a few hundred families by Jagan. Gali Muddu Krishnama Naidu puts the figure at 400 Lakh Crores: that would make each citizen of A P richer by one lakh each. The most corrupt politician in the history of A P managed to be a darling of the masses is a mystery. However, Jagan cannot get the same kind of reception he is now getting if the Congress party disowns YSR, and washes its ‘hand’ off the late lamented C M.

The BJP Is Rudderless…

Nitin Gadkari is clueless about what is going on in the Bharatiya Janata Party. L K Advani seems to rule the roost. Mr A B Vajpayee is not heard of in a long time. Mohan Bhagwat is dictating the terms to the BJP. The deputy home minister of Gujarat is absconding and the CBI is after him. What is happening with the once ‘disciplined’ party? The righter they go, the wronger they get: they should move more and more toward center and get rid of the Pravin Togadias and Modis. It is an acceptable option to many thinkers – including Kushwant Singh – as long as it remains right of center, not farthest right from center. It is time for the BJP to distance itself from the militant Hindutva of Mr Narendra Modi, and get more moderate.

Bottomline: This column is an unabashed imitation of “with malice towards one and all” (not only toward Jagan or Arundhati Roy). All opinions are my own and don’t have anything to do with Trust News, which kindly publishes my blogs.

www.sankarar.blogspot.com