The Hindu : New Delhi News : A case for Rajasthan's right to Ravi-Beas water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

A case for Rajasthan's right to Ravi-Beas water

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, JULY 27 . Rashtriya Jal Biradari, a brotherhood of conservationists and those who work for water, has challenged the Punjab Government's argument that Rajasthan and Haryana do not form part of the Indus basin. The Biradari has reminded Punjab that the Indus Water Treaty signed under the aegis of the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1960 is a treaty between India and Pakistan and not between Punjab and Pakistan.

"The sharing of the waters of the Ravi-Beas is a national issue. It is not merely a dispute between Punjab and its neighbours like Rajasthan and Haryana. It is a matter of probity of the country's Constitution,'' noted Rajendra Singh, Magsaysay Award winner and convener of the Jal Biradari. "The people of Rajasthan and Haryana have a natural right to that water,'' Mr.Singh, who met the newspersons here with other functionaries of the Jal Biradari, said.

"Indo-Pak treaty is a national agreement. Both Rajasthan and Haryana have a right to that water as it was purchased from Pakistan after making a payment under the treaty for their sake by the country's then leadership,'' Mr.Singh noted. He questioned the Punjab Government's propaganda that Rajasthan and Haryana did not form part of the Indus basin.

"From the Aravallis to Baluchistan it is one geographical unit. As much as 5 lakh sq kms of Rajasthan falls under the Indus basin area,'' noted Narpat Singh Rathore of the Mohanlal Sukhadia University's Geography Department. Dr.Rathore, who has studied the Indus river basin area extensively, said the Rajasthan districts of Sriganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Hanumangarh, Churu, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer formed part of the Indus basin.

"After the passage of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, if Punjab is talking about continuing to provide the existing share of water to Rajasthan and Haryana it is no charity. It comes both as a natural as well as legal right,'' Rajendra Singh asserted. In fact, without trying to play politics with river waters which were the property of the whole society, Punjab should learn to utilize its water resources properly, he suggested.

Recollecting his observations during the national "jal yatra'' he had held the previous year, Mr.Singh said in Punjab he found that the traditional water bodies had been levelled for farming and other commercial activities. "Punjab does not have a water culture,'' he lamented pointing out that practically no attempt was being made by that State to improve its ground water level.

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