The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Interlinking of rivers will help solve farm crisis: H.K. Patil

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Interlinking of rivers will help solve farm crisis: H.K. Patil

Staff Reporter

Prime Minister to be urged to seek an amendment to the Constitution

SHARING SOME THOUGHTS: Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil (left) and Christ College principal Thomas C. Mathew at a seminar in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: The Constitution should be appropriately amended to make water-conservation a constitutional guarantee, and this could be achieved by changing Article 51(a), former Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said here on Tuesday.

Speaking at a national seminar on "Interlinking of Rivers-Priority or Challenge", Mr. Patil, who has held the water resources portfolio in the past, and is now Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, said he would urge the Prime Minister to move forward on this amendment. It would be the duty of every citizen to do everything possible to conserve water and make judicious and wise use of this precious resource, and the amendment would help us work towards this goal, Mr. Patil said.

Mr. Patil said he favoured the idea of interlinking the rivers as it was the best solution for mitigating the suffering of lakhs of farmers who were dependent on the vagaries of the weather and had lost their crops and were mired in debt. The failure of the monsoon meant many of these people migrated to the cities in search of jobs, and the pressure on urban resources increased, he said.

Another result was the suicides by farmers who were forced into debt, which they are unable to repay. The answer to all these problems lay in inter-linking of rivers, Mr. Patil said. There had been 1,148 farmer suicides in the State from 2003 to 2006.

However, inter-linking of rivers called for strong political will. Its benefits would be manifold and felt across the country. An additional 140 million hectares of land would be covered by irrigation if the Government moved forward on this ambitious project, apart from the possibility of generating 32,000 mw of power.

Considering that more than 60 countries were today resorting to cloud seeding to offset the effects of monsoon failure, the possibility of frequent drought years was something that could not be wished away, Mr. Patil said.

On the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, he said the Government should keep up the pressure on the Union Government and persuade Goa to concede its position, as this was a drinking water project.

The two-day seminar is being organised by Fredskorpset India Partners Network and the Centre for Social Action of Christ College.

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