River Linking

There has been a lot of discussion on the advantages of linking rivers , and plans of thousands of crores to make this dream come true. I believe that this idea seems to be flawed.Though it may seem interesting at first sight and may gives hopes of better distribution of water over flooded and parched regions, it has hidden within it big unknowns that may sink whatever good that we may perceive to come out of it.

One of the problems is the building of large dams , that threaten to destroy a large amount of forests and displace many a tribal. Not only are we short of forests, which we can ill afford to loose, large dams result in breaking the flow of the river causing irreversible damage to the river ecosystem. The history of dam rehabilitaion in India has been only been dismal with poor and weak people being shifted to lands that are much worse than what they lived on - often without basic facilities , even of a rural habitation.

The second problem is that inter-basin transfer involves in every case an inter-state transfer which is a potential bottleneck, causing large problems during the working of the project. Demand for water is bound to grow and surpluses may not remain, which cause more political friction and delays.

The third and most serious argument is that changing the pattern of river flows can highly destabilising, river course changes , bank collapeses , damage to rich ecosystems at the river mouth and larger host of related problems. The basic problem is that this project involves shifting a large amount of water from one basin to another.This causes a deficit in the water volume in the source basin, which may disrupt the natural cycles in the river.

The premise that floods are bad , is qualified , that floods are bad for urban settlements. Floods are a natural cleansing action of a river , action that deposit silt - increase fertility of agricultural plains and bring nutrients from the moutains to the deltas. It is only when humans have inhabited and monopolised river banks that floods assume their terrible form. By seeking to deprive a river of floods we are trying to remove a part of the river. The consequences of this are hard to find , but can come in unimaginable forms. We cannot afford to kill our rivers , for most of India revolves around rivers .

Save our rivers.

Independence Day Thoughts

Today or rather yesterday was the 59th Independence day of India. India has grown and matured and is well past middle age , she has made many big leaps and floundered on small ditches that are still sadly most of what a typical Indian motorist sees today.

We need to keep going ,and fast too. In the lazy pace of the yesteryears aerodynamics mattered little, now that we wish to go faster even scratches on the paint can slow you down.Its time to look into development that helps the average Indian lead a good life and become a great Indian, rather than leaving him to hopeless despair. We need plans that bring hope back to people , build their confidence and hold their hands to build a greater nation and a greater world.

Grandoise plans to link rivers are not a one size fits all solution, rather we need to have regions come up with plans for themselves - for they know their land and its moods well. What is built should be sustainable , and this necissitates projects that come with the participation of people whose life it seeks to improve and affect too. A large number of small projects whether for irriagtion , power , roads etc are are much better than a small number of large projects. It is not to say that we do not need large projects , but they should be built only when they are found to be required in the strict sense.We need to develop closed loop , feedback systems in administration that can cater to the rhythm of life rather than disrupting it.

India is growing at paces that were unthinkable years ago, but that is in the economic sense - other sectors are not coping up. This unhealthy situation can lead to problems with the social fabric which can create problems later. We need to still tackle abject poverty and despair moreover in the heart of many Indians. Only well thought out policy initiatives by the governments can bring any respite here and now is the time to act - for we have suffcient funds and social hydras have not begun to raise their heads.

It does seem that our engines have suffcient power to make more 'speed', but will the old suspension and steering mechanisms keep us out of danger ?