The reappearance of the crisis shows that only equitable sharing of the river’s waters combined with scientific water conservation and management measures and time-tested farmer-to-farmer initiatives can be the solution to the dispute.
IN AUGUST 2009, AS KARNATAKA, MUCH LIKE the rest of India, was coping with the worst monsoon in a century, a Tamil Nadu cadre Indian Administrative Service officer flew to Bengaluru from Chennai. The officer, in charge of Tamil Nadu’s Public Works Department, was acting as a courier for his Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi. His mission was to hand over a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.
Karnataka Protocol officials received him at the airport and whisked him away to the Chief Minister’s residence, where Yeddyurappa was waiting for him. Multiple sources confirmed that Yeddyurappa did not read the letter but he told the officer that he was aware of its contents; he also gave him to understand that he had called at his residence an all-party meeting which he wanted the officer to attend. Yeddyurappa also informed him that bad things about Tamil Nadu would be said at the meeting. After the meeting, when the officer told him that it was not as bad as the Chief Minister had projected, Yeddyurappa remarked with a smile: “It was not all that bad. But wait till you see the MLAs.” The officer sat in on the Assembly session that day. The choicest abuses were hurled at Tamil Nadu, and speaker after speaker said no water should be released. No Minister, not even the Chief Minister, dared to differ.
この記事は FRONTLINE の October 14, 2016 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は FRONTLINE の October 14, 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
