Dammed truths

The decision of the People’s Republic of China to build a dam on the Brahmaputra will naturally cause concern. China’s dismissal of Indian concerns will predictably be viewed as another sign of Chinese arrogance in bilateral and multilateral affairs. But,even as India justifiably questions China’s plans,uncomfortable questions present themselves. What is India doing for its water security? Where is the urgency on this side of the border? Why are there so many internal hurdles?

News of the Tsangpo dam shows that in China the need for water resources to be properly harnessed is understood; the dam-building process is underway in quick time. The contrast to India,where large water resources projects are continually held up by irresponsible politics,is stark. (The Sardar Sarovar Dam is but the most glaring example.) Development in India — even the very minimum of preparedness for coming challenges — is less a subject for farsighted decision-making and democratic compromise between different groups,and more a hostage to the last man standing. Placating every individual who disagrees,handing out vetoes to every interest group simply breeds a home-grown fifth column against development and growth. Thus a weary state decides on the basis of what is not vetoed. Remember again the Narmada project. And how Saifuddin Soz,then water resources minister,stalled the completion of work on the dam — in particular,on the gates and to take it to its proper crest height — for overtly political reasons,and to placate the same set of do-nothing activists. The dam’s height was raised eventually,but the radial gates are still held up.

Consider too Arunachal Pradesh. Rather than speeding up attempts to tap Arunachal’s vast reserves of hydro-electric potential in response to the country-wide,chronic power shortage over the past decade,the years since 2000 have instead seen a frittering away of energy. Of the 60-plus power projects the Arunachal government lists,a mere 23 started operation this millennium. India is prepared to make the case,over and over,for its political and public values over those of the People’s Republic. And yet that case is undermined by the immaturity of those,whether in politics or in civil society,who have an imperfect understanding of the fact that liberal democracies also require constructive debate on agendas for inclusive growth.