Saifuddin Soz at the EXPRESS

Related Stories ‘We have autonomous regulators, but there is limited oversight...we don’t ask them questions we should’‘New media doesn’t break stories. It draws on content of old media. I place highest value on breaking stories’‘State Govts have no autonomy, Centre should simply grant funds and leave spending to states’‘HP has Rs 1,50,000 cr in forest wealth, yet we are in debt. We should be compensated for our forests’‘The question is whether India’s dynamism of economic growth is matched by equivalent dynamism in political extroversion’

SAIFUDDIN SOZ: I would like to enumerate the major areas of concern regarding water resources. A few areas are in sharp focus. One is ground water — it is like a cash deposit. You can take the interest but you cannot touch the principal amount without depleting it. The PM takes considerable interest in water issues and there is an advisory council now that meets every year. We also have a Ground Water Congress. Last year at the Congress, we gave away many awards, especially to NGOs. We realise those people have been doing very good work.

The next area is irrigation. We must increase the potential of irrigation as it is the key to agricultural development. Lots of money is being pumped into irrigation. For instance, the allocation for the 11th Plan is more than double the money that was available for irrigation in the 10th Plan. But personally speaking, I’m still not satisfied because in the 6th Plan perspective. We achieved a miracle — 12.5 per cent of the GDP went to irrigation. Thereafter, the investment in irrigation has been dwindling. Then there is the question of interlinking of rivers. There was some propaganda, last year, that we put this matter on the back burner. That is not the fact: the states have to take decisions regarding this. I have taken considerable interest and there are signs that some states will agree.

We have selected some rivers for conservation. We call them ‘national projects’. It has been a story of terrible neglect. Take the Yamuna: for 30 years a great deal of funding has been wasted — it is still polluted, its hydraulic potential has not been realised, its drinking water is not worth drinking and irrigation lags behind. I would reiterate: water is very important. But in general, people think it is important only when they feel thirsty. It is the key to agricultural development. Climate change is another concern of mine. The National Institute of Hydrology is studying glaciers in Gangotri and Zanzar. In July we shall have the first report.

Then there is the issue of water pricing. I instituted a committee that gave a good report. We plan to go ahead with it. We shall ensure proper pricing concessions go to civil society but industry must pay. It should share its profits. As for flood management, I believe we shouldn’t wait for the monsoons. The monsoons come and troubles follows. At that stage, my ministry cannot do anything. I believe that between monsoons we must build embankments.

Lastly, we must look at dams. I think that the era of big dams is over. We should have small dams and try and do something on rain water harvesting and recharging ground water. We have circulated a model Water Bill which has been accepted by many states except Punjab, where there is lots of politics and they don’t accept that their water table has decreased substantially.

•RAVISH TIWARI: Are you dissatisfied with the budgetary allocation for water?

I am very grateful to the PM, who has a keen interest in water. The 10th Plan funding was Rs 100,150 crore. In the 11th Plan it is Rs 2,33000 crore. But I want more support — irrigation should be accepted as the key to agriculture development, as a key to India’s food needs. In the 6th Plan 12.5 per cent of the budget went to irrigation. During that period, your GDP grew by 5.3 per cent and agriculture growth was at 5.9 per cent. Today GDP is at 9 per cent and agriculture growth rate is a little less than 2 per cent. We need agriculture to grow at a much better rate — maybe 6 per cent — because we can no longer imagine that others will produce our food for us. By 2040 you will require more than 400 million tonnes of food for a population of 1.60 billion people. India’s food security rests purely on agriculture development and that rests squarely on irrigation.

•D.K. SINGH: The J& K chief minister has spoken of a bullet for bullet policy in dealing with militancy. Do you agree?

I am not in disagreement with Ghulam Nabi Azad sahib. But my perception is slightly different. Certainly when dealing with people who have a gun and challenge the Indian state, the army and paramilitary forces cannot sit idle — they have to fire back But if you ask me, what will you do with people who used the gun, but now want to lay down that gun? I say, accept them if there is a change in their hearts and minds because they have found that the path of violence is no good. Today, in Kashmir, there is a change. Violence has no place in Kashmir. You cannot find a Kashmiri who will say, ‘Accha kiya tha gun uthaya tha (good that we took up arms).’ They will tell you we hate the gun and we want to cooperate with the law-enforcing machinery. There is a culture now, for a decisive dialogue and an honourable life through that dialogue. Violence as an instrument to settle political disputes has been rejected by society.

•SEEMA CHISHTI: Is this the Congress policy?

If you accept the Constitution of India, and want to talk to PM, I say go ahead. India is a democracy —we must be ready for discussion. We have no problem talking to anybody provided he does not say the gun is the solution to the problem.

•D.K. SINGH: Is it your party’s policy that there can be no talks with people who are here to kill and are trained across the border?

Let me answer that this way: there are boys who are sons of terrorists. We have given them scholarships. Even those people who have suffered terrorism say this is a good step. Their parents might have gone wrong, but you cannot take it out on the children. So the Government of India has taken a wonderful step. However, if they have the gun, certainly it is tit for tat in that situation. So many militants have now become politicians. Many of them who had gone to Pakistan for training came back and settled here.

Ads By Google