Opinion Basin reserves

Before our colonial masters created and closed the Inner Line,the Brahmaputra was a river of communication for the areas within our borders,and with China,Myanmar and the east. It can be the strong arm of our civilisation to the East if we have the vision. How will we convince the contractors and the “immediate growth”-wallahs? Tough,but let’s try. The Brahmaputra is too big not to be seen as a whole river. Did you know that in its upper reaches the deforestation is some of the worst in the world? We can’t measure it,for it is outside India,but we know from satellites over Tibet. All that silt comes down to us — and of course also affects Bangladesh.

So I must talk of the international aspects,or I will lose my readers. Let me take you to the Mekong. They have an agreement on that river,a shaky one,but it is there.

I know because they involved me in it,saying that the Sardar Sarovar delivery planning was the best for Asiatic peasant agriculture — though it is,alas,not implemented now even by Gujarat’s engineers.

So look particularly at one feature of the Mekong agreement: the off-monsoon flow of the river,to the downstream lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia,has to be a minimum. Lakhs of households make a living off that,so the water flow to the lake has to be protected. These are countries,sharing the Mekong basin,that have gone to war with each other in the past and skirmish occasionally even now. China and Vietnam,Thailand and Laos. But they agreed. If you have a vision you can surround the contractors,the generals and the flag wavers.

Once you can come to an agreement with the countries sharing the waters,once that is agreed upon,dams do not need to be quite so large. In fact,the dams will probably be much smaller — as they were in the Mekong after Tonle Sap was agreed upon.

But first,we must develop that vision. We will need Bangladesh with us; and they should bite,since we agreed on the Jamuna. At the rate that country is using its groundwater it will want river water to replenish its underground reservoirs.

There is another rabbit in the hat. The so-called jungle that was submerged by the Sardar Sarovar was largely scrub,having been cleared a long time ago. I have trekked there and knew that it was growing luxuriously only in the imagination of some activists. But the Arunachal jungles are India’s pride and probably priceless. I will watch the man who does a pre-project benefit cost on that with great interest. On a larger plane,our foresters can help a lot in catchment treatment in the river as a whole,when it is taken seriously at the international level.

We are thinking on many issues out of the box,as on climate change,food security and employment. Let’s do so on the Brahmaputra. We have nothing to lose in hemming the short-sighted ones who want to construct in a hurry,both abroad and at home. You would be surprised how quickly global opinion can dam them in an international venture.

The writer,a former Union minister,is chairman,Institute of Rural Management,Anand

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