Opinion Water isnt property
It does not even spare the BJP,saying that one of the factors that has emboldened the government is the absence of strong political opposition.
Water isnt property
The RSSs staunch opposition to the Delhi governments recent plan to go ahead and privatise water supply,as it has done with electricity distribution,has been made clear in the latest edition of the Organiser. It maintains that water is a national resource that cannot be anybodys property,and that the government is duty-bound to ensure clean water reaches every household in the country.
The Organiser editorial attacks the Delhi governments decision to set up a water regulatory commission along the lines of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and,as a test case,privatise water supply to Malviya Nagar,Vasant Vihar and Nangloi. It does not even spare the BJP,saying that one of the factors that has emboldened the government is the absence of strong political opposition. It cites the example of Bolivia,where a private company owned by a London-based MNC took control of water supply in the year 2000. The water bills in Bolivia skyrocketed,it says,and within riots broke out for water rights,compelling the government to end the contract. Sheila Dikshit would do well to remember the story says the Organiser editorial. Water is a precious natural resource on which no company,state or individual can hold rights. By privatising water,the government would be handing over this untenable right to corporate players who work only for profit, it adds.
It claims that the Dikshit government gave the same arguments about plugging leaks and managing wastage,leading to better supply,while privatising electricity. But see the results. Delhiites are being held to ransom by the two major power companies,one controlled by the Tatas and the other by Reliance. The tariff is being held without rhyme or reason and the bills have gone up by four-five times since privatisation, it says.
Support farmers
A special feature in the Organiser focuses on farmers suicides in different parts of the country,attributing their suffering to stagnant minimum support prices and rising fertiliser prices. The decontrol of diesel and kerosene prices has meant that farmers costs have gone up,it says,adding that increased fuel prices ultimately translate into an increase in the price for consumers of agricultural commodities. Higher costs,lower margins and overall inflation results in an obvious fallout: a high rate of farmers suicides, the article argues.
The solution therefore must lie in a new and comprehensive agricultural policy that focuses on improving farm productivity and consequently ensuring that lower input costs and higher returns accrue to the farmer, it says. It further contends that MGNREGA activity should be channelled towards a better irrigation system.
Weak on terrorists
The Panchajanya editorial,meanwhile,attacks the UPAs approach to terrorism and terrorists. It says that,beginning with the controversy over the mercy petition for 1993 Delhi blasts guilty Devinder Singh Bhullar,politics has succeeded in weakening the fight against terrorism. By invoking human rights in the case of Bhullar and Afzal Guru,who have been responsible for terrorist attacks on the countrys symbols of freedom and democracy,as well as in the case of the killers of Rajiv Gandhi,it says that that a clear message has been sent to terrorists and extremists that they can persist with their activities without the fear of being hanged to death.
The editorial says that Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh are,unfortunately,engaged in a campaign to prove that it is not jihadi terrorism but saffron terrorism that is responsible for the unrest in the country. It says that even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,in his quest to befriend Pakistan,has declared the Pakistani prime minister a man of peace,disregarding the fact that it was Pakistan that not only gave birth to jihadi terrorism,but actively aided and nurtured it on its soil.
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