Swabhimaan Sanghatana

Activists from the Swabhimaan Sanghatana, led by Nitesh Rane ransacked Andheri (K-East) ward office and blackened the face of an assistant engineer of the water works department. How sad? Who is blackening the faces of ministers who are responsible for inadequate food and water supply? These politically motivated traits will enhance false publicity to so called NGO group and Newly elected minister but cannot resolve the water crisis in the city. by putting ink on official’s face can lead to arrest but will not enhance supply of water. This is the second incident involving Swabhimaan Sanghatana. Two weeks ago, some activists attempted to forcibly enter the municipal corporation's headquarters and police had to use lathicharge. One activist died of heart attack in the incident. In the aftermath of scanty rainfall, Mumbai’s citizens have been warned that only 200 days of water supply is there at present in the major reservoirs, which means grim days ahead. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has introduced a 15 per cent cut in supply, which is expected to be increased to 30 per cent. There is also talk of no supply once a week, but a decision on that will be after consultation with political parties. The metropolis is presently getting a daily supply of 2,320 million litres, against the 3,450 million litres supplied by BMC during normal times. The demand for water from the 12.5 million population is actually estimated at 4,550 million litres a day. As on December 15, the reservoirs had only 71 billion litres, against 1000 billion litres available during the same date last year. Ironically, as much as 560 million litres is estimated to be lost daily due to leakage and stealing.
The state government has already announced that no water connection would be provided to highrise buildings in Greater Mumbai till 2012, when three new water reservoirs would be completed. This has evoked angry reactions from the realty sector, as nearly 1,400 projects cleared by BMC, with total investment of over Rs 25,000 crore, would be in jeopardy. The construction of three water projects, Madhya Vaitarana (455 million litres), Gargai (455 million) and Pinjal (865 million) is underway.
The Congress-NCP government has taken a decision to regularise slums which had come up by the year 2000 in Greater Mumbai, but the BMC is in no hurry to plan for water supply to these shanties. It says it has also stepped up action on water theft; insiders say a fifth of supply is lost due to leakage and pilferage. It also plans to gear up on metering of supply.The state government is contemplating a separate legislation to allow punitive action against misuse of water and causing pollution, by making it a cognisable offence. A fine of Rs 25,000 and six months in jail is being envisaged. The government admits the water shortage is not restricted to Mumbai and other big cities, but is also being faced by smaller towns and villages. It plans to set up state and district-level authorities for underground water. And, says it plans to emphasise conservation of water sources and use of water through participative management.

Prior permission of a civic or local body would be necessary in future to dig a well, especially in a water-deficit situation. Besides, drinking water would get priority over industrial use in such circumstances.So far, the government has got 18 proposals on supply through desalination of water. However, the costs are high. According to the government calculations, BMC needs to pay Rs 35-40 for every 1,000 kl of saline water conversion into potable water. The government and BMC agree that such a project is a necessity to reduce pressure on existing water supply sources, but are still unclear on how to meet such costs.
BMC currently does have one desalination project plan, a pilot one, for residents of Navy Nagar, which houses personnel and kin from the navy in South Mumbai. The cost projected for supplying a million litres is Rs 125 crore. As for rainwater harvesting, it has yet to gather momentum anywhere. It is yet to take off in the true sense, as there is no mindset. The public has a tendency to rely on the government or on BMC. They are not inclined to take the initiative for such projects. People, at large, are apprehensive about the expenditure, which is around Rs 1-5 lakh for a well-planned water harvesting project. On top of it, the administration lacks the necessary drive to promote it. Though it has been made mandatory for new buildings in Mumbai, there is no monitoring agency to track its implementation. Poor is suffering without food and water none his basic needs are fulfilled. India’s wide experience with monsoon failure yields a formulaic response: draw down grain stocks to feed the poor, sell some of it in the open market to keep a lid on food prices, lower taxes on food imports and stop exports. Looks good on paper. Here’s how it plays out on the ground.
India’s wheat futures were higher on Friday afternoon tracking the government’s concern on rising food prices, analysts said. The wheat January futures contract NWTF0 was up 0.97 per cent at Rs 1,356 per 100 kg. “Arrivals in the mandi are less than last year... prices are not coming down below the Rs 1,380 levels. The Food Corporation of India has earmarked 500,000 tonnes of wheat for sale to bulk consumers such as flour mills between October and December, but the mills have not been lifting stocks saying the Rs 1,400-1,450 per 100 kg price was too high.
India has raised its summer-sown rice output estimates by 2.2 million tonnes, the government said, reducing prospects of imports after the worst monsoon in 37 years damaged paddy fields. To shore up stocks at government warehouses, three state-run trading firms in October floated import tenders totalling 30,000 tonnes, but did not place an order due to high bids.
The Indian spot sugar price climbed for a third consecutive, bolstered by a drop in output, improvement in demand and as a shortage of rail wagons delayed arrivals of imported sugar in the market, dealers said. In Kolhapur, a key market in top sugar producer Maharashtra, the price of the most traded S-variety sugar rose 2.12 per cent to Rs 3,300 rupees per 100 kg. India’s sugar output fell 9.6 per cent to 1.70 million tonnes in the first two months of the season that began in October due to delayed cane crushing. Imported sugar has piled up at ports, particularly in Kandla in western India, because of a shortage of railway wagons and protests against raw sugar imports by farmers in the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
To talk about Vegetables, India’s potato output is likely to rise by 5.1 per cent to a record 32.7 million tonnes in 2009-10 as higher prices prompted farmers to cultivate the tuber crop on more area, Because of scanty rains in some areas farmers have not cultivated paddy. Average wholesale potato price in Agra, a major spot market in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, was Rs 750 per 100 kg on Friday [December 18], after hitting a high of Rs 1,450 in late October. In December 2008 the price was hovering at around Rs 160. India’s onion output is likely to remain almost steady in 2009-10 at 7.70 million tonnes, compared with 7.64 million tonnes a year ago. Average wholesale price of onion in the country’s largest onion trading hub, Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, was Rs 1,400 per 100 kg on Friday, after hitting a year high of Rs 1,927 on November 17, NHRDF data showed. India’s onion exports in first eight months stood at 1.328 million tonnes, up 17 per cent compared to 1.132 million tonnes during the same period a year ago. “In the last two months the government has raised the minimum export price. It will discourage exports and will help in augmenting domestic supply. Even garlic, A good, garlicky wind is blowing across the Himalayas. A Chinese rally in garlic, which made it this year's best performing asset there, has quadrupled Indian prices and fueled an unprecedented eight-fold jump in exports. At the spot market garlic price has surged 375 per cent to Rs 4,750 per 100 kg since March. This is an account of our attempts to treat the symptoms of a drought. Our heroic efforts at treating the disease are the subject of another article