Two articles — one by P. Sainath and the other in collaboration with The Guardian newspaper — (April 28) make horrendous reading, painting the dangerous picture of what the world, as a whole, and our country, in particular, are set to witness in the coming decades. While Mr. Sainath exposes the dangerous levels of groundwater deterioration, the other one portends rising water prices. The subsidies extended to water are far less compared to those extended to other commodities. This basic necessity of human life needs immediate attention. The future generation will not forgive us for the misdeeds of today.
M.S.R.A. Srihari,
Khammam
It is worrying that the Vidarbha region is slowly becoming a desert, unnoticed by the government. Once a symbol of cotton growers, it is very hard to digest that this region is now known for farm suicides. It would have done wonders had the Prime Minister's July 2006 package been used to good effect. Nobody knows how that package was spent, though. Consistently neglected by the state and central governments, Vidarbha now stands between survival and death. It is disgusting that adequate measures were not taken to conserve the water when it was supplied by nature. All is not last.
If timely action is taken, Vidarbha can still be saved from what could be the most disastrous natural calamity in the years to come.
D. Vasu,
Hyderabad