Water conservationist Rajendra Singh has criticised the Draft River Basin Management Bill, 2018, and said it aims to reduce river water to a commodity that can be traded. He added that the Bill would also take away the rights of States and communities over rivers.
“The newly-formed Jal Shakti Ministry has prepared the Draft River Basin Management Bill, 2018. It is anti-people as it would take away the rights of States and farmers to manage their own waterbodies and would reduce rivers to commodities that can be sold and bought,” he said at a farmers’ meeting here on Sunday.
He was speaking after inaugurating the 39th Farmers Martyrs’ Day programme and farmers’ convention, organised by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene in association with the Bara Mukta Karnataka Andolana, and the Swaraj India Party at Gandhi Bhavan.
Mr. Rajendra Singh said that the States, communities, and farmers had rights to use the river water wisely.
“But the Union government, instead of strengthening such rights of riparian communities, farmers and local governments, aims to centralise powers. The Bill will completely take away these rights. Human beings, cattle, plants, and other animals have a right over water,” he said.
He asked farmers to create awareness about the Bill and asked farmers’ associations to be challenge such legislations in Court.
“Karnataka should pass a Karnataka Water Security Act to regulate the water of the rivers here and enable farmers to use them wisely,” he advised.
“As many as 17 States are suffering from drought and large sections of the population is plagued by drinking water scarcity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks of bringing tap water to every household. This is an impossible dream. Where is so much water? This is nothing but a plan to let pipe manufacturing companies make profits,” he claimed.
He also spoke against river linking saying it could have disastrous environmental consequences.
“Even cloud-seeding experiments tried by some States are unscientific,” he said.
Mr. Rajendra Singh, called the ‘Water Man of India’, urged farmers to take up rain-water harvesting in their houses and fields.
He gave examples of how communities in Rajastan and Madhya Pradesh had rejuvenated rivers using native wisdom.
High Court of Karnataka advocate Ravivarma Kumar released a copy of the United Nation’s Declaration on the Right of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. He said these guidelines laid down directives to governments to protect the rights of farmers.
“They include land and water rights to all farmers to help them lead respectable lives. Farmers should not be evacuated from their lands or homes,” he said.
Mr. Ravivarma Kumar asked farmers’ associations to seek inclusion of such rights in the Constitution.
S.R. Hiremath of the Samaj Parivartana Samudaya spoke against the practice of transferring farm land and forest land to private companies for industrial and other uses. He sought a national land policy to protect farm and forest lands.
He also demanded the strengthening of the cooperative sector by enabling farmers to regulate prices of inputs and farm produce.
“Minimum support price mechanism is only a short term solution,” he said.
Earlier, farmers took out a procession from Rani Chennamma Circle to Gandhi Bhavan.
