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Harnath Jagawat,
Director, N. M. Sadguru Foundation |
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Harnath Jagawat is the Grand Old Man of water management in Gujarat. Director, N. M. Sadguru Foundation, he has brought about a silent revolution in Dahod region, transforming the lives of hundreds of tribals. His mantra is simple. Water holds the key to all development.
Not surprisingly, he supports big dams including the Sardar Sarovar project. Micro projects, he says, can be useful only for smaller causes but we need big projects for greater purposes. The challenges of the 21st century cannot be tackled by old methods. You must resort to technology. I am a pro-technology man, he proclaims. He shares his perspective below.
Let me begin with the mode of your operations. You have employed lift irrigation to ensure water availability in your project areas. However, experts find it costlier than irrigation through gravitation.
It's a wrong belief. Instead, lift irrigation can be cheaper than flow irrigation. In fact, it's area specific. In a hilly area like ours, gravity irrigation does not work as you have to pass through so many up and down areas. Gravity irrigation in such areas would be costlier. People do not invest time in research and so, propose false claims. They ignore that government provides huge subsidy for projects involving gravity irrigation, therefore it becomes relatively cheaper.
What do you think of the Sardar Sarovar Project?
It's a much-needed project in Western India, where droughts are common and drinking water is scarce. It's been unduly delayed, increasing the costs manifold.
But aren't you ignoring huge ecological destruction and the rehabilitation issue? Can water actually reach Kutch, the worst drought-affected area? It is feared that most water would be captured by powerful Patil lobby.
Well, water has already reached Kutch. People are receiving water and they are quite satisfied with it. As for environmental damage, we must notice the actual destruction. Submerged land due the dam was largely uncultivated land.
A good project brings irrigation facilities to a larger geographical area than it submerges. With irrigation, forest cover increases. Cropping enhances. Land becomes fertile. Actually, it’s a good project which enhances the environment instead of damaging it.
Rehabilitation is definitely a serious problem. However, if you study Sardar Sarovar statistics, the package given to its displaced persons is the best ever given anywhere for dam displaced people. If a displaced person has a son of say fifteen years, even he is given compensation with his father.
But, there is corruption involved in big projects.
Well, if big weapons are not managed well by government or administration, it is not the fault of the weapon. It's the fault of those who use weapons. Government has mishandled various things including railways and defence but does that mean we should not have these. Why should we have bias against big projects?
Big dams are necessary because they store huge water. Western India gets scanty rainfall. We need both big and small dams, according to the topography to store water.
In our area for instance, famine may occur for consecutive years with long spell of scanty rainfall. Check dams do not hold more water and are therefore ineffective in our area.
Similarly, choice of dam also depends upon the nature of river. For a small stream, you can only have check dams. However, to utilize the potential of a big river like Narmada, you need big dams.
But, there is so much opposition to big dams in general and Narmada dam in particular.
Most of our activists and environmentalists look at only one dimension of the issue and once they propose a view, they stick to it forever. It's easy popularity without accountability.
I favour big dams, though I would say reduce the height as far as possible. You need height only when you want to take water for relatively longer area. 12000 villages of Gujarat face drinking water problem. If Sardar Sarovar project provides water to even 7000-8000 villages, its cost is well served.
How important is water conservation program for tribals?
It is paradoxical that tribal people are very poor despite the fact that they reside in some of the most resource rich areas of the country. However, they are neglected in the absence of development oriented program. Tribals of Rajasthan and Gujarat form a peculiar case because they have little water.
Once you bring them water, entire economic cycle begins. India's honeymoon with Green Revolution is over. Now we face agrarian deficit. Challenge is to fill this deficit and restore food security of the country. Out of 200 poorest of poor districts, around 150 are tribal dominated. Billions of hectares are lying idle in these districts. With enhanced irrigation, they can produce more than five times of their current agricultural output.
Second Green Revolution shouldn’t come from Haryana or Punjab but from these districts.
Seems watershed development is the only solution.
You are right. It encompasses everything. Water conservation is part of watershed. Once you allow water to remain on the ground, water table increases, cropping improves. However, our watershed program has not clicked as should it have. Planners were honest but implementers were not careful.
Is implementation the only issue? We have had other nagging areas as well.
True. Earlier it was implementation but later policy issues also emerged. Take Panchayati Raj Institutions, though a good development model, but these are not equipped for technically oriented programs. Asking PRIs to implementing watershed programs is like giving someone a car without a driver, who does not know driving either.
These programs are to be designed by engineers and must be implemented under their supervision.
What is the status of irrigation in less developed regions of the country?
Besides areas of Rajasthan, which are really drought prone and hence have little water, many poor districts of the country have irrigated land of just 20-30%. In some instances it is even less than 10%.
10% irrigated land of total cropped area?
You are right. 10% of total cropped area. These areas need harvesting structures and water supply through lifting.
In various metro cities, migrant population from backward districts work as labours. If tribal districts develop fully, local population wouldn't migrate to metro cities. Gujarat gets labour from my district. Maharashtra gets labour from Bihar.
A huge amount of money is going through NREGA. But, that is not invested for work related to development. The focus is on make shift projects.
What is the solution for these districts? How to ensure irrigation?
Fifty percent area of each tribal district can be easily brought under irrigation. In most of the tribal districts at least 25% of the land is forest land. India is the only country, where forest does not mean trees. Forest means possession by forest department, whether there is trees or not and half the time, there is little tree cover.
Sadguru villages are the only villages in our area to possess good forest cover. Villagers own hundreds of trees, which is not only ecologically healthy but also holds economic benefit. Villagers sell the produce in market and earn money.
We have ensured maximum utilization of water. Around 20000 households in my area are engaged in horticulture. Half an acre of horticulture land or one fourth acre land of floriculture is enough for a family's economic needs.
What are the water challenges of India?
There are multiple challenges. Proper management of water resources is foremost. Take any part of the country; irrigation is around 30-40%. You can easily reach the 60% and double the area.
Second, we need to utilize rainwater and impound as much as possible. Lots of water gets drained away. Build capacity of people helping them to manage their resources. Along with surface, ground water also needs attention.
We need to divert water from water surplus areas to water deficit ones. There lies utility of big systems. Some form of river linking is necessary. Traditional methods work at micro level for small population. Challenges of 21st century cannot be tackled by old methods. You must resort to technology.
Interview by: Ashutosh Bharadwaj, IndianNGOs.com
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