Gujarat govt "officially" reduced Narmada irrigation network by 21% in a decade, water diverted to industry: Ex-BJP CM

Suresh Mehta (right) with Hemant Shah

By Our Representative
Has the Gujarat government taken a quiet policy decision to slash down the total area to be brought under cultivation by Narmada canal waters -- around 18 lakh hectares (ha) -- by 20.62%? It would seem so, if the official figures on Narmada canals planned to be built across the state, brought to light on Monday, are any indication.
Quoted by Suresh Mehta, former BJP chief minister of Gujarat, the official figures show that under the original plan, 90,389 km of Narmada canal network was proposed to be constructed to irrigate 18 lakh ha. In 2006, under the then chief minister Narendra Modi, this came down to 85,898 km.
Pointing out that a decade later this further came down to 76,000 km, addressing media in a VVIP government guest house in Ahmedabad, Mehta quoted the Gujarat government's budget document, "Socio-Economic Review 2016-17", released in the state assembly in February, to say that the planned Narmada canal network has been further brought down by about 5,000 km.
Under the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), the document says, the " multipurpose project" with a "discharge capacity of 40,000 cusecs at the point (Narmada dam) and 2,500 cusecs at Gujarat-Rajasthan border" would have a "network of 71,748 km".
Interestingly, while the latest document says that the project "is expected to provide irrigation benefits in over 75 talukas of 17 districts in the state", three-fourths of which is "drought prone", it does not say the actual area to be brought under irrigation once the canal network of 71,748 km is completed. The canal network includes the main canal, the branch canals, and minor and sub-minor canals to take Narmada waters to agricultural fields.
Alleged Mehta, "The Gujarat government has not taken any permission from the Narmada Control Authority, the Central body, which should be approached for any major policy change to be brought about for such successive reduction in the canal network. The figures have been quietly released in the labyrinth of budget documents."

Screenshot of govt document showing

reduced Narmada canal network in 2017

Asked what could be the reason behind such sharp 18,641 km or 21% decline in the canal network attached with the Narmada dam, Mehta said, "I can only surmise, but don't have facts. The Gujarat government appears to be more than keen to divert irrigation waters to industry. There have been reports that it has decommanded thousands of hectares of Narmada command area."
Well-known Gujarati publicist Hemant Shah, who teaches economics in a Gujarat University college, told media that, despite wide claims that 75% of canal network having been completed, official documents show, the actual canal irrigation, as of today, is somewhere around three lakh ha, as against the plan of 18 lakh ha.
"Budget documents and figures provided in the state assembly suggest that the actual canal irrigation was to the tune of 1.92 lakh ha in 2011-12, which remained stagnant at 2.09 lakh ha till 2014-15. In 2017-18 it is 3.30 lakh ha, and would be 3.30 lakh ha in 2018-19! It means that only 18.42% of canal irrigation would be completed in coming two years", he said.
Mehta said, "We are bringing these facts to light ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday bash on September 17 at the Narmada dam. The aim of the celebration is to showcase, ahead of the assembly polls, what great work Gujarat and the Modi government have done to complete the project in order to make political capital out of it, in the same way as it did in 2007 and 2012 assembly elections."
Mehta, 80, who was BJP chief minister in 1995-96, resigned from the party in early December 2007 ahead of the state assembly polls, and joined hands with Modi's main political opponent in the party, Keshubhai Patel, who was Gujarat chief minister in 2005, and then again in 1998-2001.

Comments

It's now official: Developed Gujarat's regular, casual workers earn less than 19 top states

By Rajiv Shah
Though not as low as state chief minister Vijay Rupani claims it to be (0.9%), Gujarat’s unemployment rate, at least as reflected in a recent report released by the Government of India, is 4.8%, lower than the national average, 6%. Yet, ironically, the same report, released soon after the Lok Sabha polls came to an end in May 2019, brings to light an even grimmer reality: Lower wages in "model" and "developed" Gujarat compared to virtually the whole of India, including the so-called Bimaru states.

Amaravati: World Bank refusing to share public grievances on Land Pooling Scheme

By Our Representative
A new report, prepared by the advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), New Delhi, has taken strong exception to the World Bank refusing to share its independent assessment of the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS), floated by the Andhra Pradesh government in order to build the new capital.

Why crib? 4.5% is far better than pre-1980 'Hindu rate of growth': Subramanian replies

By Rajiv Shah
Even as sticking to his original argument that India's gross domestic product (GDP) since 2011-12 has been overestimated by 2.5%, renowned economist Arvind Subramanian has said in a fresh paper that his estimate of post-2011-12 growth rate at around 4.5% is surely not "implausibly low", as some of his critics have been arguing following his controversial June paper.

UP's Sonbhadra killing of 10 tribals highlights 'failure' to implement Forest Rights Act

Counterview Desk
On July 17, as many as 10 people, including three women, were killed and 28 injured when a village head and his supporters opened fire on a group of tribal farmers in Ubha village of Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh. While the firing took place following a clash between over a land ownership dispute, it reportedly highlights failure of officials enforce Forest Rights Acts (FRA) and Survey Settlement in favour of tribals.

Govt of India 'lying': MGNREGA budget reduced by Rs 1,084 crore in 2019-20

Counterview Desk
NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a well-known advocacy group for the rural jobs guarantee scheme, under implementation since 2005, has said that the statement by the Rural Development Minister has a made a mockery of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on the floor of Parliament, revealing the ruling BJP’s “anti-worker and anti-poor bias”.

Govt of India seeks to 'subvert' autonomy of adjudicating authorities: RTI amendment

Counterview Desk
India's independent Right to Information watchdog, The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI), in a statement, has said that the Government of India’s proposed amendments to the RTI Act to empower the Centre to unilaterally decide the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service of Information Commissioners at the Centre and States “seriously undermine” the law.

None of India's ministries, departments have mining children on the radar: MPs told

By Our Representative
A delegation of two civil rights groups, Samata and mines, minerals and People (mm&P), has impressed upon several of India's members of Parliament (MPs) to discuss and raise issues relating to illegal mining, the Samata judgment, children in the mining areas and the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in Parliament, adding, the issue of involvement of gram sabhas in decision making ought to be central for allowing any new projects in forest areas.

Demand to withdraw sedition charge against 30,000 unnamed Adivasis, activists

Counterview Desk
Every 10th Adivasi of Jharkhand’s Pathalgadi area is charged with sedition, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), a network of activists and people’s organisations, which organised a protest in Ranchi in front of the Governor's house, has said. In a statement following the protest on Monday, JMM has called for larger support to stand up against violations of Constitutional rights of Adivasis and use of sedition law as tool for repression.

Introduced in Lok Sabha, amendment proposals a 'blow' to RTI's federal scheme

By Venkatesh Nayak*
In less than two months of returning to power, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA-III) government has revived its 2018 proposal to curtail the autonomy of the Information Commissions established under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). A similar attempt was made exactly one year ago but the Bill to assume power to regulate the tenure, salaries and allowances of Information Commissioners across the country was not tabled in Parliament.

Satellite images may be used to support verdict to 'evict' lakhs of India's forest dwellers

By Our Representative
Ahead of a crucial Supreme Court hearing on July 24, indications have emerged suggesting India's top officialdom is preparing grounds to support the controversial petition by hardcore conservationists, which led the apex court to order on February 13 a time-bound eviction of millions of forest dwellers, whose claims for forest land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) was rejected by authorities across India.

Counterview

Search This Blog