Modi's tap water scheme implemented 'only on paper' in Gujarat's backward tribal district

Is the backward Dang district of Gujarat deprived of Nal Se Jal scheme, a flagship programme of the Union government to provide potable water to all 18 lakh villages, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day in 2019? Under the scheme villagers will themselves decide how much to pay for the water they consume, it seeks to provide a minimum of 55 litres of water per person per day.
Said to have been inspired by Gujarat “model”, where the government claims to be providing potable tap water to 79% of the state’s households via the Water and Sanitation Management Organisation, a letter addressed to Modi by a civil rights leader, Jatin Sheth of the Nagrik Sashaktikaran Manch (NSS), says, the scheme has been implemented in paper in the district.
While taps have been “commissioned”, water supply arrangements are “missing” in as many as 50 villages of Dang, which happens to be predominantly tribal, he says.

Forwarding the list of the 50 villages for Modi’s perusal, Sheth insists, the district collector should be asked to make “water supply arrangements by tankers urgently” in order to “address immediate needs of the families to reduce the severe drudgery of tribal women”, who have to “walk 1-2 kms to fetch water from dug wells.”

Pointing out that even “hand pumps also not working” in Dang villages, Sheth says, while the scheme itself is “very sensible”, as it would help reduce the drudgery of women to fetch drinking water for the family, “It seems from the plight of these villages that the authorities/officers responsible for implementation of the scheme are implementing in on paper only.”
“Here, in most villages, taps have been installed but water supply arrangements have not not been made”, the letter says, pointing out, in the 50 villages Dang, a hilly district, water scarcity is “beyond one’s imagination”, adding, not only tribal women have to walk a distance to get potable water from dug wells and ponds, “The quality of water is absolutely unsafe for drinking.”

Sheth continues, “It is an irony that Dang is known as Cherapunji of Gujarat, where the season’s average annual rainfall is 2,500 mm or even more, and yet people suffer from acute water shortage.” Releasing photographs he has forwarded to Modi, he adds, “The pictures posted here speak very well about the plight of these families, particularly of women and young girls who have to leave their study to bring water for the family.”
Sheth has forwarded a copy of the letter, among others, to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and concerned officials of the Government of India and the state government.

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Search This Blog