Articles by Suhas Paranjape

Water sharing disputes between states are growing, the latest in the news being the conflict between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh over the Babhli barrage. It puts the spotlight on underlying issues like the lack of an efficient mediating mechanism for conflict resolution both within government and the civil society at all levels. The problem is that of evolving shared modalities of dealing with and sharing water surpluses and shortfalls. This is an aspect that the water disputes tribunals provide no guidelines on because they see water only in terms of legal property to be apportioned. There is also no mechanism to ensure equitable water allocation within a state. In fact, areas within Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are caught in bitter conflicts, much sharper and much larger in scope than Babhli.

The proposal to generate nearly 20,000 megawatts of power by building new power plants on a narrow strip of the Konkan coast is a recipe for an ecological and social disaster. The government should learn from the past experience of such coal-based power plants, reassess the true demands for energy and encourage ecologically sustainable planning, which will also benefit the local people. Such alternatives are already available and have been demonstrated to be workable but is the government listening?

The Sardar Sarovar Project has been the focus of a long drawn-out conflict between the Gujarat government and experts, on the one hand, and anti-big dam activists, on the other. This is a revisiting of the principles behind an alternative that was articulated 10 years ago, but is still relevant today.