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FLIPSIDE
Comic Relief By Dilip
Bobb
 The
issue uppermost on everyone's mind is how to get relief to the
drought-affected areas. So, the man with the uppermost job in the country,
the prime minister, has realised the value of the old South Block maxim:
when in drought, convene a meeting. By doing so, he has come across
another one: you can take a horse to the water but you can't make it
drink. Here's how the Centre handles a crisis.
PM: We must get to the bottom of
this. Why has the Government been caught with its pants down and no water
in sight? This does not bode well. We need to tap all available resources.
I'd like to know which ministry is responsible for this paucity of action?
Ministry of Water Resources: Sir, officially, we are the ministry in
charge of water resources. However, our brief has been to look at the
macro-level picture. It's much more interesting. We never get down to the
village level. In fact, most have no levels at all so the need was not
felt. However, we had noted in our memorandum no. 1798, file no. 9990,
page no. 2645, that the prime focus of our ministry has been on
international water issues, Niagara Falls, etc. Which is why most of us
have been busy attending conferences abroad.
PM: This is ridiculous, that our people have no water to drink and we
are concerned with international issues. Who decides such priorities?
Ministry of Water Resources: It is all there in memo no. 6787, file
no. ...
PM: Never mind. What was the Ministry of Rural Development doing?
Ministry of Rural Development: Our ministry has been working hand in
pump with the Ministry of Water Resources to collect information on water
supply. We have been doing this for the past 49 years and have reached
file no. 9890. However, as we noted in our memo no. 420 dated 1/4/1958,
the primary responsibility of ensuring the sustainability of water
resources available in the country and coordinating with various
departments/agencies to achieve this rests with the Ministry of Water
Resources. However, being one of the users of water resources, we can look
at the possibility of setting up a separate department of water supply to
supplement the efforts of the nodal ministry ...
PM: That was 1958. What action was taken?
Ministry of Rural Development: We are still waiting for the proposal
to be cleared.
PM: What about the other ministries?
Ministry of Agriculture: Our job is to look at soil and water
conservation under the Ministry of Water Resources. We also handle
watershed development under the Rural Development Ministry. We had
proposed that we be given independent charge, but that is still awaiting
approval.
Ministry of Irrigation: We were looking at water conservation as well,
but our efforts are in coordination with the Ministry of Environment. They
keep raising objections to our proposals. We had proposed separating the
two vide file no. ...
PM: I don't believe this. Where were all these proposals sent?
All: The PMO. |
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