Hello SK,
I have been hoping to graduate to Riverlinking and Assam -2, but
unfortunately we are playing flunkies and still stuck on 1 :-).
>The National Water Grid has to be an integrated project. One of the
>30 links is the Sharada-Yamuna link. As you know Sharada river which
>emanates from Manasarovar glacier can generate 25,000 MW of
>hydropower (yes, 25% of the total electricity produced in the
>country!). Good news. Projects have started in collaboration with
>Nepal to start hydroprojects for 18,000 MW in the segments of this
>great river called Mahakali-Karnali in Nepal. These waters will
>ensure the rebirth of River Sarasvati which can be made to flow upto
>River Sabarmati. This will benefit 20 crore people in Punjab,
>Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
*** I am unable to comment on this either way, because I am totally
ignorant of the issues involved. The only thing I have heard of about
Saraswati, the river, is that it runs underground or something to that
effect. Is it true?
>Come on, Chan Mahanta. We are living in a system of governance which
>is a legacy of the British colonial regime. Engineers are made to
>work under politicized bureaucrats. They are not given a free hand
>to formulate economic policies. I would trust a Bharatiya engineer
>any day to do a good job. If only we can make this a peoples'
>project, controlled by the water user associations and panchayati
>raj institutions with the guidance of engineers, this project will
>shine forth and be a model for Siberia and even Yangtse-Huanghe
>river links to follow.
*** You raise some interesting points here. At the risk of digressing from
the nitty-gritties of river-linking, allow me to examine it here and see if
there is something for us to take note of:
>We are living in a system of governance which
>is a legacy of the British colonial regime. Engineers are made to
>work under politicized bureaucrats.
*** This is a loaded commentary on more than one front.
India has been free of British rule for how many years now, 56?
If the British influences on Indian governance were were found to be
so deleterious or injurious to India's administrative and governmental
health , why has it not been changed?
Or could it be a newly discovered problem, heretofore unknown and
therefore unattended to?
I can imagine that the people who were at the wheel of Indian
governance
in prior regimes might have been blind to the problem. But what is the
excuse of those occupying the gaddi at Hastinapur now? Has any attempt
been made to restore India to its native wisdoms? And how does the
pronouncements of the enlightened leadership of today's India,
continuing to profess fealty to a western style democracy, fit in with
such a discovery as is implicit in the observation ">We are
iving in a system of governance which is a legacy of the British
colonial regime."?
EVEN if India were to be freed of the self-perpetuated legacy of
British
colonialism, is it a GOOD idea to let technocrats, like rocket
scientists, engineers or accountants have a FREE HAND to set or
dictate POLICIES? Is it their role? Are they the fittest for the task?
Are we slouching towards advocating a dictatorship of technocracy - if
not already bowing at its doorsteps?
Forgive me for asking leading quesations. Unfortunately we know the
answers, most of us that is. And the answers are not encouraging.
*** I too trust the abilities of Bharatiya engineers, SOME of them anyway.
Long ago I learned that NOT ALL engineers are made equal, just like OTHER
professionals or technocrats or scientists. Their Bharatiya-ness that you
seem to rely on, isn't exactly a trustworthy equalizer. It is a SIGNIFICANT
difference to note. Because POLITICALLY DRIVEN scientists or technocrats'
judgements could be so impaired that even servile bureacrats; spent of
enterprise,devoid of creativity and driven by an ethos of procedures and
file pushing ( the clerks-from-hell as I call some of them), might be far
less damaging drivers at the wheel of governance, even asleep.
Terrible choices though, aren't they?
>If only we can make this a peoples'
>project, controlled by the water user associations and panchayati
>raj institutions with the guidance of engineers, this project will
>shine forth and be a model for Siberia and even Yangtse-Huanghe
>river links to follow.
*** I am totally with you on the need for the natives to be in on guiding
water policies. But the chasm we need to span here is the gap between the
wishes of our objects of empathy -- the local populations, and the scheme
of river-linking that is being imposed as an imperial edict emanating from
Delhi.
I am also all for Bharat becoming a beacon for the world's thirsty masses.
But I am sure you would agree, charity begins at home.
cm
At 12:19 AM +0000 9/15/03, S.Kalyanaraman wrote:
>--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>> I will also up you one and agree that Rajasthan can seriously use
>a lot> more water.
>>
>> > But what does that have to do with the Manas-Kosi linking
>scheme? Or the> Brahmaputra / Ganga linking?
>
>The National Water Grid has to be an integrated project. One of the
>30 links is the Sharada-Yamuna link. As you know Sharada river which
>emanates from Manasarovar glacier can generate 25,000 MW of
>hydropower (yes, 25% of the total electricity produced in the
>country!). Good news. Projects have started in collaboration with
>Nepal to start hydroprojects for 18,000 MW in the segments of this
>great river called Mahakali-Karnali in Nepal. These waters will
>ensure the rebirth of River Sarasvati which can be made to flow upto
>River Sabarmati. This will benefit 20 crore people in Punjab,
>Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
>
>> But give them a slide-rule and tee-square ( or a calculator
>> and autocad), they would be correct to the seventh decimal
>> place every time
>
>Come on, Chan Mahanta. We are living in a system of governance which
>is a legacy of the British colonial regime. Engineers are made to
>work under politicized bureaucrats. They are not given a free hand
>to formulate economic policies. I would trust a Bharatiya engineer
>any day to do a good job. If only we can make this a peoples'
>project, controlled by the water user associations and panchayati
>raj institutions with the guidance of engineers, this project will
>shine forth and be a model for Siberia and even Yangtse-Huanghe
>river links to follow.
>
>
>
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