On the 127th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who will always be-
remembered for the role he played in integrating the princely States in the country with the rest of India after Independence, the Supreme Court asked the Government of India to complete the project for inter-linking of rivers within just 10 years.

When the inter-linking is completed, India will have a national water grid similar to the railway and road networks built and being built in the country, which will ensure relief from the effects of drought in some areas and floods in others, affecting agricultural production and hence income of farmers in the affected areas.

The dramatic order from a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Chief Justice B. N. Kirpal, Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat, has provided a tremendous boost to the concept of inter-basin transfer of river waters from surplus to deficit regions in order to mitigate the hardships caused by floods in certain areas and droughts in others. The interim order of the Supreme Court came in the context of a public interest litigation filed by Ranjit Kumar, amicus curiae, despite the Government hesitation in undertaking this project in view of the huge costs involved and Constitutional hurdles. The Court gave no attention to the aspect of cost, estimated by the Government to be Rs. 560,000 crore at 2002 prices. About the problem with Entry 17 in the State List in the Seventh Schedule in the Constitution placing "water" in the State List, the Supreme Court told Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee to take recourse to Entry 56 in List 1 instead of seeking consensus with the States or signing agreements with them for implementing the inter-linking projects. Here are the two entries in question. Entry 17 of List II: "Water, that is to say, water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, water storage and water power subject to the provisions of Entry 56 of List I".

This entry says: "Regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent to which regulation under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest."

The Supreme Court said that if legislation under Entry 56 of List I was made, there would be no need for consultations with the States for implementing the inter-linking projects. Even while this welcome development was taking place, there were swift political developments, too, demonstrating the willingness of the Government to undertake the inter-linking project on a priority basis. President Abdul Kalam mentioned the inter-linking project in his Address to the Nation on the eve of Independence Day this year. He also watched a presentation made by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), a wing of the Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR), about the inter-linking schemes drawn up by it and surveys conducted in respect of many a proposed link. The Prime Minister watched this presentation on October 2. Later, sometime after Vijayadashami, the top leaders of the BJP including its President, Venkaiah Naidu, watched it. On October 25, at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rally, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that if the rivers had been inter-linked since Independence, problems like the one involving the Cauvery this year would not have arisen. On November 1, the BJP President, Venkaiah Naidu, called on the Prime Minister at his residence, along with three of his general secretaries, and pressed for the implementation of the inter-linking project which would resolve the cyclical problems of drought and floods in several States, affecting the livelihood of millions of farmers and other people. The Supreme Court has also asked the Government to set up a task force before December 16, the next date of hearing of the PIL and it is expected now that the Prime Minister would announce the setting up of the Task Force any day.

One has to wait for a few days till the Government announces the constitution of the task force and how it will go about implementing the project. The Supreme Court order has, fortunately, tied the hands of the Government and it cannot take the time-honoured ploy of bureaucratic procrastination for delaying the launch of the scheme any longer. After all, there is such a thing as contempt of court, about which Karnataka Chief Minister S. M. Krishna must be acutely aware these days. However, even before the project is actually taken up, voices would be raised against it, particularly from some States with surplus water who are unwilling to part with it and from professional environmentalists. An article has already appeared in a prestigious newspaper, raising the issues of environment pollution and rehabilitation of persons likely to be displaced as the canal excavation work is undertaken. The fears expressed in the article are of course genuine, but now the Union and State Governments would have to draw up rehabilitation packages together, along with project planning.

The huge amount of Rs. 560,000 crore cannot obviously be met from the Government’s budgetary resources. However, many of the rural development works could be transferred to canal excavation work and wages can be paid to labour both in cash and food grains, linking total cash outflow to much less than the estimated cost of the project. Bonds will have to be floated for raising funds and external assistance, too, might be sought. The farming community itself will be willing to invest in these bonds as irrigation from the new link canals en-route will be possible now.