Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
8.5 lakh shallow tubewells to irrigate 55 lakh acres of Barani l<strong>and</strong>. Ano<strong>the</strong>r unfortunate<br />
fact is that tubewell irrigation is about 5 to 15 times more expensive than canal irrigation.<br />
Besides, <strong>the</strong> maintaining cost is extremely heavy, since each year <strong>the</strong> pumping sets have<br />
to be lowered because of <strong>the</strong> receding water table.<br />
On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r h<strong>and</strong>, <strong>the</strong> final allottment <strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> Eradi Tribunal is :<br />
Punjab<br />
: 5 MAF.<br />
Haryana<br />
: 3.83 MAF.<br />
Rajasthan<br />
: 8.6 MAF.<br />
Jammu & Kashmir<br />
: 0.65 MAF<br />
Delhi<br />
: 0.2 MAF<br />
The broad ratio of allotment is <strong>the</strong> same as that in <strong>the</strong> Indira G<strong>and</strong>hi award of<br />
1976. Among allottees except Punjab, <strong>and</strong> Jammu <strong>and</strong> Kashmir, <strong>the</strong> remaining areas are<br />
non-riparian.<br />
In addition, Haryana st<strong>and</strong>s allotted 5.6 MAF of entire Jamuna waters of old<br />
Punjab on grounds of its being in <strong>the</strong> Ganga-Jamuna basis, a principle <strong>the</strong> application of<br />
which has been consistently denied to Punjab despite persistent requests of <strong>the</strong> State that<br />
<strong>the</strong> issue should be adjudicated upon <strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> Constitutional Bench of <strong>the</strong> Supreme Court<br />
of India.<br />
(iii) Supreme Court V/s Tribunal : As stated already, Punjab's dem<strong>and</strong> has<br />
always been to refer <strong>the</strong> constitutional issue to <strong>the</strong> Supreme Court, <strong>and</strong> not to a Tribunal.<br />
For, <strong>the</strong> real issue was <strong>the</strong> constitutionality of <strong>the</strong> Punjab Reorganisation Act, which<br />
matter Supreme Court alone could adjudicate upon, <strong>and</strong> which <strong>the</strong> Tribunal could not<br />
decide, because its jurisdiction related only to cases of inter-state rivers, which Punjab<br />
rivers are not. Thus, a Tribunal was not competent to pronounce a judgement about <strong>the</strong><br />
vires of <strong>the</strong> Punjab Reorganisation Act or about <strong>the</strong> waters of a state river. But <strong>the</strong> Centre<br />
consistently sidetracked this constitutional dem<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> ultimately after <strong>the</strong> Bluestar <strong>and</strong><br />
Woodrose attacks, succeeded in entering into <strong>the</strong> Rajiv-Longowal Accord involving<br />
reference of <strong>the</strong> water issue to a Tribunal <strong>and</strong> not to <strong>the</strong> Supreme Court. The irony of <strong>the</strong><br />
fact is that <strong>the</strong> Dharam Yudh Morcha which was started with <strong>the</strong> prime objective that <strong>the</strong><br />
SYL Canal, a post-reorganisation scheme, should not be constructed, ended with <strong>the</strong><br />
Accord under which <strong>the</strong> Centre was able to secure both its aims, first of having <strong>the</strong><br />
acceptance of <strong>the</strong> SYL Canal <strong>and</strong> that it would be completed within ten months of <strong>the</strong><br />
accord, <strong>and</strong>, second, of <strong>the</strong> water issue not being referred to <strong>the</strong> Supreme Court, <strong>and</strong><br />
instead, being placed before a Government Tribunal, even though <strong>the</strong> Punjab rivers were<br />
not inter state, <strong>and</strong> Section 2 of <strong>the</strong> Inter-state Water Dispute Act gave jurisdiction to <strong>the</strong><br />
tribunal only regarding inter-state rivers. But <strong>Madan</strong> who is anxious to call <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong>s<br />
Fundamentalists for making <strong>the</strong> dem<strong>and</strong>s, remains completely silent about <strong>the</strong>se<br />
significant matters, dem<strong>and</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> issues involved in <strong>the</strong> so-called Rajiv-Longowal<br />
Accord, which evidently was a complete victory for <strong>the</strong> Centre, <strong>and</strong> a surrender for <strong>the</strong><br />
Akalis.<br />
(iv) Dismal Future of Tubewell Irrigation: According to Government estimates,<br />
each shallow tubewell irrigates, on an average, about 8 acres of l<strong>and</strong>. As those tubewells<br />
also supplement canals for assured irrigation, <strong>and</strong> assuming that <strong>the</strong>y give only 4 acre feet<br />
of water for <strong>the</strong> paddy wheat rotation, <strong>the</strong> total draw of water <strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> 8.5 lakh tubewells<br />
comes to over 27 MAF per annum. According to <strong>the</strong> Punjab Government White Paper,<br />
<strong>the</strong> available ground water each year is only 3 MAF. This means that <strong>the</strong> annual