Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan

overdraw is 24 MAF of ground water. Another system of calculation, accepted by the
World Bank, relates to the year 1986-87. According to it, the water actually consumed by
the crops matured in that year, came to 37.7 MAF. Excluding the allottment of 15 MAF
of canal water and 3 MAF of subsoil water, the yearly overdraw of ground water comes
to 19.7 MAF, involving a rapid fall of the water table from 30 to 90 feet during the
preceding decades. In many community Blocks the water table has already reached the
danger line. Accordingly, the Government has declared majority of the Community
Blocks in the State to be incapable of tubewell irrigation. Out of the total 118 Blocks in
the State, only 12 are grey, which means that tubewell irrigation is possible only in them.
The expert warning is that within the current decade most of the existing tubewells will
become non-functional, rendering about 40 lakh acres of present tubewell-irrigated areas
barren. An expert concludes, "How long can this state of affairs last ? We must take steps
to correct the situation, lest our grand children inherit a land returned to semi-desert
condition." Similarly, Dr. W.C. Lowdermilk, in his report to the Economic and Social
Development Council of the United Nations, writes, "The present water supplies, both in
developed as well as undeveloped areas, are either already insufficient, or will prove to
be so, in the foreseeable future, which will mean a severe setback to economic
development. The rate of increase in water requirement is greater than increase in
population.""
Further, it has been calculated that as soon as the order of the Tribunal is
implemented, the existing canal irrigated area will also fall by about 10 lakh acres.
In short, seen in the light of the Machiavelli's dictum of despoliation, the
position of the Punjab under present Central decisions becomes quite obvious. The
migrants left about 22 lakh acres of perennially irrigated lands in Pakistan, and got only 4
lakh acres of such area in India, with the rest of allottments being of unirrigated lands.
The Government, instead of allowing the available 22 MAF of water for canal irrigation
on Punjab lands, has diverted, in violation of the Constitution and expert advice, about
75% of it to non-riparian states, leaving Punjab peasants perforce to resort to extremely
expensive tubewell irrigation. And, as the reality of the ground water position is, over 40
lakh acres of that land would again become unirrigated within this decade, becuase of the
inevitable fall of the ground water table. Further, whereas Punjab will continue to suffer
from year to year a flood loss of life and property worth thousands of crores, the principal
beneficiaries of the Punjab river waters and hydel power would be the non-riparian states
to the tune of billions of Dollars each year.
Unfortunately, Madan remains quite unconcerned about these relevant and
crucial facts of the Punjab Problem. The reader can make his own guess as to why he has
been silent about them.
(C) The Agitational Aspect of the Punjab Problem :
We have stated that the talk about religious fundamentalism, or law and order,
has been irrelevant, and a camouflage to sidetrack the reality of the socio-economic
issues for justice in regard to which the Sikhs had been vocal. For, keeping in view the
assurance given before 1947, they found a complete reversal in the Congress stand after
Independence, as evidenced by (1) the denial of a' federal constitution, as unanimously
demanded by the Punjab legislators in 1949, and (2) creation in 1966 of a dwarfed
substate, which was deprived of even the power of using and developing its own natural