The 11th Hour / Manu Bhatnagar

Friends, it is the 11th hour. Water crisis has been under reported so far because of election fever and now world cup fever. As rivers become anaemic and dry we need a quick paradigm shift. At this juncture the following inflexion points need to be kept in mind by changing emphasis from :

• Pollution to flow
• River Management to Basin Management
• From the secondary to the primary as from measuring/tracking rainfall to ensuring rainfall
• Indiscriminate tree planting to strategic reforestation and afforestation as per the earlier distribution of forests
• Avoiding greening of the desert zone out of misplaced good intentions [lowering the desert temperature is bound to weaken the monsoon]
• Retaining soil in the uplands in every watershed so as to store the rainfall bounty