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• The Saga of Plachimada - Dr. P. R. Sreemahadevan
Pillai
Transnational corporate intervention with its neo-liberal market driven
economic paradigm of social Darwinism has acquired tremendous resource
power. And therefore, it commands considerable political muscle power
as well. Their predatory method of profit accumulation and political
hegemony is detrimental to the interest of the southern countries and
the Nation State is no longer treated as a major actor in pursuing socio-economic
goals and development with justice and equity for all.
One of the emerging crises in India is the right to survival pf a large
number of rural poor who derive their livelihood from natural resources-
land, water and biodiversity. These natural resources have now become
a site of contestation and a major conflict is emerging between the MNCs
and community control over natural resources.
The Plachimada struggle has become a symbol of people's resistance against
the predatory behaviour of these transnational corporations. The dimensions
of the struggle are economic, ecological and social. The struggle aims
to protect livelihoods, and reject the commodification of water whilst
safeguarding the common heritage and natural resources, against the onslaught
of economic globalism. These struggles by and large, are guided by a
common ideological commitment that natural resources like water belong
to the earth and all species for all time and must therefore continue
to remain the common property heritage.
• Privatization of Water Supply - A Study on the
process of privatization of water supply in K (East) Ward, Mumbai - Arun
Kumar Singh
Privatization of water supply is high on the political agenda after
the developing countries accepted the GATS, which is one of the corner
stones of the WTO regime. Water as a global commodity, aimed at establishing
control over natural resources for profit, posits a major paradigm shift
in the use and access to these life resources transforming it into an
object of trade and commodities with a price determined by the logic
of market competition and profit.
The World Bank has come out with a National Water Policy in order to
operationalise private sector participation and the implementation of
this policy in India . The underlying policy assumption is that private
sector participation will bring in the much needed financial resources,
managerial skills and technology to the water service sector.
The World Bank has approved a $325 million loan to Maharashtra for initiating
wide ranging water sector reforms in the state. The BMC is in the process
of handing over the water distribution to MNCs. Several of them from
France , Netherlands , Germany , UK etc have filed for tenders. The World
Bank sponsored water privatization project is underway in K-East Ward
on an experimental basis. The pilot project includes undertaking feasibility
study to determine if the project will succeed in the city.
• King Customer? The World Bank's "new" Water Policy
and its Implementation in India and Sri Lanka - Ann Kathrin Schneider & Uwe
Hoering
This monograph, 'King Customer', by Ann Kathrin Schneider and Uwe Hoering
critically examines the implications of the World Bank's "New" Water
Policy in India and Sri Lanka . The Bank's Country Action Strategy paper
sets the course towards a fundamental "shift" in the National Policy
in the water sector. The basic elements in this policy shift are from
supply-driven to a demand-responsive approach, from centralized to a
decentralized service delivery, commercialization and cost recovery,
competition through privatization.
These structural changes fundamentally alter the role of the Government
from that of a service provider to that of a facilitator. In a demand
responsive system, those who lack socio-economic and political power
will be excluded and marginalized. Their needs and demands are not economically
relevant in a neo-liberal market driven economic paradigm of Social Darwinism
where money and profit determine access to life resources.
• Privatization of Rivers in India - Arun Kumar Singh
The water sector, driven by the logic of neo-liberal paradigm, is increasingly
under the domain of the market forces. The World Water Council- made
up of the World Bank, the water TNCs and development agencies of the
North- through its Water Vision Statement posits a paradigm shift from
water as a "common good" to a "tradable" commodity. As a natural corollary
to this, the water TNCs directly or indirectly, are plotting to control
the world's dwindling water and natural resources by reshaping national
policies, reframing national laws and changing institutional structures
in Third World countries, to ensure their monopoly over the water market.
Its use, supply and distribution is determined by the market principle
of profit perpetuate, without question, the inequality in the access
to water. This inequality, inherent in logic of the water market, is
a curtailment of human rights of a large majority of the people in the
world. This approach is in line with the "Second Generation" economic
reforms characterized by a shift from trade in goods, to trade in services
in compliance with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
within the WTO regime.
Privatization as a solution to the water crisis proposes a model of
water management structure that relinquishes all control over water resources
to the domain of the market forces and thus marginalizes the role of
the state and the rights of communities. The institutionalization of
this type of model will inevitably lead to the cartelization of India
's fresh water resources, ecological devastation and social conflicts.
• Quit Plachimada Quit India - The Story of Anti-
Coca Cola Struggle at Plachimada in Kerala
The booklet outlines a detailed description of the Anti Coca Cola Struggle
at Plachimada in Kerala. It describes the locality and the socio-economic
scenario of the area, the role of the State and Central government in
the happenings and the ultimate consequences of the activities of the
MNC. The booklet also gives a detailed outline of the Plachimada Struggle
and the issues the campaign has taken up.
• Water for All- People's Rights to Water (Document
and People's Charter)
The document outlines the Charter on People's Right to Water and a document
statement on the issues revolving around water and privatization of the
natural resource.
Facts Against Myths
- Myths on Environment
- Myths on Global Warming
- Myths on Drought
- Myths on Water Scarcity -I
- Myths on Water Scarcity - II
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