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“Rivers should link, not divide us,” said the Indian Prime Minister expressing concern over interstate disputes and urged state governments to show “understanding and consideration, statesmanship and an appreciation of the other point of view.”

Water conflicts in India now reach every level; divide every segment of our society, political parties, states, regions and subregions within states, districts, castes and groups and individual farmers. Water conflicts within and between many developing countries are also taking a serious turn. Fortunately, the “water wars”, forecast by so many, have not yet materialized. War has taken place, but over oil, not water. Water is radically altering and affecting political boundaries all over the world, between as well as within countries. In India, water conflicts are likely to worsen before they begin to be resolved. Till then they pose a significant threat to economic growth, security and health of the ecosystem and the victims are likely to be the poorest of the poor as well as the very sources of water - rivers, wetlands and aquifers. Conflicts might sound bad or negative, but they are logical developments in the absence of proper democratic, legal and administrative mechanisms to handle issues at the root of water conflicts.

Part of the problem stems from the specific nature of water, namely that water is divisible and amenable to sharing; one unit of water used by one is a unit denied to others; it has multiple uses and users and involves resultant trade-offs. Excludability is an inherent problem and very often exclusion costs involved are very high: it involves the issue of graded scales and boundaries and need for evolving a corresponding understanding around them. Finally, the way water is planned, used and managed causes externalities, both positive and negative, and many of them are unidirectional and asymmetric. There is a relatively greater visibility as well as a greater body of experience in evolving policies, frameworks, legal setups and administrative mechanisms dealing with immobile natural resources, however contested the space may be.

Reformists as well as revolutionary movements are rooted in issues related to land. Several political and legal interventions addressing the issue of equity and societal justice have been attempted. Most countries have gone through land reforms of one type or another. Issues related to forests have also generated a body of comprehensive literature on forest resources and rights. Though conflicts over them have not necessarily been effectively or adequately resolved, they have received much more serious attention, have been studied in their own right and practical as well as theoretical means of dealing with them have been sought. In contrast, water conflicts have not received the same kind of attention.

“Rivers should link, not divide us,” said the Indian Prime Minister expressing concern over interstate disputes and urged state governments to show “understanding and consideration, statesmanship and an appreciation of the other point of view.”

Water conflicts in India now reach every level; divide every segment of our society, political parties, states, regions and subregions within states, districts, castes and groups and individual farmers. Water conflicts within and between many developing countries are also taking a serious turn. Fortunately, the “water wars”, forecast by so many, have not yet materialized. War has taken place, but over oil, not water. Water is radically altering and affecting political boundaries all over the world, between as well as within countries. In India, water conflicts are likely to worsen before they begin to be resolved. Till then they pose a significant threat to economic growth, security and health of the ecosystem and the victims are likely to be the poorest of the poor as well as the very sources of water - rivers, wetlands and aquifers. Conflicts might sound bad or negative, but they are logical developments in the absence of proper democratic, legal and administrative mechanisms to handle issues at the root of water conflicts.

Part of the problem stems from the specific nature of water, namely that water is divisible and amenable to sharing; one unit of water used by one is a unit denied to others; it has multiple uses and users and involves resultant trade-offs. Excludability is an inherent problem and very often exclusion costs involved are very high: it involves the issue of graded scales and boundaries and need for evolving a corresponding understanding around them. Finally, the way water is planned, used and managed causes externalities, both positive and negative, and many of them are unidirectional and asymmetric. There is a relatively greater visibility as well as a greater body of experience in evolving policies, frameworks, legal setups and administrative mechanisms dealing with immobile natural resources, however contested the space may be.

Reformists as well as revolutionary movements are rooted in issues related to land. Several political and legal interventions addressing the issue of equity and societal justice have been attempted. Most countries have gone through land reforms of one type or another. Issues related to forests have also generated a body of comprehensive literature on forest resources and rights. Though conflicts over them have not necessarily been effectively or adequately resolved, they have received much more serious attention, have been studied in their own right and practical as well as theoretical means of dealing with them have been sought. In contrast, water conflicts have not received the same kind of attention.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

Though the Cold war has ended, selective tactics are still continuing for ensuring the military and economic dominance of developed countries. Various types of technology denial regimes are still being enforced which are now being mainly targeted against developing countries like India.

Today, we in India encounter twin problems. On one side there is a large scale strengthening of our neighbors through supply of arms and clandestine support to their nuclear and missile programs and on the other side all efforts are being made to weaken our indigenous technology growth through control regimes and dumping of low-tech systems, accompanied with high commercial pitch in critical areas. Growth of indigenous technology and self-reliance are the only answers to the problem.

Thus in the environment around India, the number of missiles and nuclear powers are continuously increasing and destructive weapons continue to pile up around us, in spite or arms reduction treaties.

To understand the implications of various types of warfare that may effect us, we need to take a quick look at the evolution of war weaponry and the types of warfare. I am highlighting this point for the reason that in less than a century we could see change in the nature of warfare and its effects on society.

In early years of human history it was mostly direct human warfare. During the twentieth century up to about 1990, the warfare was weapon-driven. The weapons used were guns, tanks, aircrafts, ships, submarines and the nuclear weapons deployed on land/sea/air and also reconnaissance spacecraft. Proliferation of conventional nuclear and biological weapons was at a peak owing to the competition between the superpowers.

The next phase, in a new form, has just started from 1990 onwards. The world has graduated into economic warfare. The means used is control of market forces through high technology. The participating nations, apart form the USA are Japan, the UK, France, Germany, certain South-East Asian countries and a few others. The driving force is the generation of wealth with certain types of economic doctrine.

The urgent issue we need to address collectively as a nation is, how do we handle the tactics of economic and military dominance in this new form coming form the backdoor? Today technology is the main driver of economic development at the national level. Therefore, we have to develop indigenous technologies to enhance our competitive edge and to generate national wealth in all segments of economy. Therefore, the need of the hour is: arm India with technology.