Victory Against The State


A people’s movement against privatisation of water in Assam has led to the redrafting of the state water policy three times Teresa Rehman reports

Picture this. Jadu Pegu, a farmer in remote Dhemaji district of Assam installing a water metre in his small hut and having to pay taxes for the water his forefathers have been using for the past several years. Ethnic groups in Assam would have had to pay tax for water to which they had free access till date if the draft state water policy was passed in its original form.

But a pro-active people’s movement against ‘privatisation and commodification of water’ led to the redrafting of the state water policy three times in Assam. Succumbing to pressure from several NGOs, the leading one being Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), the state government removed several clauses on the draft policy. The people’s groups submitted a people’s policy to the government.

And for the first time the farmers were directly involved in protesting and consultative meets on the draft policy. Akhil Gogoi of KMSS told Tehelka, “I think such a movement is unprecedented in any part of the country where the government was forced to change the draft policy three times. We reiterated the primacy of community rights over water. We are still awaiting the final draft.” The original draft aimed at ‘privatising water’ was rejected by the civil society.

“The draft turned water, a traditionally enjoyed natural resource into a commodity on which the people of the state will have to pay taxes. We feared that the draft water policy was an attempt to curb traditional rights of indigenous people and hand it over to the multinational corporations,” he adds.

It is a positive sign that the civil society recommendations were accepted by the government and even by senior bureaucrats. Amrit Kumar Goldsmith, a representative of the civil society in the Task Force to draft the water policy said that they wanted to contextualise the National Water Policy 2002 and give a voice to the people.

“We wanted to protect them from economically-hard decisions like water tax, In the consultation that followed there were different tone and tenor but we tried to bring about a policy that is acceptable to all,” adds Goldsmith.

The civil society groups were against privatisation and reiterated that the government should be the trustee and take people into consideration at all points of time when major decisions are made. They tried to ensure that the poor is not taxed and government will make provisions to ensure safe drinking water to the poorest of the poor. Emphasis was also laid on medium-sized dams instead of mega dams, which do not create problems in the areas downstream. Issues relating to privatization of water was also debated at the World Water Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey recently.

Interestingly, the civil society groups also ensured that enough space is created for women at the decision-making and implementation levels. “We tend to ignore the contribution of women inspite of the fact that women all around the world are responsible for getting water and feeding their families. When water is scarce, women and children struggle everyday to get water from a distant water source. Every woman knows the value of water,” says Bandita Acharya, one of the two women in the drafting committee of the policy.

Acharya claimed that they could incorporate few things like no charges on natural water, an exempted category like tax on farmers and small vendors and community participation in each and every aspect. The final draft of the policy would hopefully be more ‘pro-people’ and be geared towards protection of the traditional rights of the people over their natural resources. The policy may also specify the need and approach for coping with the possible impact of climate.


Posted on Apr 03, 2009