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dahiyars
December 7th, 2006, 11:55 PM
A MULTI TRILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY

Many of the state governments are trying to privatise water. Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are some of the states that earned paeans from the World Bank, the doctor whose prescriptions for privatisation are well known. These prescriptions, as history and experience have amply demonstrated, are not for curing the illness of the patient but for filling up the coffers of the big corporations. In 1998, the World Bank predicted that the global trade in water would soon be a $800 billion industry, and by 2001, this projection had been jacked up to one trillion dollars. These revenues are based on the fact that only five per cent of the world's population are now receiving their water supply from corporations. So as the corporate grip on water tightens, water will become a multi-trillion-dollar industry in the future.

No wonder that the World Bank is keen to change the rules of water distribution in our country. While our government is acting at the behest of World Bank, the Bank is for the corporate interests. The companies that are eyeing the water market in our country have been thrown out from Latin America. Suez, the biggest water MNC and a company that was given the ‘proprietary rights’ over water in Bolivia, is thinking of coming to India and China. And it is this very company against which the present president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and the people of Bolivia have fought their famous water wars and won them. In our struggle for the acquisition of the prized ‘commodity’ land, we have to add water too in the future. And we must get ready to fight privatisation of water and flush out the corporations that are a bane on our water, nay our blood.

R.S.Dahiya

dndeswal
December 8th, 2006, 12:35 AM
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Thanks Dr. Dahiya, for this thought-provoking issue. Some discussion on this issue had earlier taken place in your thread People Fighting To Throw Coca Cola Out (http://www.jatland.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12037) .

Let us wait for comments of our dear friend Sumit Dahiya. Sumit ji - please throw some light on this issue. My views have already been expressed on the above mentioned thread. It may be possible that like water today, fresh air would also be sold tomorrow through cylinders, for breathing by humans.
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aabhisheksirohi
December 8th, 2006, 01:01 AM
A MULTI TRILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY

Many of the state governments are trying to privatise water. Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are some of the states that earned paeans from the World Bank, the doctor whose prescriptions for privatisation are well known. These prescriptions, as history and experience have amply demonstrated, are not for curing the illness of the patient but for filling up the coffers of the big corporations. In 1998, the World Bank predicted that the global trade in water would soon be a $800 billion industry, and by 2001, this projection had been jacked up to one trillion dollars. These revenues are based on the fact that only five per cent of the world's population are now receiving their water supply from corporations. So as the corporate grip on water tightens, water will become a multi-trillion-dollar industry in the future.

No wonder that the World Bank is keen to change the rules of water distribution in our country. While our government is acting at the behest of World Bank, the Bank is for the corporate interests. The companies that are eyeing the water market in our country have been thrown out from Latin America. Suez, the biggest water MNC and a company that was given the ‘proprietary rights’ over water in Bolivia, is thinking of coming to India and China. And it is this very company against which the present president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and the people of Bolivia have fought their famous water wars and won them. In our struggle for the acquisition of the prized ‘commodity’ land, we have to add water too in the future. And we must get ready to fight privatisation of water and flush out the corporations that are a bane on our water, nay our blood.

R.S.Dahiya

This was discuss in International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn 2001.
Cant say much about Indian states are trying for privatize the water.

For more details here is the link .

http://www.servicesforall.org/html/WaterPolicy/Aegisson-Great%20Water%20Robbery.pdf

priti
December 8th, 2006, 02:17 AM
The issue is not on how big this industry will become, the issue is whether a country wants water as a commodity or as a public resource.

It is a big issue here in canada with the unions opposing public private partnerships (commonly known as the P3s) in public utilities like water, healthcare, education and infrastructure.

Latin American countries are into socialist model and water is not the only sector where private companies have been thrown out. Chavez has thrown out oil companies too in an attempt to bring the natural resources of the country back to the people.

But in countries like the UK, public private partnerships are thriving.

The question again is- if the government is not able to provide efficient channels to water utilisation, is it really that bad to allow private companies to do so?

These questions tend to get politicised but the real issue is getting water where its needed, a good percentage of india's population does not have safe drinking water....to think of alternatives to solve this problem will be a real contribution instead of blindly opposing entry of private companies on the premise that they will make profit out of what has been a public resource till now....they are there to make profits but if it solves a very basic problem, then why not?