Crisis in India: Father, Son Lost Their Lives Over Water
An
18-year-old accused of cutting in line got into a scuffle over it. He ended up
dead, as did his 60-year-old father, who suffered a heart attack after trying to
calm the situation.
The New York Times shares the tragedy as an example
of India's rising tensions over a precious resource: water.
Rahul Kumar
had been waiting in a line for clean water from a tanker in New Delhi in March
when the incident occurred, and on Thursday, a policy think tank for the country
released a report indicating things are on a dismal path—with the country
already "suffering from the worst water crisis in its history."
At
present, 600 million Indians face high-to-extreme water scarcity, and the lack
of access to safe water kills about 200,000 annually, per the report from Niti
Aayog.
By 2030, the country's needs are projected to be twice the
available supply.
"We have 4% of the global water and 16% of the global
population. The minute you bring this statistic into the equation, there is a
non-rocket-science understanding of how this has happened," Samrat Basak, a
director with the World Resources Institute, tells CNN.
Per the report,
80% of India's water is used for irrigation, and inefficiently at that.
PRI in 2014 took a look at how subsidies to farmers—who in Punjab were
given free electricity to power the submersible motors required to extract
groundwater and were growing water-intensive crops—have fueled the problem. That
has some seeing a "notional price for water," as a fix, per Al-jazeera, while
others counter that conservation efforts are the only feasible solution.
QUESTIONS:1) How relevant are the
deaths of Rahul Kumar and his father to India¡¯s water scarcity?
2)
Describe the water and human resources of India. How is their supply utilized in
the country?
3) Illustrate how the provided subsidies to the farmers
aggravated the problem.
4) If you were to decide, should the farming
subsidy be continued? Why or why not?
5) Talk about the potential water
inadequacy in your country, especially in the long run.
VOCABULARY/EXPRESSION:Think tank - a group or
institution organized for intensive research and solving of problems, especially
in the areas of technology, social or political strategy, or armament