11-BOOK REVIEW:TROUBLED WATERS OF PUNJAB   Part 5.
BY VIJEPAL SINGH MANN (2003)[112P] ISBN:81-7764-376-2
BOOK REVIEW: KAVNEET SINGH              

Chapter 9…..
_While the terms of reference of this Tribunal were very clear……going into the whole_ _exercise of water sharing, its legality, validity and legality…….a justification had to be_ _made to reach a certain conclusion………[Page 38]_
Seems like the Eradi Tribunal had to go through the motions of putting on an act while the ‘jugglers’ sitting at the Center had already predetermined the fate of Punjab.
Chapter 10…..
_On 3 August, 2001 the Central Government of India passed a voice vote, an amendment_ _known as the Inter State Water Disputes (Amendment) Act, 2001. Under this dubious_ _amendment, the Union Government has got a right to get water disputes settled within a_
_stipulated period by setting up a tribunal…..The second part of this amendment, data_ _plays a critical role. The powers to collect, analyze, and then assess the data had been_ _fully vested with the Central government. It had total and absolute powers to interpret the_
_data. In other words political color would decide the direction of the flow of the river_ _waters……..[Page 40-41]_
As usual brahminical chicanery at its best, i.e., to usurp even water from the most productive farmers of India who feed and continue to do so, a large part of the country.
Chapter 11…..
_The areas of Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Malout and Abohar will become desert again if_ _canal water is taken away………there at present approximately 827,000 electric tube-_ _wells in the state…..[Page 51]_
With a third of Punjab having saline or brackish water; unfit for drinking or agriculture the limited (center) controlled water supply has a huge negative impact on the overall crop economy.