Report from the first two days of the National Water Conference in Varanasi presents a broad range of discussions by members of local communities near Varanasi and representatives from communities affected by water from across India.

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March 28th 2008, Day 1, Session 1
The day started off with a cultural programme by the Ghazipur and Ballia kala manch teams. A pond was inaugurated in the village by Dr. Sandeep pandey and five women from the community performed a pooja and instead of usual mantras, slogans against coca-cola were raised.

The session for the day was on People's Right to Water. The panelists were from different backgrounds:
Chanchal Mukherjee, NAPM, UP co-ordinator
Govardhan Gand, Movement against the Maitrayee pariyojana, Khushinagar
Kalmi Devi, Movement against the Maitrayee pariyojana, Khushinagar
Dr. Sandeep Pandey
Chinta Devi, Pradhan, Singhachaver village, Ballia
Bhai Baliram, Local leader of anti-coke movement in Ballia
Rameshwar Kuri, Movement against Coca-Cola in Kaladhera, Rajasthan
David, Environmental Consultant, California
Mithai Lal, Gaon Bacho Sangharsh, Mehdiganj
Chitranjan Singh, PUCL(People's union for civil liberties) President

Arvind Murti, the editor of Sachi Muchi, gave an introduction to the topic touching on issues the panel would address. He questioned how we had the reached the situation of demanding what should be our natural right to water, the current scenario of powerless local governance.
Chanchal Mukherjee spoke about the exploitation of water and other resources by large companies for increasing their profits at any cost. This was a recurring point throughout the session, with people from different movements putting forward their experiences of being people and nature being exploited by large companies. He stressed on the need for people to come together and organize (Jan andolan) in demanding our right to water. This point was stressed upon by various panelists who were part of such struggles -
- Struggle against coke in Kaladera, Mehdiganj
- Struggle against the Maithrya Pariyojana, Khushinagar

Bhai Baliram, Local leader of anti-coke movement in Ballia, talked about the efforts in Ballia to shut down the coca-cola plant there. The plant was shutdown in late 2007. Through the session there was a lot of discussion on the role of the gram sabhas. In the current scenario elected government officials are passing policies that are against people, be it permits for the colas that
have time and again created water stress wherever they open a plant or permits to start projects like the Maithray Pariyojana that ironically are displacing people to build an entertainment park around a 500 feet Buddha statue. In this context of gram sabhas, Dr. Sandeep pandey spoke about the need to strengthen grassroots democracy. He spoke about how decisions are not being made at the Vidhan Sabha any more, they are decided by the World Bank, IMF etc. When an American official writes to the Indian government warning them about the consequences of stopping operations of Pepsi or Coke, it shows the kind of power play in action here. Today people are becoming more aware, but our country will really be a democracy when they can actually question the functioning of the system.

Rameshwar Prasad Kuri, from Kaladera spoke about their struggle against the coca-cola plant in their neighborhood. Water levels are falling by seven feet every year in a radius of 1.5 km around the plant. The protestors are not allowed within 3kms of the plant. This is still the case despite the report from TERI about the destructive impact of the coca-cola plant.

David, an environmental consultant from California, spoke about the laws regarding water rights in CA. He noted that water is not just a natural resource, it is a public resource which is what makes the discussions and dialogue about water rights very important. He also spoke about the need to have laws to protect the environment that would have to be enforced impartially and efficiently for them to be effective. He cited an example of a river in the UNited States in the 1960s, that was so polluted that it had caught fire. This forced the authorities to set up some laws about industrial pollution of their water bodies. He also stressed on the role of the state as the trustee of water and thus their responsibility in creating laws to protect this public resource.

March 29, 2008 (Day 2)
The second day also started with songs about water, against Coke.
Session 1: Peoples Movements Against Exploitation of Water

Jayashankar, from Chandauli, UP who is part of Asha Parivar gave an introduction to the issue. The
panelists:
Raj Narayan Patel, Gaon Bachao Samiti, Mehndiganj
Jagrupa Devi, Mehndiganj
Rameshwar Kuri, Movement against Coca Cola, Kaladera
Sanjay Jaiswal, Swadesh Science Movement, People for Animals
Nityanand Jayaraman, CEM, Bhopal Gas Survivors Movement
Chinta Devi, Pradhan, Singhachavar, Ballia
Vinay Kumar, Movement against the Coke plant in Singhachavar, Ballia
Savitriji
Ramsagar Varma (Guddu), Asha PArivar, Hardoi
Mithai Lal, Gaon Bachao Andolan
Ghanshyam, Regional Officer, State Pollution Control Board, UP

Raj Narayan Patel from the Gaon Bachao Samiti in Mehndiganj talked about how Coca Cola has been destructive since it moved into the village. He talked about the water stress, pollution, tax evasion and illegally occupied land. Mithai Lal, also from the same organization, had land right
next to the plant. He spoke about his experience – nothing grows in his farm anymore and there is no water there anymore. He ended with rendering a song about this.

Ramsagar Varma (Gudduji), spoke about the water problem in general and talked about how the
struggle in Mehndiganj is not limited to Mehndiganj alone, it is a situation we are all facing with water privatization looming large. It is important for everyone to be responsible in electing our
representatives, lest we right away the rights to our own resources.

Sanjay Jaiswal, from People for Animals and Swadesh Science Movement talked about our role in water conservation. He also touched upon the issue of voters participating in elections responsibly. Not only is Coke to blame, we have all contributed to the problem based on the govt officials we elect. He spoke at length about the rainwater harvesting systems Coke has been setting up at different government offices. In fact, the newspaper “The Pioneer” carried an article yesterday titles “Coca-Cola’s Mehndiganj unit to achieve zero water balance in 2008” which basically claims that Coke will recharge as much water as it extracts. Many aspects in this claim are questionable.

Rameshwar Kuri, from the movement against Coke in Kaladera, talked about the impact of the plant. Before the plant was set up, the water levels in the region used to drop by 1-2 feet every year. With the plant, they started dropping by 10 feet every year. First, rainfall in Banaras has been very scarce and when it rains, it literally pours for a few hours at a stretch. In such
a situation, water cannot really be recharged. Second, the rainwater systems aren’t functional.
Sanjay is part of a team that will conduct a survey of the RH systems Coke has set up. He stressed on the importance of trees in increasing the rainfall and in recharging ground water.

Vinay, from the movement against the Coke plant in Singhachavar, Ballia talked about the plant in Ballia that is now not operational and stressed on the importance to come together in the struggle.
In this context, Savitri made a point that we should all first stop drinking Coca Cola and raise
awareness around us. Nityanand Jayaraman who has long been associated with the Bhopal gas survivors movement (they are all in Delhi at this time, after a long march from Bhopal to demand the safe water that had been promised to them by the Prime Minister two years back) spoke about the impact of industry on the environment and thus on all life. Union Carbide had stored poisonous, hazardous waste in plastic covered dumps. The plastic decomposed over time and the poisons polluted the ground water in Bhopal. Hence their march demanding their right to safe drinking water. He also mentioned the industrial area, SIPCOT in Cuddalore that extracts crores of litres of water every day and puts back crores of waste water into its surroundings. The govt sometimes asks the industries that have ruined water in a region to provide safe drinking water to the people living there. Not only is the government palming off its responsibility to a corporation, it is also creating a situation where people become dependent on the latter for their water, which effectively kills any people’s movement against the corporation.

On the one hand, industry is extracting large quantities of water and generating lot of waste water and thus destroying our water resources. On the other hand, small companies have started selling water in cities like Chennai that once had many abundant water through the tanks and rivers. With the tanks either filled up for real estate or functioning as garbage dumps, Chennai has been facing a severe water. People in the area dont get power for more than 4-5 hours each day while the plant runs its pumps all 24 hours, and very powerful pumps at that (25-50hp as compared to the 5hp pumps farmers use). The entire situation is stacked up against the farmers. Comparing the functioning of large companies to a new form of colonization, he stressed on the need to organize. 

Farmers on the outskirts of Chennai have started selling the ground water in their lands to small
companies for about Rs 26/hr. The small companies make huge profits selling water in the city.
While industry has certainly played a huge part in pollution, we need to realize that Pepsi and Coke are just symbols of water crisis. There is already Pepsi and Coke in us and how we function as a society. The farming we do is not really farming, it is functioning as a factory – seeds, pesticides, fertilizer are all bought, it is not a system in itself. With this problem with Coke, we are learning a lot about water, about our responsibility. Coke should be chased out but till we don’t change our farming patterns, things wont change much.

Ghanshyam from the State Pollution Control Board talked about the importance of water with
increasing population, development and pollution. When asked about the pollution being caused in Mehndiganj by the Coke plant, he said there were some recent studies conducted by Newcon (Newcon Consultants & Laboratories) that showed that all the heavy metals were within the prescribed limits. He said Coke was not adding any heavy metals in making its Cola and skirted around the issue. He also mentioned about the rainwater harvesting systems Coke has set up in 16 places. An interesting discussion followed his talk.

Mr. Ghanshyam had brought a file of documents related to all correspondence with the Mehdiganj
Coca-cola plant. While discussing various claims of the company, it was evident that the authorization for collection, reception, treatment, storage, transport and disposal of hazardous wastes on the premises of the Mehdiganj plant had expired on July 27th, 2007. The State pollution control board was considering the application for renewal and in the interim period the plant should not be functioning. Photocopies of all the relevant documentation were immediately made and a video recording of the discussion was also made.

Session 2: Water Privatization and its impact
The panelists:
Aflatoon, President, Samajwadi Jan Parishad (UP)
Ali Anwar, Rajyasabha MP
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan, NAPM
Dr. Swati, professor, BHU
Roma, Bikalp
Gaurav, Manthan

All speakers spoke about the threat to our water resources from the state and the corporate sector,
both leaning towards water privatization. Access to parts of rivers are being denied to people living on its banks because rights had been granted to an industry, ground water is being exploited
indiscriminately and rivers, soil and groundwater are being polluted by industrial effluents.
Hydroelectricity was one of the first sectors to be opened up for foreign investment after the neo-liberal reforms started in 1991.

Medha Patkar spoke about the different facets of water privatization. It has been around in different ways – caste was linked to water. Not all people could drink from the same well and this is the case in many places even today. This kind of privatization is based on power attributed to caste and knowledge. What constitutes knowledge is seen in a very narrow sense – making a well, working in the fields are all skills that are not respected in our society. Today’s privatization is not limited to people chalking out areas of water – large companies, the state and international organizations like IMF and World Bank are coming in to buy water. Water is being dammed and sold. And in the name of development, this is also acceptable today. It is not just Coke that is the problem. Even companies that are bottling water are adding to the stress on our groundwater. People living on the banks of the Shivnath river in Chattisgarh were informed that they could not use the water from the river anymore since a stretch of the river had been sold to a company.
She called on everyone to take Coca Cola to court for functioning illegally, without having a clearance for hazardous waste.

Dr. Swati reiterated the point that water privatization has existed in a different form for centuries –
based on caste discriminations. While village councils are being bought by strong economic powers, they should be the people’s representative and the strength of the people. In this scenario, it is important that water be treated as a community resource and not someone’s private property, be it an individual or a company. Water will truly become a community resource when everyone (women,
men, dalits) has access to it. She also spoke about the importance of village level democracy. Coca Cola did not talk to the community before setting up its plant in Mehndiganj.

Session 3: Impact of Large Scale Development projects
This session was about the impact of large scale development projects on communities and
environment. People from different parts of UP who have been protesting against such projects spoke about the project, its impact and their struggle.

The panelists:
Jayprakash Singh – SEZ, Bhardohi
Govardhan Prakash Gond – Maitreya Pariyojana in Kushinagar
Ramnavami Yadav – Ganga Expressway
Veerendra Singh – Hi Tech City
Roma – Rashtriya Vanjeevi Manch

Kalmi Devi, also from Kushinagar, spoke about the impact of the project on their lives.

Govardhan Prakash Gond spoke about the Maitreya Pariyojana in Kushinagar. The project is centered around a 500 foot high statue of the Buddha (supposedly the largest in the world) and the plan is to acquire 700 acres for this. The project will contain restaurants and gardens and will
essentially be a Buddha theme park – McDonald’s is one of the companies that has shown interest in opening their branch here. The land there is very fertile and most people are farmers. They do not want to sell their land (they are being offered about Rs 1,50,000 per acre) and have organized
themselves and have been protesting against the project for seven years now. It is ironical how people are being displaced to make way for a statue for the Buddha.

Veerendra Singh spoke about the HiTech city that is being planned in their village that is just on the outskirts of Banaras. The company Unitech has been buying land, mostly from landlords who have large landholdings and are not really dependent on farming for their livelihood. None of the smaller farmers want to sell their land. The compensation for the land had started at Rs 50,000 / biswa (30 biswa = 1 acre) and has now increased threefold as Unitech tries to reach its target of acquiring a minimum of 300 acres to start off the project. They have so far been able to purchase 230 acres.

Roma from the Rashtriya Vanjeevi Manch works with adivasis in Sonbhadr and talked about the impact of developmental projects on their lives. There are several industries in the region (coal, power plants, cement) and they are exploiting the resources of the region. The area is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. The forests there are being looted by the govt and the industry and though a forest act has been passed, the govt is not going to work on it.

 
Ramnavami Yadav spoke about the Ganga Expressway, which will connect places from Ballia to Delhi. This massive infrastructure project will be a 8m high, 155 m wide, 8-lane highway that will run on the other side of the Ganga (all the cities are located on the higher shore of the river since the other side has to deal with flooding). While there is no signed report by Mayawati, a report has been made by consultants. 60,000 acres of land will be used for this and this is fertile land that will be taken from farmers. This highway will benefit the automobile industry, will not help the ordinary person. Also environmental impact study hasn’t been done yet. The highway will also function as a dam and it needs to be known about how this dam would impact flooding on the cities that are based on the other side of the river.

The day concluded with everyone sitting together to discuss about supporting all these movements and planning strategies.