BOYCOTT AND BUILD RESISTANCE: BEGINNING FROM OCT. 2ND, GANDHI JAYANTI'S DAY
DEMAND AND ASSERT RIGHT TO NON-CORPORATE PURE DRIKING WATER.
The National Alliance of People's Movements have decided to begin, from October 2nd 2005 the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a people's campaign against the bottling and marketing of water in India. We appeal to you all to join us with your own programme and actions. We believe that a fictitious, water crisis is created and the water problem faced is aggravated by the bottling business thriving on water, in almost every district and now every tehsil in India. The water that should be available, accessible to common people, poor and the rich as a basic need and fundamental right, with people, initiative and
state's responsibility and support to service, is being expropriated by the corporate powers- Indian to multinational.
Today, there are hundreds of companies coca cola, Pepsi, Parle, who are doing millions of rupees and dollars of business at the cost of people's resource the life support, water! Neither efficient, nor pure, much of the bottled water is produced at the average cost of 20 to 50 ps/bottle send sold to us at 10 Rs. at least. The business and the profit has led the government to shrink its responsibility of providing optimum guarantee of water to people and left our taps at public places dry, affecting our regular water supply at homes and work places and transferred our water rights to the corporate power. This
must stop if we were to save our water resources.
While bottling of water has already become a business worth 800 crores rupees, is expanding by 40% per year, as per one research estimate. But the cost paid by the people at the source whose ground water acquifers, generation old treasure are depleted is not even quantifiable. The State is losing its sovereignty; its exchequers are emptied with the companies extruding their political clout to 'water supply' regime as a whole. And the people whose cultures are changed with unjustifiable, even illegal, advertisements and publicity campaigns are getting bluffed and cheated, paying for their resource, for no guarantee of pure water... in the name of mineral or ozonised or oxydised water.
The bottle is not the only thing that is sold. The Indian rivers are on the sale, in the national to global markets. After Sheovnath river in Chattisgarh where right to about 23 km long river was granted to Radius Water Limited owned by Kailash Soni, the river Kelu (Chhattisgarh) to Ganga itself is being 'privatised' to the companies, such as Jindal, allowed to be sold out or supplied at huge private profits. We warn the people of India the interlinking of rivers is going to lead us into sale of India's rivers to the private sector. When the reservoirs to land in the command area of large dams, such as Sardar Sarovar Project, is diverted to the corporate, neither the rural nor the urban people, Adivasis, farmers workers are to get waters, their due. The tariffs are multiplying as in Delhi and Ahmedabad... and the poor to middle class populations can't afford 'water' - plain pure, life's resources.
All this is a result of direct investment to 'dictates with aid' coming from the multi national banks, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank as also the multinational corporations, the giant forces ushered in and protected by the state, our own governments. From cities in Madhya Pradesh are to be get privatized water supply but Maharashtra too is privatise its own, flowing power. It is not dearth of money or lack of technology, it's our ruler's corrupt ways of managing natural resources carried forward, allying with the foreign powers.
ADB alone has invested 1400 million dollars in water sector projects during last 20 years and the World Bank invested not less than 5000 million dollars and both together have been paid about 700 million dollars interest per year!. These Big Banks are not just providing finance but dictating terms and conditions, also policies and laws. They propose and impose 'privatisation' of water supply in city after city, Chennai to Mumbai and ensure 'profit over people'.
The water tariff increases 100 to 8000 times, as has happened and is feared to happen in Delhi. After Power, Water is the sector the World Bank and ADB want to take over.
They do and they will support only large projects and infrastructure for the cities, the rich who can afford... not the middle class and the poor people.
They are after our rights, They are after for business. They deny us our sovereignty.
They corrupt our governments, much more.... They purchase us, our resources.... They kill our simple 'desi' alternatives- ways of managing land, water, forests, and agriculture.
WILL YOU NOT CHALLENGE THIS?
IF YOU WILL, THEN
ASSERT RIGHT TO WATER AND EVERY NATURAL RESOURCE.
RESORT TO, SUPPORT AND FACILITATE DECENTRALISED, PARTICIPATORY WAYS OF WATER MANAGEMENT.
SAY NO TO BOTTLED WATER, 'FOREIGN' BEERAGE (COLD DRINKS) AND INSIST ON PURE DRINKING WATER IN THE TAPS AND WELLS.
DO PLAN PROTESTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS AT THE RAILWAY STATIONS, BUS
STANDS, PUBLIC PLACES, DEMANDING REGULAR PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY.
INITIATE A SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN; START FLOODING GOERNMENT OFFICES WITH LETTERS ON THESE ISSUES OR SEND FAXES/E-MAILS.
DO DECLARE YOUR SUPPORT TO THE CAMPAIGN. STOP PURCHASING AND DRINKING BOTTLED WATER AND BEERAGES SUCH AS COCO, COLA, PEPSI...ALL BRANDS ARE OWNED BY THE MULTINATIONALS.
EXTEND YOUR FINANCIAL AND OTHER MATERIAL SUPPORT AND SKILLS TO SERVICES FOR THE CAMPAIGN
JOIN US-- BEGIN FROM 2ND OCTOBER.
