History of Sardar Sarovar Dam

The Sardar Sarovar project was a vision of the first deputy prime minister of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It is one of the largest dams in the world, having a length of 1.2 kms and a depth of 163 metres, the dam is expected to be shared among the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Four crore Gujaratis will get drinking water and 22,000 hectares of land will be irrigated.

The foundation stone of the project was laid out by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961 after carrying out a study on the usage of the Narmada River water that flowed through the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and into the Arabian Sea. A project report prepared for the dam led to much dispute over the means of distributing the Narmada water among the three states – Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. As the negotiations bore no fruit, a Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) was created in 1969 to decide the fate of the project.

After having studied a large number of reports and studies made by the three states, the NWDT gave its verdict in 1979. Accordingly, the 35 Billion cubic metres of water available for consumption from the dam, Madhya Pradesh would receive 65 percent, Gujarat 32 percent and Rajasthan & Maharashtra would be eligible for the remaining 3 percent. The Planning commission finally approved the project in 1988.

As the planning of the project was on its way, though, it soon caught the attention of social activists who found that the dam did not meet the required environmental and social conditions as meted out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Foremost among those who raised voice against the project was Medha Patkar who first visited the site of the dam in 1985. The consistent struggle to dismantle the project built a huge amount of pressure on the World Bank and a bank commissioned panel was set up to review the project. On concluding the fact that inadequate assessment had been made by the Indian government and the World Bank prior to sanctioning the project, the government on March 31, 1993 cancelled the loan authorized by the World Bank.

After several years of much deliberation, however, the Supreme Court allowed the construction of the dam to proceed, provided it met with certain conditions. The foremost condition placed by the Court was that all those displaced by the increase in height of 5 metres be satisfactorily rehabilitated and that the process be repeated for every five metres increase in height. The project has the potential to feed as many as 20 million people, provide domestic and industrial water for about 30 million, employ about 1 million, and provide valuable peak electric power in an area with high unmet power demand. Currently the height of the dam has been raised to 138.68 metres with a usable storage of 4.73 Million acre feet of water.

Countries that tried GST before India

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), India’s biggest tax reform since Independence, will unify a $2 Trillion economy into a single market. This big tax overhaul will be a test for India. Not only does the country’s size and diversity make the challenge daunting – 1.3 Billion people, 29 states, 22 official languages – it’s also implementing multiple rates. Here are some countries who had implemented GST are –

Canada – When Canada implemented its goods and services tax in 1991, retailers offered customers “Don’t Blame Me for the GST” stickers amid cash-register snafus and vending machine meltdowns.

Australia – Three years after pledging in 1995 to “never” introduce a GST, Australia PM John Howard reversed his policy for the 1998 election, saying he was seeking a mandate to implement a 10 percent tax on most Goods and Services. He barely won amid a voter backlash, but that narrow victory was enough to legislate a GST that’s been used to fund health care and schools funding for the states. It excludes some politically contentious items such as fresh food, pre-owned real estate, medical and education services. Current PM Malcolm Turnbull toyed with the idea of increasing the tax to 15 percent, but ruled that out in February 2016.

South Korea – Following the introduction of a value added tax in 1977, a game of hide and seek broke out between tax officials implementing the new system and market vendors seeking to avoid taxation, prompting newspaper Dong-A llbo in 1978 to describe the year as a “365-day nightmare”. The day the indirect tax regime applied some taxi drivers thought the new system applied to taxi fares and argued with customers that they need to pay 10 percent more than the price on the meter.

Malaysia – Following the implementation of GST in April 2015, there were reports cash registers weren’t calibrated to deal with the new regime, government agencies weren’t ready and GST refunds were delayed.

Child Labour

During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as five years of age were forced to work in production factories with dangerous and fatal conditions. The same understanding of children working as labour is now considered as Child Labour.

In India, According to census 2001 figures there are 1.26 crore working children in the age group of 5-14 as compared to the total population of 25.2 crore. However, there are 12 lac children working in hazardous conditions. This problem of child labour continues to be a woe for Indian Government. Government has taken various pro-active measures to tackle this problem but it seems that the efforts of government have borne the desired fruits and it requires much more effort.

Poverty and lack of education are the main cause of Child Labour in India. Parents force their child to work in factories, hotels, restaurants to earn money. Most of the children start working just after they know how to walk which affects their whole life. This has become a tradition for poor people. They feel that this is their work and only medium of earning money.

I was travelling to Dehradun and suddenly I looked at a ‘dhaba’ where around 15 children between 5-15 years of age were working as a waiter. Few of them were washing glasses and plates and the others cleaning tables and serving food. Owner of that restaurant was proudly seated on counter and charging money from the people. Then I thought what could be the reason for these kids to work here? May be the owner find it a very cheap and dedicated labour or there might be the family conditions of these kids. However, whatever was the reason this issue is what makes a child life hell.

Many of us visit restaurants or barber shop, saying loudly ‘Oe chotu idhar aa’ and giving them work as they are not human beings. No, friends this is not humanity. We should join hands together to stop this problem in our country. One should not depend on government measures or actions. ‘We the citizens of this country’ have every right to stop this. Many government committees in India like Gurupadswamy Committee is working on the issue of Child Labour and suggesting measures to tackle it.

It is not about other kids, it is about a nation and future of millions. One should not think, why should I care about others I am happy in my life. Friends there is a famous saying ‘One man can change the entire nation’. Now a day’s every man is saying only one man name i.e. Narendra Modi and once a time in his life he was a tea vendor and now the PM of a country. So one should not underestimate a child and let them force to work before they know what life is all about.

There is a famous slogan – “Children are surprise gift from given by god, open, and bring them forward for all good things.”