New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Moved by the plight of 'exhausted housewives waiting in serpentine queues for hours to fill their water pitchers', the Supreme Court Tuesday stepped in and asked the government to form a panel of scientists to suggest ways to tackle the malady.
A bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice H.L Dattu ordered the government to form the panel within two months and provide it 'all the financial, technical and administrative help' to complete its task.
'We direct the central government to forthwith constitute a committee to address the problem of water scarcity through scientific research on a war footing for solving the water shortage in most part of our country, because of which our people are suffering terribly,' the bench said.
'Without water there can be no life and our constitution guarantees the right to life to all people living in India,' the bench added. The order came on a long-pending dispute between the central government and Orissa on water sharing.
The court said the scientists' panel would be headed by the secretary in the ministry for science and technology, with the secretary of the water resources ministry being one of its members. The committee's chairman would pick the scientists who would serve on it.
'The members of the committee should regard this work as a patriotic duty and the people of the entire country, including expatriate Indians, should help this committee,' the bench said in an unusual exhortation.
Urging the committee 'to begin its work on war footing', the court also laid down its roadmap.
Firstly, the court wanted the panel to devise an economical and scientific method to convert saline water into fresh water.
In this context, the court pointed out that India was surrounded by seas and oceans on three sides, giving it an infinite reserve of saline water. This however, could not be economically converted into potable waters as the present methods of distillation were very expensive.
The court also directed the panel to find out methods for harnessing and managing monsoon rain and flood water, as also treating waste water.
The court pinned high hopes on India's scientific community recalling the country's 'strong heritage of science'.
'With the aid of science, we had built mighty civilizations thousands of years ago when most people in Europe, except those in Greece and Rome, were living in forests,' the bench said.
'We had made outstanding scientific discoveries and inventions in past. We, however, subsequently, took to the unscientific path of superstition and empty rituals, leading us to disaster,' the bench said, adding: 'The way out for us is to once again turn to the scientific path shown by our ancestors like Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Sushrut, Charak, Ramanujam and (C.V.) Raman.'
'It is indeed sad that a country like India, which scientifically solved the problem of town planning during the Indus Valley Civilization, which discovered the decimal system in Mathematics and plastic surgery in medicine in ancient times, and whose people are largely managing the Silicon Valley in the USA, has been unable to solve the problem of water shortage till now,' the court lamented.
The court said it would monitor the research work by the scientists and examine this in July.
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