As we are celebrating World Water Day, a global event with a theme ‘waste water’, it is imperative for us to know the enormity of water scarcity in India
This World Water Day focuses on ‘waste water’. As India is experiencing acute water scarcity, it is important for us to know the current scenario of water scarcity in India.
Too much water too little to drink
There is life on earth because of water but this water is not enough to quench the thirst of people, as, according to the UNESCO estimates, the total volume of water on earth is about 1.4 billion cubic km, enough to cover the earth with a 3 km deep layer. The world’s oceans cover about three-fourths of earth’s surfaces, out of which fresh water constitutes 35 million cubic km or 2.5 per cent of the total volume. And about 24 million cubic km or 68.9 per cent is in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in mountainous regions, the Antarctic and Arctic regions and another 29.9 per cent is present as ground water (shallow and deep groundwater basins up to 2,000 meters). The rest 0.3 per cent is available in form of lakes, rivers and 0.9 per cent as soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost atmosphere.
Widening gap between demand and availability of water
According to the Report by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change on ‘National Water Framework Law’,water availability per capita has been plunging in India due to expanding population. The average annual per capita water availability in 2001 and 2011 was assessed at 1,820 cubic m and 1,545 cubic m, respectively. Over this period, India’s population rose 17.6 per cent from 1.02 billion to 1.21 billion.In addition the report also found that the availability of water may decline to 1,341 cubic m and 1,140 cubic m by 2025 and 2050, respectively. This account testifies the enormity of water scarcity in India.
When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water
India has seen an alarming fall in groundwater levels as it is the largest consumer of groundwater. While 80 per cent of India’s drinking water is provided by groundwater, there is sharp 65 per cent dip in water levels in India’s wells in the last decade.
The states which witnessed this sharp plunge in ground water level includes; Uttar Pradesh, Telengana, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra. While industries are overusing groundwater for commercial purpose, there is no safe potable water for the people to drink. Groundwater recharge and depleting reserves of groundwater is a serious concern that remains to be tackled.
Glaciers- Source of rivers are retreating
India’s perennial river like Ganges, Yamuna gets water from glaciers of Gangotri and Yamunotri respectively. Because of these glaciers these rivers flow throughout the length and breadth of country and fulfill the basic needs of people living along its banks.Hence these are also called lifelines of country. But with ever increasing global warming and climate change, its repercussions can already be seen in the form of retreating of glaciers.
As the snow line and glacier boundaries are sensitive to changes in climatic conditions, these glaciers release more water in drought year and less water during flood time to ensure water supply during the lean years. One scary fact related to this is that, the 67 per cent of the glaciers in the Himalayan mountain ranges have retreated in the past decade, making the problem of water scarcity worse.
Incidents of recurrent droughts
Last year many states in India witnessed drought and experienced acute water scarcity. ‘Latur’ a small town in Maharashtra made the headlines due to intense water shortage. The whole situation was so bad that government had to send special water train/ Jal Doot. Similarly, many parts of India also badly suffered the problem of water shortage.
Endnote
Nature has enough for our needs, but not for our greed. This famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi would be apt to mention here for the cause of water scarcity in the country which should be fixed before it’s too late.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.