F(Utility) of Bandhs

This week the city has witnessed two bandhs. Tuesday’s bandh was confined to Bengaluru and was not enforced very seriously. Yet the fear of disturbances kept the people indoors and shops closed for the better part of the day.

A holiday was declared for schools by the administration. Friday’s bandh was sponsored by organisations that have a long history of activism in matters which have intimate relationship with economic and cultural interests of the state.

Mandya observed a bandh on yet another day. Bandhs come handy for those who are looking for an ill-deserved holiday from work. Whether it is enforced or not, people shirk work and grab the opportunity to stay away from work.

The second of the two bandhs came amidst several holidays and a Sunday thereby offering a punctured calendar. Thousands thought it fit to convert it into an extended weekend and exited the city on Wednesday evening causing traffic jams and gridlocks on important arteries.

People cannot be faulted for what they did. But the psyche that a call for bandh nurtures is something that raises a lot of questions. Uncertain of the law and order situation, people take the safer option of shirking work.

It is totally another matter that it comes as godsend to go out for an outing. Sponsors of bandhs need to assess the utility (or futility) of bandhs. The interstate Cauvery row has provoked bandhs on several occasions during the last three decades with several of them witnessing violence.

It is common knowledge that deficient rains in Cauvery basin region poses difficulties in sharing water of the Cauvery-dependent states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

There are no issues if the precipitation is plentiful. But it is widely acknowledged by all that the governments in the two states can do little if the natural precipitation itself is low.

Even courts have no answers in a matter that has seen a century long litigation and a water-sharing formula has been laid down by the Central Water Management Authority (CWMA) for the lean season.

Police hands are tied in the event of protests turning violent as no government can afford to exercise force against agitators. Sagacity demands that the sentiments are not whipped up over the issue in a manner that ties between the two states become sour and individuals, vehicles and films of the two states are targeted on the rival terrain.

Political parties must shun uncompromising stances. It is useful to be reminded that it was Mr. D. K. Shivakumar, now deputy chief minister who took out a march in the Cauvery basin districts last year on the issue of a reservoir at Mekedatu.

Now that he is in the hot seat, his government is facing the heat of the opposition parties. States have to exist with geography and climate gifted by the nature. No amount of protest would alter the available resources and the common destiny they share.

Upper riparian states do have an advantage but the law deters them from being unfair. A little give and take here and there and minor adjustments could be attempted with mutual goodwill.

Bandhs will only lead to economic losses, much of which cannot be compensated.