PEOPLES DECLARATION AGAINST WATER PRIVATIZATION

PEOPLES DECLARATION AGAINST WATER PRIVATIZATION

We the people representing all the Regions of lndia solemnly declare that:

• Water is life, it is a gift of nature. The access and right to water is a natural basic right of all living beings.

• Water cannot to be treated as a commodity and traded for profit. People shall have the right to freedom from thirst and shall have adequate access to water for all of their sustainable living needs. Water is the sacred common heritage of the people to be nurtured, conserved, used sustainably and shared equitably.

• Experiences all over the world reveal quite convincingly that water, which is "life", is being commodified

privatized, and brought under corporate control. Water cannot be treated as private property or an asset to be bought and sold.

• We reject the water privatization as focused in the new water policies of the nation and states of the eastern region and demand that the community rights should be the foundation of the new water policy.

• We condemn the back door privatization through Jala and Pani Panchayats. Pani Panchayat was the name for democratic control over water. During the 1980s the Pam Panchayat movement in the State of Maharashtra conserved water and fought the drought. But the DFID has hijacked this effort implying community control to privatize water sources.

• Exploitation of water sources for luxurious life styles, unsustainable agricultural farming (use of fertilizers polluting water and high intensity water use for cash crops), polluting industries, water mining for trade and captive surface water reservoirs for industrial use should be banned.

We condemn the dictates of the International Financial institutions (lFls) and their allies (World Bank, IMF, ADB, JIBC, DFID, UNDP, ODA, USAID) influencing the national and of natural sources like the land forests and Water. May be in the future air which is already sold as oxygen parks and bars affordable by the minorities sending a feeling that these IFIs even will not hesitate to privatize the shit of the living beings in the future.

• We demand rights for access and availability of water and another source of life to be vested with the communities for equitable distribution and their sustainab1e use.

We condemn the proposal of the non conventional method in the National Water Policy of utilization of water through inter Basin transfers which has been interpreted by the national government to propose the National River Linking project: This harebrain dream, if it, ever becomes a reality then we should be prepared to face accelerated and erratic climate change, man made desertification, water logging areas, floods, cyclones and degradation of water resources.

• We demand that the Government all over the world take immediate action to declare that they accept water in their territories as a public good and enact strong regulatory structure to protect them.

• We will work together to liberate water from corporate / private agencies control and make it a people's source of life of common good with following objects.

o To educate and mobilize the people regarding water privatization.

o To declare local] water sources as community sources and put up sign boards.

o To prevent Government or private, from extracting water to make it a commodity for profit.

o To lobby with MPs and MLAs not to support privatization of water and other sources of livelihood.

o To form Peoples Resistance and Pressure groups to prevent the entry of resource/water pirates and work towards communities control.

o To encourage and support traditional equitable management systems of resources.

o To exchange better ideas and actions of the Communities on sustainable use of water and other resource management.

o To provide relevant information to the communities so that informed decisions are made.

o To prepare a People's Alternative Water Policy involving the communities.

o To build up a nation wide movement against privatization of water.

• We the people of India will not allow our waters and sources of livelihood to be made a commodity for profit of corporate and private agencies.

The People of India