Sunlight is not yet commercialised, to be sold only by licensed companies. Air, too, can be breathed without charge as of now. But water has gone the other way — and thereby hangs the story of another national shame.Noticed those shining mineral-water bottles on conference tables graced by the Prime Minister and others? The brand names are prominently displayed, giving the product glamour value as well as credibility.That credibility has disappeared overnight. It now seems that packaged water has pesticide residues beyond all safety limits. We are a country, in the fifty-sixth year of our glorious independence, that has failed to ensure that most fundamental necessity of citizens — safe drinking water.Until the multinationals came in, people were drinking well water or ‘‘corporation water’’ even if it came only in driblets for an hour or so a day. Most states set up what they called a Water Supply & Sewerage Board although more often than not it was Sewerage Supply & Water Board.Was that a planned move to prepare the ground for water multinationals? In our invitingly bribable country, everything is possible. Americans have no qualms about putting our ISRO and the Indian Institute of Science on their blacklist. But their cola companies surpassed Enron in their enthusiasm to take over our water and sell it to us. Even when Indians drink water, Americans make money.That most brands of bottled water have proved to be unsafe is really not the fault of the companies. They merely use the loopholes — and the bribability — of our system, as any self-respecting business house would. It’s when we take a closer look at this system that we realise how rotten we have become in half a century.In 1976, an Emergency year, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act was amended because ‘‘adulteration of food articles is rampant in this country.’’ The amendment did precious little to stop that rampant evil. Today the food in India is perhaps the most unsafe in any modern civilised country.But the amendment served a purpose: It excluded water from the purview of the Act. The reasons are known only to the officials who manipulate these things. Only last year, the Health Ministry notified standards for packaged drinking water. The parameters ranged from colour and taste to dissolved solids and alpha emitters.It’s all guaranteed to flummox the layman. But study it for a moment, and even a layman can see through the charade. First, the standards notified for water are all quality standards, not safety standards. They prescribe no safety limits for, say, pesticide residue contents. A water company can meticulously observe all the specifications and its product can still be unsafe. Even ‘‘potability’’ is not the same as ‘‘safety’’.Secondly, the Ministry itself has violated the Act by not notifying the laboratories and methods of analysis for the testing of samples. How do you measure alpha emitters? Answer: Only the big players can even pretend to be observing these complex standards. Which is another way of manipulating the market in favour of three or four major companies and letting them dictate the prices.Safety of water — and food — can be ensured only by formulating safety standards. The Health Ministry has all the powers to do so and to make such safety standards mandatory. But its interest seems to be to dispense favours to lobbies — for obvious reasons — rather than to ensure the health and safety of the citizens. Only in India can this happen. Only Indian bureaucrats and politicians can be so cynical. To our lasting shame.
