HOW ANCIENT INDIA COPED WITH WATER ISSUES
Is it not ironic that with an estimated 400 million hectare meters (MHM) of rain, India’s annual requirement at the turn of the century was a quarter of that at 100 MHM? With a billion plus to cater for today, corresponding demands for agriculture etc. may have gone up, but still nowhere near what is available and allowed to flow off for want of conservation. The saddest part: This is a monsoon dependent country with a Hoary Experience in saving up to 66% of precipitation, on an “as is where is” basis; the antithesis of the 20 odd % in magnificently humongous dams inherited from an Occidental culture, showing off its power over Nature. That famed 66% happened in pre-British India, testified by Major R H Sankey in 1866 when taking charge in Mysore (remember the administration of Tipu Sultan?). He wrote: “…… to such an extent has the principle of storage been followed that it would now require some ingenuity to discover a site …suitable for a new ...