The Silence of the Many

Title: The Silence of the Many – The Fallout of Operation Blue Star

Author: Plavelil George Eapen

Publisher: Viva Books, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9788130931005

Pages: 254

India is supposed to be a secular nation in which the government neither interferes in religious affairs not does it discriminate people along religious lines. The practice falls much shorter than profession, however. Most of the time, communal and appeasing elements exert strong influence on the regime. Vested interests in major communities are unnecessarily pampered. Democratically elected politicians appease the disgruntled elements in religious orthodoxy to score one up against their party mates. Unscrupulous elements quickly grow from strength to strength until their former patrons are no longer able to rein them in. Indira Gandhi was said to be a very insecure person, probably as a result of a disturbed childhood. She drove her detractors out of the party. In order to have her say in Punjab in the face of the growing base of the Sikh party of Akali Dal, she openly sided with a hardcore religious teacher, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. She could of course claim some short term gains, with the assistance of the extremist. But Bhindranwale had his own agenda. He set up his machinery inside Akal Takht, Sikhism’s seat of temporal power and ran his parallel rule from inside the temple. He used extortion, kidnapping and murder to obtain what he wanted. The government was afraid to touch him. Gradually, Bhindranwale became bolder and wanted to establish an independent state for the Sikhs called Khalistan. Indira ordered troops inside the Golden Temple to flush out terrorists. In a pitched battle in which hundreds from both sides lost their lives, he and his colleagues were killed. But the attack on the temple had already ignited Sikh sentiments. Four months later, Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own bodyguards. A massive riot was engendered in the assassination’s wake by the Congress party in which thousands of innocent Sikh lives were lost. Very few perpetrators were convicted on account of government apathy. George Eapen, who was an army man, reminisces about the incidents related to Sikh militancy and Delhi riots. The title of the book has its inspiration from Martin Luther King’s famous quote that ‘the ultimate tragedy of mankind is not the brutality of the few, but the silence of the many’, which in this case refers to the passive attitude of the silent majority being shown to victims in communal conflagrations.

Eapen provides a good account of Operation Blue Star. Being a member of the armed forces serving in Punjab at the time and who was later assigned the task of security of the Golden Temple in the aftermath of military operations, the author’s blow by blow account of the three days that it took for Indian army to assert the rule of law is refreshingly original. Rarely do we find an account penned by a soldier. No self-respecting society could have ignored the dictatorial parallel government run by Bhindranwale and his associates and his contemptuous disregard of people following other religions. The Sikhs have every right to be outraged for the sacrilegious act of the military entering the holy complex with lethal weapons and killing people harboured there. But, shouldn’t it be felt equally outrageous to them that a bunch of terrorists were allowed entry into the holy place and allowed to perpetrate the most heinous atrocities inside the temple for years on end? The author records that the army had found an arms factory inside the precincts and people were kidnapped and held hostage in its labyrinthine rooms. Hardcore criminals were lodged in its hostels, but what the high priest of Harmandir Sahib had to complain about was that the army entered the parikrama with shoes on, with helmets instead of with covered heads, smoking cigarettes and using the water of the pool for washing. He also mentions that the priests who withheld the handing over of saropa (robe of honour) to visiting Indian government dignitaries had no compunction in 1919 on gifting it to Reginald Dyer, who ordered the massacre of Jalianwala Bagh, immediately after the shooting. The heinous incident, in which hundreds of peaceful protestors were killed, took place within earshot of the temple at Amritsar, but that didn’t deter the high priests from making Dyer an honorary member of the Khalsa. In 1984, things were really at the point of getting out of hands, as retired army veterans assisted Bhindranwale in organizing defense and fortifying the positions, one such was retired Major General Shabagh Singh of the Bangladesh war fame. Many Sikh battalions of the Indian army mutinied after Blue Star, killing fellow soldiers and looting the civilian population. They were caught and handed long prison sentences. Eapen presents an amusing legend that all the attackers of the Golden Temple lived exactly 153 days only, after the event. They were, Masa Rangad, Jahiya Khan, Jahan Khan, Ahmed Shah Abdali and Indira Gandhi. They all died due to natural or unnatural causes, but none of them was alive on the 154^th morning. However, the author’s narrative of the military action leaves out the ordinary soldiers without naming, referring to them only as OR (other ranks). The book compares Operation Blue Star with Operation Black Thunder a few years later, in which the militants were flushed out by siege. But the second operation could succeed only because the first one was so sharp and effective and instilled fear among the terrorists that if they don’t surrender, the security forces would again come inside the temple.

After Blue Star, the book’s focus shifts to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her own Sikh bodyguards, and the gruesome pogrom against Sikhs in Delhi that followed it. Indira had been foolhardy to ignore security warnings against continuing to employ radicalized Sikhs in her entourage and paid for it with her life. This may be likened in real life to a two-wheeler rider meeting his death in an accident while not wearing a helmet! But the horrendous retaliation against the entire Sikh community was organized by Congress party men with tacit approval from the highest echelons of the party as well as the government – which were one and the same thing in those days. For three continuous days, criminals killed, looted, raped, burnt and pillaged upon innocent Sikhs, while the police turned a blind eye. Whenever the Sikhs organized armed defence, the police was quick to arrest and disarm them, make them sitting ducks to assailants who roamed the streets of Delhi with impunity. The shock of 1984 riots is still a blot on the nation’s secular credentials. However, it was not a communal riot per se. Hindus helped their Sikh neighbours in many instances and Eapen records cases where Muslims were also among the attackers. It is also true that some Sikhs aggravated the situation by distributing sweets and indulging in ecstatic street dancing on the death of Indira. However, India must hang her head in shame at the fact that only a handful of the accused were ever convicted upon a total death toll of 2733 victims in the riots.

Indirect suggestions on the involvement of foreign security agencies behind the murder of Indira Gandhi may be discarded as an attempt at sensationalism. Absolutely no evidence or even motive is cited in its favour. Eapen has made an unnecessarily detailed description of the violence that took place during anti-Sikh riots. Such graphical description of murder and rape serve no use other than inciting passions among the descendants of victims when the embers had already gone cold. The unacceptable brutality of the assailants is already known and acknowledged as such by all, but the author’s attempt would only prolong the healing of the wounds. Also, the description of the rehabilitation efforts is rather mechanical, with details of the action-taken report filed by the government elucidated in detail and statistical figures of the compensation paid and houses rebuilt or repaired given in the text. The narrative on the violence is also based on personal interviews made by the author in the 2000s. But all the opinions expressed are not to be taken seriously, as some of the victims even suggested the involvement of CIA in the riots. The book includes the names of a few films and books which were based on the mindless violence of the riots, but spread the message of tolerance and love. The chapter on the author’s stint as the jailer of the military prison at Golconda that was set up to detain army deserters who were awarded light sentences treats the Sikh soldiers like children, who are easily offended by certain actions and whose goodwill can be managed by formulaic techniques. The long chapter on the bombing of Air India flight Kanishka over the Irish coast in 1985 is, strictly speaking, not linked to the salient theme of the book, but may be accepted on the need of providing a comprehensive picture of Sikh militancy. But, the particulars of the search for remains in the Atlantic Ocean including the names of the search vessels are irrelevant indeed.

Readers shouldn’t be confused about two things – the author’s political inclination and his desire to have an increased role for the armed forces in civilian life; during riots, to be precise. Eapen is all praise for the Communits in resisting terrorism in Punjab. But don’t make any mistakes – they resisted it by holding public meetings, rallies and sticking posters! On no less than three occasions do the communist party is unduly praised. Even the example of Bhagat Singh of freedom struggle is stirred up in propping up the communist party, which was practically non-existent in Punjab during the insurgency. As far as the role of the army, it may naturally be expected from a former soldier. He demands that the concurrence of a magistrate should not be held as a prerequisite to use force by an army unit during a riot in which they are called in. This is quite preposterous in a democracy. When there raises fervent calls to scrap the special powers devolved to the armed forces in terrorism-ridden states, Eapen is suggesting that the power be expanded to the entire nation! The final chapter on what to do to prevent the occurrence of riots is only a bunch of moral platitudes, urging the people to assimilate the good teachings of all religions and such pep talk.

The book is invested with a basic glossary of the Punjabi and Hindi terms used in it. The bibliography and a rudimentary index are laudable. However, the incessant series of prefaces and forewords are terrible. To be precise, the reader has to wade through two messages, foreword, prologue, preview and Insider’s view point before he can even touch the main text. The book is also riddled with too many printing errors, suggesting the pathetic quality of proof reading.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 2 Star

The Marwaris

Title: The Marwaris – From Jagat Seth to the Birlas

Author: Thomas A Timberg

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2014 (First)

ISBN: 9780670084982

Pages: 184

The Marwaris form a powerful business community in India. More than a quarter of the country’s richest men belong to the group. They control many large and profitable enterprises that are leaders in their area of expertise. However, the term ‘Marwari’ conjures up images of a usurer or a non-ethical trader in many parts of India, most notably in the South. They are associated with money lending at cut throat interest rates, and are intent on promptly getting the money back without any leniency or kindness. In other words, their social standing may be likened to Jews in medieval Europe, with Shylock as their most notorious representative. The term ‘Marwari’, which is used in the book, however refers to enterprising families from the region of Marwar in Rajasthan, which is centered on the city of Jodhpur and adjoining areas. They do not belong to any particular caste – which is very important to note – but includes Hindus and Jains as well. A typical Who’s Who of Indian business includes names like Birla, Goenka, Ruia, Singhania, Mittal, Khaitan, Bajaj and numerous others, who are all Marwari. Thomas A Timberg is a scholar and consultant on economic development. His fields of study include Baghdadi Jews in India, contemporary microfinance and Islamic finance. His doctoral dissertation was on the Marwaris as industrial entrepreneurs and this book is a result of his continued interest in following the affairs of the community. This book is also a part of the series, ‘The Story of Indian Business’ edited by Gurcharan Das. Another title in the series, ‘Merchants of Tamilakam’ was reviewed earlier in the blog. Das has contributed an illuminating Foreword to the book.

Business communities are groups of castes with a common regional origin and a traditional involvement in trade and industry. They constitute several castes. Incidentally, different occupational interests may be seen in one caste. The Amils are traditionally service oriented, with most of them taking up positions in government, while the Bhaibands are entrepreneurial by turn of mind. However, both are members of the same Lohana caste. The Marwaris found lucrative business opportunities in an India moulded by the British East India Company. Many of them migrated under Jagat Seth to Kolkata. Their acumen in identifying a business opportunity quickly enabled them to grow beyond comparison. Three typical roles were donned by the Marwari businessmen in running the economic system put in place by the British. This included great firms, that is, large state banks; formal Banias or guaranteed brokers to large foreign firms; and firms that dealt with future and ready markets for shares and commodities. Timberg identifies the reasons for the growth spurt seen in Marwari establishments, such as psychological disposition, social support networks and individual and historical factors. They had innovative ideas the world had not thought about. For example, the Birlas had a kind of accounting system called Parta, which was widely used in the family business for monitoring and financial control. However, the author’s remarks hide echoes of racial profiling of successful business people. There were Marwari firms like Tarachand Ghanshyamdas which failed. Also, Marwari firms flourished in foreign lands too, where you can’t point to social support or historical factors for the success story. Hence, the most logical thing to conclude is that they excelled because they cultivated the above-mentioned redeeming characteristics and not under the umbrella of an enveloping caste system. Timberg’s unwarranted assumption on the effects of caste in the observation that there is a large portion of Indians in the Fortune 500 list is challenging the wisdom of modern Indian society and the principles of social justice. The last two chapters of the book are of a general nature applicable to any business. Where the time-honoured principles of watching the money, delegation of authority with constant monitoring, importance of having a plan with a style, inhibition-free growth and right corporate culture is enunciated, that enterprise is bound to create wonders.

As in most practical cases, good business firms are not necessarily ethically good too, for at least some of the times. Marwari enterprises are also not totally immune from this general principle. The institutions freely traded in opium, but of course, it was completely legal in those days. We should not examine an event in the past under the glow of enlightenment of a future era. But still, it was evident even in those days that opium was a dangerous substance that dissipated men into insignificance and a destroyer of families and health. Besides, industrialists always supported the ruling power. In 1857, when the country erupted into its war of independence, the Marwari businesses helped the British in crushing the insurrection. All of them were richly rewarded for their loyalty. However, it should also be pointed out that industrialists like Birlas sided with the national movement spearheaded by Gandhi, providing all material support, even at the risk of antagonizing the British.

Timberg adopts a very prejudiced point of view in assessing the entrepreneurial spirit of Indians, incorrectly attributing it to the ethos of belonging to a caste or community that traditionally indulged in business. Thus, Nandan Nilekani is hailed as a successful businessman ‘even though’ he did not belong to any recognized community that specialized in business. An unfortunate aspect that cries out is the lack of proper structure in the book’s organization. Though it is rather small, the book took a time disproportionately longer to complete, owing to its regretful inability to interest the reader. The author has relied heavily on the work ‘The Life and Times of G. D. Birla’ by Medha M. Kudaisya. The text transforms into a review of the book at times. History and anecdotes of prominent business personalities abound in the book, but there is no thread of analysis that strings them meaningfully together. The work is adorned with a good section of Notes, a Bibliography and an Index.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 2 Star

A Hundred and One Days

Title: A Hundred and One Days - A Baghdad Journal

Author: Åsne Seierstad

Publisher: Basic Books, 2005 (First published 2003)

ISBN: 9780465076000

Pages: 321

Iraq is a land of paradoxes. It hosted one of the oldest civilizations known to the world and is currently the theater of the most savage ideology of all in the form of the Islamic State. It is rich in oil wealth, but the people are poor in the war-ravaged country. The pathetic fall of Iraq is the handiwork of a dictator named Saddam Hussein abd-al Majid al-Tikriti, who ruled the country for 24 long years (1979 – 2003), before he was thrown out by American troops. His tenure as President of Iraq was torn with continuous warfare. In the second year itself, he took on Iran, but the bloody war went on inconclusively for eight years. Soon after, he invaded Kuwait, another disastrous decision. He was ousted from there after a humiliating defeat in the First Gulf War in 1991 and put under crippling sanctions. Saddam was a laughing stock in other countries for his grandiloquent rhetoric with nothing much to show for it. When he continued to show defiance against international weapons inspectors, he was brought down by a coalition force led by the U.S. We later came to know that as per international law, the western powers had no basis for attacking the country, but Bush and Blair, the President and Prime minister of the U.S. and Britain respectively, fabricated evidence to ‘prove’ that Saddam had hoarded weapons of mass destruction. However, the good thing that emerged out of the war was that the tyrant was deposed and the majority Shias got their voice back. Åsne Seierstad is a Norwegian reporter who has much experience in covering battlefields like Afghanistan, Kosovo and Chechnya. She has received numerous awards for her journalism. She is retelling the events that unfolded in Baghdad in 2003 immediately before and after the occupation of the city in this book.

After the ouster of Saddam Hussein, Iraq sunk into anarchy. Exploiting the chance, people with extremist ideas and uncontrolled lust banded together under the banner of the Islamic State and set up a regime covering a large part of Iraq and Syria. The plight of Christians and other minorities like Yasidis had been terrible. They were forcibly converted en masse. Those who resisted were brutally murdered. Their women were taken as sex slaves and traded online. But what was the condition of the minorities under Saddam himself? Did they get an equal status with Muslims, who constituted the majority? We shouldn’t here lose sight of the time-invariant truth regarding Muslims’ religious tolerance. Wherever they are in a minority, they demand the society to be secular. But the moment they reach a critical mass, everything gets topsy-turvy, Islamic Sharia is imposed by force and people of other religions are relegated to the pathetic state of second-rate citizens or even outright slaves. In Saddam’s Iraq, Seierstad remarks that in Mosul and a few other towns, mosques and churches stood shoulder to shoulder. It is also true that we find a few broadminded Iraqis who pray at the mosque and light candles at a church for fulfillment of their wish. But the real plight of the Christians can be deduced from the comment by a knowledgeable man the author came across in a Baghdad church. The number of Christians in the country had halved over the previous fifteen years! The Islamisation of Iraq and the increasing influence of Imams worried them. The best jobs and the best pay were reserved for Muslims (p. 86-7). The career growth of every Christian would be stunted after a short while. It was true that they were well represented in the Baath Party and Hussein’s forces. His deputy, Tariq Azeez, was a Christian. But the sad fact was that Azeez was not allowed to go on foreign trips with his family, who were always under house arrest when he travelled overseas. They were held as some kind of hostages to guarantee his good behavior in foreign lands. Thus it is quite evident from Seierstad’s narrative that the minorities were still not much more than slaves in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

A true picture of Saddam Hussein’s regime can be gleaned from the book. The level of censorship and surveillance was enormous. All mass media were strictly controlled by the regime. News programs were nothing but propaganda of what the president thought and did. Government establishments were decorated with massive portraits of Saddam in various poses. His Baath Party controlled all aspects of social life, including maintenance of law and order in emergencies. Foreign journalists were required to follow the program charted by the Ministry of Information. They were always accompanied by government-appointed translators. Any conversation with ordinary citizens without the presence of minders was strictly banned under the pain of expulsion. Common folk were afraid of the minders as well, since they represented the regime. Usually, when they demanded an interview with a citizen as part of the journalist’s work, the people quickly obliged without any demur. All activities were subject to formal permission granted by venal bureaucrats, which led to widespread corruption. The author herself had paid bribes to extend her visa while in Iraq in response to threats from the officials that they were planning to revoke it. Once, she had to return to Jordan before paying another hefty bribe and coming back to Iraq. The bureaucrats, street vendors, and common people – all alike repeated the words of official propaganda when asked about their lives or what they thought about the president. The entire Iraq of Saddam Hussein was a theater. They hated him thoroughly, though they hated America in equal measure. When American troops finally converged on Baghdad, Hussein’s frantic calls for resistance went unheeded. They rejoiced at the downfall of the tyrant who ruled over them. Saddam had to flee, but was soon caught and hanged after a brief trial. It is curious to note that even though Saddam exhorted his followers to fight till death, he meekly surrendered when the time came!

War brings out the hero hidden inside every man and woman. The book has captured the spirit of endurance and calm courage exhibited by Iraqi people against all odds. Some people had actually fled Baghdad before the war began, to seek asylum in Jordan or even in the countryside. But the majority braved the situation heroically, without complaint at the war thrust on their shoulders by the stubbornness of one man who ruled over their lives for the past three decades. As the war neared, life became even tougher as the exchange rates skyrocketed against Iraqi Dinar. Another remarkable point to note is the great tolerance extended to foreign journalists covering the war. Even when their country and their lives were falling apart, they admitted the white journalists into their homes, cooperated with their work and made their lives easier! Sporadic incidents in which the grieving relatives of people who died in air bombing raids vented their ire on journalists are recorded by Seierstad, but they were rare. The journalists also showed exemplary courage. They withstood the American assault on Hotel Palestine, where they were staying. Amid the war scenes, we also see the rise of unconventional warfare in the form of suicide bombers on behalf of Saddam. When his rhetoric and arsenal miserably failed to contain American ground troops, he imported Islamist fighters ready to lay down their lives in the cause of religion. For Saddam, religion was fine if it suited him. However, the fidayeen poured across the desert in droves from Syria and attacked unsuspecting American soldiers by detonating themselves in their midst. This hardened the invasion forces, who then shot anything that moved, including civilians.

Iraqis were jubilant at first at the overthrow of Saddam, but soon grew disillusioned with American occupation. The author gives many indications of the deteriorating situation before she left the city. Shias were elated at the downfall of the president, who persecuted them, while the Sunnis resented the occupation forces’ high-handed manners. Iraqis seemed to have believed that the U.S. troops would act chivalrously towards the people, by not bombing residential areas or shooting civilians. This is strange, as they didn’t harbour any such illusions towards the Iranian military in the eight-year war that ended in 1988. Iran and Iraq used chemical weapons and lethal firepower against targets in enemy country indiscriminately. But, the Americans must behave decently, thought the average Iraqi. Exasperated with fighting in the desert and pestered with suicide squads, the trigger-happy invaders were not in a mood to oblige. As we know, Iraq descended into civil war as soon as the Americans left.

Seierstad’s narrative presents a true picture of Baghdad immediately before and after the war. She has championed the cause of individual Iraqis, but never once of the regime. Even after acknowledging the bone of contention of ordinary people against Western forces, she reiterates the arguments that can be laid against it. She is expressing doubt on many occasions where an American bomb is alleged to have landed, that the culprit might really be the anti-aircraft rockets falling back to the ground and exploding. Also, being a journalist’s narrative, readers should not expect much depth in the book.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Drinking Water

Title: Drinking Water – A History

Author: James Salzman

Publisher: Overlook Duckworth, 2013 (First published 2012)

ISBN: 9781468307115

Pages: 320

Water is essential for all life forms. Perhaps that is the reason why we treat it in such a cavalier fashion often. We assume it to be a fundamental right of every human being to have access to clean drinking water. However, the cleanness of the water we consume is not a guaranteed entitlement in many parts of the world. Public opinion is divided in the middle on how to handle the issue of drinking water. Some say it is a basic human right that is to be fulfilled by governments free of cost, or if at all, with a nominal price tag. On the other hand, there are people who point out that water is a commodity just like food, even though both are equally essential to life. The quantity and quality of water will be improved if and only if more capital is infused into it. This mandates private enterprise and competitive pricing. However, the side that opposes privatization enjoys greater popular support and political backing. This is amply illustrated by the revoking of rights granted in many parts of the world to entrepreneurs. This book presents a brief history of how drinking water was distributed in households of ancient civilizations, how the distribution system took shape, and the several issues related to the handling, distribution and marketing of water. It also provides a brief glimpse on the methods of purification at the end point, that is, our homes. James Salzman is a distinguished professor of Environmental Law at UC Santa Barbara. He has addressed topics spanning drinking water, trade and environment through his books and articles. Consensus among scholars points him out as the fifth most cited environmental law professor in the world. This book is a must read for environmental enthusiasts and students of public administration.

Salzman begins with a general discussion on the need of any society to ensure its supply of drinking water, which involves source identification, its protection from enemies, purification by suitable treatment, and distribution to end users. Water is essential to life, but the question of whether to treat it as a commodity is still not settled conclusively. Ancient communities recognized the Right of Thirst, in some cases, even to outsiders of the tribe. If a person was thirsty, water was given to him, without any monetary obligation. On the other hand, there is a group that argues that even though food is equally essential to life, that is held as a commodity that can be bought and sold freely. Why water should be singled out then? The issue of free water supply dogged private investment in water treatment and distribution for a long time with its repercussions felt in the bottled water industry also. Strange as it may seem, but bottled water is making its second appearance now. It flourished at the end of the 19^th century, when water treatment plants were unheard of, or in its infancy. By the middle of the next century, efficient treatment schemes were in place, making tap water safer. This forced bottled water companies into hibernation. Now, as the public perception on the safety of tap water has again hit a bottom, they are back in the game. Chlorination was the most effective technique that removed biological contaminants from drinking water. Salzman notes with concern the widespread practice in Asia of using a common water cup. This is a recipe for inviting contagious diseases, but we are oblivious of the darker side of this common custom. The book includes posters of information campaigns that sought to end the use of a common cup in public places. Disposable cups known as Dixie Cups were developed as a solution to this menace. At the same time, sharing of water, especially at a holy place like Lourdes in France, Zamzam well in Mecca or numerous Hindu pilgrimage sites was quite common across the world.

The second part of the text deals with transportation, sale and distribution of water on an industrial scale. The emergence of bottled water owed its origins surprisingly to marketing charades of shrines and religious places which certified a bottle of water with special seals to denote that it was taken from a source considered to be holy. People venerate water from springs, which explains the liberal use of snow-clad mountains and streams on the bottles of water we purchase from shops in the city. Depending on the minerals dissolved in it, water from springs can offer therapeutic value, as Lithium salts in solution are helpful for alleviating mental illnesses. So, Salzman is hinting that there might be some truth behind miraculous cures claimed by holy water. He also notes with irony that tap water is regulated more closely than bottled water. Stringent rules on the safety of tap water exist, whereas bottled water is treated as packaged food and lax rules apply. Besides, the use of PET bottles pause biohazards as well. Notwithstanding the pollution caused by discarded bottles, manufacturing of one bottle that can hold one liter of water requires the use of three to four liters of water. Storage and distribution of drinking water raises some interesting problems as well. Threat of terrorism in the wake of 9/11 has forced many U.S. cities to considerably enhance the physical security thrown in for their water treatment plants and distribution pipelines. The author lists many plausible scenarios of attack, each more fanciful than the previous one.

The book throws some light on a raging issue that exercises the minds of many people across the world – that of whether water is a marketable commodity or a human need. Those who assert that water is a gift from god get the stinging rejoinder that He had forgotten to lay the pipes to distribute it! Politicians and public anywhere in the world generally side with the altruist cause. This was the real reason in reversing the decision to allow private companies to participate in water distribution projects. Only the constitutions of India and South Africa recognized water as a fundamental right of a citizen. However, the ground reality is far removed from the idealistic banter. Salzman explains a number of technologies currently available to improve water conditions at the point of use. Even though a bit costly, this ensures the best value for money for speedy implementation. An informative discussion on treatment of sewage as recycled water for potable use is presented. This may feel disgusting for the casual reader, myself being one of them. But on second thoughts, what is so revolting in the idea? The water we consider as pure and drinkable took its liquid shape long, long ago, and many plants and animals might’ve ingested and then discharged it!

Nobody can fail to notice the immense significance of the topic in our daily lives when we remember that drinking water is the single largest killer today in the form of communicable diseases spread by contaminated water. However, the author’s lament that there are no books on the subject is not borne out by facts. Philip Ball’s eminently readable book, ‘H₂O – A Biography of Water’ is one such. Interested readers can read a review in this blog itself. Having written the book for an American audience in mind, most of the units are not represented by their more familiar international equivalents. Gallons and ounces confound the reader in place of liter and gram. By the same token, the author takes a condescending attitude towards other poor countries, by even remarking at one place that ‘even’ the United States don’t have such a system in place! Repetition of the same idea verbatim at two places may be attributed to the need for better organization of conceptual design. The book is accompanied by an impressive collection of Notes at the end and a good index. Even though the book is compiled with due care for the major political issues that are plaguing drinking water systems in the world, lack of sharp focus and depth of research is disconcerting at times.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star