India Water Privatization Alert!
Image from India Water Portal.org/Nagpur Municipal Corporation in Troubled Waters
Note in my inbox today from Corporate Accountability International re. a petition campaign they’re running to stop the World Bank, the private water industry, global water privatizing profiteer company Veolia, and industry lies from taking the basic human right to water away from thousands of indigenous communities in India by citing their failed water project in Nagpur as a success story–link to petition below, please sign. We don’t need a new multinational corporate colonizer in India, post British-colonialism–or anywhere else, for that matter, since these multinationals are essentially striving to creep all over the world today. Water privatizing is yet another way in which ethic-less companies are striving to co-opt, profit-ize, and monetize for themselves the world’s natural resources, please step in to make your individual voice heard! Stopping water privatizing in one country is probably key to stopping it all over the world.
“For years, the World Bank has promoted a failed water privatization project in Nagpur, India as a “success” to be repeated worldwide. And now the World Bank is backing new plans for hundreds of Indian cities to follow the privatization model that has been disastrous in Nagpur.
We can’t let the World Bank get away with its dangerous propaganda and false promises about water privatization. That’s why we’re partnering with Indian allies to expose the truth behind the World Bank’s spin and demand strong, democratically-controlled water systems.
Stand with the people of Nagpur today and tell the World Bank to stop pushing its dangerous water privatization schemes.
Ramola, we know that water privatization does not work and has had disastrous consequences in Nagpur, including lengthy project delays, service failures, inflated bills, labor abuses, and the shut-off of scores of connections. While problems persist for the people of Nagpur, the scheme remains lucrative for global water privatizing giant Veolia.
Despite these persistent failures, the World Bank continues to promote Nagpur as a so-called “success story” as it supports privatization of water systems in hundreds of Indian cities.
With your help, we have a plan to stop the World Bank. Working with media, international allies, labor, and community groups in Nagpur and throughout India, we’re challenging the expansion of the dangerous private water industry by exposing the World Bank and industry lies. And we’re mobilizing our members and allies from beyond India to call on the World Bank to acknowledge that the project in Nagpur is a failure.
Thanks for challenging corporate power.”
Public/Private Partnerships, Agenda 21, Agenda 2030, in India
Also see this article by Makarand Purohit on the Nagpur story from India Water Portal, which traces how India’s water woes have increased after encouragement toward water privatisation by the World Bank and Asian Bank–doesn’t this sound similar to what Agenda 21/2030 is doing today in the US?
“Water privatisation in India
The drive to privatise the water sector accelerated after the year 2000 when the government of India adopted various reforms like Public Private Participation (PPP), full cost recovery, revision of water tariffs, establishment of water regulatory authorities, etc. suggested by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
Within a decade, ongoing private sector participation projects in the water sector have increased to more than 300 in the country. Maharastra has the maximum number followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. More than 70 percent of the projects are under various stages of implementation and still need to be evaluated. A database maintained by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra on private sector participation shows that there are 18 projects in India which are facing problems similar to NMC.
The tall claims of improvement in the water services have not only failed in India but also in other parts of the world. More than 54 private sector participation projects across the globe are in the same boat.”
Please read the full article by Makarand Purohit at India Water Portal.
