Q. With the summer heat being exceptionally severe this year, the district has been facing severe water shortage.
The District Collector has been mobilizing his subordinate officials to conserve the remaining water reserves for preventing the district from plunging into acute drinking water crisis. Along with an awareness campaign for conserving water, strict measures have been taken for stopping the over-exploitation of ground-water. Vigilance teams have been deployed to tour the villages and find the farmers who are drawing water from deep borewells or from the river reservoir for irrigation. The farmers are agitated by such action. A delegation of farmers meets the District Collector with their issues and complains that while they are not being allowed to irrigate their crops, big industries located near the river are drawing huge amounts of water through deep borewells for their industrial processes. The farmers allege that their administration is anti-farmer and corrupt, being bribed by the industry. The district needs to placate the farmers as they are threatening to go on a prolonged protest. At the same time, the District Collector has to deal with the water crisis. The industry cannot be closed as this would result in a large number of workers being unemployed.
a) Discuss all options available to the District Collector as a District Magistrate.
b) What suitable actions can be taken in view of mutually compatible interests of the stakeholders?
c) What are the potential administrative and ethical dilemmas for the District Collector?
UPSC Mains 2024 GS4 Ethics Paper
Model Answer:
The case involves balancing the fundamental Right to Water (Article 21) with agricultural livelihoods, industrial employment, and restoring administrative credibility amidst severe scarcity.
1. Options Available to the District Collector (Part a)
- Ban all non-drinking extraction: Stops both farming and industry. (Saves drinking water; causes mass unemployment and agrarian ruin).
- Allow agricultural extraction, halt industry: Placates protesting farmers. (Leads to industrial shutdowns, major worker job losses, and economic strain).
- Proportionate rationing for both: Enforce strict quotas based on survival needs. (Optimal choice; balances competing livelihoods and drinking water security).
2. Suitable Actions for Stakeholder Balance (Part b)
- Prioritize Drinking Water: Enforce National Water Policy mandates, reserving reservoirs strictly for human survival.
- Industrial Regulation: Mandate recycled wastewater usage, audit borewell meters, and enforce strict Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) guidelines.
- Agricultural Relief: Release minimal sustenance water for standing crops and provide immediate micro-irrigation subsidies (PM-KSY).
- Participatory Transparency: Form a Joint Task Force (farmer representatives, administration, industry officials) to monitor industrial extraction, dispelling corruption allegations.
- Alternative Livelihoods: Scale up MGNREGA for drought-proofing and watershed development (e.g., Paani Foundation model) to offset agrarian income loss.
3. Administrative and Ethical Dilemmas (Part c)
- Administrative Dilemmas:
- Law & Order vs. Enforcement: Preventing farmer protests while strictly enforcing unpopular water conservation mandates.
- Livelihood vs. Employment: Protecting agrarian incomes without triggering mass industrial unemployment.
- Ethical Dilemmas:
- Utilitarianism vs. Distributive Justice: Saving water for the larger public good vs. protecting the vulnerable, marginalized farmers.
- Objectivity vs. Compassion: Strict, blind adherence to conservation rules vs. empathy for farmers facing financial ruin.
- Public Trust vs. Perceived Bias: Dispelling allegations of bribery while legitimately allowing industries to operate for worker welfare.
The District Collector must demonstrate high emotional intelligence and transparency, ensuring distributive justice and community-driven resource management to navigate this crisis compassionately and objectively.
