Tag: public health and the government

The Constitution of India recognises the right to water as being a part of the Right to Life under Article 21. This means that it is the right of every person, whether rich or poor, to have sufficient amounts of water to fulfil his/her daily needs at a price that he/she can afford. In other words, there should be universal access to water. 

India has one of the largest number of cases of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera. Over 1,600 Indians, most of them children below the age of five, reportedly die everyday because of water-related diseases. These deaths can be prevented if  people have access to safe drinking water. 

The General Assembly (legislative part) of the United Nations on 28 July 2010 recognised the Human Right to water and Sanitation as the basic Human Right. This Human Right has been recognized through several treaties and conventions. The first resolution was passed by UN General Assembly and UN Human Right Council in 2010. In India, the right to water and sanitation is covered under Article 21 (Right to life and liberty) of the Constitution.

• Ninety-seven percent of the water on the earth is salt water. Salt water is filled with salt and other minerals, and humans cannot drink this water. Although the salt can be removed, it is a difficult and expensive process.
• Two percent of the water on earth is glacier ice at the North and South Poles. This ice is fresh water and could be melted; however, it is too far away from where people live to be usable.
• Less than 1% of all the water on earth is fresh water that we can actually use. We use this small amount of water for drinking, transportation, heating and cooling, industry, and many other purposes.

Government works for the welfare of people. In Democracy the structure of government is mostly Socialistic and welfare kind. The facilities that are available to the public at large and can be availed by everyone are called public facilities. The Government provides the facility of Healthcare, water supply, roads, railways, and sanitation essentially to the public for preventing any kind of monopoly on them and making sure that no one is left behind is access to these facilities. These are less profitable and consume a huge amount of money. These facilities constitute the infrastructure of the nation.

The Kerala High Court in Attakoya Thangal v. Union of India recognized the fundamental importance of the right to water. In this case, the petitioners claimed that a scheme for pumping up ground water for supplying potable water to the Laccadives (now known as the Lakshadweep Islands) in the Arabian Sea would upset the fresh water equilibrium, leading to salinity in the available water resources and causing more long-term harm than short-term benefits.

World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on March 22. The day focuses attention on the importance of fresh water and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Water table refers to the Groundwater. Depletion of water table means scarcity of the groundwater. The Population rise led to the increasing demand for water and for settlement and establishment forests are being cut which is resulting in depletion of water table. The lands have been acquired for building or expanding cities which ultimately decreasing groundwater reservoir.