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?

As District Magistrate, the Collector must first secure drinking water, enforce conservation equally on farmers and industry, and address the bribery allegation through a transparent inquiry.

(a) Options available

• Emergency supply: request tankers and extra water from the State Disaster Management Authority and prioritise drinking water under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• Regulating industrial draw: use the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 to direct industries to regulate or reduce abstraction, and check their consents and meters.
• Prohibitory orders: invoke Section 163 BNSS (earlier Section 144 CrPC) against unauthorised borewell use only if protests turn violent.
• Joint monitoring committee of farmers, industry and administration for transparent water allocation.

(b) Mutually compatible actions

• Independent third-party water audit and metering of industrial borewells, with findings shared with farmer representatives.
• Staggered time-sharing of the river reservoir: alternate irrigation and industrial draw days till monsoon, with drinking water first.
• Drip irrigation subsidy for small farmers and differential water tariffs, higher for industry.
• Farm ponds, check dams and recycling of process water to add supply without shutting the industry.
• Vigilance inquiry into the bribery allegation, with referral to the Lokayukta if required.

(c) Dilemmas

• Enforcing law versus maintaining social order: uniform restrictions on farmers may trigger a prolonged agitation.
• Impartiality versus equity: identical treatment ignores different vulnerabilities, as workers face job loss and farmers face crop loss.
• Short-term relief versus long-term sustainability, and accountability to the State versus responsiveness to local needs.
• Transparency versus confidentiality, since industrial water data may involve trade secrets.

The Collector's credibility depends on acting quickly on drinking water, applying the same rules to every user, and letting an independent inquiry answer the corruption charge.