Indore Water Contamination Deaths: Is Your City Next? | Dr. JP Reveals Shocking Truth

JP Loksatta
805 views • January 08, 2026

#jayaprakashnarayana #indore #watercontamination

In this discussion, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan discusses the devastating Indore water contamination tragedy that claimed multiple lives. We explore how contaminated water supply led to deaths in Indore and uncover alarming insights about water quality issues across Indian cities. Dr. JP explains why this is a systemic public health failure affecting urban India and warns that all cities face similar water contamination risks as rapid urbanisation continues. He underscores the consistent flouting of rules in terms of disposal of waste into water bodies across cities like Hyderabad. A must-watch discussion on India's growing water crisis, urban infrastructure challenges, and public health emergency preparedness.

Key Moments
0:00 Intro
0:38 Indore Crisis
2:21 How can this be avoided?
5:11 Who is accountable?
6:19 What's the point of punishing officials?
13:54 Hyderabad's poor infrastructure
17:16 Who is responsible for this?
20:15 Challenges of Urbanisation
22:25 Message to the Viewer

#IndoreWaterCrisis #WaterContamination #UrbanIndia #PublicHealth #IndianCities #WaterQuality #Urbanisation #SystemicFailure #IndoreNews

The Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR) is one of India’s leading public policy think-tanks and research institutions, focused on the study and promotion of political, electoral, and governance reforms, along with critical areas of state policy. Established in 1996, FDR is based in Hyderabad, Telangana, and has played a significant role in shaping informed public discourse on democratic reforms in India.

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, former MLA, former member of the National Advisory Council, and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, serves as the General Secretary of the Foundation for Democratic Reforms. Trained as a physician, Dr. JP chose public service as his vocation and is widely respected for his commitment to democratic values, governance reform, and evidence-based policymaking.

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0:00 Around 200 years ago, diseases such as
0:02 colera were rampant. Once it was
0:04 realized that these were transmitted
0:06 through drinking water, efforts were
0:07 taken and our drinking water became
0:09 safe. Or so we thought. Over the last
0:13 two weeks, around a dozen people in
0:16 Bhagiratpur, Indor have died due to
0:18 drinking contaminated water. We are here
0:21 today with Dr. JP to discuss this
0:22 tragedy. Hello sir.
0:24 >> Hello Samur. Sir, Indor has been ranked
0:27 first in cleanliness among Indian cities
0:29 for seven consecutive years. If such
0:31 incidents like this can occur in a place
0:33 like Indor, what do you see the
0:34 situation of other cities as?
0:38 >> The answer is self-evident trio. It's a
0:40 ghastly thing
0:42 and the time and again this keeps
0:44 happening in many many cities
0:48 and we are callous about the lives of
0:49 ordinary people because typically the
0:52 better off sections have found other
0:53 avenues. They have their own aquagard.
0:56 They have other own ecosystem. A whole
0:58 new economy has developed.
1:00 Anticipating failure of the government
1:02 in delivering the basic services like
1:04 water supply, mosquito control, so on
1:06 and so forth. We all surviving
1:10 that time and again these things are
1:12 happening and even when there were
1:14 complaints they were completely
1:15 neglected
1:17 and people are not even
1:19 given caution that they must boil the
1:22 water when there's a problem let alone
1:24 fixing the problem very quickly. It
1:26 shows how utterly parasitic
1:30 predatory
1:32 and exploitative our governance system
1:34 has become. I'm using strong words
1:37 because if drinking water a basic need
1:40 of human beings leads to a death
1:42 sentence I don't know when else are we
1:45 going to be moved
1:47 there's nothing more heinous than this
1:50 there's no greater indictment of our
1:52 governance system
1:54 and we need to address it not merely in
1:57 one place when something happens like
1:58 this and attracts media attention but as
2:01 a challenge to the country sanitation
2:04 water supply, mosquito control, the
2:06 basic amenities which people are
2:08 entitled to expect from a government
2:10 government after paying taxes, we're
2:12 ignoring them and focusing on non-core
2:15 issues. This is a reflection of complete
2:18 neglect of the governments in core areas
2:19 of functioning.
2:21 >> Sir, do you think such incidents could
2:22 have been avoided if there was better
2:24 local governance?
2:26 >> 100%.
2:28 Because you know take indoor case for
2:30 instance from newspaper reports it
2:32 appears
2:34 that people when they found that the
2:36 water color was discolored or whatever
2:40 or there was some smell they made
2:43 complaints but nobody bothered about it.
2:46 And two, even if that was not the case,
2:49 if indeed two things happened, local
2:51 corporator and others took initiative
2:53 apart from local officials being
2:55 accountable and there's a ward committee
2:58 appointed as per the constitutional
2:59 provisions for each ward or something
3:02 with local elected members,
3:04 then there would have been constant
3:06 monitoring and feedback loop.
3:09 and two the resources to them deployed
3:12 primarily for civic amenities rather
3:14 than for short-term welfare at the cost
3:16 of their lives on occasion and three if
3:19 people themselves are taking care of
3:20 distribution challenges locally let's
3:22 say w committee is allocated x amount of
3:25 money in that ward for all these defined
3:29 purposes if there is a leakage there
3:32 then quickly addressing that problem it
3:34 costs some money spending that money
3:35 locally deciding to do whatever is
3:37 required then they wouldn't have to wait
3:40 for the mus commissioner or the state
3:41 government to do something. They would
3:43 acted themselves. So in a variety of
3:45 ways in lending voice to the people in
3:48 having a feedback system in having
3:50 resources locally available in enforcing
3:52 accountability and effectively created
3:56 accountable local government would have
3:58 helped immensely. Now what happened
4:00 today in the country is we have an
4:03 account unaccountable system in terms of
4:04 civil communities. In almost all states,
4:07 the MLA is the uncrowned king of the
4:09 constituency.
4:10 But MLA enjoys power without
4:12 responsibility.
4:15 The elected local councilors on paper
4:17 have elections because of the fan with
4:19 great fanfare, municipal elections and
4:21 punch elections, but they have
4:23 responsibility without power and often
4:25 without resources. So once you have this
4:28 disjunction, a tragedy is always in the
4:30 making.
4:32 Most of us are surviving because you
4:34 have aquag god and you take other
4:36 precautions or you have some other
4:38 whatever brand it is some filtering
4:40 mechanism
4:42 and increasingly even the poor people
4:44 are depending on reverse osmosis plants
4:47 and bottled water even agricultural
4:50 laborers now they're asking for bottled
4:53 water supply as part of the wage
4:54 structure that we reduced our people to
4:57 that and without that you are in mortal
4:59 danger is a disgrace to our
5:02 And we must address this on a war
5:05 footing and in a perpetual basis not
5:07 merely one day responding with a knee
5:09 reaction to an issue.
5:11 As you mentioned sir the officials were
5:13 aware of this and the reports say that
5:14 they were aware for up to 6 months
5:16 before this and yet nothing was done. So
5:19 what action should be taken by the
5:20 government in this?
5:22 >> I am normally not a very strong
5:25 disciplinarian. I would be generally
5:27 ering on the side of generosity.
5:30 But something like this must be treated
5:32 with utmost seriousness and they deserve
5:33 to be sacked, not transferred, not
5:37 posted out, but dismissed from service
5:39 apart from criminal prosecution and jail
5:41 time. Unless the demonstration effect is
5:43 there, when you are careless about human
5:45 lives, particularly the lives of the
5:46 poor and and the dispossessed and the
5:49 people who have no other recourse
5:50 available.
5:52 If the state system does not act with
5:54 utmost rigor and elocrity, then the
5:57 state has no legitimacy at all. If
6:00 drinking water needs to death sentence,
6:03 when else will the Indian state respond?
6:05 What else is more serious than this? So
6:08 this is no less than a war on the poor
6:10 people of this country and therefore
6:12 must be treated as a on par with the war
6:15 offense and we must dismiss them and
6:17 prosecute them to the severest extent.
6:20 So sir let's say that these officials
6:22 are fired. Everybody we say as
6:24 responsible is fired. Do you think the
6:26 situation would improve?
6:27 >> No. That itself will not improve but
6:29 that will make them sit up and take
6:31 notice and try and improve for their own
6:33 sake. If they don't have the good sense
6:35 to do what is right, they'll be forced
6:37 to do good sense what is necessary in
6:38 order to survive. But otherwise the real
6:41 thing is
6:43 you take the bigger picture in the
6:44 country.
6:46 Take Hyderabad city as an example.
6:50 Hyderabad city gets more water supply
6:52 per capita to the people of this city
6:56 than London city and Singapore city.
7:00 London gets on per capita basis about
7:04 164 lit of water
7:09 per capita.
7:11 Singapore gets 143 L of water because
7:15 Hyderabad city has two mighty rivers.
7:18 One of the few cities in the world and
7:20 the only one in India with two mighty
7:22 rivers flanking it on either side.
7:25 Vadavari and Krishna. These are not
7:27 minor rivers. These are major rivers of
7:29 India.
7:30 And we're pumping water from both these
7:33 rivers.
7:35 As a result, we get enormous supply of
7:36 water to the city. But is it reaching
7:38 our homes? 35 to 40% without reaching
7:42 homes is getting lost into the Musi
7:44 River. Local river come drain. It almost
7:48 mus almost like a cesspool.
7:51 It's like a sewer. A river system has
7:54 become a sewer.
7:57 Two, why is this happening? Distribution
8:00 system is all leaking.
8:02 Three, how is the distribution system?
8:04 The water supply lines, how are they
8:06 structured? Often times there is a sewer
8:09 on top of or sewage line or sewage pipe
8:12 on top of the water supply. Now, if
8:15 24-hour water supply is available, if
8:18 there is always pressure maintained in
8:19 the pipeline,
8:21 that may not do too much damage because
8:23 there's pressure and therefore the
8:25 outside muck will not enter the water
8:27 supply. But almost everywhere in India,
8:29 to the best of my knowledge, there's
8:31 almost no city which is supplying
8:32 24-hour water supply in India. It's only
8:35 for an hour or two, sometimes one or two
8:37 hours in a week or 3 days or something.
8:39 Rest of the day, what's happening? There
8:41 is vacuum there.
8:44 So it sucks all the muck from outside if
8:46 there's leakage.
8:50 So if you don't even do that much of
8:52 work,
8:53 a city like Hyderabad should have
8:55 24-hour supply because we have enough
8:56 water. If London can supply with 64
8:59 liters of water supply, 24-hour supply,
9:02 Singapore can supply, why can't we
9:03 supply? We just don't care. The rich and
9:06 powerful get it or they get it from
9:08 tankers or do whatever it takes. And the
9:11 poor simply suffer and wait for days on
9:13 end or wait for the tankers and they
9:15 have five fisticuffs and all that
9:17 waiting for water. And the quality of
9:18 water is this.
9:22 And two,
9:24 you take the total sewage in the
9:27 country.
9:29 84,000
9:30 million L of sewage.
9:33 We're dumping 84,000
9:37 million. That means 8,400 cr lers of sew
9:40 it because you know your waste water,
9:43 your uh your bodily secretions, your
9:46 used water, your bath water, everything
9:48 ultimately goes into the source, right?
9:50 84,000 liters.
9:53 How much of sewage treatment capacity
9:55 there is?
9:57 50%.
9:58 Under 42,000 million lit or 4,200 crit.
10:05 How much of it is actually working the
10:06 sewage capacity? We have sewage
10:08 treatment plant private government very
10:11 often and when there's no silver line
10:13 the municipality or the city government
10:15 imposes the mandatory
10:17 sewage treatment plant. I know cases in
10:20 Hyderabad where multi-story posh
10:23 buildings there is an STP because the
10:26 rules mandated they created but they
10:27 never operated. So what do they do?
10:29 Hyderabad has more than 100 lakes all
10:32 around. The sewer pipe simply by gravity
10:35 is connected to the local lake and it
10:37 dumps into local lake. From lake where
10:39 does it go? Through the nalas for
10:41 Hyderabad Kukat Pala it all gets drained
10:44 into Hussein Saga. Hussein Saga about
10:48 100 years ago was a drinking water lake.
10:52 A colonial feudal government
10:55 built it as a linking water lake and
10:56 maintained a drinking water lake. What
10:59 have we done? We made it into a sewage
11:01 pool, a cess pool. Let alone that
11:05 there actual drinking water legs even
11:07 today saga etc. Ganditate lake and other
11:09 things where the other day there were
11:12 newspaper reports
11:15 of a truck carrying the insignia of the
11:18 metropolitan water supply and seage
11:19 board in charge of both drinking water
11:21 and seage system in Hyderabad city.
11:24 Now whether it belongs to them or they
11:26 used the false insignia, I don't know
11:27 the facts.
11:29 It is dumping sewage into the lake.
11:32 There were several such reports. This
11:35 case it was found media paid some
11:36 attention. But you have to wait for the
11:38 media to pay attention
11:42 and on a daily basis. Why can't we
11:45 actually do the tests all over the
11:49 distribution system as a city to get the
11:52 idea of the water quality? Because you
11:54 can test the water quality, you may not
11:55 know exactly where the leakage is. But
11:57 if you simply test the water for
12:00 bacteria, ecoli are there or not or some
12:03 other harmful bacteria or organisms are
12:05 there or not. Certain chemicals are
12:07 there or not, which ought not to be
12:08 there in drink clean drinking water that
12:11 indicates leakage and make it public
12:13 every day. Put it in the website in
12:15 24-hour technology available for all
12:17 kinds of useless things we're using on
12:19 the web and all that. Why can't you use
12:21 it? There's an app.
12:23 As early as 2009, well before all the
12:26 social media etc. came about 16 years
12:28 ago in Bholakur in Hyderabad a similar
12:32 thing happened. 14 people perished
12:34 simply because of the sin of drinking
12:36 water.
12:38 Same thing was repeated 3 years later
12:40 again in the same area in Hyderabad
12:42 city. Five people perished in 2012.
12:46 Immediately after Bulakpur incident
12:47 happened, FDR Lokata took water samples
12:50 from all over the city. 99 samples and
12:52 we got them tested.
12:54 Except five, 94 of the samples contained
12:59 contamination,
13:01 bacterial contamination and chemical
13:03 contamination, we made it public.
13:07 So unless we institute mechanisms for
13:10 citizens to know what is happening
13:11 because we have the technology
13:13 technology of testing technology of
13:15 communicating to the people and unless
13:18 you do this take the steps necessary to
13:20 set the infrastructure and the system
13:22 and to make the infrastructure work
13:24 where sewage treatment plants are there
13:26 and unless there is a problem noticed at
13:29 least immediately advise to boil and
13:32 filter the water don't drink like that
13:34 each of these is necessary at every
13:36 stage because this is a matter of life
13:37 or death. It's literally life or death.
13:40 There's nothing more important than
13:41 this. And instances like Balakpur and
13:43 Hyderabad the indoor they only show it's
13:46 a matter of life or death. It's not just
13:47 another case. It's the ultimate sin if
13:50 the governments fail to do that.
13:54 >> So, so regarding Hyderabad, today in the
13:56 Times of India, there was an article
13:57 regarding the pipes in the drinking
13:59 water pipes in Hyderabad. So, earlier
14:00 you talked about how there needs to be
14:02 pressure maintained to ensure the muck
14:04 doesn't come in. But in that very
14:06 article it's saying even when they are
14:08 supplying water the pressure is at a
14:10 very low pressure because the pipes are
14:11 rusting and of in a extremely poor
14:14 condition and then in other incidents in
14:16 Hyderabad like you mentioned the sewage
14:18 dumping into Gandhi lake. In addition to
14:20 that every time we walk on the road we
14:22 see sewage flowing on the road.
14:23 Absolutely.
14:24 >> Given all of this do you think
14:25 Hyderabadis are safe?
14:27 >> No. Obviously the answer is no. But we
14:29 can make it safe if only we have the
14:32 priorities set. Not only restructuring,
14:34 we discussed already local governments
14:35 and citizens role and citizens
14:37 participation etc. But even our
14:40 priorities
14:41 we want to spend tens of thousands of
14:44 crores for I don't know what is the
14:45 meaning of it mut beautifification of
14:48 miss I'm not opposed to beautifification
14:50 of anything in my city if something is
14:51 beautiful why will I not enjoy it but
14:54 what is the priority
14:57 when 210 lit of water is available 2001
15:00 lit of water is available per capita
15:02 with the distribution system is not
15:04 maintained properly the sewage system in
15:06 hyderabad is not maintained properly
15:08 it's a disgrace. We not willing to spend
15:10 a few thousand crores if necessary for
15:12 that to stop the the sewage being dumped
15:15 into the lakes and from there to Saga
15:18 and then to Musi River. We're not
15:19 willing to stop that. We're not willing
15:21 to improve the water distribution system
15:23 because that's not a glamorous one.
15:25 Maybe that's not something where rent
15:27 seeking is possible on a big scale.
15:29 We're not interested. But something
15:31 dramatic. I want to build parallel to or
15:35 along with outer ring road another
15:38 massive metro system spending tens of
15:40 thousands of that is attractive for me.
15:43 So what priorities do we have
15:45 and we must wake up? We must tell the
15:49 governments. Money is a scarce
15:50 commodity. Every government is touted
15:52 every resources including you know the
15:53 mighty United States or China or India
15:56 or Telangana or Karnataka or Andhra
15:58 Pradesh or Tamil Nadu or any state
16:00 that's inevitable that's the logic of
16:02 economics. So how do you utilize the
16:04 resources? What is the best use? If they
16:07 don't go for the critical needs of
16:09 society which no other person can
16:12 fulfill the drinking water needs and so
16:14 system needs cannot be fulfilled by
16:17 somebody outside the local government or
16:19 the government.
16:21 People have no other requests available.
16:24 And two, when you already invested so
16:26 much of money like for instance the
16:27 drinking water system here but
16:29 distribution is a problem. You already
16:31 spent so much money on the silver lines,
16:33 but there are leakages and other
16:35 problems. By spending a little more,
16:38 you're actually getting value.
16:39 Otherwise, you're only spending money
16:40 without getting value. So concern about
16:43 the priorities and then allocating
16:45 resources and effectively managing it
16:47 with sufficient technology and
16:49 monitoring. Each of these are
16:50 unglamorous, boring tasks. City
16:53 management, municipal management is one
16:54 of the most boring tasks. But that's a
16:56 vital task. It's like cleaning up your
16:59 bathroom every day.
17:01 If the household thinks that no cleaning
17:03 of bathroom is a dirty thing, I don't
17:04 want to do it properly. Then the
17:05 household suffers. If the city
17:08 government thinks of that about the
17:09 city, the whole city, the people of the
17:11 city suffer and the suffering sometimes
17:13 can be fatal. As simple as that.
17:16 >> So like we've seen this has happened in
17:18 Indor, it's happened in Hyderabad. I'm
17:20 sure it's happening in other places.
17:21 >> Absolutely.
17:22 >> Given all this, who do you think is
17:23 responsible?
17:25 >> No, unquestionably
17:27 the governing classes. But I don't want
17:29 to let off the it's not mainly
17:32 politicians bureaucracy.
17:34 Bureaucracy has become callous,
17:38 exploitative,
17:40 often renting, rent seeking and only
17:43 focusing on the glamorous things and not
17:45 the unglamorous ones. So squarely
17:47 bureaucracy too must be blamed.
17:50 Media
17:52 when something happens on that day we're
17:54 projecting it. Otherwise, most of our
17:55 discussion is around individuals
17:59 and events, not issues of momentous
18:02 importance to people's lives.
18:05 Media either I'm not opposed to media
18:08 spending a lot of the column space or
18:10 time on IPL cricket or film stars
18:12 birthday bashes or something else. If
18:15 people want it, it's okay. But not at
18:17 the cost of people's lives and
18:19 livelihoods.
18:20 Not ignoring issues of matters of life
18:23 and death.
18:25 You can't simply react to an event on
18:27 one day and ignore it much of the rest
18:29 of the year or the five year cycle.
18:34 And then citizenry at least the
18:35 enlightened citizenry
18:37 unless we raise voice because city bred
18:41 people
18:42 have voice they have knowledge they have
18:46 problem solving skills they're paying
18:48 taxes
18:50 and governments and political parties
18:52 are respectful and afraid of them
18:54 provided they believe that the people
18:56 are raising their voice they care about
18:57 this then immediately political
18:58 attention will be there. If people
19:00 themselves are callous then they will
19:02 limit themselves to either this make
19:04 believe polarization and fights
19:07 or short-term individual welfare at the
19:12 cost of long-term good
19:14 and all kinds of tamasha in the name of
19:17 politics and governance. But if they
19:20 feel that significant number of ordinary
19:22 youngsters, bright youngsters,
19:24 thoughtful youngsters are raising the
19:26 issue using social media, using their
19:27 lung power and publicly stating this
19:30 what is required and they're noticing
19:31 what is happening. And if civil society
19:33 does what some of us attempted to do on
19:36 a consistent basis, no water samples,
19:38 testing, not only drinking water,
19:41 swimming pools for instance,
19:42 contamination swimming pools can lead to
19:44 death.
19:47 So unless we raise voice in a variety of
19:49 ways and innovative ways, there's no
19:52 reason why the politician will take
19:53 notice adequately. So there's no point
19:55 blaming XYZ while the primary
19:57 responsibilities of the administration,
19:59 the others, the political class at
20:01 large, those in power and ruling or
20:04 those in opposition, the media, the
20:07 civil society and the enlightened
20:09 citizenry. All of us must take
20:10 responsibility. It's not about blame
20:11 throwing. It's about setting things
20:13 right for our own sake.
20:15 >> So we'll just come back to the question
20:17 of citizens in a minute. But in this uh
20:19 in the current scenario, India is
20:21 urbanizing at a rapid rate and yet these
20:23 risks are going to persist. So what do
20:25 you think can be done to avoid this?
20:28 >> What is already there we cannot undo it.
20:32 the populations in big cities and
20:34 probably some of them are going to grow
20:35 for some more time
20:38 and whatever we discussed applies to
20:40 addressing the situation as it is
20:42 already there but prevention of it in
20:44 future is even more important because
20:47 India still is at only 35% urbanization
20:49 level some states may be close to 50
20:51 like Tamil Nadu but most states are
20:54 still at 35 or below 35%. So what's
20:57 going to happen is much bigger than what
20:58 already has happened. Among the G20
21:00 countries, India has the lowest level of
21:02 urbanization.
21:04 Therefore, the increase in urban
21:06 population and therefore demands on
21:07 services in urban areas is going to
21:09 increase manifold in the next few years.
21:12 So unless we reimagined urbanization,
21:16 unless we create local small towns as
21:19 hubs of economic growth and therefore
21:21 institute urbanization and local
21:23 migration as much as possible, the
21:25 problem will be insurmountable.
21:27 Think of Dharavi slum. I never live in
21:31 lived in Mumbai. I visited several times
21:32 but I can only imagine the pain and the
21:35 hardship that the people of Dharavi
21:37 endure.
21:39 The huge number of people in extremely
21:42 difficult circumstances packed in a
21:44 densely dense area. Even if the
21:46 government wants to do something,
21:47 government is not God. Beyond the point
21:50 miracles are not possible. So while we
21:52 do whatever we can there we have to now
21:55 prevent the Dharavis from happening and
21:57 the best way to do that is growing small
22:00 towns as hubs of economic growth and
22:01 local migration as much as possible so
22:03 that the burden does not become
22:05 magnified in mega cities where the cost
22:07 per capita for the infrastructure is
22:09 greater and you don't have the amenities
22:11 and facilities to really improve it
22:13 overnight even if you wanted to. So two
22:15 things what is already there let's
22:17 address that what is going to happen
22:20 let's prevent it and have different
22:21 pattern of urbanization I think both are
22:23 equally important
22:25 so to conclude in all this we've seen
22:27 that drinking water is a basic need and
22:29 yet the state has failed in providing
22:31 even this bare minimum so if you had to
22:33 give a message to all the citizens
22:36 regarding what they could do what would
22:37 you say
22:39 >> apart from what we discussed raising our
22:41 voice and getting the samples tested
22:43 regularly and focusing public attention
22:45 on that and shaming politicians etc. and
22:48 then using our lung power and vote.
22:50 Ultimately, that's the only thing that
22:52 political system listens to.
22:56 We have to
22:58 constantly focus on critical issues
23:00 ourselves in our own lives.
23:03 If we get bogged down with polarization,
23:08 tutu may and you take instant positions
23:12 in favor of X, in favor of Y, ignoring
23:15 your lives, we're being slaves.
23:18 You don't have any heroes in democracy.
23:20 It is not the elected leaders who are
23:22 heroes not bureaucrats. The citizens are
23:24 heroes in their own lives. Your life is
23:27 paramount.
23:29 The state to the extent that your
23:31 collective needs are met because you
23:33 cannot fulfill them yourself. You cannot
23:35 have your own seance system. You cannot
23:37 have your own drinking water system.
23:38 However wealthy you are, these are
23:41 collective needs which only the state
23:42 can fulfill. Unless we understand the
23:44 state's role and then use our lung power
23:48 and focus on that and force the
23:50 prioritization of those areas, we'll
23:53 always fall short. Depending on the
23:55 fancy of the day, if every day you say
23:57 you do this and do this and then do this
23:59 also, do this also, nothing will get
24:00 done. The most critical things, drinking
24:03 water, sewage system, storm water
24:06 drainage, proper town planning, traffic
24:08 and transport management, public order
24:10 and rule of law,
24:12 quality after that quality school
24:14 education for all children, not merely
24:17 the people of the rich and powerful are
24:18 educated and quality healthcare.
24:22 So unless the focus is relentlessly on
24:24 these critical issues, the minimal role
24:27 of the state from which the state should
24:28 not and cannot escape
24:32 the governments also will be clamoxed
24:34 because too many priorities, too many
24:35 needs, too few resources both human and
24:38 monetary. Therefore, even if they want
24:40 to do a good job, they confused. We must
24:43 pinpoint the responsibility.
24:46 And finally, we must shed our aversion
24:48 for local control and local governance.
24:50 That means you and I are willing to take
24:52 responsibility. There's no point blaming
24:53 them.
24:55 Make w committees happen. Empower local
24:57 government. Some of us will play a
24:58 creative role. We'll be part of what
25:00 companies even if we don't want to
25:01 contest with corporate or something else
25:03 and we'll be part of the solution.
25:05 Therefore, give us that space and we
25:06 will make that happen. And once the
25:08 space is provided, we must be willing to
25:10 give time and energy a little bit of
25:12 that at least some of us.
25:14 >> Thank you, sir. That was very helpful
25:16 and exciting.