To decide which of a number of different jobs or tasks are most important or urgent and dealing with them first mandates to have a good grasp of the issues and knowing how to prioritise the choice of those tasks in the descending order of their importance is all about prioritising priorities. The powers that be in the land’s governments in general and the government of the State in particular don’t seem to be following the ground rules of the prioritising game with the functionaries in its bureaucracy readily extending a helping hand even as the mass of aam janata is watching helplessly while some voluntary groups leave no stone unturned in cautioning the offending lot about the adverse consequences of their decisions and actions. The damage being done to the environment by the two-some combine of the honchos in the government and the babus is beyond calculation both in terms of its monetary value and quality decline.

In order to remind ourselves about the many life-supporting resources and their wanton vandalising by both the administration and the country’s people at large, barring exceptions, the reports published by dailies of all hues come in handy. This destructive partnership is holding the nation and its law-abiding citizens to ransom.

The prospect of facing shortages of drinking water and electricity looms large every year as the hot season of summer months begins with the urban residents in no frame of mind to exercise self-control in the use of these two precious resources. Terms such as MLD, tmcft, cusecs and so on appearing in the official announcements by government agencies and regularly published by the dailies may sound like Greek and Latin to most people. Figures portraying water levels of reservoirs even as they are steadily coming down and also the low share of less than three per cent river waters India accounts for globally don’t convey any message that may create a sense of respect for water in the minds of people at large. Electricity is another resource which alerts lay people only when they experience a shock by touching a live wire as it were.

The central point of bestowing top priority to both drinking water and power for homes, industry and agriculture namely, their rising need and shrinking availability year on year leaves the people with no option other than their frugal use. The civic authorities of Mysuru has just sensitised its residents with the customary advisory of do’s and dont’s.