India's perpetual wade

India’s hydrology, owing to the dominating south-west winds, is a perfect archetype of monsoon-type climate which as per a school Geography textbook includes a period of extreme rainfall with frequent thunderstorms. Further, the book arrogates that a proper establishment of amenities, say drainage to avoid clogging and flooding, is indispensable for the annual cycle of monsoon. Irony unsheathes itself, when a system which educates a fragile student and entails a cogent view on monsoon and its effect fails to implement the same in its daily administration.  

Geographically India is prone to flooding. The Ganges, Bharmaputra –Meghna , in north and the east flowing rivers towards Bay of Bengal in south have frequently  been in news vis-à-vis  floods albeit, for Kerala the present situation of flooding is not a chronic routine. As even their Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan mentioned “We’re witnessing something that has never happened before in the history of Kerala”. The 37% more than usual monsoon spell, according to the IMD, is the primary cause of the deluge. The gravity of situation is accentuated by the fact that for the first time in the history of Idukki Reservoir all five of it’s gates were opened simultaneously. 

However, the gut wrenching situation of Kerala, is not one of its kind. Be it the intimidating Uttrakhand Floods ( 2013), Kashmir floods (2014), or the intractable deluge of Chennai( 2015), the nation has perpetually been a victim of ecological disturbances. A cohort of environmentalists blame the people for these imbalances in this sector, which is not surprising. Few years back The National Action of Climate Change touched the urgent need of a shift towards a more sensitive and sustainable development model. This was supported by the Gadgil report which the cabinet rejected giving development a primary position and unfortunately at present, most of the regions impacted by the current monsoon rain were once classified as Ecological Sensitive Zone ( ESZ ) by the Gadgil committee. 

Further to exacerbate the problem the nation’s policy has always stressed more towards the post incident relief work than building a robust preventive system.  Even though, crowned as the first country to have come up with a national plan for disaster risk reduction (at Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2017) , it lacks a fundamental system of co-ordination among various levels of response force. A dedicated and a vigorous training on systemization is the need of the hour complemented by a complete overhaul of the present drainage system. India has always lacked here. We can learn a lot from our ancestors of Indus Valley in this sector that maintained drainage under utmost priority. Till the time the insipid infrastructure is not in congruency with the exponentially rising population, India will be burdened under ecological crises. Programs such as MNREGA should be diverted towards urban sectors which can significantly aid in expediting the process, even generating employment. Surreptitious work is to be avoided, as this will even provide a framework to fillip towards the smart-city segment. Floodplains are to be identified and the vulnerability of construction in such areas has to be accepted so that well defined guidelines can be drafted in order to make construction in such areas resistant to flooding. 

At a time when India is trying to embed its position in the Indian Ocean (in relation to the Disaster Risk Reduction ) by holding programs such as BIMSTEC DMEx (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, Disaster Management Exercise) and leading it from the front, she must not compromise with its National Disaster Management Plan ( NDMP). The international community will only be satisfied and follow her footsteps when she overcomes her domestic challenges. Steps such as realigning the NDMP with the Sendai Framework ( 2015-2030) is indeed a positive move, however it’s flawless execution  – by minimising the domestic risk –will play a pivotal role in affirming India’s position as the leader of ‘disaster management’ in the region. 

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(The article was first published in Greater Kashmir, by the same author )