Kerala floods; not so of a natural catastrophe

A brief overview of this situation would make it crystal clear that the floods that caused havoc in Kerala were not just a result of nature’s wrath, human doings invested mutually with natural forces.
Many would peg floods as a natural calamity but what we don't know is that it is triggered by our certain acts that we do to nature. Kerala floods were no exception. At this point of time nothing that happens in nature can be classified as natural anymore.
This is not the first time when Kerala received excessive rainfall. In the year 1924, Kerala was wrecked with much more intensified rainfall but the impact was not as much as it has been, this time around. The sole reason is the current ecological deterioration of this south Indian state.

According to a report, between the years of 1920 to 1990; Kerala has lost about 40% of its forest cover i.e. 40% of its protection shield against such calamities. Rainfall just worked as a trigger to this whole catastrophe. The actual fundamental of this disaster was already set up when both, central and state government denied the reports of the Gadgil Committee. The western Ghat Ecology Expert Panel's( AKA Gadgil committee )reports suggested that excessive urbanization was not Kerala’s cut of tea, the committee made sure to mention in its report that building of more dams in the state would affect it adversely in the future. They also wanted Western ghats to be divided into 3 ecological sensitive zones.  The reports were totally against materialistic development in the state at the cost of environment but the panel denied this report by saying that it was anti developmental and thus against the interests of the citizens and so the government paid no heed to this committee. The government went forward towards Kasturirangan Committee, which was too lenient when compared to the Gadgil committee.

Even after knowing about its sensitivity, multiple dams were build. Today, Kerala have 42 dams which are much more than needed. Idukki, the most flood affected district alone have 12 dams. Not just dams but the rivers in Kerala are misguided too, the route of the rivers are diverted for the sake of construction. Rivers that used to simply flow to Arabic sea are now stuck in the land. As a result, the Kochi airport is submerged in water due to flood. Nature is not something that can be manipulated.

The Dam management authority is also to be held accountable for the damage caused by the uneven and unplanned release of water from these 42 dams, which proved to be fatal and severe. The thing is Dam authority was also clueless about the monsoon showers, if they would have released water before rain, then there would have been scarcity of water during summers. Both the choices were equally unpleasant for the authority.

Although there is always an inbuilt mechanism in nature to overcome such situations. Kerala also had its protective layer in the form of forest and paddy production. Kerala was a giant, when it came to production of paddy but in last 30 years, the production of paddy has gone down to 1.5 lakh hectares from 8 lakh hectares and the forests were also sacrificed for the sake of development. Hence the capacity of the soil to absorb water has been lost too. This is a major reason why Kerala is facing exacerbate level of destruction.

We can thus state that the Kerala flood is a result of our doing. We must take this as an alarm sign, as even worse things await us, if we do not wake up now!

1990’s; A decade to remember

Whatever India is today, it’s all a result of an unknown journey that India had during its 90’s. That whole decade was fascinating and was filled with hardships. Lot of things happened, which shaped the way India is today.

The dawn of 1990 was not quite a start that India was looking forward to but the end justified all the wrestle and grapple that India went through in that decade.  The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in the year 1991 by LTTE (Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam) was enough to send a wave of mournfulness and grief all over the nation. No one would have guessed that it was just a start, a start of a tremendous journey the end of which was unknown to all of us. The sole reason behind his assassination was said to be his involvement in the Civil war which was on in Sri Lanka. The LTTE was afraid that if Rajiv Gandhi came back to power, he would again support the Srilankan government, which in the past didn’t work out in their favour. It was for the very first time when the whole nation saw the live telecast of anyone’s funeral. The nation was glued to their television sets to see their Prime Minister’s last rites.  By the time India recovered from this heart wrenching incident, the case of Babri Majid happened. In the year 1992, a mob, politically motivated wrecked Babri Majid saying that it was built at a site, which is considered as Ram Janm Bhumi (the place of lord Ram birth). This incident brought differences between the Hindus and Muslims and no political party ever wanted to get involved in it. This incident was marked as a black day in the history of Indian culture which questioned its very diversity. At the same time, India was also going through financial crises. The economy of India was falling rigorously and the government needed to take tough decisions to restrain the economy, hence the New Economic Policy by the then union finance minister Manmohan Singh. The main focus of the New Economic policy were Liberalization, privatization and Globalization and these reforms worked as a foundation for the now steady and blossoming economy of India. 

Our economy was improving and somehow people were getting back to their normal lives but then the Bombay Blasts shocked the whole nation. Some 12 consecutive blasts resulted in 257 fatalities and left thousands with severe injuries. This attack on Indian soil was planned by Dawood Ibrahim, who also had his name in the most wanted list of USA and Interpol. No one could understand these inhumane acts against humanity. Everyone was scared and maybe this is what those terrorist wanted. This decade was proving to be a tragic one. Soon after Bombay blasts, India was hit by Surat plague and Latur earthquake. Everything seemed to be falling apart for the nation.

Then came the year 1997, when India celebrated its 50th Independence Day. The day, India earned after several sacrifices and efforts. The initial half century of India’s independence did help people to forget the struggles of the past. Right after celebrating its 50th anniversary of Independence Day, India became a nuclear power in the year 1998, under the leadership of the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who instead of worrying about sanctions, went forward towards becoming world's next nuclear power. After formally announcing to the world about its nuclear power basket, India faced a lot of criticism from the global power, United States of America which asked India to give up its weapons of mass destruction. However India's "no-first use" policy helped it to gain back their trust again. In the year 1999, when India broke out against Pakistan over boundary infiltration and violation of ceasefire, the nation proved of its capability of keeping its word under any tempting situation and India's credibility touched the peaks. The conflict went on for 2 months and India recaptured all its posts in Kargil that were occupied by the Pakistan army. India ended its overwhelming decade with this operation Vijay, where it won the 2 month long battle with flying colors.

India bid its farewell to this eventful decade with a serene smile.

SOUTH ASIAN SAGA

There had been an unseen conflict between India and china over the dominance on south Asian region. The relations shared between India and its neighbors have been pleasant since ages, until now. The growing distance between India and its well trusted neighbors has been a reason behind India’s constant worry. The steps taken out of desperation to keep its allies together are clearly visible. Be it the recent surveillance aircraft given to Maldives or the line of credit given to other countries to keep them away from china’s influence. Modi government had this foreign policy of ‘neighbor first’, which did wonders to its relations with other neighboring countries, at first. The swearing-in ceremony of Modi, where the leaders of SAARC (South Asian association of regional association) were invited was marked as a landmark for new budding relations with other south Asian countries.  But who knew that the end would be not as great as its start.

Pakistan has always been a sour spot for India, when it comes to maintaining diplomatic relations. I mean since ages India has been trying to build healthy ties with Pakistan but it has always been in vain. And maybe due to this apparent reason China has been its BFF, for god knows how long. Pakistan and China’s intimate relations have always been the talk of the town in India. But the flourishing association of China with other nations such as Nepal, Bangladesh etc has been keeping India on its toes, to put more efforts to sustain their own relations. Thriving China’s investment in every neighboring country is definitely bothering India. China is investing three times more than India in Nepal. Nepal has been giving India a cold shoulder since it’s elections in 2013, accusing India of manipulating its elections and exploiting its natural resources. Not just Nepal, Bhutan, a land locked nation between China and India is biting off its nail, worried about its existence. Bhutan has been an all weather & trusted friend of India since its existence. But after Doklam stand off its relations with India are still uneven. What India expected after coming in total favor of Bhutan was a warn gesture not some diplomatic talk. Since then the relations have shrunk and China is glad to fill the vacuum. Though China is yet to grow its fangs in Bhutan.

But unlike Bhutan, China has already grown its control over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

At first billions of dollars of loan was given to Sri Lanka over and over again to win their trust. As a result Sri Lanka was unviable to pay back the mammoth amount of loan to China. So in return it sold its Hambantota Port to China on 99 year lease and now China has its influence over Indian Ocean too. As a measure to maintain its control over Indian Ocean, India was compelled to buy the Mattala Rajapaksa International airport in Hambantota (built by China and AKA World’s emptiest International airport) to keep a keen eye on China’s movement.

But in case of Bangladesh, India still has time before China fully empowers Bangladesh economically. The bone of contentions between India and Bangladesh exist since decades. The unresolved water dispute(Teesta River), Illegal Immigration and growing trade deficit of Bangladesh due to high tariff rates of India has been some key points towards diluting relations. In Nov 2011, India considered the request of Bangladesh of lowering its tariff rates; it gave free access to entire products except Tobacco and Liquor, which constitutes 30% of total export of Bangladesh.  Bangladesh wasn’t as ecstatic about the decision and as a remedy, it is playing China card to balance India. Using China’s growing investment as a sign for India to treat them soundly.

The geopolitics of South Asia is at its peak. India needs to revise its foreign policies to keep china’s influence in check and to keep itself safe from being isolated from its own region.