Eighth

Yes I am late again. And this time I have a stamp of legitimacy for an excuse. Its the midsem week after all. In spite of a two day break between exams, I had planned a one week break from writing this time around in the name of exams. But a combination of factors (more specifically the multi-dimensional existential crises along with generic levels of frustration with the Indian system I usually face during exam time) got me writing.

So, we all know the valley has recently faced a calamity of disproportion. And how half of India is going gaga about how our army is spearheading the relief efforts and the other half crediting NaMo for a no-nonsense disaster management (even the foot-in-the-mouth Diggy is praising PM.) But the thing that disturbs me is why have our planners failed to consider such an eventuality. The relief  efforts and everything is all fine but why we, as a nation have failed to put an efficient system in place (if technologically and economically feasible) as a prevention. It absolutely surprises me that our planners are collectively  making decisions in a similar vein to that of an uninformed and illiterate subject at the bottom of economic pyramid (the analogy I wanted to use was along the lines of refraining to buy cheap mosquito nets only to end up spending much more on its treatment but I am just out of wits right now to fit it somewhere in there.) Anyways, the point I am trying to make is that its not rocket science to not consider such an event happening in a valley completely surrounded by >15000 feet mountains. And I looked back in time to find a plan had been put in place for flood management more than 100 years back by our then colonial masters after the 'great flood' of 1903. But they, being the colonial rulers din't do much and our subsequent governments, for being corrupt whores, again din't do much. And the result, by the most conservative measures, $1 billion is off the Indian economy (and I am just being an insensitive ass here, not accounting for human capital loss and other losses of livelihood.) 

Definitely I am not suggesting we could have avoided all the losses. But we could have minimized them. Like in case of Orissa hurricane (the one outlier among Indian natural calamities. And maybe because it primarily involved building a satellite and because ISRO was given responsibility to deliver it.) A superhurricane (as they called it) that lashed the state in 1999 killed over 10,000 people. With improved remote sensing capabilities, a similar intensity hurricane that hit the state recently claimed less than 1% of the former figure. In just one decade. Now that's something to be proud of. 

Okay now, too many words scribbled. Exam week it is. Untill next week. Adios.

PS: Poor planning seems to be a nationwide phenomenon. I have been living in Mumbai for past 22 years and I can almost imagine a 10 year old version of myself wondering about the water and rain woes of the city. I can write another 1000 words on what could be done to solve these issues. 

PPS: I don't want to get started on planning inefficiencies of Kanpur. The city is an epitome of chaos. And here's the article that triggered me to write this post.