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| The Colour of destruction |
Four years and six months later, in a manner of self-fulfilling
prophecy, the warning issued by flood department now almost looks like a news
report written ahead of the time. Jhelum has unleashed what appears to be the
worst flood over a century in the valley – washing off man and material alike
and painting the entire canvass of Srinagar into a muddy monolith of destruction.
Lifeless floating shapes of human and animals mock at the criminal negligence
of administrative machinery and hope that their deaths – which have now been
reduced to numbers and left to be fondled by the cozied up statisticians, will add
impact to a message that nobody seems to be paying attention to. The message
that there is no alternative to respond to such warnings on time. That the
one billion dollar loss J&K has suffered through this drought is three
times more than the estimated cost of putting up the infrastructure to deal
with such natural disasters in the valley. And we haven’t yet begun to count
the loss of lives!
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| Raising the hope |
According
to last reports, over one third of city of Srinagar was covered with flood
waters. The death toll has crossed 250 and more than 1 lac people have been
affected otherwise. Nobody doubts that Actual counts are bound to be
much higher. Destruction of such scale and nature are invariably followed by
two narratives – angst at the inefficiency of administration and resilience of
the Aam Aadmi. Administrative inefficiency is much more pronounced in
places where politicians have been able to keep the cauldron of identity
politics boiling – successfully divesting our attention from meaningful
progress as a society. Whereas scattered stories of how people clung to acts of
kindness and unite during such dark hours are always appreciated but are never
enough to dispel the onslaught of calamity. Thus our resilience, howsoever
laudable, can’t make up for our political indifference. We, the people, have to
decide which narrative of politics we want to be in the mainstream.
Even amid misfortune of such scale, there are reports that help from UN
has been stranded at Srinagar airport by political dark horses so that some of
our own inefficiencies are not exposed. A certain separatist leader was so
alarmed by the relief efforts that he personally took on a rescue effort
coordinated by Army and forced flood affected people, much to their dismay, to
throw away all flood relief items. Some reporters couldn’t wait till the calamities
subdued to salvage goodwill for Army because of their rescue efforts. And here
nothing can be taken away from the Army’s efforts itself – which has deployed
more than 3 lacs personnel and 300 jets all across the affected areas and has
helped rescue around 80, 000 people. But the fact that propaganda still takes
the driving seat in what could be one of the worst yet strongest equalizers for
people coming from all regions and religions rings a deafening alarm – our
leaders see political currency in such acts. They believe that the voter
inside us will resonate to their acts of such symbolism.
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| Irony in the name- a bank branch submerged in water |
The man of the hour himself, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, showed his
girth during Bhuj earthquake when he was barely a few days old in Chief
Minister’s office. This flood throws a similar challenge for him to effectively
communicate to people that they will not be left feeling abandoned in the hour
of need. Effective communicator that he is – he was quick to gauge the
situation in person and announced immediate relief measures for the state. But
the real challenge will begin now – once the water subsides and dreaded
possibility of epidemic starts to raise its hood from weeks of unattended
carcasses. It will be interesting to see how he dissociates his task at hand as
statesman from the immediate political realities – state elections scheduled
later this year.
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| A dog rescues its offspring |
We wonder then, in despair and helpless anger, what meaning would the
phrase heaven on earth bear for all those who have lost their lives
during the flood.
References:
Yasin Malik
UN trying to help India/Pak on floods
Warning on Kashmir Floods:
What is your opinion on recent J&K floods?
How well equipped is India to handle such disasters and
calamities effectively? How it can be made better?
(Written by Manish Jha, an Alumnus of IIIT Hyderabad and currently working with Microsoft as Program Manager. He is also associated with a social initiative 'Joy of Reading')
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