Natural Disasters: Lessons from Uttarakhand

                                                                   Saumitra Mohan

            The recent cloud burst in Uttarakhand and subsequent natural disaster in the form of massive inundation should make many of us sit up and take notice. While it is true that notwithstanding all disaster management plans, man is helpless against the vagaries of nature as also borne out by the regular loss of lives and property from tsunami, tornados, typhoons and hurricanes in the developed countries like USA and Japan. However, we can definitely be better prepared to face any such contingency for minimizing such losses and damages. The clichéd but hoary dictum rightly says, ‘prevention is always better than cure’.

            Darjeeling, which was ravaged by major earthquakes in 1898 (known as Darjeeling disaster) and then again in September 2011, falls under seismic zone-IV (on a scale of I to V, in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes) near the convergent boundary of the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, also needs better planning and better marshaling of obtaining resources and logistics to be well-equipped for any such natural calamity. Like any other region, Darjeeling also has a contingency plan and relevant paraphernalia to face up to a natural disaster, however there is still a lot which could be done for better mitigation and minimization of the losses accruing from such sudden natural vehemence.

            First and foremost, there is a need for dividing the entire region into suitable eco-sensitive zones for better planning of the relevant developmental works, which are usually carried out without any concerns to the geo-physical nature of the local terrain and topography. It is due to this that Darjeeling hills are subject to frequent landslides and land subsidence, often throwing the normal human life out of gear. The rampant and reckless felling of trees during the first Statehood agitation in Darjeeling during the better part of 1980s has left large tracts of the Darjeeling Himalayas denuded of any vegetation, making them further prone to ecological disasters like landslides.

            The unregulated and unabated building constructions and callous mountain cutting have further endangered the local ecology and human life. The development of human habitations in almost every part of the hills and the subsequent interference with the forces of nature has further distressed an already fragile ecosystem.

            Hence, it is quite imperative that the all the agencies concerned with the development and disaster planning in this eco-sensitive region synergize their action to save the Queen of Hills from any impending natural catastrophe waiting to happen. The regulatory framework relating to building constructions and other developmental activities, as already in vogue, ought to be strictly enforced. The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Sabha (the rule and policy making body in Darjeeling hills) in one of its meetings has already resolved to issue directives to the local municipal and rural bodies to ensure enforcement of the building rules and laws while also making it mandatory to have a water-harvesting plan for every proposed building plan in the private and public sector. Now, it should be ensured that the same is implemented with due earnestness.

            The integrated watershed management plan (IWMP) is another flagship government programme, which, if properly implemented, has potential to turn things around for the local ecology. There is not only a need for massive afforestation with due contour-wise green micro-planning, there is also a need for a well-designed drainage system so as to suitably channel the waters of hill springs and drains (called ‘dhara’ and ‘jhora’ in local parlance) to preempt and reduce the chances of further landslides. There is a further need for undertaking massive preemptive protection works including construction of protection wall, gully plugging, planned check dams, contour bunding, a zone-wise solid waste management plan, hill-sensitive water harvesting structures and irrigation channels to stem and minimalize such landslides.

            It should be ensured that all major development works including construction of roads, buildings and hydro power plants are not executed without first studying the environmental implications of the same through an ‘environment impact assessment (EIA)’ as made mandatory by the extant laws and decrees of the government. As per the studies carried out by the Geographical Survey of India (GSI) and National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), large tracts of Darjeeling hills have developed into sinking zones in the aftermath of the last earthquake and massive human activities, making the local ecology further fragile.

            If we don’t put in place the requisite regulatory framework, then landslides shall soon become order of the day. Illegal mining of minor and major minerals in the lower reaches of the Himalayas is another area of concern, which needs attention. And more than the regulatory enforcement, there is need for a political consensus to stop the same otherwise landslides as big as one at Tindharia in Kurseong sub-division of Darjeeling shall keep repeating themselves with a lot of damage to the life and property of the native population.

            After we have done the necessary homework with regards to the preventive and regulatory works, we should target our guns at popular awareness, which is abysmally low, to say the least. The native communities need to be made aware and conscientised of the pitfalls of ignoring and violating the relevant rules and laws as relating to various developmental activities as the same has serious implications for their day-to-day life. So, there is a urgent need for massive awareness drives and capacity building exercises of the local populace. The civil defense training relating to various aspects of disaster management and personal safety need to be undertaken in more and more parts of the region, more so for the local youths.

            It has been a personal experience that more than anything else, it is the flow of information and communication during a particular disaster, which matters a lot. So, even after we have a state-of-the-art early warning system as put in place by the Meteorological and Disaster Management Departments, the flow of the information to the right people at right time is what proves crucial to any disaster management exercise. The real time coordination and communication among all the concerned departments at information and resource sharing to provide succor and relief to the affected people is what is most important to face any natural calamity or anthropogenic (read man-made) disaster successfully. The rescue and relief work becomes further easier and facile with an already trained ‘quick response teams’ (QRTs) and a relatively better aware, trained and sensitized civil society members.

            A well-coordinated initiative of the state government, local self-governments and local administration in coordination with the involved non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is already underway and trying to work on the above-mentioned aspects to make the same a reality. However, the same needs to be done in right earnest by all the stakeholders concerned to ensure a sustainable development for all. The diagnosis and remedial measures suggested above for Darjeeling ipso facto, with some minor alterations, apply to any and every part of the country. We need to do it all faster otherwise the anthropogenic climate changes shall do us in sooner than later.

Chasing the Holy Grail of Peace in South Asia

                                                                                    By Saumitra Mohan

            The world seems to be slowly becoming enveloped in the pall of gloom and doom. The confirmation of the same is all around us if just take a look around us. Against the background of the globe reeling under the massive problem of recession and stagflation, the global peace index has also been worsening. And the situation is no different for the countries of South Asia.

            If the behemoth India seems to be grappling with a negative economic scenario along with the problems of terrorism and left wing radicalism, the scenario ipso facto applies for the other countries of South Asia. The newly elected Nawaz Sharif Government is already seized with the increasing terrorist menace in the country led by a resurgent Taliban. Myanmar and Maldives are undergoing political transitions, which have serious implications for the future of the two countries. While Bangladesh grapples with a ‘Shahbag’ movement for assertion of libertarian values, Sri Lanka is still coming to the terms with the aftermath of the alleged excesses caused during the annihilation drive of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, not to speak of the global pressure for a democratic resolution of the Tamil problem in the island state. Afghanistan is also somehow reluctantly readying itself for the final departure of the US forces to take the reins of national security all by itself.

            While all these appear quite different and unrelated problems but the truth remains that they are very much interconnected and intertwined. After all, we live in a globalized world of complex interdependence. A problem in one country today does have its positive or negative impact in other countries. And unless and until we accept this fact and deal with the same in a synergized manner, we are doomed to be accursed with many more without any success with those already existing.

            While the 1990s saw the end of the Cold War everywhere else, it actually saw a ratcheting up of the same in South Asia, if defense expenditures are any indication to go by. With the drawing down of the Iron Curtains on internecine and debilitating Cold War, one expected the winds of positivity to blow away all the mistrust and distrust in South Asia but the same never happened. And this is truer with regards to the two principal protagonists namely India and Pakistan between whom the chasm of mutual distrust seems to be growing by the day. It was not very long ago when the Islamabad-based MahbubulHaq Foundation pointed out that with if India and Pakistan were to reduce their defense expenditure even by a percentage point, they could very well take care of the big gaping holes in their social welfare programmes for health and education. But the fact remains that many Track Two diplomacy efforts involving people-to-people contacts along both sides of the border notwithstanding, the hawks and hardliners seem to be winning the day.

            And the bigger players in our neighbourhood and those at the top of the international pecking order are not helping matters by their selfish and motivated interventions aimed at guarding their own vested interests. The bigger players embroiled in the international power game of one-upmanship and in a bid to keep their massive military-industrial complex well-oiled, deliberately try to keep the conflicts zones of the world alive and on the boil. And the India-Pakistan conflicts are no different. With the heavy loss of precious human lives, they are still locked in belligerent posturings with the overall quality of life suffering in both the countries.

            With the Pakistan still vowing to bleed a democratic India through thousand cuts and continuing its proxy war against us, the situation looks bleak unless the resurgent democratic forces in the former assert and prevail over a deeply entrenched militarist mindset, there does not seem to be much hope for a new beginning. While India conferred the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status on Pakistan more than a decade back, Pakistan is still to take a call on that. While South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) was supposed to be a reality more than a decade back, it is still beholden to the sanguinary rivalry of the two titans with heavy financial losses accruing to every country of the Indian Sub-Continent in terms of tariffs, taxes and duties. The trade, which could occur across the border in an organized manner, now happens through a third country or in an underhand manner (read smuggling) resulting in manifold jacked up prices for the citizens.

            While it is more than advisable for the leadership of the two countries to continuously engage each other to resolve the outstanding issues including intractable boundary disputes, the Tulbul barrage project, the Siachen problem, cross border terrorism and such other cognate issues, the big daddies of international politics should also desist from backroom meddling into the longstanding disputes between the two classical rivals. The active peddling of their selfish interests stems from the presumed apprehension of a rising South Asia (read India) to threaten their super status and is targeted at tying India down to South Asia.

            But the reigning and rising super powers have to understand that they can’t flourish amid a sea of problems surrounding them. They can no longer continue to be an island of affluence without bothering about the similar problems elsewhere. The international division of labour is so entrenched that an unresolved problem in one country comes back to haunt others, more so if these countries happen to be as huge and as important as India and Pakistan. They also have to understand that the luxurious quality of life in their own countries shall suffer heavily if these countries continue to remain disturbed as also exemplified by the growing tentacles of Taliban which is an offshoot of a disturbed Afghanistan and which has hurt the rich North time and again with unceasing regularity.

            Like the fictional cat eating the entire bread of the two fighting monkeys, we should not allow outsiders to sit in judgement over our fate. While there definitely is a need for a positive facilitating role for big players to ensure peace in South Asia, we should also see the writing on the wall in our own enlightened interests otherwise it would be too late. In fine, the economic and social prosperity in South Asia is very much beholden to the successful conflict and dispute resolution between India and Pakistan. Other members of the South Asian countries are just awaiting a positive outcome to get onto the prosperity bandwagon but we two have got to come forward to show the way forward.

            We can no longer afford to move forward with our hands and legs tied down by the baggage of history, not to speak of that proverbial millstone and albatross round our neck. We shall require ourselves to tear off and throw away that millstone of distrust and untie ourselves through positive engagements. If England and France can come together after more than a hundred years of internecine and sanguinary conflicts, if US and Russia could come together after a bloody Cold War of more than four decades, if all the regions of the world are benefiting through mutual economic engagements a la APEC, ASIAN, NAFTA, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and European Union, can’t we also come together to make a new beginning for our people. If we don’t learn from history, we shall be doomed to repeat the same at our own cost and history shall not forgive us. Lets see the writing on the wall.

           

            

Understanding the Creation and Our Role

                                                                        Saumitra Mohan

            The empirical insights emanating from our everyday life experiences and the consequent cognitive comprehension of the intricacies of human ontology are quite revealing at times. Human life often appears so bright and beautiful. When everything goes well and smooth, one even desires immortality to continue clinging onto the savouries of life. However, when the going gets tough and the tough never seems to be going, one also feels that one has had enough of the carnal pleasures to continue with this human sojourn in the spiritual journey of our existence. The truth, however, remains that the metaphysics of human life is too complex for the ordinary mortals like us to cognize the same.

            One has often wondered the real motive behind the Creation of this Universe, the carnal world but so have many philosophers and logicians since the beginning of the existence of life on earth. Various faiths and religions, saints and thinkers have tried to delve into the secrets of the purposes behind the Creation and have come out with different answers. The discursive discourse on the inscrutable subject has presented too mindboggling assortment of opinions and insights for the ordinary humans to come to any deduction of a definitive answer. The divergence of opinions and thoughts has just been too confusing to help any understanding on the subject.

            After all, what could be the real purpose behind the Creation? Could such a beautiful world have emerged just out of a chaos as many would have us believe? Is there no architect or engineer of this astoundingly complex Creation, which has been further compounded by the added complexities, which are the results of the restraints, placed on the mental horizons of a human life? The more one cogitates, the more one gets confused. However, stringing through the many threads one gathers through these empirical insights and cognitive conceptions, one does feel persuaded of there being the definitiveness of a design behind the making of our world.

            Almost all of us go through the same cycles of life on this earth, which appears so routine and mundane as to make the human existence simply meaningless. We are all born, grow up, hanker to educate ourselves, have a family, children, jobs, wealth, recognition and all the other goodies that life has to offer. If we miss any of the regular phases or goodies of a mundane human life, we feel incomplete. Someone regrets of not getting education, someone has wasted the opportunity of having a good education, someone regrets not having a child, someone not having a girl or a boy child, someone not getting married, not getting a job or not having a family and what not. We all have one or the other kind of privations to regret or to curse our destiny for. 

            Every one of us remains dissatisfied throughout one’s life regarding the deprivation of one or the other kind. And this deprivation is nothing but sheer notional as the same is a deprivation about something, which humans have themselves created. Humans have created wealth, religion, caste and other such amorphous and false divisions and values in their communal life and have since been running after them. The Hindu Holy books like ‘The Gita’ clearly points to the banality and futility of this ‘Mirage Chase’ as we run after something which never belonged to us yesterday and which shall belong to someone else tomorrow. Knowing very well that none of our materials possessions would accompany us to the next world, we still keep chasing the same. We not only chase, we actually keep fighting and competing for the false acquisitions thereby making our life on earth ‘really’ excruciating. And while we chase the material pleasures and carnal values in this mortal world, we continue making the life of the self and that of our fellow human being still more pathetic and painful in the process.

            All the problems of our times including poverty, terrorism, religious or linguistic fanaticism, environmental degradation, regional jingoism and the like are in one way or the other related to the human beings’ penchant for more and more acquisitions of the ersatz and hollow values of life which they have themselves created. And while we are all engaged in this mutually internecine chase, we lose our peace and happiness in this world. The human life, which could have been a positive sum game, ends up in a negative sum game. The race for one-upmanship and material successes at the expense of one another dehumanizes all of us, leaving behind the hateful and disgusting worldly scenes, incidents and events that we come across everyday in our day-to-day life.

            And believe it or not, this sense of deprivation/privation or dissatisfaction is the fount of all our progress and further growth. Now it completely depends on us as to how do we treat our dissatisfaction. We can definitely ensure that in our bid to realize our dreams and aspirations, we do not rise roughshod over someone else’s dreams or try to achieve the same by unjustly depriving someone else of his/her rightful deserts. Honesty in our thoughts and conduct shall ensure the peaceful and sublime co-existence of humans in this world. The enlightened ones rightly believe that all our woes and sorrows betide us as an effect of a human behaviour which is diametrically opposite of what should be ideally happening.

            Life’s challenges throw differing possibilities of attainments and achievements in front of us. Someone would fall by the wayside while handling the same, while someone would excel against the challenges offered. The secular challenges and hardships of the material life are God’s touchstone to test our character to find out the best of the souls, the souls who shall receive the ultimate divine bliss and beatification in His realm. While we do all this, while we go through the vicissitudes and multiple stages of our quotidian life, we are all constricted and constrained by the limitations of our varying capacities, capabilities and perspectives. Someone with very ordinary background rises against all imponderables to great heights, while someone with everything in his/her favour end up squandering the opportunities offered to him/her by the earthly life.

            While all this happens, we can clearly see through the working of a definite plan of the Almighty. One does feel that there is an order in disorder; there is a system, which works through the apparent chaos. We have all noticed as to how a child without much material support or family background rises and does well notwithstanding all odds. There are plenty of examples for us to pick up from our life. Then, we have also noticed as to how we have discovered to our utter surprise an opportunity or ‘good’ emerging out of an adversity or bad experiences, something for which we had cursed our fate or destiny. It does point to the micro-planning that the God has for all of us.

            That is why they say, if it happens as per your wishes, its good; but if it does not happen in accordance with your wishes, its still better as the same is happening as per God’s wishes and we should trust His judgement. However, that never means that we should become fatalistic stop trying to improve our situation. As they say, fortune (read God) always favours the brave. So, we ought to keep trying heart and soul with a positive attitude and without being unjust in our conduct. If we are undergoing trials and tribulations, suffering untold pains and woes, we are either said to be paying for our past ‘Karmas’ (read deeds) or we are being prepared for a higher task by the instant ordeal as part of God’s larger plan.

            As gold becomes purer and better by going through fire or as beautiful fragrant flowers have to be pressed for extraction of perfume, so are our pains a sign of the God trying to extract the best out of us. A book namely, ‘The Laws of the Spirit World’ by Khorshed Bhavnagri does attempt an explanation to many of our queries relating to happenings in this world and in the ethereal world i.e. life after death. The book is said to be a dictation by the spirits of the two dead sons of the author who reveal the secrets and mysteries of life and afterlife. Many have found similar allusions in the Hindu Garuda Purana. However, some of the enunciations, submissions and accretions in the latter seem to be apocryphal because at some places it appears to be tinged with the unethical and illogical human biases and prejudices, as are many other such enunciations and proclamations in supposedly holy books of different faiths.

            We as humans ought to have a basic understanding of the working of the God and His plan. While we ought to trust him for anything that happens to us, we also ought to keep trying to the best of our capacities and capabilities to work against all odds to make the best of the available resources and opportunities. And we should do this with a very positive bent of mind and without hurting another soul. A positive mind always sees the light even in the darkness of a deep tunnel.

            While the concept of ethics and moralities have varied over time and space, the basic ethos have always remained the same i.e. we ought to live our life without hurting another’s. In our bid to occupy more and more space for ourselves in any walk of life, we ought not to deprive our fellow human being of their legitimate space. And if by the grace of God, we happen to be in an advantageous position to help someone find that space, we ought to do that immediately as God has trusted us more by putting us in a position to be able to do so. We ought to thank God for the same and carry out the role bestowed on us as his ‘chosen ones’. That is what people like Mahatma Gandhi meant when they talked about the concept of ‘Trusteeship’.

            After all, living for ourselves, an epicurean and hedonistic life, makes us no different from the animals who have no power of rational thinking, mental and emotional faculties. They live just for themselves and when they live for others, they are forced into the same by the humans. So, while we live, we should live a life, sublime and humane, something that would differentiate us from the animals. We should never forget that life on earth is evanescent, not permanent. We should make the hay while the sun shines i.e. we should realize the true purpose of life by enjoying the same in an uplifting manner. We ought to live our life in a manner as to be a beacon to brighten others’ lives, by eradicating darkness from their lives.

            We ought to take advantage of our human life to share our goodies by helping the fellow human beings in whatever way we can. Here, honesty in thought is more important than the actual outcome. We should ensure that we live in perfect peace and harmony as far as we can. As they say, many of us live as we would never die and many of us die, as we never lived. We should, at least, ensure that when we die we do not regret having lived a wrong life, having hurt someone knowingly or having behaved unjustly or of having deprived someone of something. If we cannot do a good to someone, we should, at least, ensure that we don’t depart from this world by earning curses from the fellow human beings. How many people feel sorry at our demise and how many of them remember us fondly and positively even after our death point to our real acquisitions we leave behind in this world.

            While we may not know for sure anything or something about the life after death or there actually being a heaven out there in the ethereal world, lets treat this world as a testing centre to find out the best of human beings amongst us. We should, therefore, try to amass as much goodwill as possible for deserving the best and also because that is the only thing that eventually goes with us. Our presence in this world is like a stone thrown in the water. The strength of the impact with which the stone is hurled into the water determines how bigger the resultant circle shall be. Likewise, the bigger the circle of our goodness and goodwill as a result of our being in this world, the surer shall be our attainment of the eternal bliss. One somehow believes that God has all sent us to this world with a divine purpose, a purpose to excel positively and to make the earthly life better with our goodness. After all, if the world was fine the way it is, there was no need for us in this world. So, we should all try to discover the divine purpose of our existence in this world and we should all ensure that while leave this world, we leave behind deeply-etched sublime footprints on the sands of time.

            However, as said above, the disharmony and disquiet in this world are the ways of the God to test our mettle. Life would really be just dull and drab if everything were to be like a fairytale. The injustices and vices seen around us are God’s ways to find out His best souls. After all, everything has a price. If ‘good’ is better than ‘bad’, it must have a price. A perfume is the result of the painful squeezing undergone by hundreds and thousands of flowers. Now its up to us to decide as to what kind of life do we want to live and what reputation do we want to leave behind when we finally kick the bucket. Notwithstanding God’s micro-planning, we can still make or unmake the kind of life we want to lead in this world with our positive thoughts and humility accompanied by untiring efforts. Our positive thoughts are always backed, supported and reinforced by the inscrutable ways of the destiny, which we may like to call God, the Almighty.