Talk of war and peace
The denial by Nawaz Sharif of his “fourth war over Kashmir” remark, and his reiteration that problems with India have to be resolved through peaceful methods, came not a moment too soon. The Pakistan Prime Minister had been quoted as saying that “Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at any time,” in his address to the “Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council” in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Denying that he had ever made such a remark, his office
put out a transcript of his speech that had no mention of the word war. This is the second time that Mr. Sharif has had to deny words attributed to him on India, the first when he was said to have made a personal remark against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It can only mean one of two things: either Mr. Sharif speaks without thinking through the impact of his words, only to regret it later; or what he says is deliberately distorted. Both have the same effect, of vitiating the already bad bilateral atmosphere. In this instance, the reported talk of war set off alarms in India, and was even seen in the context of the recent change at the top in the Pakistan Army. The normally unflappable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the thick of election season, jumped in to respond with the remark that Pakistan would not be able to win a war against India “in my lifetime”. The episode has shown up Pakistan and India in poor light for their inability to act like mature nations, falling back instead on vocabulary more typical of quarrelsome people trying to settle scores.
Prime Minister Sharif was right to point out that Kashmir is a key issue in the list of problems between the two countries. A resolution to the issue was close in 2006. Mr. Sharif would do well to examine dispassionately the merits of the Musharraf-era proposals despite the bad history between him and Pakistan’s former military ruler. This and the host of other issues, including Siachen, should be reason enough for the two countries to get back to the negotiating table quickly. But inexplicably, even the simple directive by the two Prime Ministers at their September meeting in New York asking their militaries to take steps to strengthen the ceasefire on the Line of Control has not been carried out. For Mr. Sharif, who both before and after his election made no secret of his desire to make peace with India, the time to take ownership of his government’s India policy is now, when his mandate is fresh. It would also help put the lid on anti-Pakistan rhetoric on the Indian side in the run-up to the 2014 elections, and prevent the atmosphere from worsening.
When the definition of poverty harms the poor
The idea that poverty is determined, defined and measured by a group of people mostly unaffected by it is an intriguing one. Numerous definitions and studies globally tell us what poverty is, how it is measured — extreme and the moderate (there are categories!). Though surprisingly, none of these definitions has been evolved by or in consultation with the poor themselves. The arrogance of economists is such that they endeavour and succeed, in some measure, to estimate and tell us how poor we should feel and why.
It is little surprise then that Rahul Gandhi thinks that poverty is a state of the mind. He is absolutely correct. It is a state in the mind of self-indulgent economists with little or no engagement of the poor.
Narendra Modi is no different. He attributes malnutrition in girls to vanity and the desire to control weight. The rest of India, which sees stunted, underweight, undernourished girls everywhere, somehow never makes this mistake. But our leaders make these mistakes nonchalantly, unapologetically and brazenly. What helps them do so? Arbitrary definitions of poverty determined by groups of economists, often employed by the government, who use numbers to obfuscate the poverty debate in India and elsewhere.
Every year, the government claims that the poverty numbers have fallen thanks to the hard work of these economists. According to whom — the poor? What allows a group of people to define poverty for a nation without consulting those that make up that category? We rarely ask the poor what poverty means to them and what change in lifestyle would make them poverty-free. Have Indian economists and the leaders ever wondered if the poor continue to be poor because we don’t understand poverty sufficiently? Or perhaps, the poor understand poverty too well?
The questions are sufficiently intriguing. The answers are harder to find. There is a poverty line in India and elsewhere, which tells us how we can measure poverty. The global poverty line for extreme poverty is $1.25 and for moderate poverty is $2. In India, until recently, we measured poverty in terms of calorific value.
The much-criticised Tendulkar committee based its definition on purchasing power parity. More recently, another panel was set up under Dr. Rangarajan to define poverty. In the U.S., the poverty line is determined by the basic cost of food for a family multiplied by three. This figure is adjusted for inflation every year.
Before considering differing definitions, it’s important to consider calmly for a moment what the poverty line denotes. Is life just above the poverty line so much better than life right below it? In purely practical terms, are nutrition, health and well-being radically better as we cross this imaginary poverty line? It might be worthwhile to ask the poor. After all, they are experts on the subject.
A survey among the Indian or global poor on what poverty is would lead to a definition widely divergent from that of governments and economists. The poor, across India and the world, will probably be in concurrence. What does this tell us? That the business of poverty measurement is an extremely useful one. A poorly-created poverty measurement index easily misrepresents and often reduces the poverty in a society. In doing so, it decreases the responsibility of the privileged and the powerful to improve the condition of the less privileged.
Logic of measurement
It also misinforms the primary discourse in a society deeply wedded to the logic of measurement and numbers. Poverty, as the poor experience it, is a concept which has little or no resonance amongst any other class. In the long-term, such discourses fracture societies, eventually leading to unrest, inequality, internalised dissatisfaction and eventual conflict. The point to consider, then, is who should define poverty and why the poor should not lead this process? Poverty, as defined by the poor, must converge at some point with the state’s definition. Why? Because if our definitions of what poverty is can be so vastly divergent, how can any programmes designed for poverty alleviation ever truly succeed? There is a need to recognise that poverty is multi-dimensional. After all, despite rising above the poverty line, millions of Indians continue to lack access to safe water, sanitation, housing, nutrition, health and education.
Unless we take into account what poverty means to the poor, measuring or reducing it will continue to remain a game of deliberate obfuscation. We can continue to measure poverty inadequately and pat ourselves on reducing extreme poverty year on year. Or we can have a more considered, nuanced and inclusive discussion on what poverty is. Until then, poverty will continue to be ‘a state of mind of a young stunted girl participating in a beauty contest in Gujarat’ — that way both Rahul and Modi will be right. The poor, however, will continue to be wronged.
(Chapal Mehra is Senior Director, Global Health Strategies Emerging Economies, New Delhi.)
We rarely ask the poor what poverty means to them and what changes in lifestyle would make them poverty-free
Making human rights a reality
Today, December 10, is commemorated internationally as Human Rights Day. The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 with a view to bringing a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. It was primarily meant to promote a simple yet powerful idea that all human beings are born free and equal in terms of dignity and rights. With the Declaration, it was made clear that rights are not conferred by any government; they are the birthright of all people. It does not matter what country we live in, who our leaders are, or even who we are. Because we are human, we have rights. And because we have rights, governments are bound to protect them.
In the 65 years since the Declaration was adopted, many nations including India have made progress in making human rights a human reality. Gradually, the barricades that previously prohibited people from enjoying the full measure of liberty, dignity, and humanity have come down. Public interest litigation and the judicial activism of the Supreme Court played a major role in expanding the scope of human rights and in giving it much-needed legitimacy through some important verdicts. In many places, indiscriminate laws have been repealed, legal and social practices that degraded humans have been abolished, vulnerable groups have been given due recognition and their lives made secure. These progressive judicial pronouncements were a reaction to social action groups and movements seeking judicial intervention to persuade and pressure governments to defend and fulfil the rights of the most marginalised. This progress was not that effortless. People had to fight, organise and campaign in public and private forums to change not only laws, but hearts and minds.
However, there is still much to be done to secure that assurance, that actuality, and progress for all people. We have repeatedly witnessed such human rights violations: awareness about human rights needs to be made universal. Our endeavour should be to mould a society with no gender discrimination and no violence. When women are empowered, that ensures stable societies. Likewise, when leaders of nations empower people through futurist policies, the prosperity of the nations becomes certain. When religion transforms into a spiritual force, people become enlightened citizens with a value system.
While there is acceptance of universal respect and adherence to human rights, infringement of internationally recognised norms continues unabated in almost all parts of the world. The overall situation has been characterised by large-scale breaches of civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. It is a fact that India, being the world’s most populous democracy, continues to have considerable human rights problems despite making commitments to deal with some of the most prevalent abuses.
Colonial approach
Though India took many proactive steps and followed a welfare state model, the police and the bureaucracy have remained largely colonial in their approach and sought to exert control and power over citizens. The feudal and communal characteristics of the Indian polity, coupled with a colonial bureaucracy, dampened the spirit of freedom, rights and affirmative action enshrined in the Constitution. The country has a booming civil society, free media, and an independent judiciary. However, ongoing violent practices that harm vulnerable groups, corruption, and lack of accountability for their perpetrators, lead to human rights violations. Many women, children, Dalits, tribal communities, religious minorities, people with disabilities, and sexual and gender minorities stay marginalised and continue to suffer discrimination because of the government’s failure to train public officials in stopping discriminatory behaviour. Issues pertaining to police brutality, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, bonded labour, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners, custodial deaths, corruption, labour and migrant rights, sexual violence, refugees, internally displaced people, terrorism, poverty, human trafficking and so on, remain. Continuous attempts are being made by the National Human Rights Commission to address such human rights issues. Some of these issues are being monitored as programmes on the directions of the Supreme Court.
Human Rights Day is an occasion for us to analyse the journey that our nation has undertaken so far on the path sketched by the Constitution, and prepare jointly to make dignity with human rights for all our countrymen a reality. Though scepticism still exists in some quarters, there has been a greater level of acknowledgment of the need to encourage and guard human rights, in spite of the abuse of the human rights discourse by the new imperialist forces.
If human rights need to have genuine meaning, they must be correlated to public involvement, and this participation should be preceded by empowerment of the people.
A sense of empowerment necessitates a sense of dignity, self-worth and the ability to ask questions with a spirit of legal entitlements and political consciousness based on rights. A process of political empowerment and a sense of rights empower citizens to participate in the public sphere. The splendour of human rights has to be maintained with nobility and glory. There cannot be any wearing down of values, deterioration of quality or any cobwebs in the procedure.
(The author, a former Chief Justice of India, is currently Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission)
Progressive judicial pronouncements were a reaction to social action groups and movements that sought judicial intervention to persuade the government to defend the rights of the marginalised
Not just about the islands
In late November, China announced that it now had an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. This development led to an immediate spiking of tensions with its neighbours, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as with the United States.
In response, the United States sent two B-52 bombers into the air zone claimed by China. A couple of days later, Japan and South Korea followed suit, sending aircraft into the zone without informing the Chinese authorities. While the U.S. has now at least advised its passenger airlines to follow the rules of the Chinese ADIZ, Tokyo has explicitly refused to do so. For those bemused by China’s sudden announcement and the flurry of international attention that has accompanied it, here is a handy guide to the issue.
What is an ADIZ?
It’s a section of international airspace over which a country declares its right to identify aircraft, ostensibly to protect itself from foreign threat. It’s a product of customary international law but it’s not jurisdictional.
What happens once an ADIZ is established?
A country would use radar to detect unexpected aircraft flying in the ADIZ and observe them. This would sort some, if not most, into the category of being unthreatening. Using radio, it would query those it was concerned about. The country may ask who they are and what they are doing. If they are not a security threat, that would be sufficient. If the country was still not sure, it would launch an aircraft to intercept and observe. The country would not have the authority to do anything else unless it thought the aircraft was a direct threat to the country.
What’s the problem with China declaring an ADIZ?
Well, the problem is that China’s ADIZ overlaps with the ADIZ that was created by the U.S. after World War-II and transferred to Japan in 1969. Japan sees this as an affront to its sovereignty. The bigger problem is that China’s ADIZ encompasses the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands claimed by both China and Japan. This is the first time an overlapping ADIZ has been declared in an area where there is a sovereignty dispute. As a result, with China monitoring the space, and the U.S. and China’s neighbours defying it, there is now an increased risk of either a deliberate or accidental incident involving military aircraft. Some are also concerned that China thinks the ADIZ will strengthen its claim over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands.
Is it Diaoyu or Senkaku? And what’s the history issue that crops up in every article?
The Chinese call the islands Diaoyudao. The Japanese call them Senkaku. Impartial observers try to get both names in. The “history problem” (lishi wenti) as China terms it, refers to the history of Japanese colonialism in China. Japan, once a vassal state of imperial China, subjugated and humiliated the Chinese not once but twice in different periods of time — in the late 1800s, and again, in the 1930s. Japan’s domination and exploitation of China, along with the conquests of Western powers, falls under the “century of humiliation” (bainian guochi) in the Chinese historical narrative.
The Diaoyudao islands were considered lost during this period when Japan formally annexed them in 1895. The suffering at the hands of Japan was particularly shocking for China and the issue remains hugely sensitive, not just because Japan was considered an inferior vassal state at the beginning of this tumultuous period, but also because modern Japan is seen as unremorseful of the atrocities it inflicted on China.
So why did China suddenly declare the ADIZ? Is it just about controlling Diaoyu/Senkaku?
That depends on whom you talk to. Chinese foreign policy decision-making is highly opaque, so all anyone can do is to speculate and there have been a number of speculative theories. First, China could be redefining the status quo. China feels it has a right to an ADIZ to protect its sovereignty over both its territory as well as its claimed maritime spaces. After all, Japan has an ADIZ.
Moreover, Japan’s ADIZ comes within 130 km of China’s territory; therefore it’s only fair that China’s ADIZ extends to within 130 km of Japan’s territory. Second, it could be a direct challenge to Japan’s administration of Diaoyu/Senkaku. Japan has administrative control over the islands; this could be China’s attempt at a different kind of parallel control.
Third, this could be not about Diaoyu/Senkaku but rather about bigger maritime security issues in the East China Sea and asserting Chinese dominance. The New York Times quoted an unnamed adviser to President Obama saying, “It’s pretty clear this isn’t about the islands.”
Fourth, it could be a combination of domestic political pressure from Chinese nationalists in the media and the PLA, and President Xi Jinping feeling his way into his new role. Japan is a domestic hot button issue and any move by the government that could be interpreted as pushback against Japan would appeal to a small but highly vocal section of nationalists in the media as well as the PLA, which tends to take stronger stances on Chinese territorial sovereignty than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That, combined with President Xi’s relatively new leadership, could be a way for him to consolidate his authority.
What does this mean for India?
Well, hawks would immediately jump to the conclusion that China is more aggressive in its foreign policy, which does not bode well for its relations with India. Certainly, China’s announcement of the ADIZ was unexpected. It was done without any consultation with Japan and has thus been seen as very disrespectful. It has also been called unnecessary. Since the ADIZ is not jurisdictional, it makes no legal difference to China’s claim over Diaoyu/Senkaku.
A more sober look, however, would take into account a few additional facts. First, many countries have an ADIZ and establishing one is not surprising in itself. It’s possible the Chinese government did not realise that the establishment of the ADIZ would lead to this strong backlash. In their eyes, they were establishing parity with Japan, not needling it. Second, China backed off from their initial terming of the ADIZ as “emergency defensive measures” and insisted that they just want notification from aircraft entering the airspace, and are not about to respond with force.
Third, as The Diplomat pointed out, China is engaging in “lawfare” — using international institutions to achieve strategic goals. This is indicative of acceptance rather than the rejection of the current international order. Fourth, because China, like all other countries, has a right to an ADIZ, the ADIZ itself should not be the problem. Rather, China’s actions should be scrutinised.
If Japanese planes flying towards Diaoyu/Senkaku are intercepted on a regular basis, that would be more of an issue than the establishment of the ADIZ itself, unexpected though it may have been. Last, unpalatable as this may be to the Indian power elite, given the focus on the “China threat”, India, currently at least, simply does not factor into China’s strategic priorities. China is intently focused on the United States. Implicitly, this may actually be a good thing, leading to maintenance of the status quo for the foreseeable future.
( Manjari Chatterjee Miller is Assistant Professor of International Relations, Boston University, and author of Wronged by Empire: Post-Imperial Ideology and Foreign Policy in India and China. )
China’s decision to have an Air Defence Identification Zone in the East China Sea could have more to do with bigger maritime security issues than with any dispute over islands administratively controlled by Japan
Focus on violence against women
However well a democracy may work, recurring social injustice and violence against women continue to centre on poverty. ‘Feminisation of poverty’ is now an undeniable reality of India. Feminisation of poverty refers to women representing a disproportionate share of the world’s poor.
Under the umbrella of the Pension Parishad, Jagori, the National Federation for Indian Women and the Centre for Advocacy and Research focussed on rising violence against women here on Monday. Women from South Delhi, South West Delhi and Bawana participated in the programme, dancing, singing songs and raising slogans to demand an end to violence.
Gargi Chakravarty of the NFIW said women faced multiple forms of violence: child marriage, sex determination, dowry harassment and denial of food, education and work. Women from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan had come to the capital demanding the immediate passage of the Bill providing 33 per cent reservation for women in the legislature, said NFIW general secretary Annie Raja.
Jagori co-director Geetha Nambisan reiterated that violence against women was rooted in gender discrimination and inequality.
She said men and women who had no opportunity to question gender roles, attitudes and beliefs could not change them, and women unaware of their rights could not claim them.
Rights activist Sejal Dand said elderly women were subjected to violence by family members and the state. “Violence against women is not only a women’s issue, but a responsibility that must be recognised by all stakeholders.”
Last-mile attempt to re-energise MGNREGA
The initial phase of Kaam Maango Abhiyan, an awareness campaign the Ministry for Rural Development launched on December 6 to increase the demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), has shown significant promise.
The campaign is focussing on six districts: Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh); Nashik (Maharashtra); Raichur (Karnataka); Katihar (Bihar); West Singhbum (Jharkhand); and Sundergarh (Odisha). It will create a model for a nationwide campaign to be launched on February 2, which is celebrated as the MGNREGA Day.
It will involve training of officials, mass awareness drives through padyatras and institutionalising the monthly Rozgar Diwas in every panchayat for people to register their demand and grievances.
The Abhiyan has made an immediate impact in Nashik, where 98 per cent of the gram panchayats have shown a rise in person days of work demanded as of December 8, compared with the Management Information System data on November 18. The highest rise is in the Surgane, Tondwal, Chandori and Devdongari gram panchayats. Especially in Devdongari, it is 813 per cent higher than what it was 15 days ago.
“Kaam Maango Abhiyan is a last-mile attempt to re-energise the MGNREGA. This momentum and energy shall hopefully sustain itself,” a Ministry official told The Hindu .
In Uttar Pradesh, in just three weeks, 700 gram panchayats have demanded work.
“We have observed that the demand under MGNREGA is not being registered. The system is not efficiently acknowledging this demand. Thanks to the Abhiyan, the State governments are focussing on understanding demand,” the official said.
Incidentally, the Uttar Pradesh government has been running a simultaneous campaign in all districts, called ‘Kaam Lo Abhiyan.’
In the first phase of padyatras, 30,000 applications for work have been registered across seven blocks of 132 gram panchayats in Bihar.
Sources say Bihar has effectively mobilised people, and volunteers have been stopping off at panchayat bhawans, putting out information about MGNREGA.
Odisha has registered 37,000 work applications across 250 gram panchayats.
“This indicates the reach of the Abhiyan to the most isolated areas. All demands for work must be accepted and are monitored by the Centre every day. We are learning lessons from each district. MGNREGA is not dead; the system stopped responding. This is the key message,” the official explained.
Kaam Maango Abhiyan has shown significant promise
‘Suspended animation an option only if government formation possible’
As confusion prevails over government formation in Delhi, in view of the fractured verdict given by voters, constitutional experts say the Lt-Governor has the choice of recommending the “suspended animation” of the Assembly only if he feels there is a possibility of government formation in the near future.
“Otherwise, there is no choice for him except to recommend to the Union government that the House be dissolved — if the BJP or the AAP does not come forward to form a government and prove its majority in the Assembly,” said noted constitutional expert P.D.T. Achary.
Mr. Achary, former Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha, said there were no written rules on inviting the single largest party or the second largest party to form the government. “It is just a convention which is being followed throughout the country,” he said adding that the Lt-Governor could straightway recommend the dissolution of the House if he did not see any possibility of government formation in the near future.é
“Anyway it is for the President to accept or not to accept the decision, based on the recommendations of the Union Cabinet,” Mr. Achary said adding that as soon as the results were declared and the election certificates given to the newly elected members, the Delhi Assembly’s new House was deemed to have come into existence.
Irrespective of whether or not the new members had taken the oath of office, the Lt. Governor could dissolve the Assembly or keep it under suspended animation if no party could form the government. Although there was no time limit on keeping the House under suspended animation, it should not exceed a reasonable period, he said.
Election Commission sources said they had no role now as they could act only if the vacancy or dissolution of the House was notified.
Otherwise, the
Lt-Governor has no choice except to recommend that the House be dissolved, says constitutional expert
ISRO to refine Mars craft course tomorrow
ISRO plans to do the first of its four small, planned course corrections on the Mars-bound Indian spacecraft at dawn on Wednesday.
The spacecraft, ejected from the earth’s orbit on December 1, was on Monday said to be cruising some 23 lakh km away from earth.
Controllers of its various systems met at tracking centre ISTRAC in the evening to take stock of its situation and plan the operation, called trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM). Team ISRO calls it fine-tuning of its course.
This TCM is needed as the spacecraft slightly overachieved its parameter, which can happen during operations such as the crucial December 1 manoeuvre, said M. Annadurai, Programme Director of the Mars Orbiter Mission.
Monday’s meeting was to take stock, finalise the duration of firing the smaller thrusters — tentatively for about 40 seconds at 6.30 a.m. on December 11 — and the rest of the TCM-1 strategy.
This time, all eight small 22-Newton thrusters on the spacecraft would be used to minutely slow it down. The activity, as also the three similar remote shots planned next year, would ensure that the spacecraft travelled at a specific speed and kept its date with Mars in September next year, he explained to The Hindu .
Dr. Annadurai said, “We have a fair idea of the trend of its 10-month behaviour, such as its position and velocity.”
On December 1, while steering the spacecraft away from the earth, the trans-Mars injection (TMI) gave it a small extra speed of 2 km a second. Mars, too, is moving at 30 km a second in its own path.
As such the spacecraft’s motion should be occasionally synchronised for its rendezvous with Mars in September 2014, he said.
Currently it was under the sole influence of sun’s forces. The signals were coming at a delay of eight seconds and this would get longer.
For the December 1 move and the earlier six orbit-raising moves, the ISRO engineers used the larger 440-Newton liquid motor.
The other corrections or TCMs are due next year in April, August and mid-September, the last one 10 days before the spacecraft reaches and begins to orbit Mars.
It is to make sure the orbiter travels at a specific speed
Spacecraft cruising some 23 lakh km away from earth
India’s mid-day meal scheme ranked 12th among lower-middle-income countries
India has the largest programme, catering to over 114 million children
Students of a government school in Ranchi having thier mid-day meal.— File Photo: Manob Chowdhury
A global report by the World Food Project (WFP) for 2013 on 169 countries has said that India has the largest school feeding programme in the world, catering to over 114 million children, but stands 12thamong 35 lower-middle-income countries covering 79 per cent of its total number of school-going children.
The report titled “State of School Feeding Worldwide, 2013” draws from a global survey conducted by WFP in 2012 and a series of case studies and peer reviewed technical working papers undertaken in collaboration with partner countries.
The report lauds India’s mid-day meal scheme as “a good example of a mixed implementation approach” with two procurement processes — one for food grains, which are subsidised Centrally through the government-owned Food Corporation of India, and one for other items like fresh fruits or vegetables, procured at the State level.
The report notes that gross primary enrolment grew between 2001-2002 and 2007-2008 in India, following the implementation of the mid-day meal programme, particularly among Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
The report adds an important rider — “school feeding can only help if the other major elements that are prerequisites for learning — such as teachers, textbooks, curriculum and an environment conducive to learning — are also in place.” It warns that care should be taken to avoid using teachers or education staff to prepare food, since this “merely taxes the system that school-feeding programmes aim to enhance.”
The report also says that the nutritional impact of the programme is yet to be evaluated. “The links with health and nutrition could be strengthened considerably by better coordination between sectors. Other weaknesses remain, such as insufficient allocation of budget for food transportation and infrastructure.” Late disbursement of government funds too has a negative impact.
In a significant recommendation, the report proposes linking the programme to the agriculture sector which “can potentially benefit the entire community as well as the children.” Countries like Brazil, Chile and Scotland have demonstrated the effectiveness of purchasing school food locally in order to simultaneously “feed children better and stimulate the local economy.”
Civic bodies to answer for urban flooding
The municipal corporations in Kerala may soon be held accountable for failure to prevent urban flooding. The State Disaster Management Plan (SDMP), slated to be ready in 2014, is likely to have guidelines making civic bodies responsible for pre-monsoon cleaning, solid-waste management and preventing constructions in low-lying areas that act as natural drainage channels.
T. Nandakumar, Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), says the plan would define the role of every department, institution and official in preventing and handling a crisis. “For example, the role of a municipal corporation in a city which gets flooded every monsoon needs to be clearly spelt out. We need to hold them to a certain level of accountability: that drains must be cleaned, waste must be disposed of. Simple things, but it often does not happen. And then, you can always blame the heavy rain. But rain does not come according to our design,” he said.
Serious look
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Nandakumar, who was here last week to review the activities of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), said Kerala would have to take a serious look at urban flooding. “Every time it rains, you cannot have flooding in cities. The NDMA has clear guidelines on this. There is a little bit of work that Corporations have to do. You cannot allow drains to be choked and then complain about flooding. The SDMA is expected to look at implementing some of these guidelines,” he said.
Mr. Nandakumar said local bodies, like other agencies, had a role to play in disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response. “It is important to define the architecture and then develop standard operating procedures. That is a detailed exercise,” he said.
The NDMA, he said, is encouraging Kerala to develop an inundation map for better management of floods. “Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar are developing models based on rainfall and river flow estimates to anticipate flooding. Though not accurate, some of these models have been found useful in evacuating people,” he said.
On the need to share information and expertise, he said, “Some States such as Bihar and Assam have excellent flood management plans, while Gujarat has expertise in handling earthquakes and chemical disasters.”
