Be prepared
for any possibility
Will India ,
particularly Maharashtra , get good rains this
time? Last year, almost one-third of the country received far too little rain
and has been left parched, with water resources running low. A good monsoon now
is absolutely necessary to fill our lakes and help us in agriculture.
A Meteorological Department has
forecasted that the monsoon rainfall for South Asia
would most likely be within the normal range with a slight tendency towards the
higher side of the normal range. But there are other experts who warn of below
normal rains over some north-western and southern parts of the subcontinent.
But the gadgets that these experts use
to forecast about the rainfall have limitations in forecasting the distribution
of monsoon rainfall geographically, and over time. It is not clear as to which parts of the country will get more or
less rain this far in advance of the monsoon. Whatever may be the case, we should be prepared and learn to live with
the inevitable variability of monsoons.
We should store in whatever way possible
the rain water and ensure rational water use in agriculture, towns and cities
for residential and industrial purposes and encourage water recycling and
reuse. The government should be prepared for the possibility of low rainfall and start
preparing to take actions to prevent a drought. Prevention is better than cure,
after all.
Apart from rain water harvesting and
recycling and reuse of available water resources, it is also necessary to
undertake massive afforestation drive from this monsoon itself on all India
basis. All the local government bodies should be given the responsibility of
this planting programme by finalizing the quantum of saplings to be planted
each year.
Implementation of a national water plan
and a comprehensive policy to deal with issues related to rain deficit or
excess are need of the day. There are also unresolved issues which arise out of
conflict of interests of industry, agriculture and urban dwellers, as each
group has own needs of water We also have problems related to inter State water
sharing. There should be more awareness and willingness to take concrete steps
to meet challenges of uncertain monsoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment