Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'How to avert severe flooding?' that was published in Newsband

How to avert severe flooding?

India faces the danger of suffering severe flooding during the monsoon which can lead to loss of life and property. Ways and means should be found out to cope with the effects of intense rainfall. The pace of preparation for rescue and relief is tardy. Capacity-building to handle catastrophic weather events is poor, and serious attention is not given to setting up relief camps, creating crisis-proof health infrastructure and stockpiling dry rations and medicines.

There is also lack of robust regular services. This is particularly true of health facilities infections and the absence of care for pregnant women. These challenges require to be met in emergency mode.

India, though democratically moving forward, is not moving with the majority at the helm being of high quality experiences, education, imagination and vision. The entire Wings of Governance - Parliament, Executive, and the Judiciary are manned not by the best people chosen from the population, with the result not even one Government operation (and plan) seem to go in unison with the Wants and Needs of the common people. Ruling class come and go, and each plan some funny schemes of so-called development, and when they change, and another enters - the earlier schemes are simply thrown to the dust bins, and something new comes out. The latest are: Smart Cities, infrastructure, Bullet trains and so on. As long as India's developments are not based on Dispersed Village developments, we would continue to see such disasters, with tremendous human sufferings

Clearing waterways, avoiding building structures at river banks, strengthening flood shelters with more capacity, making thickly opulent corporates of the states to involve in flood relief as the onus based on corporate social responsibility are preventive measures.

 With climate change and precipitation more likely to be dumped in short, sharp bursts, the challenge will become more grim in future. Many parts now covered with sheets of water will experience water shortages in summer. It is a long term endeavour, but we must work on retaining more of these surges in surface storage and by recharging rapidly depleting aquifers.

The answer to these problems lies in scientific management of all the rivers and restoring the natural flood plains. India has a lot to learn from countries such as The Netherlands that have embarked on programs such as "Room for the River". These programs create more room river for the river by means of extended embankments and managed flood plains that can be flooded intentionally during the times of flood to avoid uncontrolled flood extents. Damming of rivers, irrigation systems and channelling the rivers post independence is not a strategy we should follow in to the future. We should learn to live with water like in the olden times in Kosi basin and in Mekong Delta and also align development to live with agriculture and not with irrigation practices.