Every calamity must unify the nation

ANY election — parliamentary, Assembly, municipal or panchayat — brings in its run-up a plethora of meetings (parliamentary panels, working committees, election committees, etc.). Observers are appointed and election managers are engaged up to the booth level; central leaders descend on states, state politicians on districts and district leaders on panchayats. The election festival takes place amid phenomenal planning — war rooms are created, cadres mobilised, psephologists armed with amazing computing power and data are deployed. Nowadays, even the bureaucracy openly gets involved and we finally get to see our best and brightest in action. Of course, all this is accompanied by a display of wealth and vulgarity which continues to surpass its previous best.

The point is that the leadership of all parties is seen and heard in full action. If this level of management is possible for elections and this humungous amount of monetary largesse is deployable, then why are millions wallowing in misery amid the continuing floods in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and J&K?

Rivers and mountain streams are overflowing, there are landslides everywhere, roads have been washed away, bridges are collapsing, allegations of mismanagement of dams and canals are being levelled — the entire civil infrastructure is in a shambles. The wrath of nature is seen everywhere, but the healing hand of the civil administration is just a passing murmur.

Floods do not come without a fair warning; this time, especially, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was spot on. The forecast was dire throughout July, August and even September — missing was the timely organised response. The state governments have said that they had laid down guidelines for such contingencies. Who was supposed to implement them?

Was it an individual or organisational failure, or a collective failure of the government in all these states? Is there anything on record? Let us know if any preparatory work was done, any drills organised, any disaster-prone areas identified? Were enough men, material and other resources available in such areas? Were any officers designated for this work? Were any district and state control rooms established and subjected to stress tests? What were the warning systems for downstream villages in case excess water was released from the dams? I’m sure the answers to all these questions would be in the negative or vague at best.

What was the response once the floods came? Was it an institutional response or a haphazard response by individual officers who had the intelligence and moral integrity to act? Going by news reports, there seem to be some bright spots in a general atmosphere of gloom. I did not hear of many rescue boats moving across and the skies seemed bereft of any movement, except that of an odd helicopter. Central forces and even the Army are available everywhere and can be called to aid the civil administration during such contingencies. In fact, columns of the Army are earmarked for such purposes, and it is for the civil authorities to liaise with them.

The crux of the matter is that plans must be made to face such annual calamities, especially when the IMD forecast is so accurate. In the absence of a meaningful government response, it was left to civil society to take on the task because their very lives and livelihoods depended on mounting a defence against nature’s fury. Villagers organised themselves to fight their immediate problems. They had to save their families, homes, livestock — it was heartening to see them braving the elements with their bare hands and literally singing songs charged with religious emotions. This individual, this man or woman, is what we should be saving as we save a national treasure — such human resources are not easily available.

Does it always have to be about petty politics and photo opportunities? Can’t we as a nation rise to the occasion? The ‘state’, when mobilised, commands huge resources and is capable of tremendous feats. Leadership is about motivating men and coordinating resources — ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’. Where is the man here who can marshal the people and the vast wealth of this nation? Or are we doomed to follow ‘leaders of low calibre and men of straw’?

The contribution of our freedom fighters is an example to all of us, it is there for all to see for we are the children of an independent India devoid of the boot of oppression. Must we be looted by our own?

Much mischief is afoot today, both within and from forces inimical to us — from geopolitical challenges in the form of tariffs to the overt threats of Pakistan and the terrorism it foments, to the vested interests of our other neighbours. Climate change brings a calamity of its own design. In such times, it is important that we come together. If Punjab and Himachal are bearing the brunt today, tomorrow might throw up something in the south or the west. The nation must learn to respond as one. The flood-affected regions will need rehabilitation on a war footing. Homes, fields, farms, livestock, equipment have been destroyed and along with it means of livelihood. Governments and civil society should take urgent cognisance of the devastation and respond in a coordinated manner.

Today, much of the Western world is seeing a revival of the extreme-right ideology, and its borders are hardening. The youth who had pinned their hopes on migration will probably find that mirage fading and many may find themselves on the flight back or denied the opportunity to ‘go West’. They must find hope and opportunity here and become part of building a truly great nation.

The large volume of returning youth and the already resident unemployed ones would face a land ravaged by floods and governmental incompetence. I can see the vultures waiting to harness these young people for their criminal gangs, terrorist outfits, etc. The government would be facing a gigantic task of rehabilitation and it would have to draw up a plan to absorb this large body of unemployed youth. A core group of young and brilliant bureaucrats, along with persons selected from the corporate world, should be given this task and their recommendations immediately implemented. The politician must bring to this effort the same energy and innovation that he uses during election time.

One last observation: climate change is upon us, whether Donald Trump believes it or not. Science is unmistakably pointing its figure in this direction, and we are seeing and facing the results of this change on the ground. We are already very late, but much can still be salvaged. Can mankind unite for once and save itself from the impending apocalypse?

Gurbachan Jagat is former Governor, Manipur, and ex-DGP, J&K.