ICYMI#TribuneOpinion: Floods in Punjab wreak havoc, Modi-XI meet in Tianjin ushers hope

After Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir, the rain gods continued to wreak havoc in the villages and towns of Punjab. The incessant flooding obliterated familiar markers on the Radcliffe Line in Ferozepur where parts of the border fencing that divides India from Pakistan have been submerged. It’s as if geography is taking its revenge on history, writes Editor-in-Chief Jyoti Malhotra in her edit Water will find a way, in India & Pak. The Bhakra dam has never been desilted since it was built in 1963. She has many formidable questions for which people need answers — If this is true about the Bhakra Nangal on the Sutlej, could it also be true about the Pong dam and the Ranjit Sagar dam? Does it follow that the dam officials had to release water from these dams this monsoon — which caused the flooding in Punjab — because they were concerned about protecting the integrity of the dam structure? If these dams had been desilted over the years, would they have been capable of carrying much more water?

In their Op-ed piece Floodwaters expose cracks in Punjab’s governance, JNU professor Seema Bathla and Ravi Kiran, Assistant Professor, Government College, Sri Muktsar Sahib, underline the need for a proactive, long-term strategy that addresses the fundamental causes of floods and the need for coordinated efforts between neighbouring states. A review of dam management protocols, a state-wide project for desiltation and a robust farmer-centric crop insurance policy is what they recommend.

In yet another informative article, science commentator Dinesh C Sharma explains in his edit piece Wake-up call on the climate front that the changing monsoon patterns are linked to larger patterns of climate change. Enumerating the solutions, he writes we need to make all our public policies compliant with climate change, review the Environmental Impact Assessment regime and conduct a ‘climate audit’ of all existing infrastructure — hydel projects, national highways, road and railway bridges, airports — not from a financial perspective but to check if it is climate-resilient.

With the SCO meet held in Tianjin earlier this week, among India, China and Russia, the weakest link in this chain is the India-China relationship, says former Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale in his Op-ed piece Beyond photo-ops: Realities of India-China ties. The outstanding boundary question imposes limitations on how much India-China relations can improve, he writes. It is time for quiet backroom discussions and negotiations between India and China.

Amid the changing geopolitics induced by Trump 2.0, there are some good vibes coming in from Europe. Germany’s partnership with India will weather the current storms that are shaking up the international order, writes Germany's Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann in his Op-ed piece Berlin bets on Indian talent for stronger ties. Many German companies have made Bengaluru a cornerstone of their R&D strategies and many Indian students trust the quality of German public universities and are placing their future on Germany.

A fallout of Trump’s tariff plan, the Centre announced the removal of 11 per cent import duty on cotton. That it has come at the time of harvest is a recipe for disaster, writes Sukhpal Singh, Chairman, Punjab State Farmers’ and Farm Workers’ Commission in his Oped Cotton imports spell disaster for farmers. The irony is that this decision came days after PM Modi assured the farmers that the government would not compromise on their interest at any cost. Supporting the cause of the farmers is another Op-ed piece Why India needs an agricultural policy where Kirti Kisan Union general secretary Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala writes that the pressure of corporate and imperialistic countries has been deciding the fate of our food and farmers. A policy that is advantageous to the farmers, not corporate giants, is needed, he writes.

The Delhi High Court refused bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi 2020 riots. By declaring their involvement "graver" without showing how, the court avoids the hard question of equality before law, says Supreme Court senior advocate Sanjay Hegde in his Op-ed piece Burying justice in the Umar Khalid trial. This case is not just about Khalid or Imam, it is about the space for dissent in India. Five years in jail without trial for words and protests is not proportionate; it is punishment without conviction, he notes.

In a positive development, the ISRO presented the indigenously developed Vikram 3201 microchip at the Semicon conference marking a huge milestone in the nation’s self-reliance in the semiconductor technology. ‘Vikram’ is expected to find valuable applications in strategic and industrial sectors, besides playing a major role in space missions, explains IISER Mohali’s visiting Professor TV Venkateswaran in his Op-ed piece Why ISRO’s Vikram 3201 is a game-changer. The work on semiconductor technology was driven by necessity as ISRO heavily relied on imported processors earlier. Sanctions imposed after the 1998 Pokhran tests sharply highlighted the importance of developing home-grown strategic technology, he explains further.