Need to find if adversaries have role in natural disasters: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, January 19

With India facing a series of natural disasters in the Himalayas, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said the country was seeking the help of friendly nations to study if such catastrophic events were just about climate change or “if any of our adversaries are involved”.

Climate change linked to national security

Climate change is not just a weather-related phenomenon, but a very serious issue related to national security. Rajnath Singh, defence minister

“The Ministry of Defence has taken these disasters very seriously and will seek the help of friendly countries to study and rule out the involvement of any of our adversaries in these,” the minister said as he opened 35 infrastructure projects of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), built at a cost of Rs 670 crore, at an event organised on the Joshimath-Malari road in Uttarakhand today.

Though Rajnath did not take names, the obvious reference was to China that shares a 3,488-km undemarcated boundary with India along the Himalayan ridgeline. Referring to the increasing number of natural disasters in some border states, including Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim, in recent years, Rajnath said many experts believed that climate change was the reason behind these incidents.

“Climate change is not just a weather-related phenomenon, but a very serious issue related to national security,” the minister said. Last year, unprecedented rain in Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand caused damage to military and civil infrastructure such as roads and bridges, besides impacting the tourism sector. There were landslides and avalanches in Siachen, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim.

Three major rivers — the Indus, Brahmaputra and the Sutlej — originate from the Tibetan Plateau, which is under Chinese occupation since early 1950s. Another important tributary of the Sutlej, the Parechu, originates from the Chepze area (south of Chumar in Ladakh).

India and China have a hydrological data-sharing agreement that is pending renewal. The Union Jal Shakti Ministry website says the agreement on data sharing on the Brahmaputra expired in June 2023 and the one on the Sutlej expired in November 2020. “The MoUs are under “process of renewal through diplomatic channels,” the ministry said.

Earlier, Rajnath said the government’s approach to developing border infrastructure showed confidence of a “new India”, which would not wait for potential adversaries to reach the plains to deal with them. “We are developing infrastructure on the mountains and deploying troops on hill borders in such a way so as to ensure the safety of people there and help the military to effectively deal with our adversaries,” he said.

The government had changed the approach adopted by previous governments. It considered border areas a part of the mainstream and not a buffer zone, he said.

Of the 35 projects inaugurated by Rajnath, 29 were bridges and six roads. Eleven of these are in J&K, nine in Ladakh, eight in Arunachal Pradesh, three in Uttarakhand, two in Sikkim and one each in Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh.

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