The Big Story: Waterworld

It seems like only yesterday that India's massive climate change-influenced ecological disaster was a pervasive drought and heatwaves that were off the charts. Come August, however, and a much more familiar storyline has reasserted itself. At least 127 people have died because of floods in Bihar, which have also affected Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, leaving lakhs and lakhs in difficult circumstances, often without much relief.

Flood victims in Bihar in particular, where ruling alliance party leader Lalu Prasad Yadav quipped that people should feel fortunate to find the Ganga at their doorstep, have taken to protesting by blocking roads and heckling officials in an effort to demand more relief supplies. Disaster management teams from the Centre and the state have swung into action, although Bihar's Disaster Management Department Minister Chandrashekhar has already admitted that there were not enough camps set up. An investigation will be conducted after floodwaters recede.

Floods are the most common natural disaster India faces, occurring as regularly as the monsoon. Bihar is particularly vulnerable. Of the 39 flood-prone districts identified by a government panel in 2006, 15 lie in Bihar, with the state itself claiming as much as 75% of its population live in areas that are prone to floods.

Politicians have bickered over which river construction is responsible for this year's floods: the Farakka Barrage (which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has caused the river to be filled with silt) or Bansagar Dam (which released a massive amount of water on August 19). While both of these have to be examined, especially dam management (since desiltation is a mammoth task that is very unlikely to actually happen), the state also must do much more to ensure that it is prepared for what are now routine annual floods.

Broader warnings, about building on floodplains, not providing enough embankments, inadequate drainage systems and obstructing waterways, are brought up every August and mostly forgotten soon after. The least the state can do, knowing it is struggling to deal with those issues, is be better prepared to provide relief to its citizens in the aftermath of the inevitable floods.

The Big Scroll

Political Pickings

  1. The Centre has asked for an inquiry into reports that massive amounts of data about under-construction Scorpene submarines have been leaked, possibly at the French manufacturers end. 
  2. After all his bluster, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's legal counsel told the Supreme Court in a defamation case that he did not mean to suggest that the Rashtriya Swayamesevak Sangh had killed Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi.
  3. The Cabinet cleared a new surrogacy Bill on Wednesday, raising many eyebrows by insisting on a complete ban on commercial surrogacy as well as preventing foreigners, single-parents, homosexuals and live-in couples from having surrogate babies. 
  4. The Supreme Court criticised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for using the defamation law as a way of suppressing dissent, saying this is not a sign of a healthy democracy. 

Punditry

  1. Soli Sorabjee in the Indian Express says there are legitimate uses of the sedition provision, but the Amnesty and Ramya cases are not covered under those.  
  2. "A judge stopped the madness. He implored the writer to write," says Salil Tripathi in Mint, adding that it is time we listened to Perumal Murugan. 
  3. Lawrence Liang, in the Hindu, writes that the new piracy warning on websites plays fast and loose with the law while also penalising knowledge offences. 

Giggles

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