12 July 2023 : Indian Express
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12-July–2023
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1. WEATHERING IT OUT
Syllabus – GS III
Recent Context – Intense spells of rain may be inevitable. But the toll can be contained by developing warning systems and revamping drainage.
Monsoon vagaries
- Most parts of the country witness intense bursts of rain interspersed with relatively dry spells.
- The interaction of two climatic factors — good monsoon circulation and a western disturbance — has led to record-breaking rainfall that has, unfortunately, claimed the lives of at least 19 people, caused destruction and thrown life off gear in large parts of north India.
- Like in past instances of flooding, the authorities have focused on providing relief to those hit by the elements.
- Such efforts need to be stepped up. But it’s high time attention is also given to addressing another imperative: A proactive policy against climate vagaries.
- After the Uttarakhand disaster of 2013, not a single year has passed without India experiencing at least one intense rainfall event that has resulted in large-scale flooding and, in many cases, loss of lives.
- These floods have sent out several warnings — in Chennai in 2015, Kerala in 2018, Bihar in 2019, Bengaluru last year, and Assam almost every year.
Reasons
- As most Indian cities expanded, they wrested areas that were natural rainwater sinks —wetlands, marshes, and lakes.
- At the same time, stormwater drains in most parts of the country remain locked in networks that were planned several decades ago.
- Inept municipal administration compounds the problem, and these drains are almost always clogged.
- This means excessive rainfall gets trapped within the city’s boundaries.
- Delhi’s stormwater drains, for instance, are not equipped to deal with the 153 mm of rainfall the city received over the last weekend.
- In 2011, the state government signed a contract with IIT Delhi to prepare a drainage master plan, and the institute submitted a report in 2018.
- But the project was shelved in 2021, and the drainage revamp seems to be one of the many casualties of the ongoing wrangling between Delhi’s lieutenant governor and its elected government.
India’s Steps
- In recent years, India has developed early warning systems that have helped the country minimise damage by cyclones.
- Floods present a more complex challenge, especially because they are accompanied by landslides that take a large toll.
- The fragile geology of the Himalayan states makes them more vulnerable to landslips.
- In the past decade, there has been some progress in developing a landslide warning system, but experts believe that it will be some years before landslides can be predicted with pinpoint accuracy.
- The trouble also is that the vulnerability of these areas increases because state and national highway authorities rarely consider expert opinion while undertaking large-scale excavation of hills.
- Several directives of the judiciary to this effect, including that of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 2021, have gone unheeded.
- Extreme weather events might become par for the course. But the disasters they result in are largely products of anthropogenic factors. They must be contained.
2. UNFREEZE THE VALLEY
Syllabus – GS II
Recent Context – After a delay of four years, the Supreme Court has said it will hear daily, from August 2, petitions challenging the Centre’s 2019 decision in Jammu & Kashmir of doing away with the state’s special status and dividing it into two union territories.
Questions of Constitutionality
- In 2020, when the Court last heard the matter, the question was about referring the case to a larger bench, which the Court refused.
- The lapse of time, though, does not take away from the importance of the case.
- The Court’s verdict, whatever it may be, is bound to have ramifications at several levels.
- The questions raised in the petitions are relevant to the entire country, not just J&K.
- For instance, during a period of the Governor’s rule in a state where the House has been dissolved, can the Governor take on the powers of the elected assembly? Can a state be turned into a Union Territory? Can Members of Parliament drawn from all states represent the will of the people in one state?
- In the Supreme Court’s consideration of some other cases relating to Kashmir, the question of national security has loomed large.
Centre’s Position
- It is significant that the Centre, which had already filed an affidavit earlier offering a “comprehensive” rebuttal to the constitutional questions in the petitions, felt the need to submit a fresh one.
- It has claimed that the relief being sought by the petitioners was “against the security and sovereignty of India due to the peculiar geographical situation of the region and peculiar security challenges arising from the reform”.
- It has also claimed in the affidavit that an “unprecedented era of peace and progress” has dawned in the Valley and that “life has returned to normalcy in the region”.
- The Court has correctly pointed out that this has no bearing on the constitutional question.
- And yet, taking the government’s assertions at face value, this should be the perfect cue to hold assembly elections in the former state.
- J&K has been without elected representatives for five years.
- The Centre’s reluctance to hold elections even after its self-congratulatory submission to the Court can only give credence to the suspicion that partisan political considerations, more than the interests of the people of J&K, weigh heavy on the Centre.
- The Supreme Court hearings should not offer yet another reason to delay the elections.
For Enquiry
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