A+| A| A-
In Deep Waters
A normative shift is needed in institutional perception towards land, rivers and floods.
The havoc that the floods wreaked this year with the lives and property of people of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala is much larger in scale than in the previous year. This time it was not only the hill regions of the Western Ghats, but the urban areas and fertile land of Belagavi in Karnataka, and Kolhapur, Satara, and Sangli districts in Maharashtra were also deluged, with few areas submerged under 12–15 feet of water. Nearly 4.7 lakh people are in relief camps and 1.5 lakh hectares of productive farmland and lakhs of houses have been destroyed. Bihar, Assam, and Gujarat have faced similar devastation, as has Uttarakhand with landslides and cloud bursts.
While heavy and relentless rains over a shorter window is becoming a regular phenomenon, dam mismanagement and land degradation are the other two factors that have aggravated flood situations repeatedly in different parts of India. These factors have caused and worsened floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, Chennai in 2015, Kerala and Karnataka in 2018 and 2019, and Maharashtra in 2005 and 2019.
Dear Reader,
Or
To gain instant access to this article (download).
(Readers in India)
(Readers outside India)
