Do you hear them when they cry?
The boys couldn’t be older than 8, 11 at best.
They’re cold, weary from walking on foot for a few miles already and hopelessly lost to their fate. Separated from family and friends, the brothers were foraging for food in the sewer when a reporter from a popular news channel caught sight of their spindly bodies suspended in between a huge gorge that was already filling.
I watched the boys this morning as they were being interviewed by journalists as well as local authorities. They appeared to be apprehensive and fearful for what they’d witnessed. With the mother and father swept away in front of their very adolescent eyes, there’s little hope of reuniting. The children are, in all probability, orphaned for life. What is to become of them?
Bihar shares a part of the wall of the ageing Kosi barrage in Nepal. Despite receiving warnings from Nepal that the River Kosi had burst its banks, both the local and central governments in India utterly failed to mobilize.
And on the 18th of August, the dam wilted under the mounting pressure of the furious river, thus unleashing its wrath on the 3 million impoverished villagers in various districts in Bihar.
If reports are to be believed, this is the worst flooding ever in the history of the state and experts are already equating it with the Katrina hurricane that rocked New Orleans barely two years ago.
As was the case in New Orleans, the local governance of the state ignored maintenance of the dam and this was convenient for those who stood to make millions by pocketing the money that should’ve ideally been spent on the dam’s upkeep.
Does the death toll of a few tens of thousands of poor citizen’s matter in a country that is already burgeoning under the weight of its population, inflation, corruption and volatile economy? Apparently not.
The local and state government, much to your embarrassment and mine, have been gridlocked and bickering mercilessly about who is to blame even while thousands remain stranded atop trees and thatched roofs that are just barely above water. This, if nothing else, is a grand instance of how, on many levels, the dirty politics of our nation stands in the way of concrete action.
Scientists across the world have predicted even bigger disasters, not secluded to any particular region but more likely to strike areas that are heavily populated due to the unchecked development and erosion of natural resources. Floods, famine, landslides, earthquakes are not new to my country and yet, there is very little contingency planning or default arrangement for dealing with disasters of this proportion in place and on permanent stand-by.
While this may appear to be a monumental task, all it simply requires is the stockpiling of essential commodities by localised governments basis their headcount – maintaining a dry store of perishables as well as medicines and other imperative supplies along with a battalion of trained military that can step in and take charge in extenuating circumstances caused by these natural disasters.
As always in India, there is also that appearance of class/caste-prejudice which means that the fate of the poor man is of little or no account to holders of high office. Patna and New Delhi are going about the relief work as if it is a favour they are doing for the people. That favour is being doled out in a totally haphazard, unplanned, callous way. Most the aid, isn’t even reaching those it was intended for.
If you can shrug the apathy and sloth of drawing room politics and ennui, You and I can make a difference.
Like me, if you’re confused as to where and how you can help, please visit the following links:
http://coolbihari.blogspot.com/2008/08/bihar-flood-relief-your-contribution.html
http://biharfloodrelief2008.blogspot.com/
http://www.goonj.info/biharfloods08.php
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KKAA-7HZ8E8?OpenDocument
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