Anger in India after floods leave 109 dead, 400,000 homeless

July 17, 2012

angerrain

Pazarbhanga, July 17: India: India’s annual monsoon has claimed 109 lives since rains started in June and left at least 400,000 people homeless in the northeastern state of Assam, in a tragedy experts say was made worse by corruption and poor management of the Brahmaputra River.

A senior member of the Assam Human Rights Commission, a government body, told Reuters it suspects millions of dollars meant for flood control have been siphoned off by state water department officials in the last five years. The commission has demanded a high-level investigation by the government.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in the upper house of parliament, called the floods the worst in recent times and promised $1,800 to each victim’s family in compensation. Critics say that much of the money will evaporate.

“Corruption is rampant before and after a flood,” said Arup Misra, a prominent environmental activist in the state and a professor at Assam Engineering College. “Some officials eagerly wait for floods as they could make money on repairing of embankments and relief distribution.” Over the past 60 years successive governments have built levees along most of the length of the volatile Brahmaputra, which is Assam’s main river and is fed by Himalayan snow melt and some of the world’s heaviest rainfall. Experts say these embankments are both criminally under-maintained and a discredited form of flood management.

Assam is famed as a tea-growing region and rich in oil and timber. It is also home to the Kaziranga National Park that hosts two-thirds of the world’s Great One-horned Rhinoceroses.

Nearly a decade ago, Hannan Sikdar’s father lost his home and farm to floods in Assam. On June 28, the same fate struck Sikdar and his family of 10 when the Brahmaputra b u rst through a dike and swept away their home and everything they owned in the middle of the night.

Assam’s population is on the rise, and like millions of others, Sikdar lived in a danger zone right next to the river’s mud embankment. Millions of dollars were assigned to keep levees in good shape. But in eight years living there, Sikdar says nobody even came to talk about the risks.

“This was the place where we made our home when my father lost his property several years ago,” said the 30-year-old, looking down at the wreckage of his bamboo and wood house from a new makeshift hut further along the embankment.

“We were never told that this embankment could break.” Rajiv Sinha, an expert on river dynamics, said the levees prevent the river from spreading silt in its natural flood plain, causing the river to clog up and increasing the frequency and intensity of floods. Similar embankments downstream in Bangladesh have also been blamed for devastating flooding.

“In the last fifty years, two things have happened — the expenditure on flood control has increased tremendously, and at the same time the damage caused by floods has also increased exponentially,” said Sinha, who teaches geosciences at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur.

Globally, flood management trends are moving away from levee-type measures to natural storage areas such as swamps and wetlands. But Assam has failed to come up with any modern, long-term plan to harness the river.

Entire villages, such as the one Sikdar belonged to, have cropped up in flood-prone areas and their only layer of protection is a neglected, crumbling mud wall.

As heavy rains continue, officials fear a second spell of floods soon, but victims such as Hanan Sikdar continue to live in tiny straw and tin shelters next to the broad river.

“People are living in danger zones out of compulsion,” said Chandan Talukdar relief worker with Sikdar. “Till alternative land is found, these people will remain on embankments.”


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Agencies
March 16,2020

Amaravati, Mar 16: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that paracetamol is the only medication for coronavirus.

He said that COVID-19 is lethal for those have comorbid conditions including blood pressure, asthma and kidney diseases.

"There is no need to get panic about Coronavirus. Its impact is majorly on senior citizens aged above 60 years. It is dangerous to those suffering from diabetes, blood pressure, asthma and kidney diseases. For others, it is not so much dangerous. And paracetamol is the only medication for coronavirus," Reddy said on Sunday while addressing a press conference on the postponing of the local body elections as coronavirus cases continue to rise.

"In case anybody coming from foreign countries is found suffering from cough, cold and fever, bleaching powder should be sprayed on their belongings and things they use. The government is creating awareness on such precautions," he added.

Reddy slammed the State Election Commissioner's decision of postponing the local body elections for six weeks and alleged that the SEC was acting at the behest of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

The opposition has targeted Reddy on his statement, saying the chief minister is behaving "ignorantly" and "irresponsibly" on the issue of coronavirus.

"While Telangana CM had changed his stand and closed shops and theatres in his state, Jagan Reddy is speaking as if there is no need for any panic. This CM is behaving ignorantly and irresponsibly," said Naidu.

Andhra Pradesh has reported one case of coronavirus. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across India has risen to 110.

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News Network
January 29,2020

New Delhi, Jan 29: The Janata Dal (United) today expelled its vice-president Prashant Kishor and senior leader Pavan Kumar accusing them of "anti-party" activities.

Both the leaders have been attacking the party leadership over its pro-CAA stand.

The spat between Nitish Kumar and Kishor was out in the open yesterday when the former reminded the political strategist that he was inducted into the party on the recommendation of Union home minister Amit Shah.

It all began when Nitish, while talking to the media here, said, “I don’t have any problem if he (Kishor) wants to leave the party. But if he wants to stay, then he will have to follow the basic structure of the party.”

Varma had also questioned the JDU's alliance with the BJP in Delhi Assembly polls while Kishor has more than once voiced his differences with the party known on the issue of CAA and NRC.
 

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News Network
March 7,2020

New Delhi, Mar 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned emotional on Saturday when a woman beneficiary of his government's generic medicine programme told him that she had seen God in him.

Dehradun-resident Deepa Shah, who suffered paralysis in 2011, was interacting with the prime minister through video-conference on the occasion of Jan Aushadhi Diwas.

"I have not seen god, but I have seen God in you," she said, tears rolling down her eyes.

Modi was visibly emotional as the woman repeated her remark.

She also thanked the Uttarakhand chief minister and others who had helped her all along and said doctors had once told her that she cannot be cured.

"But on hearing your voice I have become better," she told Modi while profusely thanking the prime minister for his efforts to reduce the cost of medicines.

An emotional prime minister paused for a moment before telling her that it was her courage that had won over her disease and that she must carry on with the spirit.

Shah was expressing her plight and how she had suffered due to high cost of medicines after she suffered from paralysis in 2011 and has now started saving Rs 3,500 every month after benefitting from the government's low-cost generic medicines programme.

Soon after Shah rose to express her views, Modi asked her to sit and speak as he said she was uncomfortable while standing.

"You have defeated disease with your own will power. Your courage is your god and that same courage has given you the strength to emerge from such a big crisis. You should carry on this confidence in you," Modi told her.

He said some people still keep spreading rumours about generic medicines, going by their past experience, wondering how can medicines be available so cheap and that there must be something wrong with the medicine.

"But, by seeing you countrymen would gain confidence that there is nothing wrong in generic medicines. These medicines are not at all of inferior quality than any other medicine. These medicines have been certified by the best laboratories. These medicines are made in India and is 'Make in India' and are cheap," the prime minister said.

He said there is demand for generic medicines from India across the world and the government has made it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic medicines to patients, unless necessary.

Comments

Sameeksha
 - 
Monday, 9 Mar 2020

Wowww so emotional... Lol .really god in you??? Drama king and queen

angry indian
 - 
Sunday, 8 Mar 2020

in 2002 riot we have seen shaitan in you..how come shaitan become GOD...

 

did he put atleat one tear for his mother, did he feel sad when pregnant muslim woman brutally murdered..

this guy is 21st century dajjal..

Suresh SS
 - 
Sunday, 8 Mar 2020

Big Nautanki, Dramebaz

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