Phoenix - The Long Road Ahead in Uttarakhand

Thanks to the tireless efforts by thousands of army and IAF personnel, the rescue work should be completed  within next few hours. The question is what next?

Our politicians would announce numerous relief packages of hundreds of crores which would turn out to be scams of hundreds of crores few years later. Numerous studies would be commissioned and so-called intelligentsia would be employed to churn out meaningless reports. These reports would then be rubbished by the rival groups and then the incident would be washed out of the public memory - Kahani Khatam, just like a nice movie / novel which one watched on news channels or read in newspapers.

But, what about thousands of people who have suddenly become homeless, jobless and grief stricken from the loss of their loved ones by this blow from the Nature. They would keep rotting in over crowded relief camps which provide no relief. They would be completely ignored and forgotten soon except for once in a while, when some enthusiastic journalist would cover their story - that too will happen only if it gets good TRP.

The state needs action, immediate and well-planned action to resurrect and rebuild Uttarakhand - action to fight the adversity, action to create opportunity. In my mind, there can be several initiatives right from ground level to the highest level.

Firstly, Uttarakhand administration needs to gear up to this challenge. They can learn from people who have handled similar situation such as in rebuilding parts of Gujarat after 2001 earthquake. No, I am not making Narendra Modi, the messiah rather I am counting on the various Secretaries and Chief Secretary of the then Gujarat Government (most of whom would have joined services and been promoted under Congress governments). And, I am sure there would be similar experience of rebuilding and rehabilitation elsewhere in the country as well as abroad. Uttarakhand government should immediately build a task force led by such people. And, the action plan must be implemented a the level of every district, taluka and village through collectors, block officers and sarpanchs respectively.

Secondly, the government should reach out to the big corporate houses such as Tatas, Birlas, L&T, etc. with a request to build large industrial townships / economic centers in Uttarakhand. It will provide long term sustainable employment to thousands of people, promote community living and restore peace. Such centers can create tier-1 / tier-2 towns such as Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand. The corporate should be incentivized  with proper long term financial sops for their good work. The Govt. on its part can make the path easier by providing the right leadership and support through actions such as all regulatory approvals for such plans within 30 days.

Thirdly, the Govt. must refrain from any knee jerk reaction of making environmental approvals more cumbersome for the industry in the region. If the govt. takes any such regressive step, it would completely paralyze the economy of the state. There should be proper environmental care and control but no red-tapism and bureaucracy since that will achieve nothing other than scaring the industries away and filling up the coffers of the corrupt.

Rehabilitation delayed would be justice denied - this disaster if not rehabilitated properly will send the state back by a few decades. It will destroy many youths, many childhoods...we must save it.

Head still held high but the heart cries: IAF helicopter crash in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand has been struck with a disaster never seen before - none could have imagined the magnitude of a tragedy of this kind, let alone be fully prepared for it. But, the response of the governments and politicians at such times has been pathetic, ill-timed and frivolous to say the least - ranging from claims of rescuing 15,000 people in a day (I know right wing sympathizers are tirelessly clarifying NaMo never said it...) to people waking up after Spanish vacations to present themselves for photo-ops (Ya Ya, Rahul Baba was celebrating his birthday...na). Congress in a well covered media event sent 126 trucks with relief material  to Uttarakhand flagged by none other than Mrs. Gandhi and Rahul Baba without caring where they are headed. They are today lying stranded in Rishikesh with not knowing where to go, not having enough fuel to go with unscrupulous truck drivers planning to sell relief material as it does not have a planned destination.

I fail to understand why cannot we in this country for once have a united political approach to dealing with a crisis of this kind. Why every politician needs to offer to rebuild temples, why everyone either needs to land to do Rambo acts or explain reasons not to visit.

The only hero of this tragic story is the armed forces - every soldier who has selflessly risked his life and dedicated himself to the rescue efforts which are being conducted successfully on a war-scale braving every odd presented to them whether by the fury of mother nature, bureaucracy of the system, or the cheap netas. The state is unfortunate to have a dwarf leader in Vijay Bahugana at such trying times - he seems completely defeatist and escapist in his statements. The country needs leaders such as IAF Chief NAK Browne whose men stood up and braved the crisis in these times - rotors must not stop till the time Operation Rahat is completed.

I salute the spirit of those men who know that they may lose their own lives while trying to save another soul, who know that their names and photos would never shine in the media, who do not have a golden reward waiting at the end of this, who are not going to benefit from the vote bank in the election year - they just know that this is the war our country is fighting and they are soldiers dedicated to the service of this nation.

I am aghast at the focus on sending tons of wood for religiously proper cremation (as approved by so-called sadhus) of dead men. It is high time that we do the cremation quickly and in a hygienic manner to prevent spread of an epidemic - rather than focusing on the proper rituals, etc. I think it is high time that the country gets its priorities right.

The news channels are asking why the elite and the rich in this country not extending a helping hand? I ask why in this country have we not made a mechanism for sourcing, managing and deploying funds and efforts in an efficient manner to deal with such situations. People are reluctant to make donations many a times because they don't know what proportion of this would really reach the needy and what will become a part of the black money sitting in coffers of bureaucrats, netas, so-called NGOs.

The country needs proper accessible roads in such hilly terrains inter-spaced with helipads to deal with such crisis and make rescue ops easier and faster. Apart from this, the country needs to imbibe crisis management whether it be floods or earthquakes in its DNA. Civil administration should be trained and equipped to deal with crisis and each geography needs to  prepare itself as per its needs.

Lastly, I wish Uttarakhand is rebuilt quickly and prosperity is restored to its people at the earliest.