Apathy and chaos need monsoon weeding

This year, the monsoons arrived in Mumbai and Delhi on the same day last weekend – a rare occurrence. What was not rare is the mayhem that followed, an annual phenomenon when roads turn into rivers, people suffer, even die crushed by falling trees or electrocution, or fall into coverless manholes made invisible by waterlogging. This seasonal tandav, like climate change, is human-induced, a function of administrative neglect, civil society apathy and absent or ineffective policy. Becoming a ‘developed’ country requires more than high GDP and fervent wishing. It is measured by high living standards. Something that goes under in India‘s big cities every monsoon.

The monsoons are the lifeblood of the economy, especially agricultural output. Yet, increasingly, they are associated with disruption, productivity and economic losses. A low middle-income country, India cannot afford this annual haemorrhaging. The causes are all too evident, banal even – ill-maintained drainage systems, waste and garbage dumping, encroachment of open spaces and water bodies, unplanned construction and over-building straining then rupturing overstretched infrastructure, official and citizenry neglect and apathy.

There is no jugaad out of this mess. This is a problem of resource wastage. An effective response requires clear political messaging, making resource – material, human and nature – waste unacceptable. This must be followed through in national and state-level policy frameworks on critical issues such as management of urban storm and rainwater, municipal solid waste, waterbodies, greening habitations, etc. These frameworks must address issues of capacity, technology and finance. Implementation is the responsibility of local authorities for which they must be held accountable – after they are actually enabled to do their jobs.