Drought & Contingency

Drought or a situation of below normal rainfall is not some thing new to India today. There have been several such instances through out the world all through the history of man kind. The great Bengal famine as described by Pandit Nehru, in his autobiography, has claimed lives of thousands of people and livestock owing to the negligence of the then British government. There is no wonder learning some foreign government bestowing the step mother affection on the people whom it treated no less than slaves, but it is shocking to see that the later governments of Independent India have learnt no lesson from this, paid no attention to build in a contingency plan to the rain dependant farmers of India. It worries me more to see that even in the age where technology has grown drastically taking the world to new peaks, farming in India is still dependent on most uncertain monsoons which have been regularly skipping the course in recent years. Still to the amaze of the nation's populace the government has no plan to deal this situation, added to the astonishment of the people a popular leader of North has funds to erect statues but not to deal drought.

The country has been claiming to touch new heights in stock markets, calling itself a booming economy. The ground reality is out of proportion growth of prices of essential commodities. The cost of rice, the fundamental need of every Indian has gone up by 100% in the last five years, this alone explains the price hike of the rest commodities. The drought that has hit the country this year has already come in picture with the economic consequences to face. The cost of pulses have already started to soar high.

Government every year takes the pain to identify the drought effected districts in the country and provides the people with a minimum period of employment. It just clears the tears off the eyes, but is not the required healing touch. No government has acted on to take the challenge of liberating Indian farmers from the monsoon dependency. The rulers and leaders of the country may have asked the farming sections to switch towards electric pumps for irrigation, but still will the power production of the day meet the demands and needs of all the people even if this is to happen. The alarming fall of ground water levels is another big concern and a challenge to the Indian society. Governments may not be able to reach out to every village and colony to harvest rain water. But the attention paid towards creating an awareness in people towards ground water table and rain water harvesting techniques is poor and unsatisfactory.

Overcoming drought is not a overnight fight, it needs years of planning and hard work from each section of society. The central and state governments across the country now looking for a action plan is just a stunt to show people that it is a prime concern at the minute, where as the reality goes far different, and nothing is feasible to save the nation from clutches of this drought in this short span. Governments lacked professionalism to address such a key issue in a country like India where irrigation is the prime occupation to majority masses. Its time that governments wake up and come up with strong action plan to face future famines. The people of the country learn how foolishly they have been dependant on monsoons and should look for other options breaking the dependency. The awareness of the ground water table and the ways to harvest the rain water are the key stones to answer the situations like this in future.