From local fisherman to the armed forces, to social media-savvy youth and the state government machinery, all stood by Kerala in its time of need. But unless we reign in our greed, such calamities will only be more frequent.
Kerala was devastated by the flood of the century that lasted almost 10 days. It rendered more than three lakh people homeless. Many had to take refuge in the relief camps. In a show of inspiring camaraderie, people from all walks of life worked tirelessly to save their brethren irrespective of their party affiliations, caste, religion or creed. Ignoring their own suffering and poverty, the local fishermen came forward to help the victims and were hailed as heroes. Armed forces and the NDRF did a commendable job of rescuing stranded people and saved countless lives. The social media-savvy youth and the state government machinery pitched in to guide and help the volunteers. The Malayali Diaspora was successful in bringing the international media attention which helped in aid flowing in from even foreign countries.
Though the Mumbai and Delhi-based notional national media, which is more obsessed about stars and starlet princes than a flood in a state that is far away somewhere in the South, woke up late as usual, they made up for their omission with the last few days’ coverage. The honourable Prime Minister visited the affected areas and assured every help in rebuilding the state. Almost every state of India offered aid and relief material. Love poured in, in all forms; underlining that despite all differences Indians respect and value each another.
There were a few exceptions. A few anti-social elements with criminal political agendas spread hate messages and fake stories in social media when the entire country stood behind a state in distress. There were a few self-proclaimed intellectuals staying in prosperous countries who were asking donations only for one community. A few others campaigned against giving any help to the people who had lost everything because some victims had different dietary habits. Some spread hate because they thought some flood victims had not voted for their pet political parties. Some wished destruction of the state, for the state had more religious diversity than they could digest.
Since India is far bigger than such petty minds and humanity is too entrenched to be erased by a few doctored social media hate campaigns, the aid in cash and kind poured in from all parts of the country and the world. The relief operation worked with a textbook precision. There is nothing unique about the admirable camaraderie shown at the time of crisis. Any civilised place would have reacted the same way. By now, the last of the refugee might have returned to their home and the time has come for introspection.
Indians are superb crisis managers. We first create crisis and then somehow manage it and pat ourselves on our backs. We thrive in chaos after creating chaos. The state government and Kerala society perhaps deserve all credit for the crisis management. However, it deserves zero marks in prevention of crisis. Many acts of the government—whether it is the present one or its predecessors—have pushed Kerala to the abyss of environmental disaster.
It is easy to get fooled by the verdant greenery of Kerala. Many stretches that appear to be thick forests for the untrained eyes are plantations. Kerala’s success story is that of unbridled avarice, corruption and environmental rape. A Church-sponsored political party was in the forefront of this uncontrolled destruction of Kerala’s forests for many decades. The modus operandi was simple: The Church used to send a group of destitute laities who would reach the highlands of Idukki or Wayanad and illegally occupy reserve forest lands. Sometimes, they would buy off tribal land for a bottle of liquor or some trifles. They would start cultivation on the encroached land and soon a settlement would be formed. These were spirited people who battled wild animals and nature to build their lives.
Soon, Kerala politicians were handing over ‘Patta’ or legalising documents for assured votes as decided by the Church. It was a win-win situation for everyone except the forests. Plantations replaced the verdant forests of the Western Ghats. It is an explosive mixture of organised religion, votes and greed. By the 80s, other communities had learned the trick and had formed their own pressure groups to repeat the process with varying levels of success. Soon, competitive encroachment became the norm. By this time, an elite among the early settlers had formed and they were not happy with the meagre income from the plantations. Quarrying the Western Ghats was an easier way to riches.
The expatriate income was feeding the housing boom in every town of Kerala. Massive mansions became a fashion statement, irrespective of affordability or need. The frenzied filling of paddy lands fuelled the explosion of quarrying in the mountains and illegal sand-mining of Kerala’s rivers. Paddy cultivation was almost in its death bed by this time, thanks to the militant labour, land reforms and the increased land demand. Most of the villages became prosperous, thanks to the Gulf boom and plantation income, so no one bothered about the rapid environmental degradation.
No political party dared to take on the Church, the quarry and sand-mining mafia, the influential business class or the labour unions. When the Gadgil Committee report came in 2012, the influential Church took it as a prestige issue to defeat the purpose of the report. The political class vilified the report with a vengeance. Lots of votes were at stake, so let Nature be damned was the attitude of the politicians.
A watered-down version of the report by Dr Kasturirangan was accepted in principle and was forgotten the moment it was filed. When the tourism boom started, the pressure on environment tripled. Illegal resorts boomed on encroached lands. The power of this mafia could be guessed from the failure it inflicted on a strongman like VS Achuthanandan, who declared war on encroachment during his tenure as the Chief Minister.
Religious groups continue to encroach forest by planting a Cross in government land. An enthusiastic young IAS officer recently learned his lesson on the sanctity of religious symbols from the Chief Minister when he tried to remove such an encroachment. It is unfair to single out the Church alone in this unscrupulous race to satisfy their avarice and greed. The builders in the city, the amusement parks of politicians and many such people belonging to all caste, creed and religion, have contributed to the unenviable position this beautiful state is in now. The forest cover has reduced to 16 percent in 70 years. This is an exaggerated figure as many of the plantations are counted as forests. The hills are demolished to fill the low lands and ponds and paddy fields are filled to build apartments and shopping malls.
This is not natural urbanisation. Urbanisation puts environmental pressure on the city and its catchment area. In Kerala, the urbanisation is spread all over the state. There is no method for this madness. It is very rare to find a planned layout in any Kerala cities. There are rarely any public parks, other than the ones that were built before the Independence. A green space does not even figure in the city planning. The entire state is one large haphazard city built on either side of national and state highways, filled with militant people who would not yield an inch of their precious land to expand the roads. Is there any surprise that when the flood came, it affected the entire state?
Kerala has a unique terrain of high mountains in the East, backwaters and a network of rivers cutting across the midlands and low-lying coastal to the West. Traditionally, Kerala had given a lot of respect to environment. The copious amount of rain it gets will reach the seas within two hours if there is no tree cover. The conventional design had evolved keeping the fragility of the environment. Every house had a serpent grove and a pond bordering it. The belief was that one should not even take a twig from the sacred grove. People feared that anyone who violated this sacrosanct rule would die of thirst. This created a chain of mini forest all throughout the state. It was a unique way of tying up belief with environment protection. In North Kerala, the gods lived in such groves and the Theyyam rituals were held in such sacred spaces. This belief has helped in preservation of some sacred groves in Malabar.
The wave of rationalism that swept during the communist movements in the 60s and the collapse of the joint family system ensured large-scale destruction of such groves. It was progressive to destroy the groves and liberate people from the superstitions. I have lovely childhood memories associated with the groves where fantastic creatures like Yakshi, Madan and other supernatural forces lived. These were destroyed to give way to houses or shops. They filled huge village ponds to make bus stands and filled wells that gave sweet water through the year with the thrash. People waited for chlorinated water from the municipal supply. Even walking on bare soil has become unfashionable and Malayali compounds are covered with concrete tiles with not a speck of sand to be seen.
Beautiful homes with central courtyards, tiled roofs and running verandas have given way to incongruous bungalows that should have belonged to a Swiss countryside. To escape from the unbearable heat generated by these concrete boxes with French windows, air conditioners have become a necessity even in the hills of Wayanad. These were places where even two decades back, people used to use sweaters in the summers. Since concrete-roofed homes leaked during the monsoon, every house has an aluminum sheet roof, thus giving a Dharavi slum feel when looked from above. This sheet radiates heat during summer and creates unbearable noise pollution when rain falls on it during the monsoon. During the flood, such roofing became a great impediment in rescue operations as was proven recently.
This deluge is a lesson and a warning. If the people and the administration do not mend their way, the next inundation may be many times severe. Perhaps this happened due to unprecedented rain. In the future, it is not only the rain one should worry about, but the inevitable drought that would follow.
I am sure by the next January, tankers carrying drinking water will ply through the narrow winding roads of Kerala, despite having such a flood in this August. Where are the ponds and wetlands that could hold the rainwater for the summer days? It is high time the Gadgil report was implemented in letter and spirit. The Holy Bible talks about redemption of one’s sins. The Church should redeem their past mistakes.
The administration should have a master plan for every village and town. The centralised water pumping needs to stop, and every village must have stakes on its own water sources. Else, whatever ponds that are left will remain the dumping yard for the towns nearby. We must reclaim every pond and put them to use. An environmental clearance should be made mandatory for any building and a hefty fee should be charged for any design that does not follow green standards. An audit of forest lands excluding the plantations must be undertaken and we should remove all illegal encroachments.
There are only a few villages left in Kerala and the landscape is filled with towns of varying sizes. It is time to shift to planned apartment layouts in each town with a proper drainage system, a central park, ponds as water sources and a town sacred grove. Individual houses on small plots of land are inefficient utilisation of land resources and this needs to be discouraged. The temples, churches and mosques must reclaim the tradition of having their own groves and ponds, and if beliefs would protect these precious groves, one should not shy from using such benign superstitions. Without initiating immediate corrective actions, the next deluge is just a matter of time and it may be unimaginably disastrous.
Anand Neelakantan is a bestselling author,columnist and speaker