From Business World of 8 August 2004.
Nothing new
under the clouds
Journalists have an occupational disease
– they tend to acquire a faith that there is nothing new under the sun. This is
no doubt an illusion nurtured by overindulgence in day-to-day occurrences. But
no one in his senses will argue that there is anything new about floods in
Bihar. These must be the three millionth floods in its long history. Though not
as predictable as the sun, they are pretty inevitable.
And yet, despite
the experience of drowned cattle and starvation on tree branches stretching
over generations, the people of Bihar continue to suffer. Even for Hindus this
is carrying fatalism too far. Rational human beings would have been long ago
moved out of such a predictably catastrophic place and gone into the hills of Chhota
Nagpur or the foothills of Nepal. That the people of Bihar have not done such
an obvious thing – and in fact, multiplied until it has become one of the
country’s most densely populated states – shows how much they love their
homeland – and also that despite floods – rather, because of floods, Bihar has
some of India’s most fertile land on which the crop almost never fails.
Bihar is not
only a granary; thanks to its abundant and obedient population it
is also a storehouse of votes – which have helped bring the just installed
government to power at the center. The Prime Minister did what is customary for
our PMs; he made a pilgrimage to his vote bank and showered crores on the
state. Except that the crores are not meant for the masses, but for the
masters. “Package” is the euphemism we use for the crores; golden handshake to
those who own the Bihar government would be more appropriate.
The Prime
Minister wants development with a human face. If he were serious about that, he
would have put those crores into flood prevention. For floods are preventable.
A sect has built Akshardham II in the flood plain of the Jumna in Delhi; flood
waters have risen above its edifice, but have been kept at a respectable
distance. Not only did the government give the sect the land, but it built a
massive dyke to protect it from flood. Akshardham I is in Gandhinagar, the
constituency of L K Advani, who was the powerful home minister in the previous
government; his good offices may have been involved in making the flood plain
safe for Akshardham II. Going by that precedent, the Prime Minister could have
made the flood plain that is Bihar safe from the waters of its copious rivers.
Even if the
economist in him were to rebel against such extravagance, more economical and
constructive solutions are possible. One is to reforest the upper reaches of
the rivers. Trees help rain waters to seep into the soil and thus reduce
runoff; they convert water into more useful products such as wood and fruit,
and they fix the carbon dioxide that the burning of 200 million tons of coal
and 100 milliontons of oil releases in India. India uses less than half of its
land for buildings, roads and agriculture; if the other half were reforested,
India would be a greener, cooler and more beautiful land.
And if they are
combined with extensive afforestation of the upper reaches, dams are a very
good means of preventing floods. More water flows through Punjab than Bihar.
But floods are virtually unknown in Punjab because the water has been made to
behave itself: it has been dammed and made to flow in canals.
To do that for
Bihar would involve building dams in Nepal. Nepal has been unwilling to be a
home for dams that would benefit India. But that is because the dams would
generate electricity for which the only market would be in India, and the state
electricity boards (SEBs), which control the market , are very
happy to take electricity but most reluctant to pay for it. They do not pay
even the Government of India; the poor government of Nepal would not stand a
chance against them.
So if Bihar is
to be made flood-proof, the central government needs to close down state
electricity boards, and replace them by a properly functioning electricity
market. This reform has been hanging fire ever since the Prime Minister
launched reforms 13 years ago; the states defeated him, and loth to be reminded
of it, he too has ceased to talk of power reforms. But he is in a more elevated
position now – as elevated a position that a politician can ever hope to get to
– and here is a task that would be appropriate to his position: make Bihar
flood-proof, and India SEB-proof.
