What do I care for Change...

All I care for now is to live
To find the place from where
The next meal for my children
Will come; All I care is for the
Few pots of water that I have to
Walk miles for; through burning lands
To slake the family’s raging thirst;
All I care for is those pieces of coal
Live coals on my heart
For they are hard-earned; Earned
By my eight year old daughter
After playing hanky-panky with
That aging, soul-less engine-driver

No… I no longer care
For your politics and causes
I have been to enough rallies
And protests, waiting endlessly
Mind, heart and spirit numb
Under the ruthless, blazing sun
All to no avail; for I still struggle
Just as my grandmother did
And before that hers.
Nothing has changed one bit…
What then do I care for Change.

I no longer care for the system
That has bled us and fed off
Our dying bodies; stripped off us
The lands of our forefathers
And parceled and sold them off
Chunk by chunk into the hands
Of new Big thieves; so much so
Now we don’t even know who they are
At least the old Landlords threw us
Pieces of chewed up bones now and then
But these new corporate thieves
Live, if at all they are human,
In far-away lands; never to be seen
Only felt in the marrow of our bones.

No… I no longer care.
All I care for now is to live
And be left alone to our fate.
I will take my chances
With the Fates;
It can't be worse than
Waiting for Change...

Kosi Embankments – an elephant in the room

It is impossible to talk about floods in Bihar without talking about the embankments being built around its rivers. The embankments are “an elephant in room” which everybody knows about, understands and can see, but refuses to acknowledge - either its presence or its impact.

When we went to Bihar, and we talked to people about the August 2008 floods, it became more and more clear that this particular floods, which were highlighted so much in the press, is the least of their problems. We found out, by talking to the people, that the Kosi has breached its embankments several times, eight times to be exact, earlier, and the people living along this river have repeatedly been subjected to the impacts of river in spate rushing out. It became clear that life in Bihar could very clearly be demarcated – life before the embankments and life after the embankments.

The rivers in Bihar come rushing down the Himalayas, bringing with them silt laden waters that flood and spread during summer and monsoon. The floods would spread over a large area, leaving behind filled up tanks and ponds and a layer of live-giving silt that rejuvenated the agricultural lands. The people would have to “manage” living during the flood-season which was about 2-3 weeks in a year which they had learnt, understanding the rhythm of the rivers.

However, during the “modern development” and growth period, the government decided to “fix” this problem by building embankments on both sides of the Kosi, thus forcing her to flow inside it. The solution worked – but only for a little while. Before long, the embankments became one of the biggest problems of the people living along the river. The silt brought down by the river, kept filling the channel up and thus raising the height of river. Today we can see the river flowing 8-10 ft above the ground-level – a sure recipe for disaster.

Every engineer, scientist, technologist knows one fact about embankments – that they will breach. It is a given fact, corroborated with experiences from all over the world. The problem then is what happens when the embankments breach? In people’s language “Kosi used to come like a cat before, now she comes like a tigress”. The river’s force has become destructive and damages thousands of houses and structures, fills the lands with sand and silt and costs the government and the people millions of rupees.

The problem does not end there. The biggest problem is that there is nothing that can done now, except live with the embankments. For the 300 and odd villages within the embankments, life is uncertain at the best and death and loss of livelihood certain at the worst. For the other many villages along the embankments, people live in constant threat and fear of an embankment breach.

The embankments have brought with them long-term problems. The whole drainage in the region has been upset and the monsoon waters have nowhere to go. This has meant water-logging of thousands of hectares of land. Where earlier these regions were agricultural lands, they have, over the decades, become “wetlands”. There is a change in the whole eco-system. Habitats have changed.

Reconstruction under such circumstances has become a way of life. Discussions on Habitat planning, development and design rendered useless when faced with the issue of the River embankments.

Scientists have argued that a Technological solution is not the problem. That it is imperative and goes without saying that embankments have to be maintained and a lack of maintenance is bound to create breaches and the resulting impacts.

What line does a discussion on Sustainability have to take, under such circumstances, where a Technological solution has created a perpetual disaster for the people – and especially those who are the most vulnerable, poor and the marginalized. A 'man-made' solution that has been violent, unjust, unsustainable and that has totally eliminated a peoples’ way of life.

All discussions on Disaster Reconstruction, Recovery and Rehabilitation skirt around the issue. The guidelines and the policies do not acknowledge the root cause of an unsolvable problem, but continue to posit further, similar ‘technological’ solutions.

How does one reconcile the contradiction in the situation where a solution by the “government + expert” combine have imposed a perpetual disaster on the people on one hand and on the other, as they now come with ‘support’ and ‘assistance’ and talk about people’s participation, ‘earthquake safety norms’, disaster-proofing and sustainability?

___________________________

Notes from Bihar

Am feeling very mixed-up about the bihar visit. Next week will see me on my way to the Nowhere-land. Someone once said "Bihar was not a State, it was a state of mind" !

The last time i visited, I was very affected. I had a major bawling session after the 5-day visit to the horror of Suneet (with whom I travelled). The living conditions of "Musaharis" probably a major trigger to my bawling. Some of their houses were being 'reconstructed'. 6'x8' cells with 7' high ceilings. "replica" of their "old" houses built in wattle and mud. Concrete boxes, concrete cells. What goes on in the minds of people of rebuild? Surely they come with 'altruism', with a desire to set things right? Then how do we end-up with such outcomes? What rules do we follow inside our heads?

The floods themselves were of an unimaginable scale. Somehow it felt these peoples would never recover. Miles of land covered in sand. Fertile, productive land completely laid waste. Sources of the only livelihood totally destroyed. What will these people do? Lakhs of them. Homes - gone. Land - gone. Cattle - gone. Food stock - gone. Options - nil. So what happens to them? The men were slowly trickling aways to nearby towns and cities, in search for work. The women left fending for the young, old and themselves. Unbelievable burdens to carry. Silently. Maybe with no options, just starving away.

In some of the villages I saw many women carrying small babies. I had gone in November and the floods happened in August. And these villages were water-bound for more than a month. It meant many of these women must have delivered their babies during the floods. On rooftops, raining heavens, with the rest of the world looking on. Winter was next and they were out in the open. And the custom was to keep the mother and newborn, "outside" the house on a raised platform, open to the elements, with an imminent northern winter.

One can only imagine, what happens during a disaster.

The bureaucracy seemed as stunned as the people. Their records washed away. Disaster or avenues for more corruption? The local bureaucrat showed us water marks. Window-sill deep. All their furnitures had floated away. Along with the files. Somehow it seemed very symbolic. That the records of the fates of the people had floated away. They seemed as frustrated, confused and at wits-end as to what to do. 2 months of relief camps for lakhs and lakhs had drained their resources. People had nowhere to be and the relief camps were the only relief. It began to seem rather permanent. In panic the government began to dismantle the relief camps, forcing people to go back to their villages. The govt. pulled out, trying to figure out how rehabilitation could be done. The scale was daunting. This was no tsunami. This was no coastal India. This was the densely populated granary of India. With no land records and no landmarks, land distribution was going to be a nightmare. The mafia was moving in. The goons would begin to decide about the land, the bricks, the cement, the equipment. The contractors would become unofficial kings. Yes, it was beginning to look more and more difficult. The State's whine to the Centre was going unheard. Promises to houses like the Jayalalita-houses in TN were being demanded. Three and half lakhs houses of 2 and half lakhs each ? It seemed like a contractor's wet-dream. The cream was looking thicker and thicker. People would rather settle for the standard bamboo and mud houses. They needed shelter. Not mansions.

The coming months would see the impact of these floods. Scarcity of foodgrains, dals, vegetables, oilseeds .... will raise the prices sky high. Until people will only have the rise in prices of essential commodities to discuss and worry about. And while people are worrying in the rest of the country, what happens to the Biharis? Calcutta, Delhi are already over-run with them. The Marathi backlash at the in-pouring exodus was one way. But the cities will expand, groaning at the bursting-at-the-seams.

And a year later, I am going there again. The flood waters would have receded, though the river would still continue to flow the new course. Many of the immediate issues would have been dealt with. It is winter again. The fogs in Bihar would be rising as usual, blinding us to every path, every road, every pitfall.

Waiting for succor …

There is a battle going on … between the State government of Bihar and the Centre. On the issue of Central assistance to the State for the rehabilitation of the Kosi flood victims. If we remember, the Kosi floods of August 2008 had displaced 30 lakhs people and destroyed over 3 lakh homes, and laid thousands of acres of fertile land silted and barren.
The current issue being fought over is the size of the Centre’s rehab package – 1,010 crores as against the 14,000 + crores which was asked. The figures are mind-boggling.

The post-Kosi floods situation was heart-rending. Millions of people – children, old, disabled, women and men were marooned for over a month. In December, when we visited, the water was still flowing and hadn’t entirely subsided. That picture itself was frightening. And the hard winter was still not upon the people, who lived in make-shift, non-existent homes.

What was immediately evident was that Bihar had a major, major problem on its hands. The problem was a double-edged sword – there were no homes to shelter and no land to cultivate, which translated into no food and no money to rebuild. With no other alternative livelihood options around (the area is almost entirely dependent on agriculture), the people were just starving. Their only option was State-assistance. The State government valiantly put up relief shelters. But seeing no way opening up, closed down the shelter within a couple of months. The people were sent back to their villages – villages which were still under water, quite often inaccessible, and with no option of earning a day’s food.

There was silent panic all around.

One would expect that the State would galvanize itself and provide the basic assistance that the people needed. Being very much rural, majority of the homes are built with bamboo, thatch and other natural materials. People needed quick, simple homes (that cost not more than Rs.10,000) and quick options for making a livelihood.

But the Bihar government was negotiating with the Centre for a BIG package. The figures being bandied around were for 2.5 to 3 lakhs per home with additional funds for land reclamation and infrastructure building. The argument being if Tamil Nadu could do it, so can Bihar. What was forgotten was the scale – 50,000 against 3,00,000 homes.

The issue was that the State had yet to utilize its funds lying unused under the Indira Awas Yojana. With an additional package from the Centre, the State could get back on its feet. NGOs and people were pushing for solutions that were workable.

It is July 2009 now. The hard winter is past. The monsoon is now upon the people. And the State and the Centre are still embroiled in a battle of what it should get and give. While the people have emptied the villages and have moved and migrated in search of a life. For whom will the State rebuild? Who will get the rehabilitation package?