Floods being declared ‘national disaster’ would solve problem?
Kerala has been witness to the most devastating floods of the century. The last two weeks have been massive testing times for the ‘god’s own country’ with more than 300 declared dead and lakhs of people being displaced owing to torrential rains and gushing waters. PM Modi visited Kerala on Sunday for an aerial survey of the affected places and declared Rs 500 crore as interim relief. The ruling party, the opposition and the government of Kerala have together requested this to be declared a national disaster. There has been widespread support to this in social media too.
What do people expect from government when a disaster of this scale hits a state? Just an aid of Rs 500 crore? Or a tag of national disaster being associated with this devastating situation? How does that help? We had urged the central government in the past to declare Kannada a classical language. What is the situation of Kannada after that status was accorded? What impact has that status had on Kannada, its culture and its studies? No one has taken this into account after that.
The status of Kannada has remained unchanged after that. Today there is a widespread effort to impose Hindi on Kannada. In the same manner, we do have a declaration of ‘national disaster’ in circulation now. There is no legal interpretation to this word. Central government is already providing some aid and help in the form of resources to Kerala. Even if it is declared a national disaster, it would not make much of a difference to the situation right now.
The disaster management act 2000 is part of larger scheme. Even then, there is no scope to declare this a national disaster. Natural disasters cannot be classified as state, national or local ones. According to the senior expert in National Disaster Management expert Anil Gupta, managing natural disasters is the responsibility of state government. The state government can only provide aid during such situation. But the central government is vested with the power to declare a national disaster. But the state govt has to seek aid from central government for this and then the centre can act accordingly.
Though national disaster has no particular meaning to it whether legal or administrational, our politicians have been repeatedly using this word time and again without understanding its full meaning. Even when floods ravaged Gujarat, Bihar, Assam and W Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir in the past, they were not declared national disasters. PM Narendra Modi had used this term for the first time in 2014. But the death and destruction in 2017 Bihar floods was much higher than whatever happened in Jammu Kashmir is a different point altogether.
National Disaster Management Authority laid out a scheme to manage disaster in 2016. It has clearly classified the types of disasters. Any disaster that can be managed with resources at district level, it is level one type of disaster. If the state has to employ its state level resources to manage the situation, it is level 2 disaster. If the calamity is of very large scale, and the state cannot manage it, it becomes a level 3 disaster. Central government has always adapted step motherly treatment about flood relief distribution to states. In 2013, the floods that ravaged Uttarakhand and the following landslides had left 5700 people dead.
The Manmohan Singh government had then provided an aid of Rs 1,000 cr to the state. Though the number of people who died in Tamil Nadu floods was lesser than that in 2015, central government had provided almost same amount of help – Rs 939.6 cr. Now, central government is exhibiting its myopic approach in Kerala too. The centre had declared Rs 100 cr to Kerala at the initial stages of the flood. It had also said the state had enough funds in its disaster management corpus. After this was criticized widely, Modi government declared another Rs 500 crore aid for the state. Now, the centre has called this a disaster of grave nature, and is trying to pacify south Indians. Yet, one fails to understand why the centre isn’t moved by this ‘grave situation’ and proving more aid for the state.
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'Engineered narratives': West Bengal guv on alleged molestation charges against him
Kolkata, May 2: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday said he will not be cowed down by “engineered narratives” and the "truth shall triumph” after TMC leaders claimed that a woman working at Raj Bhavan levelled allegations of molestation against him.
In a statement, the Governor said, “Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,”
To the Raj Bhavan staff "who expressed solidarity with him following some derogatory narratives that were circulated by two disgruntled employees as agents of political parties," a communication by Raj Bhawan said.
The Governor’s statement came after senior TMC leaders claimed this evening in a series of social media posts that the woman, who had levelled the allegations, has been taken to a police station to complain against Bose.
Though police sources said they received a verbal complaint, there was no official word on whether a formal complaint had been registered.
“BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose was accused of molesting a woman. How utterly appalling and Horrifying. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan today. The complainant has been taken to the Hare Street police station for filing a complaint. The woman has accused the Governor of molesting her. Shocking and disgraceful,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said in a post on X.
Fellow TMC MP Saket Gokhale also posted on his X account regarding the issue.
West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said it is “shameful” that the Governor has maligned his post and has used it to “torture a woman”.
“It is appalling and shocking to see such an incident. This is the same Governor who had reached out to Sandeshkhali to talk about women’s rights and Nari Shakti. This is shameful that the Governor sought undue advantages in the pretext of giving her a permanent job. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be addressing rallies in Bengal tomorrow to react on this issue,” she said.
According to sources in the Governor's House, the "woman employee with the help of her alleged boyfriend who is also an employee of the Raj Bhavan was blocking complaints (from people) being sent to the Election Commission of India.
"When she was reprimanded for that, she went outside and alleged molestation. She is in the habit of throwing tantrums against her colleagues because of some disease," a Raj Bhavan official said.
The West Bengal Governor and the TMC government have shared an acrimonious relationship since he assumed office in November 2022 and had several run-ins on various issues.
The BJP said it has to be seen whether this a “conspiracy by the TMC” or has an “iota of truth in it”.
“We all know that the TMC is politically cornered on the issue of SSC scam and is looking for a breathing space. So this needs to be seen whether this is a conspiracy by the TMC or it has any iota of truth in it,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose accused of molesting a woman. How utterly APPALLING and HORRIFYING. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj…
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) May 2, 2024
Shameful that a constitutional office holder should try to prejudice an impartial investigation by attacking the motive of the complainant. We have seen this happen in that infamous Saturday Hearing of the Supreme Court. Respect women! https://t.co/E6eJLQvFXO
— sanjoy ghose (@advsanjoy) May 2, 2024
