National News Service, Kolkata: The response of the Government of India to the waves that have caused such a great tragedy in Asia reminds one of a Circus.
As soon as the waves hit India the Government went into an huddle. Ministers were running helter skelter. Sonia Gandhi in Andaman Nicobar Islands, Mani Shankar Aiyer in Tamil Nadu, and the Prime Minister all over the place. This is the same way the clowns run around in a circus ring.
To be realistic the tragedy in India was on a much lower scale than the Cyclone which hit Orissa, of the Earthquakes of Latur and Gujrat. To be cynical more than 12,000 people probably die every day in India because of poverty, lack of medical help, non affordability of medicines and accidents, and yet ever since Independence nobody has really been concerned about the plight of these wretched people.
In the previous tragedies the VIPs kept out of the way until the basic assistance infrastructure was in place. The new aspect of this tragedy is the media propaganda of how concerned the ministers are and the victims of the tragedy are in the background.
For days we hear that the islands of Adaman and Nicobar are out of reach. Does not India have helicopters to make an aerial reconnaissance of these Islands. There seems that there are no dearth of Helicopters of flying VIPs around but when tragedy strikes it seems that the dearth of helicopters begin.
We constantly hear that ISRO has got fantastic capability and that they can can take one metre resolution pictures. Why were not these satellites pressed into service to asses the damage in these remote areas. The images of Phuket in Thailand before and after the tragedy were immediately available.
Seven days after the tragedy and after all ministerial visits the affected people of Chennail took to the streets to protest that no assistance was available. Chennai is not a remote area that is inaccessible and yet no assistance is available after seven days. One shudders at the thought of what the conditions must be like in Nagapattinam and and in the islands.
There are many common people in India who want to help those stricken by this tragedy, but the Government, after all the tragedies that have hit this country, does not have a machinery to make use this goodwill. Not everybody can make cash contributions, but they want to help with their services.
We immediately hear that India is going to set up a Tsunami warning system at the cost of Rs.125 crores. That is all very good. The Indian Government has always been proficient at closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. What we do not hear is what are the contingency plans are in case of an alarm, at what frequency rehearsals will be carried out and what amount of money will be allocated in every budget to keep the system operational. In virtually every State the civil defense wing is defunct and non functional.
After every tragedy we hear that mobile teams will be kept on standby to rapidly provide help to the victims. We hear that satellite telephones will be used to set up communications in the affected areas, but every time a tragedy occurs we hear again that next time everything will be fine. The only satellite phone that was seen in operation is Lalu Prosads' phone used to inaugurate a new train service.
We have battalion after battalion of police Rapid Action Force who are proficient in rapidly being deployed at their political masters whim to lathicharge or fire at opponents or poor protesters, and yet we cannot set up and maintain a highly mobile team in every State who can be deployed in case of natural or man made calamities. The armed forces can provide manpower but they cannot and do not have the training for the specialized requirements of services when tragedies strike.
If European countries can provide specialized teams to be deployed at a very short notice any where in the world to assist in rescue operations why cannot India do the same.
Then in India it takes twenty five years to provide assistance to the Bhopal gas tragedy victims, and mainly after most of the victims have died. The Hindu religion has taught us to be like sheep for the slaughter as the next life will bring better things. The politicians have fully understood this and they are taking full advantage of it.
Even in the distribution of aid we hear that the Communists in West Bengal have decided that the aid in Tamil Nadu will disbursed by their counterparts there. No doubt every packet or whatever is distributed will have a hammer and sickle on it, the morality being why not take political mileage out of everything including tragedies.
Undoubtedly the prize for the best performance in this circus should go to the two clowns who are our Minister for Science and Technology and Home. The latter clown the Minister for Home affairs not content in allowing the spread of terrorism from Manipur to Jammu & Kashmir, he decided to to make his contribution to the tragedy by faxing an unfounded warning of a second Tsunami was coming just when the aid effort was beginning to take shape. This caused untold panic and completely disrupted the effort that was underway. The wave of panic even spread to Sri Lanka.
Then the Ring Master Sonia Gandhi called the Minister of Technology and whacked the him on the head because he called the Home Minister an Idiot by implication. Waves were undoubtedly created but those were of laughter in this tragedy by the people of the world at the stupidity of Indian Ministers.
The Indian Army field hospitals did a great job in Bam, Iran, after the earth quake there, and we can only hope that despite the jokers who are the Government of India we will provide real and meaningful assistance to Sri Lanka and the people in Aceh in Indonesia whose tragedy is far greater then what has happened in India and show to them that the people of India are a genuine caring people and despite their own problems they are willing to help those who are victims of a even greater tragedy and are capable of playing a role on the global stage.
Posted by proutist-universal on January 2, 2005 10:24 PM