Several parts of our country are currently facing a severe drought. Some parts of MP, UP, and especially Maharashtra haven't got even clean drinking water.
This drought is befalling due to inadequate rainfall during monsoon for the last two years. But what are the underlying reasons for poor monsoons? People can blame El-Nino conditions for it. My grandmother tells me that when she was young, it used to rain incessantly for a week, sometimes even for two weeks. Nowadays, even without "El Nino", the best of the rains continue for 2-3 hours at most. So what has changed over the last 60 years?
I think there are two underlying reasons for this which are difficult to revert quickly. The first reason being deforestation and the second reason being our vast, ever-increasing population.
You can cut trees as long as you are cutting them for developing the necessary infrastructure like roads, bridges, power plants, etc. But cutting forests for developing real estate projects is stupidity. Just because you want to live near a particular city, you just can't destroy the established ecosystem around it.
One of the most pertinent reasons for deforestation is that people in rural areas are still using wood as fuel. Some of them being so poor that they can't afford LPG connection. And the other ones, who can afford it, want to obtain additional income by selling wood. The government might be trying to do something about the fuel problem by enabling free LPG connection to poor people. But it isn't enough.
When you cut a big tree, you destroy an alive being which has developed over many decades. You obviously can't replace it by planting a new tree. Because a new tree would take many decades to reach the same size and produce the same amount of oxygen. Even a hundred new trees can't replace an old one. So we have done an almost irreparable damage by letting people ruin our forests. And that's why we are facing severe droughts and pollution.
The second reason for these droughts is our huge population. Over the last 50-60 years, our population has more than tripled from 36 crores to 125. We're one of the most densely populated countries in the world. We're the so-called third largest economy in the world. But we're ranked 122 by per capita income, not much better than African countries! And how is our population responsible for droughts? Because over the last 60-70 years, while our population was increasing our natural resources were declining at an equally fast pace. So our natural resources per capita(including forests, water, fuel, etc.) is less than one-fourth of what it was 60 years ago. This situation is made graver by the fact that today we receive much lesser rainfall than what we used to experience earlier (Ironically because of deforestation). Thus, the water we're pumping from the ground is not replenished adequately by the poor rains, resulting in declining water levels. Had our population been under ten crores, our citizens would be very wealthy, with plenty of resources to spare.
Neither can we revert deforestation, nor can we reduce our population(instantly). We'll have to bear the consequences of our mistakes.
But there are few things which can be done to save a little bit of water.
2. Cutting trees should become a criminal offense with substantial penalties and 2-3 year-long sentences. Sometimes we need to take drastic measures to bring fundamental changes.
These are the two steps I'm suggesting. Other actions can be taken like laying cross country pipelines, building lakes, connecting rivers, etc., but these steps will take time. Do you have any ideas to tackle the perpetual drought situation?
The worst hit is the Latur district of Maharashtra, which has been battling severe drought from last three years, and is barely able to meet the drinking water needs of its 5 lakh citizens, with just 1% storage water remaining is the reservoirs. Due to lack of surface water, people are forced to drink water from borewells, which contains a high level of salts, resulting in increasing cases of kidney stones. Apart from that, people are facing scorching heat which is causing dehydration, resulting in more diseases. The situation is dreadful. But what are the reasons that induced such a severe drought?
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| Cracked Land, Drought |
This drought is befalling due to inadequate rainfall during monsoon for the last two years. But what are the underlying reasons for poor monsoons? People can blame El-Nino conditions for it. My grandmother tells me that when she was young, it used to rain incessantly for a week, sometimes even for two weeks. Nowadays, even without "El Nino", the best of the rains continue for 2-3 hours at most. So what has changed over the last 60 years?
I think there are two underlying reasons for this which are difficult to revert quickly. The first reason being deforestation and the second reason being our vast, ever-increasing population.
You can cut trees as long as you are cutting them for developing the necessary infrastructure like roads, bridges, power plants, etc. But cutting forests for developing real estate projects is stupidity. Just because you want to live near a particular city, you just can't destroy the established ecosystem around it.
One of the most pertinent reasons for deforestation is that people in rural areas are still using wood as fuel. Some of them being so poor that they can't afford LPG connection. And the other ones, who can afford it, want to obtain additional income by selling wood. The government might be trying to do something about the fuel problem by enabling free LPG connection to poor people. But it isn't enough.
When you cut a big tree, you destroy an alive being which has developed over many decades. You obviously can't replace it by planting a new tree. Because a new tree would take many decades to reach the same size and produce the same amount of oxygen. Even a hundred new trees can't replace an old one. So we have done an almost irreparable damage by letting people ruin our forests. And that's why we are facing severe droughts and pollution.
The second reason for these droughts is our huge population. Over the last 50-60 years, our population has more than tripled from 36 crores to 125. We're one of the most densely populated countries in the world. We're the so-called third largest economy in the world. But we're ranked 122 by per capita income, not much better than African countries! And how is our population responsible for droughts? Because over the last 60-70 years, while our population was increasing our natural resources were declining at an equally fast pace. So our natural resources per capita(including forests, water, fuel, etc.) is less than one-fourth of what it was 60 years ago. This situation is made graver by the fact that today we receive much lesser rainfall than what we used to experience earlier (Ironically because of deforestation). Thus, the water we're pumping from the ground is not replenished adequately by the poor rains, resulting in declining water levels. Had our population been under ten crores, our citizens would be very wealthy, with plenty of resources to spare.
Neither can we revert deforestation, nor can we reduce our population(instantly). We'll have to bear the consequences of our mistakes.
But there are few things which can be done to save a little bit of water.
1. The government should charge for the amount of water consumed. For example, the first 1000 liters will be free of cost; the next 1000 will cost INR 1/litre, and the next 1000 liters will cost INR 2/litre. Even if people are pumping water from boring, they will pay for it. People will probably hate the government for doing this, but the government should do it with immediate effect. We don't care for things that we get for free, be it food, water or electricity. We waste many liters of water just for bathing or washing our cars or watering plants. Much more than necessary. Some of us misuse drinking water by drinking just a sip and throwing away the rest. It will be interesting to see how people use water after if they have to pay for it.
2. Cutting trees should become a criminal offense with substantial penalties and 2-3 year-long sentences. Sometimes we need to take drastic measures to bring fundamental changes.
These are the two steps I'm suggesting. Other actions can be taken like laying cross country pipelines, building lakes, connecting rivers, etc., but these steps will take time. Do you have any ideas to tackle the perpetual drought situation?
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