Rain fury
The images of parts of north India facing nature’s fury ought to make us pensive. As we blame and curse Mother Nature for inflicting damage on life, livelihood and property, the fact is that mankind is to be blamed for this catastrophe. Industrial and agricultural expansion at the cost of forest cover, urbanisation, the colonisation of wetlands and floodplains, unscientific planning, drainage networks being clogged with plastics and hasty infrastructural development that undermines the ecology and topography are the major causes for this mess. Going forward, steps must be taken to protect and expand forest cover and rope in environmental activists and hydrology experts in reconstruction.
R. Srivatsan,
