ASSAM FLOODS FAILED TO FLOOD THE PRIME HEADLINES

As of 22nd June,there have been around 90 casualties. The flood has affected around 5.5 million people. UNESCO world heritage site Kaziranga National Park, 42 out of 233 camps are currently inundated, and eight animals are reported to be dead.

While Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is busy in “mehman nawazi” the majority of Assam is inundated in floods. 

But the disaster has largely been ignored by Mainstream media as just being the “other regular flood in the northeast”. Whereas the whole drama in Assam is centred around the hospitality of 40 rebels MLAs of Shiv Sena. 

The write-up is not a news report about the devastation brought by the Assam floods. The idea is to raise doubt about our priorities. When millions of Assam citizens have been displaced by the natural calamity our mainstream news channels have been busy in their regular polarising business. Is it because the news item on “Assam Floods” won’t be appealing and not adding up to their skyrocketing TRPs? Or it doesn’t concern the business interest of their corporate owners?

Bare google research of BJP led Assam Government will inform us about the priority of “Double Engine Government” in the time of grave crisis. CM has stated that he has been in regular touch with Home Minster Amit Shah for disaster. Though we are sure about him being in regular contact with Home Minister but not sure if it is about the disaster. 

The government in defending its failure to mitigate the effects of the disaster has put blame on “the unprecedented scale of the floods”. With this attitude, the same story will be repeated next year onwards with the only exception of the potential disaster being graver in nature. 

No editorial piece can manage to explain the unbearable loss of life, destruction of property and mental agony people in Assam are facing, 

As aptly reported by The Guardian:

“In the worst-affected areas, life has been reduced to huddling on any tiny patch of raised dry ground that people can find. Families living under tarpaulin tied to bamboo poles are using dwindling supplies of cooking gas to cook basic meals. There is an air of despondency over all that has been lost: furniture, utensils, documents, irreplaceable photos”

It was also observed in research that  Assam will need 943 years of flood protection measures to prevent a crisis like the one it is witnessing if its pace of preparedness and climate adaptation doesn’t increase.

The calamity should also be a reason for us to worry about climate change, unchecked construction activities and rapid industrialisation which have increased the frequency of extreme weather events. As per a report, 75 per cent of the total tree cover loss outside the recorded forest area is in the North East region. So, another question that pops up is “Is it really a natural disaster”?