Fury of floods

India needs a long-term strategy

The mayhem created in several states by the very first bout of intense rains in the current monsoon season exposes the country’s unpreparedness to cope with floods, which have become a recurring and increasingly destructive annual scourge. Also laid bare is the absence of any long-term strategy to tame floods, notwithstanding the fact that the extent of area vulnerable to frequent deluges, and the economic losses caused by them, are on the rise. The country’s overall flood-prone area, which was reckoned by the Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Flood Commission) in its 1980 report at 40 million hectares, or 12 per