Natural calamities are not unknown to Odisha. The impacts of natural calamities like flood, cyclone, drought, etc., have not been mitigated through any significant measures despite fringe and marginal remedial activities. As the trees along the coastline gradually reduced to satisfy the greed of man, the coastline has become more vulnerable to the periodic natural disasters. Drought could be overcome to a great extent by resort to reoriented methods of irrigation and in choosing the appropriate cropping pattern. Floods now come all of a sudden as they are mostly confined to the peak monsoon period. Our progress in the direction of water management, water impounding, consequential irrigation facilities and hydropower generation have all been in the realm of neglect over the last two decades.
So far as river Mahanadi is concerned, its water flow is now governed by the degree of rainfall in the catchment areas. During the middle of the monsoon period, one countenances the unusual sight of an almost dry river. It takes less time than in earlier years for water to flow across the State. Between Hirakud and Paradip, no organised impounding takes place further leading to irrigation and power generation. In so far as natural calamities like cyclone are concerned, preparedness to face the same and save lives and property has to condition the actions. But these disasters could also be countered through a suitably-devised insurance protection. The 1999 Super Cyclone in Odisha has at least given the coastline places of shelter and safety. These venues have also become the congregational points on other days. Climate change is becoming more and more hazardous for us. lightning has taken away some 30 to 40 lives in Odisha by the last weekend and quite a few were also injured. Fighting nature’s furies is not an easy task. But this fight has to be there to make us survive.
We have a ruling party in the State legislature with more than a dominant majority (117 out of 147 MlAs). The administrative machinery functions in an imposing style rather than in a participatory one. Of late, there are eruptions expressing resentment against improper governance. In a democracy, peaceful assembly and peaceful demonstration of one’s contentions are permissible as of right. In a case of domineering majority rule, the voice of the Opposition is very often muted or is frustrated. But when resentments are expressed through public agitations, without being unruly or unlawful, disproportionate police action baffles one as it does not behove the rulers, who apparently enjoy the support of the citizen voters in a manner hitherto not known to the State. But when the police force overreacts and any agitation is viewed as antinational activity subversive of national security, there is cause to worry. Such instances are definitely a matter of concern. We have had recently instances in Boudh district, in Angul district, in the peripheries of State capital, Bhubaneswar. Too intensive and aggressive police action will be militating against the doctrine of proportionality. Slogan mongering or showing a black flag to a person of authority is now construed to be an “offence” under law and people are arrested, sometimes even as a preventive measure for such alleged or threatened actions. Why should a dominant majority party try to throttle expression of public opinion reflecting the resentment against certain specific instances of maladministrationIJ
Matters do not end there. Political workers, Corporators come to blows in publicly-displayed battles. Recent events have taken an ugly turn. Even SPs get injured in the enthusiastic onslaught of ruling party workers. Not being used to a pinching opposition, minor pinpricks are intolerable. This by itself is indicative of an intolerant attitude not conducive to democracy and civilised politics. law has been stretched to permit preventive arrests of black flag demonstrators. If you come into public life, flags of all colours and kudos and brickbats are a part of your life. It is only when you face your opponents and critics that you inspire yourself further to ensure an improved account of what you professed to stand for. Corporators have also not spared one another.
Conflicts take a violent form when reason turns irrelevant and becomes a stranger to the events. Oversimplified and over-minuscule identification can also lead to violence. Identity and violence have a very uneasy relationship. When political identification leads to violence for the smallest and minimal form of expression of public resentment, there is an indication of some inherent weakness in the ruling setup. It is only then that the citizen starts realising that there has to be a proportionality of majority rule also so that the checks and balances operate in an optimum manner ensuring good governance.
The youth force becomes an instrument of this malady and is very often “used” to subserve the vested interest of the ruling leadership. But in the bargain, they miss the opportunity to readjust things so as to maximise the benefits accruing to them. let the next generation not say that you were selfish enough to leave behind a world worse than what it was when we came onto it. The youth power has an implicit duty and responsibility to ensure that the voices of dissent and criticism are not throttled by brute physical force. It is ironical to realise that majority decision-making is not necessarily always rational, but it is supposed to be the safest so far. But that would be so only when there is a critical minimum of tolerance. Democracy presupposes mutual respect and a code of appropriate behaviour. It is a way of life. The base animal elements are required to be controlled and regulated so as to make the selfish man adjust with others to constitute a community. Governments will come and go. Ruling parties will emerge and decline. But the basic social fabric cannot be overstretched to the extent that it tears apart. This necessitates a participatory government and an appropriate attitudinal orientation on the part of the ruling authorities. But feudal as we have been, we continue under its influence even today. It is odd to see that government discharges its normal elementary duties in an area only when the media hypes up the neglect. But the neglect is so widespread that the media has to bring out at least a story a day and may require more than one a day to expose the areas of darkness in our State. This is an arena that the youth power must focus on so as to ensure a better future. Experiences of the elders would be another fruitful input into this exercise. But would our youth be permitted to blossom and be better human beings than we were, or we would turn them into beasts of a new breed: that is the worry of the hour. And this concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)