Odisha has already experienced floods and waterlogging in different areas. An overnight shower in Cuttack immobilised a large section of the city community. A comment made by one of the responsible persons was that such circumstances take place even at metros. This is a lame excuse. The situations in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar are not to be permitted to recur. They show utter apathy and lack of concern. The crime is compounded when emergency relief measures are not pressed into service. It demonstrates our neglect or apathy towards the requirement of adequate drainage in any habitat. Insensitive constructions over drainage systems and total insensitivity in civic matters have landed the residents in this lurch in the millennium city. Nobody bothered to find out the reasons behind the gates of the drains being closed at the particular river. There is obviously an imbalance in the system. It does not behove the Government to have such a predicament on its hands.
Precautionary measures were obviously not planned out so as to be immediately implementable. It becomes an annual exercise to watch the city gets flooded, waterlogged and incapacitated. Relief measures take priority; remedial measures are given less priority.
Flood devastations were caused by rivers Nagavali and Kalyani in southern parts. Different agencies appear to be making their visible contributions, but a lasting solution eludes the situation.
*The Odisha society stands at a crossroads of several shades and hues. It is a society in transit. There were structural changes taking place. On account of socioeconomic shifts, a widely bulging middleclass has emerged but is alienated from the agro-rural community. Socio-cultural fabrics are also undergoing changes. In fact, the value foundations are undergoing visible changes. But in the inner core, it remains true to its feudal past. The emergent picture is one of unique features. The sociological changes have brought in traumatic situations within families, more so in the middleclass. This class is expanding and is wearing different forms of hearts to spread its tentacles.
One could safely say that in fifty years of Independence, we are a set of people still looking for an identity. We have not focussed on almost half of population (49.5%) constituting women. Their socioeconomic development is a sine qua non for sustainable growth of the economy. No doubt, women experience considerable disadvantages and discrimination on account of gender bias. This gender bias professed disparity in terms of illiteracy, access to public health services and social development indicators. A society gender-wise divided almost 50:50 should not fight shy in ensuring socioeconomic changes of lasting impact. One can see the fractures of structural walls of the society to realise the quantum of load they take without being properly maintained.
Inherent delinquencies of this nature are continuing to erode our system. In certain areas of urban and semi-urban habitats, one finds a complete breakdown of the old sublime culture; everything Western has been aped blindly. There is no originality in the herd that is being created. They all look alike and talk alike, and the latest one has to pick up as it is “awesome”. In the socioeconomic political change, let not our moorings get lost and we become a replication of uniform pattern of dressing, conduct and behaviour. Of course, all this is dependent on the value foundations which are themselves being eroded. let there be no landslides and a breakdown of our social structure. Things are still containable and keep harnessed into very purposive and constructive work in the social fabric.
We have talked about women and their power. A similar section overlapping these elements is the youth power. A dominant section of this is also women power. Emancipation of the local community from the tradition-bound method of thinking has to cause some ripples. The youth power is equally substantial. It is this section of the community that has become highly vulnerable to societal changes. If it is unable to adjust with the situation then the tensions are more. The youth has a stake, and a high stake, in the 2019 election. We should not head during these two intervening years to create a destabilised society. In doing so, the input of every section of the community is a necessity. Direct interaction with the elements of youth power regarding the aberrations that may have arisen may be worthwhile as a participatory exercise at modulating the society. This requires involvement of all of us.
The youth power has to be constructively utilised in tackling the tensions so as to ensure that we are all turned into homogeneous products. If heterogeneity is to be maintained, unnecessary adventurism is not required. The necessary corollary is that the transition in our society should be smooth and not jerky. In this endeavour, youth clubs could be of immense help in interactions and infusion of ideas in order to make our society a better, and not a copycat, one.
let it not be said to our shame that the world was a better place to live in till we came. The variety of forms that women ingenuity creates goes beyond one’s imagination. But even then, they have to cope with and gear towards purposive social action. In this direction, a social movement is required and the same seems to be simmering to be exposed.
We are entitled to a civilised existence and that has to be ensured at any cost, for otherwise there shall be creeks and crunches in the system. This surely concerns us all!