नागरिकों को राजनेताओं और नौकरशाहों का समर्थन करने की जरूरत है जो विकास और पर्यावरण संरक्षण को सामने लाते हैं
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After two weeks of heavy rain, I am breathing a little easier — as a resident of Whitefield in Bengaluru. Menacing clouds scud overhead, but the sheets of water have abated.
Meanwhile, social media
reveals the pulse of the people.
Viral content shows abandoned vehicles floating or under water, tractors and their trailers laden with software professionals commuting to work and inflatable rafts being hauled by rescue teams with residents on board escaping from flooded layouts that are home to luxury villas.
Black humour memes flood our mobile phones, even as our feet swill around in the bilges पेंदा.
Some discussions have turned parochial लोकल कि ही बातें करना and even racist, blaming migrants to be the prime culprits. Politicians have waded in — only figuratively, of course. Most blame previous governments, while some blame citizens.
लोगों की प्रतिक्रिया
1 Those in the ruling party seem irritable चिड़चिड़ापन;
2 one of its own rich supporters, who is not known for the use of temperate language, has been castigated by another for sharing flood-related photos, and giving Bengaluru a ‘bad name’.
3 Useful discussions that involve water and climate experts have them repeatedly highlight -
💐 how we have encroached into lakes and watersheds,
💐destroyed wetlands,
💐 reduced greenery and concretised lands, thus facing the consequences of our actions.
When the rot began
1 As Bengaluru expanded, swallowing up the villages around it, panchayats were disbanded अलग हो जाना to create six city municipal corporations,
which were merged subsequently into the Bhruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
2 During this transition, land records were either destroyed or tampered with, and fake documents fabricated by corrupt interests.
3 Lakes and their catchment areas were soon transformed into private lands.
4 Builders backfilled these and soon made quick money building apartments, shopping malls and information-technology parks.
5 We were arrogant अभिमान in thinking that we could somehow defy अवज्ञा nature.
But water finds its own level, irrespective of whether we are rich or poor.
Them and us
1 विकसित देश का हाल -Yet, this smacks of déjà vu. Many cities in Europe and the United States, notwithstanding के बावजूद their beautiful environs today,
💐are examples where there was the ruthless destruction of the environment,
💐and construction frenzy to become pulsating economic growth engines.
💐They too saw a nexus of corruption involving politicians and bureaucrats, eschewing environmentally sensible decisions for short-term gains.
💐They too benefited from migration, which brought in energy and skill.
And they too suffered, like us, from two classic impediments रुकावट in public welfare provision.
2 First, the problem of free riders, where people partook उपयोग करना of city-provided benefits without paying city taxes.
3 And second, the ‘tragedy of the commons’ problem,
where bulwarks रक्षा करने वाला कोई नहीं against environmental breakdown — wetlands, lakes, grasslands, trees, parks, and forests — belonged to nobody.
3 The difference between us and them is this — they grew when nature had the leeway to heal and establish a new environmental equilibrium.
We, in contrast, are destroying our environment when climate change is already upon us; and further damage would only result in a cascading succession of disasters.
वे तब बढ़े जब प्रकृति के पास एक नया पर्यावरण संतुलन स्थापित करने और स्थापित करने का मार्ग था।
इसके विपरीत, हम अपने पर्यावरण को तबाह कर रहे हैं जब जलवायु परिवर्तन पहले से ही हम पर है; और आगे की क्षति के परिणामस्वरूप केवल आपदाओं का एक व्यापक क्रम होगा।
Reassuringly, Bengaluru consistently implements reforms, albeit slowly.
हमने कुछ किया पर धीरे धीरे
1 We have achieved some success in rainwater harvesting, solar water heating, segregation of garbage and the stoppage of littering, even if deadlines were unmet.
2 We are better than many in environmental compliance, though not good enough.
3 What we lack is the institutional capacity to handle the problems of the future.
4 सबका साथ We cannot persist with the same alphabet soup of uncoordinated institutions that have contributed to our problems in the first place and comprising -
local governments, namely, the BBMP and panchayats, State institutions such as the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA), various ‘planning authorities’ and the Revenue Department and parastatals such as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), Lake Authority and Bangalore Smart City Limited.
Putting reforms into action
We need two broad thrusts to implement the reforms we know we need, to build climate resilience and a better environment.
1 First, we must execute institutional euthanasia.
💐 A multiplicity of institutions does not improve execution.
💐They are deliberately constructed to get in each other’s way, complicate governance and preserve opportunities that benefit corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and land exploiters.
💐Outdated institutions need to be replaced by a constitutionally compliant structure, with local governments at the top.
3 Eleven independent planning authorities must be merged and subordinated to the Metropolitan Planning Committee.
4 This constitutionally mandated institution enables all stakeholders, from Bengaluru’s largest land owners, i.e., the defence, the railways, airports and national highway authorities, to the mahanagara palika and panchayats within the metropolitan area, to participate.
5 Likewise, parastatals सरकारी कंपनि या संस्था such as the BWSSB and the Smart City Company should be subordinated to the BBMP.
Making tough decisions
1 Second, our community needs to steel itself for some tough decisions.
2 Climate resilience goes beyond flood control;
💐it needs minimising the damaging environmental impact of cities.
3 We must take hard decisions on transportation,
💐 curb car travel
💐and improve cheap public transport with more buses instead of waiting for the expensive metro.
4 We must preserve our existing green cover and plant more trees, both in the city and around it.
5 We must de-concretise कंक्रीट हटाना our pavement सड़क के किनारे पैदल चलने वाला पट्टी
💐prohibit littering कचरा फैलाना
💐 and segregate garbage as unsegregated garbage clogs drains.
6 We must enforce sewage treatment plant operational standards.
7 We need to accelerate efforts to improve Rajakaluves (channels that connect waterbodies) as demonstrated in a 11-kilometre stretch in the city centre.
8 We must deal with the huge legacy of unacceptable constructions and encroachments.
💐The only solution is to remove some of these unacceptable constructions and restore wetlands and tank beds.
9 Any delay will result in nature reclaiming its due, as the effects of global warming intensify. Rising flood waters will spare none, the rich or the poor.
क्या और करें
.1 First, we could elect better people to the corporation.
2 Second, the thought that the higher we go, the more principled and statesman-like people are is a laughable and naive भोला भाला presumption.
3 Third, it undermines the biggest tools of accountability in the BBMP, wards committees and area sabhas.
Getting these institutions to work well is in our hands.
There are no corresponding peoples’ participation mechanisms in State departments and parastatals सरकारी कम्पनी या संस्था.
4 Both the migrant ‘techie कम्प्यूटर का ज्ञान’ and the migrant rag picker are vitally important for the economic health of Bengaluru.
5 There is a time lag between migrant arrivals and their becoming assertive stakeholders in the city’s health;
that is no reason to decry them. Indeed, our city would collapse if all migrants returned to their homes.
Good politics
1 Finally, apolitical approaches have their limitations. Political parties of all hues have been exploiting Bengaluru for decades. Let us face it. If we continue to vote for the corrupt for considerations other than development and environmental protection, we will not find solutions.
2 Our bad political choices are keeping good politicians and bureaucrats out of decision making.
3 While public participation may seem a suicide mission and the frustration and anger of being pushed back can take a toll, the only cure for bad politics is more politics of the good kind. Not less of it.
हमारे बुरे राजनीतिक विकल्प अच्छे राजनेताओं और नौकरशाहों को निर्णय लेने से रोक रहे हैं।
जबकि सार्वजनिक भागीदारी एक आत्मघाती मिशन लग सकता है और पीछे धकेले जाने की हताशा और क्रोध एक मृत्यु का रूप ले सकता है, बुरी राजनीति का एकमात्र इलाज अच्छी तरह की अधिक राजनीति है। उससे कम नहीं।
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