English Article

Slippery Slopes

To face heavy monsoons, States must preserve the integrity of rivers and mountains

Even as the Southwest monsoon retreats along parts of northern Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha, Bengal and the northeastern States in October, it is leaving a trail of destruction in several districts. Significant loss of life has occurred in Kerala. While the heaviest recent downpour has been reported from west Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, east Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, with as much as 31 cm in Sheopur on Monday, there has been very heavy rain in Kerala and Gangetic West Bengal. The Indian monsoon is an invaluable resource that sustains hundreds of millions of people, but variations in its patterns and intensity pose a rising challenge. Kerala, which hosts a vast stretch of the Western Ghats, is having to contend with these changes with almost no respite between severe spells. The recurrent bursts show that anomalies in precipitation over the State, spectacularly demonstrated by the inundation of idyllic towns in 2018 and by mudslides that killed many a year later, require a comprehensive adaptation plan. This year’s torrential rain in the State, which has killed at least 35 people so far, is causing alarm as large reservoirs in mountainous reaches start filling up fast, while the Northeast monsoon lies ahead