Skip to main content

Joshimath disaster result of colonial policies which 'deprive' communities' land rights

By Sandeep Chachra* 

The residents of Joshimath in Uttarakhand are coming out in protest. Land subsidence in the region has put their lives, houses, and town at risk and impacted the surrounding land. As part of the relief efforts, at-risk families are being shifted to temporary relief centres, and work is underway on building transition centres, where they can stay till a long-term solution can be worked out. 
Newspaper reports and colleagues who lead development work in Uttarakhand tell the stories of affected people protesting the development activities that have created this situation and what they see as inadequate relief and rehabilitation operations, as they are demanding proper rehabilitation in Joshimath. While these issues need urgent resolution, we also need to step back and understand the implications of this ecological disaster and the lessons we need to learn to deal with what is increasingly becoming our fragile planet.
First, we must remember that the Himalayas are the youngest mountain range and are geologically fragile. The Himalayas are still rising as the Indian tectonic plate is pressing against the Eurasian plate. The entire Himalayan – Hindukush area is prone to shifts from seismic activity – it is an earthquake-prone area. A paper on the deformation of the Earth’s crust across the Garhwal Himalayas, the region in which Joshimath falls, speaks about an Indian plate motion of more than 5.5 cm per year.
The Himalayas also have the third most extensive repository of glacial ice, which is why this region is often called a “third pole” of our planet. These glaciers feed rivers that support millions of people across several countries, including India. Thus the seismic fragility and the hydrological importance of the Himalayas increases the stakes for construction work. 
Mountainous regions, in any case, pose a more significant challenge as there is a need to cope with extremes of environment, and horizontal space is a minimal resource. Therefore, settlements and economic and developmental activities in the Himalayas need to be planned and executed with a detailed understanding and knowledge of geology, ecosystems and climate science.
Joshimath is now in the news, but many other cities in the Himalayan range could be as prone to risk and share the vulnerabilities evident in this beleaguered mountain town.
In the Joshimath area, there have been several micro-seismic events, some of which continue to occur. The continued shifts and shaking of the underlying crust manifest themselves into surface changes. While hard rock runs deep and withstands some weight, the softer soil, riverbed areas and others cannot bear much weight and are subject to shifts and slips. 
According to a news website, the Indian Space Research Organisation reported that the region had subsided by around 5 cm between 27th December 2022 to 5th January 2023. The cracks in roads and the walls of many houses and other buildings in Joshimath took a more sinister aspect in this light.
While this data is recent, it is not that this vulnerability was unknown. Through experiential knowledge, communities living in the area in the past knew the terrain conditions and respected them while planning their settlements and activities. Dwellings were based in stable regions, and people would look for new structures in safe locations as families expanded.
Permanent settlement of land in Colonial India into “habitation”, “agriculture” and “forest” areas took away the freedom and choice of communities for planning new settlements. With forest areas off bounds, most settlement expansions happened in agricultural lands under private ownership.
Participatory, ecologically sensitive development processes in Himalaya region can bring resilient futures
Several decades ago, the Union Government had appointed the collector of Garhwal to look into why Joshimath was sinking. The MC Mishra Committee had reported that Joshimath was located on the site of an “ancient landslide”, and with the ground being a mixture of sand and stone, the area was prone to land subsidence. The Mishra Committee recommended the cessation of construction in the area. 
A research paper on the Chamoli earthquake of 1999 spoke about how even “a moderate earthquake, 6.8 on [the] Richter scale”, claimed 100 lives rendering 100,000 homeless. The paper concluded that “non-compliance to the earthquake-resistant construction features, as well as poor construction practices for locally available building materials were responsible for the majority of structural damage observed in the affected area.”
However, construction activities have not only continued unabated and unregulated but have also escalated in response to the growing needs of tourist, religious and economic activities around it. Most of the buildings made in these times have not been planned or engineered to account for seismic conditions. 
Development projects under construction, such as the Rishikesh-Badrinath Highway and the Tapovan-Vishnugarh Hydropower project of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), are vulnerable and would also multiply vulnerabilities and risks. The process of environmental impact assessment and clearances is suspect, to say the least, with some expert consultants sharing about how their warnings were side-lined. In recent years, this area has seen massive flash floods, landslides, and loss of lives.
Assessing ground conditions to identify land stability is now an urgent need, as is the assessment of vulnerability to the impact of climate change. It is on this basis that the classification of land use needs to be done. In these assessments for land use planning, seismic vulnerabilities, climate change vulnerabilities, and those obtained from deforestation need to be taken into account.
The author
An urgent and comprehensive review of the many development projects in the planning and early implementation stages needs to be done. No one is saying that roads, houses, businesses, sewage and power should not be built or that economic activities should be shut down. However, there is an urgent need to ensure that we practice participatory and ecologically sensitive development processes that respect the Himalayas and mother nature and operate well within safe limits.
Cities in the Himalayan region, as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Mr PS Dhami, said, would benefit from audits “to ensure they consider both ecological and economic needs.” The Himalayan region must see “ecologically super sensitive” planning to ensure urban spaces enjoy resilient futures.
---
*Executive director, ActionAid Association. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the organisation

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk  the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative  Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Why is green revolution harmful for nutrition, food safety, environment, climate change

By Bharat Dogra*  A lie repeated a hundred times will not turn a lie into a truth. The big media should realize this and stop perpetuating the lie of the green revolution saving India from hunger, long after the world has awakened to the reality of how harmful the green revolution has been from the point of nutrition, food safety, environment and climate change.

Alarming Odisha arrests, 'illegal' detentions ahead of Vedanta bauxite public hearing

Counterview Desk  More than 80 lawyers, legal academics and researchers have written to the Governor of Odisha raising concerns about the “alarming arrests and illegal detentions” of about two dozen persons from Rayagada district in Odisha in anticipation of the upcoming public hearing for the Sijimali bauxite mine proposed by M/s Vedanta Ltd.