https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F10%2F12&entity=Ar01400&sk=B89578F2&mode=text
October is often Goa’s hottest month, but this year there’s even more reason to feel parched. After an initially glorious first phase, the monsoon rains dwindled and faded away much earlier than usual. This past month was the driest September since detailed statistics have been kept, with less than 100 mm rain when nearly 300 mm is to be expected (last year the total was 409 mm). One result is devastated rice cultivation, down 20% or more. But it’s not just paddy. There are many alarming potential environmental, social and economic costs of failed monsoons in the fragile ecosystem of the subcontinent. Right now, even as scattered squalls and cloudbursts linger in the rapidly warming atmosphere, it’s already clear rainfall deficits will be alarmingly high in 2018, at least 19% overall. To be sure, even this bad news is no reason to panic. Lush, riparian Goa is still amply blessed with water resources thanks to the spectacular Western Ghats biosphere spilling over its borders, which remains the cachement area and reservoir of countless rivulets and tributaries as well as the major rivers of the state: Sal, Tiracol, Chapora, Talpona, Galgibaga, Zuari and Mandovi. All the ancient civilizations of Goa, dating back literally to the dawn of human history, have always been comfortably nurtured by this bounty. Between them, the Zuari and Mandovi river basins sprawl over 2500 square kilometres, over 70% of the state’s geographical area. The defining characteristic of this land is the constant presence of free-flowing fresh (or occasionally estuarine) waters, rippling everywhere you look, in every corner. But despite these precious advantages, trouble is unmistakably gathering for this liquid-drenched paradise. Three parallel and equally grave factors are quickly coming together to imperil Goa’s water security, and the wellbeing of future generations. The first is climate change caused by global warming, as evidenced by dwindling or erratic monsoon yields. Another is gross mismanagement of water resources, ranging from botched inter-state negotiations about sharing to disgraceful wastage of almost all that falls from the skies. But what makes both these factors infinitely worse is the egregiously unsustainable patterns of development being imposed on India’s smallest state, in open contravention of democratic norms, and against the concerted will of the great majority of citizens. The early warning signs are upon us. This crisis is real, and it is wholly man-made. No one can expect tiny Goa to make a difference in the giant global processes that are destabilizing weather patterns. After watching Kerala drown under record rains after meddling with natural defenses in its own section of the Western Ghats, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General (who has a Goa connection via his wife, who was born here in the 1950s) warned, “Climate change is the defining issue of our time – and we are at a defining moment. We face a direct existential threat. Climate change is moving faster than we are – and its speed has provoked a sonic boom SOS across our world.” However, he held out hope, “The mountain in front of us is very high but it is not insurmountable. We know how to scale it…we need to put the brake on deadly greenhouse gas emissions and drive climate action. Enormous benefits await humankind.” World leaders might choose wisely here, or they may not. What is unforgivable is the unending irresponsibility of Goa’s administration, which have continually contrived the most wasteful scenarios imaginable. When he took over the state government in an unprecedented landslide in 2012, Manohar Parrikar pledged to improved water supply to the entire state, and assured the capital 24/7 service by term-end in 2017. But the situation only became worse, as increasing numbers of Goans struggle with reduced or no access to water. Adding considerable insult to injury, under pressure from Amit Shah the CM pledged some of Goa’s river water share to Karnataka, in a widely deplored pre-election stunt. All is not lost for Goa, but it most certainly will be if this headlong, recklessly wasteful path continues unchecked. The current “development model” is grotesquely inappropriate, with its emphasis on massive concretization. Real estate development lays waste to the state like a tsunami of concrete, while tens of thousands of wells and water bodies are befouled, rendered useless by inadequate enforcement of sewage and environmental standards. Just remember that Shimla went bone dry earlier this year, and ran out of drinking water entirely. It would be extremely foolish to bet the same won’t happen here.
