ARE WE READY????

Exam season is finally over! Students are finally breathing free now, apart from a few unlucky chaps who still have to grind through innumerable entrance exams for deciding their careers. The number of students appearing for various entrance exams is rising every year. It might not be long before we have an entrance exam even to decide who will appear for interviews for admission in schools!!!!

Census 2011 reveals that we have crossed the 1.2 billion mark, though it’s amazing that we are still behind China! The Japan Earthquake and the resultant tsunami have not only rattled the pacific nation, but also countries across the world. The amount of destruction caused to the Fukushima atomic power plant has raised alarms 7600 kms away in India too. It has sparked off questions that “Are we ready to face such a calamity??” it has further fuelled debate regarding the construction of the alleged nuclear power station at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

The damage in Japanese cities had been reduced to a considerable extent, eventhough they felt the quake in the same intensity due to their infrastructure which has been made earthquake resistant as they are well aware that they fall in an earthquake prone zone. But this is not the case in our India. Here, buildings collapse even without an earthquake and the reasons found are faulty coustruction or some land greedy human fidgeted with the allotted FSI of the building just to increase his own space!!! ‘In India man can survive without food but not without land. He is hungrier to exploit empty spaces compared to hunger for food.’  If at all we face a calamity like Japan, the city’s infrastructure will come crashing down like nine pins. 

The biggest concern is that most of our nuclear power stations like the one at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Tarapur on the Maharashtra - Gujarat border are along the coasts. The Jaitapur plant now has been given clearance with ‘36’, yes ‘36’ conditions by the ‘MoEF’ (Ministry of Environment and Foresting). If so many conditions had to be put forth, why has the plan been passed in the first place? Also, the land of the poor farmers has been encroached upon for this purpose. The government says compensation will be provided but till when will it last? And what after that?  ‘Development is good but it should not destroy the lives of the poor’. Mumbai comes under zone 3, meaning a maximum of 6.5 intensity earthquake can b expected. ‘But calamity does not look at zones, does it?’ It will be really helpful that our ever so selfish builders start building earthquake resistant buildings and our disaster management society be made more efficient. It is also the duty of our excessively slow government to stop encroachment of agricultural land and also to crack down on the builder-babu nexus.

Jaitapur is a really sensitive issue and quick steps should be taken to resolve it or else the after effects can be dangerous.

But the question still lingers: “ARE WE READY??”