Umair Ahmad
Over the last two decades the weather in Kashmir has been behaving, to put it bluntly, erratically as far as snow and rainfall is concerned. The two and a half months of winter, which just a few decades back would cover the whole Kashmir valley for weeks, appears to have softened and lost its sting.
The change in precipitation patterns can have far reaching consequences for Kashmir valley and a huge number of people outside. The shortage of water may cripple the agricultural economy of the northern part of the subcontinent jeopardizing food security and putting lives of hundreds of millions of people at imminent risk.
Different parts of the world have seen extreme weather patterns over the last few decades. Many scientists attribute these patterns to global warming. Brazil is suffering its worst flash floods in recent history and so is Australia and so is Sri Lanka. Heavy rains lashed Brazil triggering land slides and flooding some urban centers with mud. In the Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir a cloudburst wreaked havoc `taking a heavy toll on life and property.
These cases have received the media and public attention for the magnitude of the devastation these inflicted. But smaller tragedies are unfolding across the world without getting noticed. The food riots in Eygpt, Somalia and some other African countries, scientists believe are a result of the decline in agricultural production which have been caused by changing weather patterns. Farmers in India have been committing suicides, even in prosperous states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, with heart wrenching regularity.
In Jammu and Kashmir the glaciers have been receding at an alarming rate. The water discharge in rivers and streams has gone down drastically forcing the government to run the power projects at half their installed capacities during lean months of autumn. There are some obvious reasons responsible for the decline in water discharge such as deforestation. When the forests are denuded, the snow is exposed to sun and melts faster, flooding or filling up streams and rivers in the early June. Ideally, the snow on the peaks should have stayed there at least up to September.
The government’s criminal neglect of the water resources in Kashmir is a gory story.
Well, the state may not have the wherewithal or the resources or qualified manpower to research the changes in weather patterns but it must at least make a serious effort to understand the impact of this erratic weather on agriculture.
The government may project to be alert by sounding alarm bells of impending snowfall and boasting about its preparedness to face any situation, but power and water supply shutting down under five inches of snow shows our primitive infrastructure and pedestrian understanding of these issues.
A cloudburst claiming more than 200 lives does not wake us up. The tragedies unfolding allover the world do not stir us. What would then?
Studying, monitoring and collecting weather related data from across the state is the bare minimum the authorities could start with. Afforestation should be done at war footing to rejuvenate the depleting forest resources. Until we understand the problem and find practical remedies for it lets pray that the winters in Kashmir get back their sting. Amen!
