Monsoon fury

Severe flooding and landslide episodes in North India should be a wake-up call

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S THE SOUTHWEST monsoon season draws to a close this month, this highly dynamic system leaves in its trail sharply contrasting impacts. Above-normal, if not copious, rainfall has resulted in brisk sowing in the kharif or summer season, higher reservoir levels, and adequate soil moisture for the coming winter season. But it has also entailed devastating flooding, landslides, and other disruptions, which have been most felt in north India. Due to the monsoon's fury, the Punjab government has declared all 23 districts as flood-hit. In this vanguard agrarian state, 0.4 million hectares out of the 3.2 million hectares of crop area has been affected. Last month, Punjab received 1,272% excess rainfall in a single day. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir have experienced serious flash floods and landslides resulting in a mounting death toll. Metropolitan India is woefully unprepared to cope with extreme rainfall. In Delhi, the swollen Yamuna has inundated several low-lying areas displacing around 14,000 people. In Gurugram, there was severe water logging that