Until a few days ago, Assam had resigned itself to having to live with the floods. The chief minister, Mr Tarun Gogoi, had said as much in the assembly. Mr Gogoi’s despair was shared by the opposition and the other Congress legislators. But the prime minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, has now opened up new possibilities which are based on a concrete plan of action. After an aerial survey of the situation in Assam, Mr Singh has announced the formation of a task-force, which will report to the Centre with suggestions for a permanent solution to the recurring floods in the state. This practical and long-term approach was overdue, and it is hoped that it will be put into operation not only in Assam, but in all the other states where natural calamities like floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes ravage human lives on a more-or-less regular basis. The holism of Mr Singh’s approach should make it possible to tackle every aspect of the calamity. Apart from ensuring meteorological improvements and minimizing soil erosion, the management of emergency operations, augmenting supplies of relief equipment like boats and helicopters, and negotiating with neighbouring China and Bhutan over the drainage of reservoirs and river systems would fall within the purview of this new approach. Another crucial area of supervision would have to be the actual management of relief, particularly the organized utilization of funds and the disbursal of relief materials. This is where the state governments often prove inadequate — sometimes because of a lack of manpower, and often because of systemic inefficiency and corruption. Mr Singh’s approach seems geared towards a better degree of preparedness in all these counts.

Mr Singh’s solution of a task-force also bypasses, in a civilized and reassuringly pragmatic manner, the unseemly haggling that takes place between the Centre and state every time a calamity strikes. First, there is the usual tussle over definition — the petty-political or bureaucratic question of whether the floods are a “national” calamity. This proves to be nothing but a waste of crucial time. Second, the potentially nasty and unresolvable problem of how much money the Centre ought to give the state, and the bad blood that is invariably created around the issue. Mr Singh’s task-force — if properly formed, heeded and its recommendations efficiently implemented — could be an answer to all these unpleasant, wasteful and avoidable collaterals to what a calamity like the floods naturally brings about. This could serve as a model for preparedness and relief in every other state, whatever the nature of the calamity.