Rebuilding Nepal, the Kutch way

But there, indeed, is a “Kutch model” of development that is worth emulating in Nepal. Pioneer of India’s “green revolution” Dr M S Swaminathan has recommended “habitation-cum-rehabilitation programme” of Kutch that involves putting up low-cost greenhouse-like structures which can immediately provide shelter to the homeless and later can be used to undertake high-value seed production.

The relief operations in Kutch in 1956 were largely handled by the government with the help of several charitable organisations, some business houses and the NGOs. By 2001, what Swaminathan calls “market-driven enterprises” had come into play – which also explains Kutch’s rapid development since that calamity

The sight of a partially collapsed house, all its inmates dead, but with a steel almirah miraculously perched on its third floor, unreachable yet gleaming in the summer sun, remains permanently etched in my memory. That was the deadly earthquake in Anjar in Kutch in 1956. The other is the face of an old Muslim woman wistfully looking at her destroyed home nearby. The only survivor of a large family was too proud to beg, shunning even the relief material that was legitimately hers.

Founded in 650 AD, the district’s oldest town has seen numerous earthquakes and this one was among the more severe ones. Its historic fort crumbled and so had the old structures, necessitating the creation of Naya Anjar. Kutch and vast areas of Gujarat suffered another earthquake in 2001. It was on the Republic Day and the revelling, holidaying Indians took a while to realise the catastrophe. The 7.7-magnitude earthquake killed 20,000 people and toppled around 3,39,000 homes.

When it happened, Narendra Modi had been Gujarat’s Chief Minister for barely three-and-half-a-months. And a month later came sectarian violence, post Godhra. He made the calamity and Kutch his first test case for governance as well as political work. The arid district that traditionally sent people out for employment and enterprise has since witnessed rapid development. With significant development of its ports, it has become a powerhouse of commerce and industry. But thanks to the riots, it has also polarised the society on Hindu-Muslim lines. Bhuj, the district capital, is more divided than before, according to Edward Simpson, an anthrpologist who has written “The Political Biography of an Earthquake.”

Hence, the adulatory “Breaking News” talk about Modi using his “Kutch experience” to supervise India’s effort to “wipe the tears” of the people of Nepal is born out of ignorance. It is best left here, since the objective of Modi and his government in Nepal is not in any doubt. But there, indeed, is a “Kutch model” of development that is worth emulating in Nepal. Pioneer of India’s “green revolution” Dr M S Swaminathan, has recommended “habitation-cum-rehabilitation programme” of Kutch that involves putting up low-cost greenhouse-like structures which can immediately provide shelter to the homeless and later can be used to undertake high-value seed production.

Eight million people have been affected by Nepal’s quake and 1.4 million are in need aid of food aid, the United Nations says. Though the magnitude of the Kutch earthquake was slightly lower than the one that has hit Nepal and northern parts of India, the tremors in Gujarat affected more number of people due to higher population intensity of the area near its epicenter. "We need to convert this calamity into an opportunity for improving the income of the poor through market-driven enterprises", Swaminathan, who designed the Kutch rehabilitation proggramme, has said.

The relief operations in Kutch in 1956 were largely handled by the government with the help of several charitable organizations, some business houses and the NGOs. By 2001, what Swaminathan calls “market-driven enterprises” had come into play – which also explains Kutch’s rapid development since that calamity. His proposing “greenhouse-like structures” makes eminent sense for Nepal for the sake of its ecology. The Himalayas and its foothills are among the world’s greatest repository of medicinal plants and herbs. Indian and foreign pharmaceutical firms depending upon herbs as resources have been having nurseries in Nepal.

As Swaminathan says, "Nepal is ideal for the production of disease-free seeds of temperate vegetables and a wide variety of ornamental plants. Thus, providing a home to live and take to an economic occupation can become concurrent blessings. I hope a consortium of donors including India will help to organise such a habitation-cum-rehabilitation programme thereby helping this beautiful country to convert killing fields into smiling gardens". When Swaminathan says this, his analogy extends to his working to restoring farming in conflict-ravaged northern and north-eastern parts of Sri Lanka. "Architects are already considering how to make buildings safe under such conditions.

There is considerable international experience in this area including our experience following the Kutch earthquake of 2001," Swaminathan says. Nepal cannot recover all by itself. A year after he invited SAARC heads of government at his swearing-in as the prime minister, Modi has presented not just India, but the whole region with another “South Asia moment.” The alacrity with which India has responded, befitting a larger neighbour, has earned it praise from a perennially hostile Pakistan, whose Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif telephoned Modi to appreciate the Indian effort. And China that generally shrugs off anything India does has felt it necessary to clarify that when it comes to reaching relief and aid to Nepal, it is not in competition with India. That is how it should be for everyone.

What can the rest of India do – and do it before Nepal goes off the radar of the media and all those who have shown sympathy and pointed to ways and means for helping Nepal get back to normal, indeed, improved life?

Here’s one suggestion. Nepal is a favourite destination, not just of tourists but also the global film fraternity. Last year, its government received Rs 1.11 million from films shot at its various locations. The number of shootings taking place in Nepal is growing every year. Going by the trend, foreign film-makers prefer cultural heritage sites in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur (that have sadly been destroyed) as well as Mount Everest and sites in Chitwan, Baglung, Pokhara, Lukla, Namche and Nagarkot.

Last fiscal year, 74 films, documentaries and ad films were shot. In the past also, many movies that become popular were shot in Nepal, including Mount Everest, The Conquest of Everest, Chinese movie Up in the Wind, Hindi movies Khuda Gawah, Hare Ram Hare Krishna, Love in Nepal, Ghar Wali Bahar Wali, Mahan, the French movie Caravan and the Cantonese Bodhi Drama and Qi Yuah. Amitabh Bachchan has said Nepal was the first foreign country he visited for location shooting. Last year’s crop includes two feature films. Besides On the Roof of The World in Hebrew, there is Yevade Subramaniyam made in Telugu. This is pay-back time for the film fraternity – if they value Nepal as a filming destination, that is, and want to return to it.