Thiruvananthapuram: During the second half of August, when it looked like apocalypse, there was a collective desperation to be of some help. Manic generosity was the norm. Three months later, it looks as if Kerala has virtually forgotten that the most destructive floods in its history had ever happened.
So wild has been this behaviour swing that Kerala society could be accused of suffering from some sort of bipolar disorder. Click on the Rebuild Kerala website (rebuild.kerala.gov.in) to know the difference. It is a platform created by the state to source funds from the public for rebuilding a flood-torn state.
Online devastation store
The site is almost similar to the Amazon or Flipkart online store sites, where products are showcased in rows and their prices flashed below. It is just that instead of flashy phones and swanky handbags, what is on show here are grim photographs of flattened houses, hollowed-out schools and damaged anganwadis. Under each image of destruction is given the amount required for reconstruction. What was attempted was crowdfunding, a trick by now accepted for mobilising large sums from minor offerings. The hope was that corporate bodies and the general public would throng the site.
Cold response
It looks like the hope has been misplaced. The site has hundreds of ruined structures that require funds between Rs 8 lakh to 80 crore for reconstruction. The highest fund sourced till now is Rs 17,000 for the Government High School in Koipuram, Pathanamthitta. But consider the total money needed for the school's reconstruction – Rs 53 lakh. This means that even the best that crowdfunding could conjure up till now is just a paltry 0.3 per cent of what is actually required.
As for the most other flood-ravaged schools featured in the site, the amount raised ranges from zero to Rs 200. Except for a lone anganwadi in Idukki, none of the nearly hundred damaged anganwadis featured has failed to attract even a single rupee.
The response to devastated houses is equally disappointing. For instance 224 houses have been identified for reconstruction in Alappuzha municipality. The total amount needed is Rs 9.02 crore. The amount that has come in: Rs 100. Similar, or even worse, is the response to the devastation in other municipalities and grama panchayats.
Former chief secretary K M Abraham, who is now in charge of coordinating post-flood reconstruction activities, did not seem surprised. “We have not gone into the marketing of the crowdfunding process,” he said. “Detailed sectoral plans are only being evolved. A reconstruction blueprint, incorporating the sectoral plans of pivotal sectors like sanitation, fisheries, agriculture, health and education will be ready only by the middle of January. Only then will we make the Rebuild Kerala initiative hyperactive,” Abraham said.
Myth of eternal giving
However, bureaucrats and economists Onmanorama talked to felt the crowdsourcing experiment was bound to fail. “We are expecting the same set of people, the very ones who had already did their bit either at the time of the floods or later by sacrificing a part of their salaries, to contribute. The giving will not go on. Even the 'Nava Kerala' lottery has failed to fetch the desired amount,” a top official said.
State Finance Commission chairman B A Prakash echoes the same concern. “Crowdfunding, in the form of goods, services and money began the moment the floods struck. Non-resident Malayalis and residents contributed generously in whatever way they can,” Prakash said. “Now the government, by giving the process the sophisticated name 'crowdfunding', essentially wants people to keep doing what they had been doing all this while. But this flow of voluntary contribution has a limit. To expect the flow to go on and on is unrealistic,” he said.
All is well?
There is no motivation to contribute as well. Tax expert Jose Sebastian said the government had failed to sustain the sense of urgency, which was so palpable during the crisis. “Now, looking at what is happening around, people feel it is business as usual. It is as if all is fine,” Sebastian said. “People cannot be blamed for this complacency. The government has done nothing to suggest it has made the sacrifices it had asked of the people. There is nothing to suggest it had reduced administrative expenses. There is nothing to suggest it has gone frugal. The sense of urgency has vanished,” Sebastian said.
Sabarimala floods Malayali consciousness
There are other things to bother about, too. Issues like women's entry into Sabrimala have almost fully drowned the flood reconstruction process. Even the Opposition has found other concerns more important. Sabarimala, and not the rebuilding of Kerala, dominated when the Assembly convened for a 13-day session. During nine of the 13 days proceedings were cut short in the name of Sabarimala. The Sangh Parivar, without bothering to consider that shutdowns would hurt a state limping back to normal, imposed six hartals, all of them Sabarimala related, in the last two months. At the moment, the state seems preoccupied with the 'women's wall'.
