[Assam] Engineering interventions for flood control

Thu Sep 11 06:07:30 PDT 2008

At 1:48 PM +0530 9/11/08, Choudhary, H. N. - AMW - MUM wrote:
>I do not wish to comment on the debate on Dredging but wish to reserve
my comment on the tone and language of the communication below.

>
>I would like to remind that diplomatic and polite language could be used
>as effective a means of communication as any other to convey the
>writer's views howsoever strong they could be.

**** Point well taken. However those who do not hesitate to wave 
their qualifications around but their responses sound like knee-jerk 
reactions or smack of an inability to comprehend simple English, 
deserve to be reminded of them. How else would they ever learn? 
Those who know  have a duty to explain.

And I did not even take issue with the factual errors in the 
comment. Like I am NOT an engineer. I did not have any formal 
American training.  My comments had nothing to do with my IIT 
pedigree or  American training. Umesh's choices to add those 
indicates his continued inability to realize that pedigrees and 
degrees ought not to be the criteria to judge the wisdoms of a 
comment or a decision---its substance ought to be. The absence of 
this culture thruout the Indian establishments of education, 
governance and what have you, have been major causes of the 
subcontinents inability to make make use of their best talents -- its 
enormous human resources pool.

>
>Lastly any engineering solution to a problem can be applied to achieve
>the desired results, based on the economy and the time line. One has to
>decide which one is the most suitable under the given circumstances and
>constraints of time and resources.

**** Economy is NOT the only criterion. Just because it may be good 
economics to go wipe out a forest full of ancient trees to build a 
straight highway, is not a wise engineering decision.

Similarly, knowing what we have for decades  about the nature of 
flooding and of river silting in Bihar or Assam or Arunachal   but 
yet continuing to build embankments and dams and barrages with the 
hope of taming the rivers have persistently been ruining the lives of 
so many of our fellow men.  But what have those govt. engineers 
moving up in the world on the basis of their scores in their degree 
courses or the weight of their foreign degrees, to decision making 
positions, have produced so far as solutions ?  Anything to take note 
of?

**** Finally I cite the ancient proverb: Those who can't take the 
heat ought not to be in the kitchen! We are adults here. We ought to 
be cognizant of the fallout from what we say or how we say it.  Those 
who read and look may not  pretend  not to hear or see.

>
>Thanks
>Hemen N Choudhary
>Mumbai
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Chan Mahanta [mailto:cmahanta at charter.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 7:16 PM
>To: assam at assamnet.org
>Subject: [Assam] Engineering interventions for flood control
>
>It is simple-minded and knee-jerk reactions from people who are
>expected to be more thoughtful that gives them a bad name.
>
>
>
>>If dredging is the solution as our IIT educated and US trained
>>architect C-da says, and if it is low-tech -- then why not?
>
>
>
>**** I did not say "--dredging is the solution " as anyone who
>understands grade school English ought to know. It has to be a
>solution in some instances.  And it is a must in instances where
>dams, barrages or embankments were built with the assumption that
>silting would not happen or sluices and safety release devices are
>not clogged up by silting.
>
>And if it has not been done, then the citizenry must get to the
>bottom of why it has been so and help rectify it.  If they don't it
>won't be done either by some superior powers that watch over them or
>by  the gods.
>
>Under the circumstances, for society's movers and shakers to bemoan
>an absence of accountability on one hand and promoting the same
>dysfunctional and destructive undertakings as their solutions of
>choice tells us what?
>
>Is it a serious and sincere effort to find solutions?
>
>cm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>
>>Umesh
>>
>>-----
>>
>>C-da wrote:
>>
>>The account below points, once again, to the dysfunctional nature of
>>government.
>>
>>Engineering alone, invoked by the dam and embankment proponents,
>>cannot be the be-all and end-all
>>of SOLUTIONs as is amply illustrated.
>>
>>Let us agree for a moment that there are situations where dredging
>>can alleviate the problem. If so, WHY has it not been done? Not even
>>tried. If man can go to the moon, India can launch satellites, why
>>can't it dredge a rive? It is as low tech as it can get. Human
>>labour with short-handled hoes and head-baskets can dig and dispose
>>of a lot of silt in one dry season. Has there been a shortage of
>>labour? Hoes? Baskets? Funds?
>>
>>I get it-- it HAS to be done, like Prof. Ranganathan reminds us.
>>
>>Question is by whom? If it is an answer, why has it not been done?
>>What has held all these highly trained civil engineers, civil
>>servants that can recite an encyclopedia and cook up EIRs on demand
>>and fine elected officials of the world's largest democracy back
>>from performing such a menial task for all these decades? Surely
>>their fellow men have launched satellites in outer space carrying
>>them to their pads in bullock-carts, demonstrating their ingenuity
>>for all the world to see.
>>
>>What seems to be the problem in keeping the silted rivers flowing and
>>dam reservoir de-silting? Perhaps our friend Dr. M C George will
>>tell us?
>>
>>Obviously it is a tad bit more complicated, isn't it?
>>
>>But what? What is it that keeps getting in the way of getting
>>ANYTHING done in India?
>>
>>Doesn't anyone want to know? Why is there such a huge absence of
>>curiosity ? Could it be that it is no secret, but no one knows how to
>>overcome it? Or could it be that what we think we know is not the
>>cause, merely symptoms?
>>
>>
>>
>>Umesh Sharma
>>
>>Washington D.C.
>>
>>1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
>>
>>Ed.M. - International Education Policy
>>Harvard Graduate School of Education,
>>Harvard University,
>>Class of 2005
>>
>>http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
>>
>>http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
>>http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
>>
>>
>>
>>http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>assam mailing list
>assam at assamnet.org
>http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org