FLOOD, VICTIMS, DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

                                                 FLOOD, VICTIMS AND ETHICAL DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

         I was caught in the massive downpour that rocked Northern Karnataka and Andhra pradesh in India, during last few weeks. I hail from a tiny town - Ilkal(Bagalkot district) and I am acutely aware of the water scarcity we have been facing last 30 years. The very sight of water, delights my mother to the extent that - there can be no parallel drawn. At times, I feel a pang of jealousy seeing that she has an opportunity to rejoice so often.
         I had a hectic driving schedule and it was not heartening to see the downpour, as I reached Ilkal. Although I passed it off as an occasional rain, I was surprised by the intensity of the rain. The next day was no better when I was finally woken up by the rain rumble. My sister had started to complain about the rain, and I calmed her saying that the rain god are here to help the farmers. I beamed to myself on my advice to my sis and felt very proud that I viewed farmers with compassion. I started to drive. The bad road, coupled with heavy rain, obliterated my compassion in no time. I kept glancing at the farms as I was driving and in no time, realized that the rain had neither helped the farmers.
         
         As I was driving back, I kept wondering at times - if I was driving on the road at all! The visibility was hardly few feet.The next day the story was repeated. This time, the crops were in worse condition. I thought of buying a bag of onions from a vendor on the highway and quickly dismissed it. Now, I feel may be I would have helped him and helped ourselves, by buying an onion bag. The rain onslaught continued and I was wondering about the quality of the roads. The road, that was smooth on Jan 09 now is full of pot holes! We just had enough vegetables at home to cook and eat. There were no vegetables in the market. Very few!
      My sister went to visit a place called Badami, where a new waterfall was spotted after long time. Unfortunately, due to incessant rains, by the time they finished the waterfall visit, Badami was isolated and cut off from the highway! Fortunately the water receded the next day and she was home safely, after retiring into a lodge.

      Few weeks down the line - a newer problem is on the cards: Epidemics and food, water, shelter for the people, where the torrential rain had created a havoc. The deaths have crossed 220 in Karnataka and 60 in Andhra pradesh.
      The aid is coming from various corners. Centre and State government have started to collect medical aid, clothes and funds. Money is collected by none other than the Chief minister, himself. The amount of money collected did surprise many of us though. I also see an appeal on my apartment notice board to donate clothes, and money to the flood victims.

      Now that the money is collected I hear opinions on the honesty, willingness of the politicians to distribute this
money. I see the problem multi fold -  Distribution and identified a team who can drive the show(distribution).

      Distribution in this case would be of large magnitude and needs to be addressed in systematic way.
- A new team of leaders need to be hired/marked. This team needs to be paid. The team must have the authority
to recruit people locally, from various villages, which have been flood ravaged. The local team, also needs to be paid for this effort.
- Various teams like this for medical aid, food aid and clothes aid need to be marked
The team needs to
    - take inventory of the stock to be distributed
    - Consider cash requirements for travel, distribution
    - Possible delays(Unless a date is set, the distribution would not be at a fast pace)
    - Areas in these villages where aid would be distributed
    - What should be distributed to whom(possibly an overkill, but if it can be done, its great!)

- The leader/politician/minister who is driving this, needs to stay clear of corruption(Easier said than done).Let all the money be utilized for the poor and needy who have been ravaged by rain. It is best if a politician voluntarily takes this activity. Only then we could see some ethical distribution.


The key here is - the activity needs to be professionally driven. I am not averse to outsourcing this to a different
organization altogether. Let the company keep their profit margins but then get the distribution done in a fair manner. The need of the hour is: Money, medical aid and food that is collected needs to be distributed without it being devoured by unintended folks.
Lets hope the farmers and the distraught are really benefited from the money collected.

The next time, our chief minister needs to ask a quantified aid, ahead of the neighboring state :)