Verbatics amidst adversityI cannot but be touched by the concern our politicians have displayed for the suffering people of Orissa. The moment the supercyclone worked its way like a giant vacuum cleaner through the state, these worthies immediately got down to the task at hand defining the exact nature of the calamity. In the process, they stirred up a supercyclone of semantics.This commitment to the precise enunciation of the definitional dimension of the tragedy which our political masters display testifies to the seriousness with which we, as a sovereign republic, have addressed the unprecedented calamity. Relief must be undertaken with all the strength at our command, true, but first we must get the rhetoric right. The crucial question, my countrymen and women, is this: must the October 29 cyclone be treated ``like a national disaster'' or as a ``national disaster''?DAY 1Central Government: We have just done an aerial survey of the region and have had a bird's eye view of thetremendous damage caused. We therefore believe that this calamity of unprecedented dimension must be treated like a national disaster.State Government: We have just done an aerial survey of the affected region and have had a comprehensive view of the unprecedented damage wrought to the state. We therefore believe that this calamity must be urgently treated as a national disaster.Enter a bureaucrat with news of the latest death toll: some bodies were found in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. Total deaths: 59DAY 3Central Government: We have taken another helicopter survey of the affected region and certainly things are bad. The Centre will make every effort to make available all assistance for this tragedy that is being treated like a national disaster.State Government: We have just returned from our tenth helicopter survey of the affected region and we believe that the Centre must treat the calamity with urgency and view it as a national disaster.Enter a bureaucrat with news of thelatest death toll: bodies in Kendrapara, Cuttack and Khurda districts put the toll at 150.DAY 7Central Government: The Union defence minister has done his third aerial sortie of the state and has expressed his dismay at the level of devastation that he has seen. The Centre, in keeping with its responsibilities, will ensure that every possible help is accorded to the people of Orissa who have experienced a calamity that approximates a national disaster.State Government: The chief minister of the state has completed his fourth helicopter ride over the cyclone-affected districts and is shocked by the devastation that has met his eyes. He therefore urges the Centre to treat the Orissa cyclone on a war footing as a national disaster.Enter a bureaucrat with news of the latest death toll: including those who have died of starvation and disease. The figure now stands at 2,500.DAY 19Central Government: The Centre has, in the spirit of urgency prompted by the cyclone, setup a task force under the Union defence minister and the task force got down to the task immediately and discovered that 400 villages have still not been reached by relief teams. The Centre now plans to take the steps necessary to reach the said villages with the urgency that a situation resembling a national disaster warrants.State Government: Our party president has herself spared time and done her fifth aerial survey of the disaster area, besides serving food to the villagers of Erasama and Jereilo. She is upset at the apathy of the Centre to the people of Orissa and urges it to declare the Orissa cyclone a national disaster.Enter a bureaucrat with the latest death toll: after counting more bodies in all the 10 affected states, the official death toll now stands at 9,500, with unofficial estimates pegging it at 25,000.Now who was it who said that every calamity must have a beginning, a muddle and an end? The real tragedy of the people of Orissa is they have had to contend with threenational disasters the cyclone, the State Government and the Central Government.
