A response to “Famines in India” (EPW, 26 June 2021) pushes for an interrogation of the character of the colonial state, mainly the rule of property, and its complicit role in engendering famine-like conditions.
Ecological changes in the catchment area of the Gandhi Sagar Dam have led not only to changes in the quantum and pattern of rainfall, but also its relationship with the run-off in the reservoir. Erratic water flows have rendered the dam unsafe and arrangements for surplus storage insufficient.
