Cloudburst Tragedy in Kathua and Kishtwar: Babu Singh Calls for Global Rethink on Development Model
||Black and White Digital News ||
||Parvinder Singh August 23,2025 ||
Kathua :The Nature-Mankind Friendly Global Party led by its founder and former Power Minister Babu Singh held a press conference in Kathua today, expressing grief and concern over the recent natural tragedies in Kathua and Kishtwar, where seven people lost their lives and more than sixteen were injured in Kathua, while hundreds perished during the Mishel Yatra in Kishtwar due to devastating cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides.
Party Leaders Pay Homage:
Alongside Babu Singh, senior leaders including Sh. Roop Lal (Senior Leader), Sahib Singh (District President Kathua), Ashok Khajuria, Mohinder Sharma, Pawan Sharma, Raghvir Saini, Surinder Sharma, Vikram Singh, S. Jasbir Singh, Sidhant Sharma, Pawan Singh, and Shaky Sharma paid floral tributes and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased. They also extended solidarity and sympathy to those injured in the disasters.
Cloudbursts Are a Symptom of Climate Change:
In his detailed address, Babu Singh linked the tragedies to the wider global crisis of climate change and global warming, calling them part of an escalating cycle of extreme weather events witnessed worldwide.
He cited examples such as:
• Leh Cloudburst (2010)
• Kedarnath Disaster (2013)
• Himachal Pradesh Cloudburst (2020)
• Amarnath Cave Cloudburst (2021)
• Chamoli and Shimla Cloudbursts (2023)
Singh explained that rising global temperatures have sharply increased the moisture-holding capacity of the atmosphere. When this moisture-laden warm air collides with cooler air in high-altitude regions, unstable conditions lead to sudden and high-intensity rainfall of over 100 mm per hour, triggering flash floods and landslides.
“The entire mankind is now trapped in a dangerous and existential global crisis,” Singh warned, adding that no region or community is immune from the escalating threat of climate change.
Critique of Corporate Capitalist Development Model:
Babu Singh strongly criticized what he termed the “anti-Nature, anti-Mankind corporate capitalist system”, which prioritizes profit and growth maximization at the cost of ecological balance.
He argued that reckless exploitation of natural and human resources has created a deep imbalance between society and the environment. According to him, only a Nature-Mankind Friendly development model can restore this balance.
It is not enough to focus on mitigation; we must equally focus on adaptation. Building a Nature-Mankind Friendly society, from the village to the global level, is the historic need of our times,” Singh emphasized.
Call for Robust Disaster Management Systems:
To address the immediate crisis, Babu Singh demanded:
• Establishment of multi-tiered disaster management systems – Global, National, State, District, City, and Village levels – with active citizen participation.
• Mandatory membership and training for every citizen in disaster management.
• Substantial increase in budget allocations for disaster preparedness and relief measures.
• Adequate compensation and relief for affected families, including housing reconstruction, livestock compensation, and rapid restoration of damaged infrastructure.
Demand for Government Action:
The Party urged the Centre and J&K State Government to immediately provide relief and announce compensation packages for victims. Singh further called upon Deputy Commissioners of Kathua, Kishtwar, and other districts to convene meetings with prominent citizens and public representatives to gather realistic suggestions for crisis adaptation.
He also demanded that the State Assembly convene a special session on the issue and hold public consultations across Jammu and Kashmir to develop long-term resilience strategies.
