a day ago
- General
- New Indian Express
Skies clearer, clouds on ground
Determining how accidental deaths are increasing exponentially requires nuanced analysis by experts. For aviation, the trend is clearly downward. The 2011- 2020 decade saw only two fatal commercial airliner crashes in India—one in Mangaluru in 2010 and the other in Kozhikode in 2020, compared to seven in the 1991-2000 period. The Ahmedabad crash, while devastating, is an outlier in an otherwise safer aviation sector.
Road accidents, however, show a more complex picture. While the annual death toll remains staggeringly high, the rate of fatalities per 1,00,000 people—16.6 in 2013, as per WHO—has not risen proportionately with the increase in vehicles or population. Initiatives like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's online accident reporting portal and road safety audits suggest progress, but the absolute number of deaths remains a public health crisis.
Other accidental death categories, such as drownings or industrial incidents, lack sufficient recent data to confirm trends, but historical patterns suggest they remain persistent challenges. Then there are religious gatherings and pilgrimages where scores die in stampedes. That the gods or godmen, the believers crowd around to have a glance at, have no power to save them from death does not prevent the frequent recurrence of the tragedy.
The Maha Kumbh Mela stampede in Prayagraj in January, resulted in at least 30 deaths. But that is the official figure. Reuters reported a higher toll, with a witness counting 39 bodies in the morgue at Moti Lal Nehru Medical College. A BBC report later claimed at least 82 deaths. That these figures vary points to fundamental flaws in the way we assess even the factuality of such incidents.
All said, aviation remains the safest mode of travel. Still, the crash exposes vulnerabilities. The official investigation is progressing. But as a lay observer, I do wonder how a six-story college hostel was allowed to come up so close along the airport's take-off path.
Critics have argued that India's aviation regulator and airport authorities have been lax, with urban encroachment around airports posing risks. The fact is that India's chaotic urban development— whether it is Mumbai, Bengaluru or Ahmedabad—is innocent of any great rigour in planning.
In contrast, road and rail accidents, which claim far more lives annually, suffer from systemic issues: inadequate infrastructure, weak enforcement and a cultural disregard for safety norms. The public and media's focus on the rarer air crashes often overshadows these chronic problems.
C P Surendran is a poet, novelist, and screenplay writer whose latest novel is One Love and the Many Lives of Osip B
(Views are personal)
(cpsurendran@
