India, Sept. 6 -- Over the past weeks, North India has been brought to a standstill. The monsoon, once awaited as a lifeline, has turned into a chain of disasters with floods, landslides and waterlogging. What should have replenished the soil has instead uprooted families, erased livelihoods, and scarred the land. The scale of this devastation is staggering. Himachal Pradesh alone has lost over 340 lives since 20 June: 182 to landslides, flash floods and collapsing houses, the rest to rain-triggered accidents. More than 1,300 roads lie blocked, including four national highways; over 2,100 transformers are down; nearly 800 water supply schemes are disrupted. Entire tourist districts like Shimla, Kullu and Chamba are cut off. The State Disa...