While our Supreme Leader is accepting inconsequential awards in Nigeria and Guyana (do you even know where they are?-- Clue: they are nowhere near Manipur)) and hugging war criminals and their accomplices in Rio de Janeiro, his own capital is invisible from outer space, or from my balcony, blanketed in a toxic cocktail of dust, poisonous gases, PM 2.5, CO2 and God only knows what else; as I write this it's been six days and counting. AQI levels have crossed 1000 (more than twenty times safe levels as prescribed by the WHO) according to official reports. North India has been officially declared the most polluted region in the world. Two million Indians die of pollution every year (one fourth of the global figure) according to the WHO, but when was the last time you heard either this demi-god or his Environment Minister or any other leader of any consequence talk about the environment?
I wouldn't want to bore the reader with oft repeated statistics, but some figures are necessary to grasp what a waste of time the usual trope of blame-gaming- AAP vs BJP vs Congress vs Yogendra Yadav vs all- is. And that this is not just about the privileged and spoilt brats of Delhi but about the whole country. We ALL treat the natural environment like a piece of toilet paper: use it to serve our basest needs and just throw it away (incidentally, did you know that 28000 trees are cut every day for manufacturing toilet paper?). Consider some figures, if you can spare the time between your Muslim bashing, bridge game, gym workout, the Swiggy delivery or kitty party.
The country has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000 to so called development projects (Global Forest Watch). One hectare of moderately dense forest can capture 147 m.t. of CO2; if our Environment Minister can do the simple maths, that means we have lost about 300 million tonnes of carbon sequestration capacity per annum, one third of what we had promised to add in the last COP on climate change. And this does not even factor in the other benefits of forests- ecological services, water retention, dust and sound barriers, preservation of biodiversity. In addition, between 2015 and 2021, 3.13 million hectares of forests have been degraded from dense to open/scrub; 9.40 million trees have been felled for mining, road construction, power projects. In Delhi 77000 trees have been cut between 2019-21, according to a New Indian Express report by Prabhat Shukla dated 4th July 2024. The Lt. Governor of Delhi himself (he who is accountable to no one, not even his conscience, since that has been kept in hock in 7, Lok Kalyan Marg) is being investigated by the Supreme Court in a case of irregular felling of 1100 trees in Delhi's southern Ridge area. India has 28 trees per capita as against a global average of 422.
This environmental slaughter is an ongoing and continuous process under the benign gaze of the judiciary, National Green Tribunal, World Bank, IMF and the expanding roster of home made billionaires. Approval has been given for felling 800000 trees in the Andamans, 120000 in the Hasdeo forests, in the face of protests by tribals. 60000 trees have been cut for a wholly unnecessary road for Mr. Yogi Adithyanath's favourite kanwariyas. Even Shimla, which now has more Advisors to the Chief Minister than it has deodar trees, proposes to fell a few hundred trees to make fly-overs! I will not even talk about the Western Ghats, the horrendous Char Dham Highway, the wholly unnecessary four-laning madness that has gripped the Himachal government. Every single river has been poisoned beyond acceptable levels of drinking or even farming. Most of our wildlife and biodiversity are on the verge of extinction, never mind the figures cooked up by FRI, Project Tiger Authority or the Zoological Survey of India on their post retirement micro-waves. Why should we spare the air, when we are decimating ever other element of nature?
Environmental regulations that provide some limited protection to the environment even in a chronically corrupt country like ours are being relaxed on an almost daily basis to favour some crony or the other. The 10% upper classes, who contribute 90% of the pollution and degradation, are not bothered: they can insulate themselves with their Air conditioners and Air Purifiers, or jet off (like our PM) to exotic locales and count their fixed deposits there. Those who stay back to keep an eye on their fixed deposits here will suggest that a Lockdown should be imposed immediately- an absurd, elitist idea which will hit the most vulnerable most, just as they are recovering after the terrible effects of the COVID lockdown. The environment and ecology are never an election issue, no political party ever espouses it, no manifesto so much as mentions them even in passing, you and I never demand this. By the time we are done with issues relating to EVMs, caste reservations, free water, electricity and rations, "ghuspaitias", Rohingyas and demolishing of mosques, we have time and energy left only for discussing Salman Khan's latest film or Kangana Ranaut's most recent demo of her profound knowledge of history.
It is no coincidence that India has been ranked 176 out of 180 countries in the Global Nature Conservation Index in October 2024, one of the five worst performing countries in the world. So why should we be surprised at Delhi adorning this mantle of honour every year? And why should we be blaming an incompetent and environmentally illiterate government for it, considering that we ourselves don't give a s**t about the environment?
Still surprised that we have this 3 trillion dollar economy smog over the Indo-Gangetic plains that has already knocked seven years off your lives, according to health experts? Don't be, for all this devastation is in pursuit of the holy grail of the 35 trillion dollar economy by 2050. Except that the smog will have killed us all by then, or rendered us comatose (if today's politics has not already done so).
So take a deep breath of the patriotic, made- in- India fumes, and while exhaling chant loudly: Hum Hindu Khatre Me Hain.
You will never say a truer word in your life-or what remains of it after the smog has lifted.
PM Modi has not visited Niger or Azerbaijan.
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing out the error, Mr. Sahu. I have made the correction.
DeleteI feel our banging on regardless on neglecting environmental issues is a major crisis.
ReplyDeleteAs somebody who farms my study says this country, basically a peninsula, blessed with a phenomenon of two monsoons and bordered in the North by the Himalyas and in the South the Deccan which harvests this Rain bounty to have the most unique system of waterways making India the most fertile region of the World.
You Avay are right we are systematically destroying our natural resources in the name of progress and our excitement for what we consider Economic Progress is slowly ringing the death knell of this Country's economic future due to an unaware leadership.
And we can just helplessly carry on watching doomsday approaching slowly but surely
ReplyDeleteWe leave our outdoor wear outside our homes - lest it pollute the space within the 4 walls. But are willing to throw the waste generated within the 4 walls out of the door, with the least of the concerns of polluting our neighbourhood.
ReplyDeleteOf course, exceptions exist everywhere. It is the general philosophy that sets the national narrative.
It is one of Hinduism's basic philosophy - I am a Hindu by an accident of birth - that is at the root of the problem. That if one looks after one's own interests individually , it will follow naturally that society's interests at large will be safeguarded. Other religions like Christianity, Islam and Sikhism preach collective responsibility for the common good, which in terms of protecting the environment in its various ways is reflected in the way they live, in their attitudes and in their habits.
DeleteSorry to say, the response of the well heeled Delhite (that means practically everyone who pollutes most in Delhi) to the odd Even traffic rule is to buy a car will an odd number plate if they own an even numberd car (or the other way around). The people I am talking about are IIT educated supposedly intelligent people. Wifey cannot miss her kitty party and wouldn't be seen dead in a metro train.
ReplyDeleteDelhi deserves what it gets.
Let’s go back to the Middle Ages and stop all development and breath fresh air!!!!
ReplyDeleteNot to disagree that our environmental consciousness is practically non-existent, but reconciling economic development with environmental considerations can not be an easy task for any nation. Since India and China were already overpopulated when they embarked on their industrialization, it's easy to blame them. It's also easy to blame the rice farmers for burning parali, and vehicle owners for owning vehicles. However, it's surprising that the real reason for the smog is completely swept under the carpet even though it has been briefly covered in the media few years ago. The delayed crop cycle pushed on Punjab and Haryana's farmers by USAID and Monsanto means that the winds that are supposed to take the parali smoke away from Delhi reverse their direction by the time of harvest. The only thing I find more surprising than the fact that the national capital with all its VVIPs can be sacrificed for the interests of a corporation is that not one of these VVIPs find it necessary to talk about this issue.
ReplyDeleteThe worsening AQI in Delhi and NCR can be traced partly to the Punjab Subsoil Water Conservation Act of 2009, reportedly passed under the influence of USAID and Monsanto. Well identified by Unkool, this law mandates that farmers sow rice and paddy only after mid-June to conserve groundwater, consequently pushing stubble-burning to late October and early November. By then, Northern winds have replaced the Western ones, carrying smoke from Punjab and Haryana directly over Delhi. With green cover shrinking and the population surging, the imbalance only grows.
ReplyDeleteAdd to this Delhiites’ penchant for comfort rivaled only by their propensity for circumventing the law, and the problem spirals further. Odd-even number plate schemes perversely incentivise the affluent to double their car ownership. And attempts at experimental fixes, like cloud seeding, veer toward the untested and the fantastic. Suggestions for migratory relocation are howled at as cruel. Meanwhile, opposing voices abound: social activists decry the violation of livelihood rights, environmentalists bombard with decimating statistics and politicians exploit the chaos for their own ends.
Caught in this gridlock of impulsions, the demographic matrix contorts into solution-less chaos.
Is there an alternative? Perhaps there is. But it demands systemic reforms in agriculture, energy, and governance. The Supreme Court, no less, has asked the Punjab government to re-visit the Act.Till then, the smog will grow thicker each year over Delhi.
Ref:
https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/12191-law-aiding-monsanto-reason-delhi-s-annual-smoke-season