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This week on my blog I am posting a video/link to Mani Shankar Aiyar's podcast MANI KI BAAT SUMEET KE SAATH released yesterday on Youtube.In this episode I discuss with my hosts the causes of the frequent "natural" disasters taking place in the Himalayan states of late. We also discuss some solutions.
I have never been to the Himalayas, hence I cannot comment much on it. But I do not doubt that the style of "development" on the entire subcontinent (IND, PAK, NEPAL) etc. was always (at least since 1947) bare of any scientific consideration towards the nature. Geoaesthetic and geoarchitectonic questions like "Would such and such highway or resort complex endanger the structure of surrounding ecosystem" were never taken into account. Of course, this has to do with what cultural anthropologists would call "epistemic hubris" whereby a culture never comes to doubt its own epistemological stance.
On the other hand, global climate change and its effects on the melting of a glacier are very much "perpetrated" by a handfull of Industrialised and post-industrialised nations of the G7, given their long term exorbitant rates of carbon emission. I do not support the claim that India (and even China) have any role to play in the "melting" of the Himalayas, for "industrialisation" in the proper sense of this word is existant in India and China, because global industrial giants have their productions units in these two countries.
But still, thanks for uploading the wonderful conversation :-)
There is need to put into perspective the comparison made by Mr. Shukla between India and Europe when he refers to the 2-laned Alps:
India size: 3.28 million sq. kms. Europe: 10.18 million sq. kms. India vehicles: ~400 million. Europe: ~400 million. India population: 1.45 billion. Europe: 745 million. All figures of 2025, and include Russia within Europe.
From the data, it is clear that India is 30 % of Europe in land size, yet houses double the number of humans, and has a vehicular strength that is equal to Europe's.
When the pressure on India’s land mass is so alarmingly close to the bursting brink, it is perhaps unforgiving of Mr. Shukla to flay the 4-laning of prime mountain routes. Even with the 4-laning, traffic snarls are witnessed from Bilaspur all the way up to Manali; from Kalka to Shimla. What would have happened on the 2-laned roads one muses.
In essence, we have long crossed the point of balance between ecology and economy. All that remains is the unstoppable depredation of resources, unless we take a population curb for a generational time of 22 - 25 years to reduce ourselves to Europe’s present numbers. Strangely the economists are diametric in their exhortations: increase population, they say, to boost consumption. As do the Hindu uniformists, who harbour a paranoia of their religion being in some unfathomable threat.
Mr. Shukla’s proposed 5 - point strategy is implementable when the numbers are within a manageable range. One wishes he had tackled the problem from the side of contracting the populace - he being an avid environmentalist - than recommending the striking of an illusory balance where none is foreseeable or workable.
As to Mani Shankar Aiyar, ultimately he has genuflected to Narendra Modi by naming his vlog a poor pun on Mann ki Baat. While not exactly ‘neech’, he has hit his own self below the belt.
I have never been to the Himalayas, hence I cannot comment much on it. But I do not doubt that the style of "development" on the entire subcontinent (IND, PAK, NEPAL) etc. was always (at least since 1947) bare of any scientific consideration towards the nature. Geoaesthetic and geoarchitectonic questions like "Would such and such highway or resort complex endanger the structure of surrounding ecosystem" were never taken into account. Of course, this has to do with what cultural anthropologists would call "epistemic hubris" whereby a culture never comes to doubt its own epistemological stance.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, global climate change and its effects on the melting of a glacier are very much "perpetrated" by a handfull of Industrialised and post-industrialised nations of the G7, given their long term exorbitant rates of carbon emission. I do not support the claim that India (and even China) have any role to play in the "melting" of the Himalayas, for "industrialisation" in the proper sense of this word is existant in India and China, because global industrial giants have their productions units in these two countries.
But still, thanks for uploading the wonderful conversation :-)
There is need to put into perspective the comparison made by Mr. Shukla between India and Europe when he refers to the 2-laned Alps:
ReplyDeleteIndia size: 3.28 million sq. kms.
Europe: 10.18 million sq. kms.
India vehicles: ~400 million.
Europe: ~400 million.
India population: 1.45 billion.
Europe: 745 million.
All figures of 2025, and include Russia within Europe.
From the data, it is clear that India is 30 % of Europe in land size, yet houses double the number of humans, and has a vehicular strength that is equal to Europe's.
When the pressure on India’s land mass is so alarmingly close to the bursting brink, it is perhaps unforgiving of Mr. Shukla to flay the 4-laning of prime mountain routes. Even with the 4-laning, traffic snarls are witnessed from Bilaspur all the way up to Manali; from Kalka to Shimla. What would have happened on the 2-laned roads one muses.
In essence, we have long crossed the point of balance between ecology and economy. All that remains is the unstoppable depredation of resources, unless we take a population curb for a generational time of 22 - 25 years to reduce ourselves to Europe’s present numbers. Strangely the economists are diametric in their exhortations: increase population, they say, to boost consumption. As do the Hindu uniformists, who harbour a paranoia of their religion being in some unfathomable threat.
Mr. Shukla’s proposed 5 - point strategy is implementable when the numbers are within a manageable range. One wishes he had tackled the problem from the side of contracting the populace - he being an avid environmentalist - than recommending the striking of an illusory balance where none is foreseeable or workable.
As to Mani Shankar Aiyar, ultimately he has genuflected to Narendra Modi by naming his vlog a poor pun on Mann ki Baat. While not exactly ‘neech’, he has hit his own self below the belt.