Here I propose to write about how environmental concerns have changed in the last 60 years. During this period, the man made world has changed beyond recognition but the world of nature has remained unaltered, except for the ugly scars which we have imposed.
Our concerns for a healthy and wealthy life remain the same, but our population increasing at a geometrical rate has made life proportionately more difficult. I would like to recall here some of the more important policy decisions relating to the environment with which I had some connection.
Perhaps the first serious policy statement relating to the environment by our Government was the National Forest Policy of 1952 which enjoined that 33 per cent of India’s land should be under forest cover for climatic and other ecological reasons.
The figure of 33 per cent was arrived at rather amateurishly on the basis of a paper produced by the Ministry of Agriculture. What should have been done was to insist that all our montane forests, in the Himalayas, Western and Eastern Ghats, Vindhyas and Aravallis, and also the lesser forested hill ranges should be left untouched for their role in the conservation of water and as habitats for wildlife.
At the time of Independence in 1947, I recall that the state of our vanishing forests was the subject much discussed. Salim Ali was furious at the monocultures of eucalyptus replacing original areas with much greater diversity.
Eucalyptus was “desert” for birds and wildlife and a poor substitute for our broad-leaved species for the conservation of rain water. But inspite of the 1952 Forest Policy, defective as it is, our conditions have not improved. Satellite pictures indicate that only 10 per cent of our land now remains well forested.
Look at conditions in Karnataka today. We are now only at the beginning of the South West Monsoon and most of our reservoirs are overflowing, resulting in the precious water flowing away uselessly to the sea and causing flood havoc downstream.
Crestgates of the Linganamakki, Tungabhadra, Krishnarajsagar, and Bhadra have had to be opened for safety reasons. If the forest in the catchment areas had been in good order, there would have been much less run-off and much more storage of water underground for use in the summer months.
With regard to forests, I recall two cheering incidents of the early 60’s. At a meeting of the Maharashtra State Wildlife Advisory Board in Borivilli, I produced photographs of over a hundred freshly cut teak trees in the national park.
I told the minister who was chairing the meeting that if the cutting continued in the catchments of Vihar, Tansa and Tulsi lakes, Bombay would have a serious water problem in future. The minister thought for a while and then said “Ata kapaicha band kara” (Stop the cutting). The forest staff were taken aback, but to the credit of the administration, there has been no further official cutting in the national park.
The second instance relates to the creation of the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. The antecedents of the event are well known, so I will be brief. Driving past the well forested Karnala Hill, the only example of a tropical evergreen forest in that region, I saw a fresh notice about the area being designated an Industrial Estate under the aegis of the Maharashtra State Industrial Development Corporation.
This was shocking, and I wrote a letter in the letters to the editor column of a newspaper in protest. To my delight, the very evening the letter was published, P C Nayak, IAS, the CEO of the Corporation, telephoned to say that the order was being rescinded, and Karnala would be a bird sanctuary. P C Nayak, now with the Karnataka Heritage Society, continues to be active.
If our administrators were bird watchers, India would be a lovely country. Our generation has done serious damage to our land and to the world. The new magical technologies in our hands have been used for immediate gains and for the so-called high standard of living without a thought of their long-term consequences. Some of these have already caught up with us.
Carbon dioxide and the rest of the nondegradeable chemicals have led to global warming, melting of the glaciers, raising of sea levels – all very frightening.
When we were young, the weather was in the hands of the Gods. It was their concern and not ours. In fact, talking about controlling the weather would have been a blasphemy. Now we have become responsible. It is too big a responsibility.
The future generation must undo the damage we have done. I understand that there are now tremendous opportunities for huge profits from recycling wastes, even capturing methane gases from the air and turning it to good use. The young people of today have a great role to play in restoring the balance of nature and creating a pleasant world – that is where they must seek their fulfillment.
(The writer is a birder and an environmentalist.)
