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Journalism of Courage
Ecology, which began as a humble branch of biology, grew by dint of circumstances into a movement of ideas and ethics, calling for a sensitivity to the earth akin to nature worship and evoking a sense of responsibility to hand down to future generations the gift of a better and more harmonious living, in a more congenial environment. Today, because this science appears to have been overwhelmed by man8217;s multiplying numbers and his inhumanity and rapacity, ecology has become a movement of survival.
Population explosion, environmental degradation, overexploitation of natural resources and a host of related factors are threatening not only men but wildlife as never before. India presents the grimmest example of all. The country faces the stark reality today of millions unemployed and 30 per cent with insufficient income to support themselves. Law-and-order-enforcing agencies and public services are stretched to the breaking point. We were witness sometime ago to long-suffering commuters stoning and burning trains and railway stations. On two occasions in the more recent past, the lives of precious schoolchildren were lost because of the most callous overcrowding in school buses. These are ominous portents. We ignore them at our peril.
A related danger is that our concentration on economic growth, with globalisation coming to stay, leaves insufficient funds for health and education, which are powerful factors in checking population.
Nature has endowed our country richly in many aspects. Yet the way we are denuding our forests, defiling our rivers, neglecting our wildlife, particularly our magnificent national animal, the tiger, and polluting the very air we breathe, it would seem that instead of entering into partnership with nature, we are neglecting it and even adopting a confrontationist attitude to it. Environmental problems have assumed proportions that not only degrade the quality of life of our masses but threaten our very existence. At the root of most of our problems are our fast multiplying numbers.
Nothing more dramatically illustrates how sick our ecosystem is than the vanishing tiger. The Andhra Pradesh tiger reserve, the largest in India, was ho-me to about a hundred tigers at the beginning of the decade. According to a census conducted in 1997, the tiger population today is 20! Now the importance of tiger conservation needs to be understood. The presence of this magnificent animal, which is also a predator, is an indicator of the health of an ecosystem.
A natural forest, the tiger8217;s habitat, offers many benefits like protection of the top soil, retention of ground water which is released through the year, and preservation of biomass resources and the flora. Thus, protecting the tiger essentially means protecting the ecosystem, and a fall in the tiger population is a clear indication of a decline in the forest8217;s overall health. As Indira Gandhi put it, while launching Project Tiger: quot;The tiger cannot be preserved in isolation. It is the apex of a large and complex biotope. Its habitat, threatened by human intrusion, commercial forestry and cattle grazing, must first be made inviolate.quot;
The tiger is but one of the nearly 6,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates in danger of extinction, with another 578 listed as vulnerable. Fifty to 100 species of plants or animals become extinct every day through the loss of habitat, poaching or pollution.The ecological problems most hotly discussed at international fora are pollution and global warming. Recently, the Centre for Science and Environment CSE published a report chillingly but truthfully entitled Slow Murder. According to this report, almost 52,000 people died in 1995 from pollution-related complications in 36 Indian cities against 40,000 in 1991-92. The number of illnesses as a result of pollution, requiring hospitalisation, has rocketed to 26 million from 19 million during the same period. The disclosure did rouse considerable reaction, but unfortunately on paper mainly.
Measures like implementing a mass rapid transport system, alleviated carriage ways, and imposing road and rail systems were decided upon. But as the noted environmentalist Anil Agarwal points out, the problem in India is that pollution control is not approached scientifically. For a start, he says, there must be constant monitoring of polluting gases and at what pace they are increasing. Once this is done, the sources which generate all major pollutants can be identified. Priority actions should then follow, including a close study of their results and an examination for any negative effects, as air pollution control is an extremely complicated process. While the level of one pollutant is reduced, another could increase. A right mix of solutions and standards needs therefore to be worked out.
There is, no doubt, a growing and widespread awareness of environmental risks. The Supreme Court took the initiative of ordering the closure of over a hundred industries in Delhi found guilty of polluting the atmosphere. Banks and financial institutions are increasingly chalking out means of applying environmental risk criteria to projects while dispersing loans to industries. The director-general of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research has urged scientists to use biotechnology to increase agricultural output. Guidelines on the issue of licences to international companies for mining precious metals are being modified, keeping environmental considerations in mind. All this may be called an awakening. But, the environment cannot be saved without tackling the root-cause: overpopulation.
It is deplorable that, of all people, some MPs are protesting against enforcing the two-children-per-family norm. Surely they can8217;t be unaware of the resounding evidence that in countries which were able to slow down their rate of population growth, the average income per capita group rose, and there was all-round improvement in the economy because large savings got deployed in growth and prosperity. In stark contrast, the grossly abnormal population growth here has led to a crisis of character, aggravated by unemployment and all-pervasive corruption.
A single telling incident exemplifies the immensity of the problems in India. The Borivili National Park, the catchmant area for Tulsi and Vihar, has been encroached upon by two million people. When the local authorities tried to throw them out, a court order was passed, placing on these authorities the onus of finding alternative accommodation with a February 1999 deadline. The deadline has long passed. The encroachment remains.
Controlling our numbers is today a patriotic duty above all duties. For, in it lies the promise for development 8212; not only environment conservation and economic progress, but all-encompassing human progress in improving the quality of life of our people.
