We show some concern for the deteriorating environment and ecology
base only once in a year when we celebrate the World Environment Day.
Small functions inviting school children are held at District
headquarters in the country on this day. A small conference is held at
Delhi for few hours where Minister for Environment and Forest Govt of
India is invited to express some perfunctory concern for deteriorating
environment and spell out some corrective measures on behalf of his
Ministry. This is the end of the story and we carry over the rituals
on the same day for the next year.
Till now, the Ministry of Environment and Forest has not published a
comprehensive document touching all aspects of the environmental
issues and proposals to save the same on sustainable basis. The state
environment departments merely exist with skeleton staff. None of the
state has environment information/education and research center. The
National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) at Nagpur
has never been in the news for making any significant contribution in
the field of environmental research. In the absence of a proper
environment education programme, the subject of environment has
remained largely misunderstood. Even knowledgeable people continue to
have foggy and confused perceptions about the subject.
Once Govt shies away its responsibilities, we have to look up to NGO’s
to do the job. But NGO’s in India mostly thrive on financial crumbs of
the Govt and you can not expect much from them. Unfortunately NGO’s
like ‘Friends of the Earth’ and ‘Green Peace’ are nowhere to be seen
in the country. Finally we see a silver lining in some good samaritans
who raise grave environmental issues in the Supreme Court of India
through public interest litigations (PILs). The judicial activism of
the Supreme Court was able to compel the Govt to launch some breath
taking projects like Yamuna Action Plan, use of CNG for buses and
three wheelers in Delhi, shifting of stone crushers and finally review
of tiger project. But Supreme Court alone cannot hold the baton to
initiate sound environment protection projects for good. It is
ultimately the knowledgeable people who will have to come forward to
spearhead the environment projection campaign. Otherwise the process
of deterioration and degradation of environment will continue to take
its own course and the nation would be sucked into a black hole.
When I analyse the basic causes of the Govts apathy towards
environmental issues, I see two stark observations. Firstly, in
general, Govt concern for any issue is inversely proportional to its
importance, be it population control , hydro power development or
environment protection. Secondly every Govt looks at any issue through
the prisam of politics of votes. Govt always pounces upon a project
which promises votes in the next general election. Mr Jaswant Singh MP
(BJP) was once very forthright to remark in a seminar, ”Politicians
go where there are votes. Let environmental issues garner votes and we
will be there to spearhead the cause”. Now it will take decades when
people start voting on environmental issues. Take the example of
Panipat township. There the mosquito menace is most distressing to the
residents. But they never confront the candidates with these problems
during convassing phase. So environmental issues will not become the
darling of the Parliament or the State legislatures in the near
future.
During mid-seventies the subject of environment became a fad of the
people, because it was exploring new horizons of knowledge and started
showing the other side of conundrum of development. But after a
decade, the interest started waning because of cynicism of
environmentalists, (see how Bahuguna delayed, Tehri project by a
decade and caused immense loss to the nation), total politics at RIO
conference in Brazil in 1992, misunderstanding of the subject itself
and doubts about the phenomenon of global warning. Presently in India,
the environmental issues have been put at the back burner because the
issues of economic survival of a vast multitude of poor people
supercede all priorities. Both the Govt and the nation are obsessed
with the sole issue of economic growth which encompasses growth manly
in industrial and agriculture sectors. (Incidently these two sectors
are also the engines of pollution generation). That is why the Prime
Minister, the Finance Minister, CII, FICCI, PHD Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, Chief Ministers all talk of double digit growth at all
functions adnauseum. Accordingly the country has completely forgotten
about the environment and ecological issues under the growth
syndrom/obsession.
Environmental issues in India are not so intractable as people think
to be. Environmental deterioration is primarily caused by five
factors. i) insanitation , ii) discharge of municipal and industrial
waste water, iii) smoke them industries, iv) exhaust gases from
vehicles , v) use of pesticides and weedicides for protection of crops
against diseases. Protection of environment from these five factors is
difficult but not impossible. India will become a fairly environment
friendly or green country even surpassing many developed countries if
the environment is protected from these five factors above.
* Saving of environment from insanitation is the easiest. In fact 50%
environment protection lies in sanitation. The term sanitation
consists of introduction of sewerage system and collection of solid
waste from streets. The cost of providing sewerage system is Rs 700
per person. Today, 60% towns have no sewerage system and balance 40%
towns have only partial sewerge system. The total cost of providing
sewerage system and solid waste disposal in 3000 small and big towns
will cost Rs 21000 crores. The system can be provided in three years
provided there is uninterrupted flow of funds from the Govt. Therefore
investment of Rs 7000 crores per year by the State Govts and the Govt
of India is not a difficult job.
* Treatment of municipal and industrial waste water is equally
achievable provided we provide common effluent treatment plants with
High Rate Trickling Filters and recycle the waste water (BOD=50ppm)
for agriculture use. The treated waste water will greatly enrich the
soil with nitrogen and other micro-nutriments provided the flow of
waste water is properly water-coursed. The case of providing waste
water treatment works and subsequent irrigation facilities is 35% of
the cost of sewerage system and require a sum of Rs 7000 crores for
all the towns of India.
* Reducing the detrimental effect of smoke from the chimneys of
industries (particularly thermal power plants and cement plants) and
brick kilns can be greatly lessened if sufficient height of chimneys
provided such that smoke from the top end of the chimney does not flow
back to the threshold level of inhabitants. The problem will be
further mitigated if the smoke is passed through a column of water
before billowing into the air. Electrostatic precipitators are able to
remove the suspended particulate matter effectively. During rainfall,
the gasses emitted in the air form weak acids which further provide
nutrients to the crops.
* Exhaust fumes from vehicles is really a nauseating problem if this
problem is solved the upgradation of environment protection will go up
by another 20%. The real, breakthrough in solving this ticklish
problem will be achieved if all the cars, three wheelers and local
buses are run on CNG (compressed natural gas) and secondly rapid mass
transport system based on electric traction, like Delhi Metro, is
introduced in all the major cities. If funds are not available for
MRTS (Rs 160 crores for Km), the provision of elevated tracks for
light vehicles solves the problem. The cost for this option is Rs
15.00 crores per Km.
* Elimination of use of pesticides and weedicides is the real
intractable problem. The farmers perforce have to use
pesticides/weedicides to save their crops for diseases. The
application of these poisons have become indispensable in the case of
paddy, sugar cane, cotton, crops and vegetables. Millet crops are not
vulnerable to crop disease and hence do not require the use of
pesticides. But unfortuantely these are not cash crops. This syndrome
of cash crops-vulnerability to diseases and use of pesticides can be
broken only by biotechnological tools. Development of Bt Cotton is a
shinning example of this technique. Wheat is also virtually a disease
free crop. But growth of ‘baloori’ (flerix minor) a weed plant, is
equally troublesome. If this plant is not rooted out the yield of
wheat may be reduced by 50%. So farmers perforce have to use
weedicides at the rate of one kg per acre to sustain the yield. It
would be a great revolutionary step if all agriculture universities
and Central Agriculture Research Institutes (CARRI) sit together and
devise a painless method of getting rid of this plant. The fact of the
matter is that Ministry of Agriculture must reorient its policy with
greatest thrust on reduction of pesticides/weedicides consumption by
at least 10% per year without affecting the national targets of food
grains production.
Out of five factors, the last one is the most ominous for human health
and hence requires immediate attention of the Govt. Both the
insectidies and pesticides have become inescapable part of our food
chain and pose imminent health hazard to the entire population. What
the Govt needs is to make a sold determination and mind set to save
our environment from these five factors mentioned above. The rest will
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