Published in Dwarka Express on 29.10.2022

‘Say No to crackers’…the jingle was going on for a long time, with no tangible respite!

Every social platform carried the adage but with little effect.  Air pollution and noise pollution besides, a large occurrence of fire accidents are being reported in media. Somewhere shops and stores were burnt. In some places, the tender hands of the tiny tots were wounded. Several hospitals reported high influx of burn injury cases. Pollution peaked up. Perhaps Delhi may boast of ‘drop’ in air pollution, as AQI index dips to ‘VERY POOR’ category from the last year’s ‘SEVERE’ one. Who knows the truth!

Not so long back, when someone filed the PIL in Supreme Court, things started stirring. The 2007 verdict by SC came heavy on the people as well as policy makers. In fact, Supreme court came out with a balanced verdict taking into consideration, some concerns such as employment loss of cracker making industry and religious sentiments. At the same time, it also did not ignore the status of child labour in fireworks factories

Precisely, cracker bursting slot was restricted between 8 and 10 PM. All Police stations were mandated to monitor the same strictly. Low polluting crackers & Green Crackers with permitted decibel limits and emission norms were allowed. Court also banned sale of firecrackers on e-commerce websites. Sale of crackers was restricted to licensed traders, and one can’t buy online too. In essence the law of the land must be enforced and steps were indeed initiated by the Government in Centre and States, in compliance of the SC decision.

However, going by the latest pollution data published by CPCB, it is clear that there seems to be no breather except for the timing restrictions (we still breath pollutants). Even timings also are also violated in many a place, as noise was heard beyond midnight. In India, one comfortably quotes others’ misdeeds to justify his own misdeeds. The eventual victim is the common good. Next time one should not say, ‘POLLUTION KILLS’ when he violates pollution norms. One should not say, ‘PLANT MORE TREES’ when he cuts trees. One should not say, ‘SAY NO TO PLASTICS’ when he cannot stop using the same. Who cares?

Published in Dwarka Express on 22.10.22

“Clean City, Green City!”, this catchphrase signposts may be seen in almost all cities in India. Indubitably both are important. But is it true that the authorities focus and balance both the activities concurrently? Cleaning is assigned normally to Municipalities, while development authorities may focus on greening. Ultimately lack of coordination, jurisdictional hitches and infra expansion line-ups result in felling of trees and end in denudation of the potential green belts on the one side while garbage piles up in unauthorised areas. It’s in fact typical of any metro.

Recently in Bangalore outskirts, when the Panchayat authorities for removal of garbage from an unauthorised dumping yard, the Panchayat development officer (PDO) lamented over his continuous effort which never yielded results due to callousness of the locals. His bone of contention was that locals dump the garbage in the empty plot on the sides of the road and pleaded helplessness in handling the perpetrators of the unauthorised dumping. He even attempted erecting a board warning Rs 1000 penalty on those who dump in the site. Notwithstanding the billboards in local language, it appears that no one cares. In the PDO’s view, it’s difficult to monitor the culprits 24×7. And thus, there is no solution yet.

A suggestion was given to him to plant trees in the identified unauthorised dumping spots to discourage dumping. Hailing the idea, he arranged a massive tree planting drive for the entire stretch. For a few days, there was no littering in the location but after the transitory gap, dumping rejuvenated. The planted saplings scuffle to pop out of the dumpsite, thanks to the heavy deluge in the recent months.

So, one may conclude that greening or cleaning are two different tasks and just the slogan ‘clean and green’ goes cool. Bangalore, was one known as Garden city, but with the spurt in population, it is going to wane. The once ‘Garden’ city has now the dubious ‘honour’ of being known as ‘Garbage’ City. Neither cleaning, nor greening, it is the civic sense which is more important and both people and policy makers are to blame for the malady

Published in Dwarka Express on 15.11.22

The farmers are fuming. Women are weeping but the project is all set to take off. The Parandur Airport at Tamilnadu’s Kanchipuram district, not very far off from Chenni Airport  is being promoted as a Greenfield project and farmers, environmentalists and women are raising their voice. “Raise your voice, it counts” the popular saying has gone with winds and the green fields which was the livelihood of thousands of families are expected to be in crossroads. Compensation, resettlement and the like are the normal garb under which decision makers hide themselves and make tall claims that the development projects are being impeded by the NGOs in false plea. Farmers and locals from 13 villages will be losing their precious agricultural lands. Nearly 3000 families are depending on the agriculture income in this area. About 4500 acres are farming area will be converted into airport and soon the land will be handed over to adanis and ambanis under the guise of greenfield ventures. A 1000 houses will be razed down. The DPR is being ready for a project cost of Rs 10000 Crore and the feasibility reports envisage that for every Rs 100 spent, it will fetch Rs 300. Another argument in favour of an airport seems to be that the present airport at Meenambakkam Chennai which is just 60 KMs away from the proposed one will not be able to cater to the need of ever-growing air traffic which is expected to grow to 3.50 crore from the present level of 2.2 crore within next 7 years. Any everyone knows that the present airport was modernaised and expanded recently. Why the planners could not envisage the growth potentials at that time? This question remains unanswered. Environmental NGOs like Poovulagin Nanbargal say that Tamilnadu has many airports which could be developed into international airports to address the growing traffic. They also say how an airport at Parandur will not only destroy agricultural lands but also evaporate the natural waterbodies in the identified areas. Already Chennai faced the devastating floods in 2021 and before also, and one of the reasons was poor augmentation of water sources in the nearby districts.

Ekanapuram, the worst affected village among these 13 notified villages will completely vanish from Indian Map soon. 2000 locals from this village are planning to conduct a protest march to the Secretariate on 17^th Oct 2022. Will the policy makers listen and change their stance?

We have seen that in the history of Independent India, the policy makers never listen to common man but they comfortably ignore the fact that nature does not listen to anyone and when it shows, the damage will be too late and irreparable and irrevocable

Published in Dwarka Express on 8.10.22

It’s a vending machine with a difference and the launch goes viral in social media though the same was launched 4 months back on the World Environment Day on 5^th June 2022 in Greater Chennai Corporation jointly with Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board. You just insert the Rs 10 coin and a yellow cloth bag will pop out. Entitled ‘meendum manjappai’ in Tamil meaning ‘yellow bags again’ means that use of cloth bags again’. What is so significant about yellow cloth bag. What is the background? Not long ago, all stores & shops used to give typical yellow coloured carry bag for buyers as a compliment. The bags used to carry the advertisement about shops or occasions. In every marriage house, guests used to get a complimentary yellow bag consisting of Coconut, betelnut, blowse piece for ladies, sweets etc. This yellow bag is religiously preserved by tamilians to re use for purchasing vegetables and provisions in their day today life. In fact a ethnically dark complexioned Tamil guy was always depicted wearing a dhoti, carrying an yellow bag in hand and wearing bright ash lines on the forehead. All said and done, a Tamilian is always admired by other states, especially in North for simplicity. When it comes to the question of austerity and eco-friendly way of living, the people of Tamilnadu always stand tall. The reusable yellow bag concept has slowly vanished with the changing lifestyle preferences. Now in an effort to revive the concept, the Tamilnadu govt started promoting the same and appealed to everyone to use yellow bag instead of polythene bags. Why yellow colour in particular? Yellow is always related to prosperity and wellbeing. Thus the bag gained importance in 20^th century, though this concept is well intertwined with the Tamil culture. The viral spread of plastic carry bags slowly evaporated the ever-known culture of manjappai. With the Centre banning the single use plastic from July 2022, the yellow bag concept is picking up. Grasping the opportunity, the shops and marriage houses have started re introducing the bags in bigger way. It is a welcome step and not only bring back the forgotten habit of reusability of cloth bags but also bring a sense of austerity at times consumerism and materialism are in the peak.

Published in Dwarka Express on 1.10.22

A video from Dwarka Delhi has gone viral in media! Yes, that’s e-dahan of Rawan. Curiosity growing, everyone in social media wanted to know how the same is done practically. All Dwarka Residents Federation (AIDF) claims that this is the second year that they are trying e-Dahan of Rawan. The king of Sri Lanka, Rawan, an otherwise multi-talented demon, might feel happy from heaven (if his ‘hell’ term is over!) only to see that large effigies with loaded crackers will never be again burnt at least in coming years, if not immediately. Festival season is on and all over the country, idols of Ganesha have already reached our waterbodies and Durga Maa are waiting for visarjan.

Come September, the celebrations go full swing everywhere, even if economy doesn’t envisage wastage of huge junk of Indian worth. While it is also true that the festivals give employment to many, perishable products also pose a big challenge. As usual the distant murmur of environmentalists seldom becomes ultrasonic! If the Indian festivals go eco-friendly, obviously, this will add to the traditional flavour of festivals. Holi was once celebrated with natural colours. The plastic plates and polythene bags will be replaced by reusable plates and bags for distributing prasad. Idols will never be made of Plaster of Paris but clay soil. Burning of Rawan effigies will go on electronic mode. Silent Diwali all over the country will bring back the glory of pre-dynamite era. History indicates that when Ram returned to Ayodya, there were lightings not bombs and crackers. In South, demon Narkasura’s killing does not have any evidence of celebrations with crackers. There is someone whispering, ‘these environmentalists have no work. How could we sacrifice the grand gala celebrations? Crackers pollution is not a big deal, when compared to Industrial pollution’. When Industrial pollution is challenged in Green Courts, the protagonists of development denounce the petitions, on the plea of hampering development. Someone recently quipped, ‘who would live in polluted Capital, we are shifting to Bangalore!’

So.. when Banglaore is also polluted, where to go?