Published in Dwarka Express on 26.8.23

Monsoon has deceived one and all this year. South Karnataka is worst affected. The month of August had a dry spell. “Rain, Rain don’t go away, Come again daily. We are drying out”, cry the lakes and water bodies. For instance, in Bangalore itself, there are 144 lakes as per records, out of which 46 are inside the city while 98 are in the rural areas of Bangalore. When one comes out of Bangalore airport, a tall statue of Kempe Gowda will welcome him. Truly, he was a visionary and had been instrumental in digging 100s of waterbodies called kere in 16^th Century.  He is the architect of modern-day Bangalore which was once upon a time a garden city in its real meaning. Today the silicon city is in doldrums. Unprecedented urbanization and mushrooming of multinational establishments have taken its toll. Octogenarian Bengalurians recollect the bygone era. Gone are the days when Bangalore was a dream city for the dwellers of the other cities. Tall trees were felled despite strong protest by loyal residents. For instance, Sankey area is an eyesore now. Has anyone heard of FIRs against individual marchers who exhibited their concern for saving a lake from encroachment? Perhaps, during British Raj, it all happened. 94 lakes in Bangalore are only hold water to the brim whereas 70% of the lakes are dry, says a media report. In fact, 10% of the 3600+ Karnataka lakes are parched, while more than 1000 lakes are holding less than 30% of their capacity. Interestingly the North Karnataka districts which used to be dry are getting full rains.

At the same time, when we look at the North India, it is reported that there are umpteen cloud bursts, floods and landslides in Himalayan areas especially. Arid areas are getting unprecedented rains. Such natural phenomena are viewed by some environmental researchers as the fall out of man-made climate change, though research needs conclusive evidence. Yet the lakes are the natural reservoirs to hold rainwater. Strom water drains in Bangalore are also known as rajakaluve and are instrumental inter connecting several lakes. Excess water used to flow down in slopes and reach the lake in the down terrains. Unfortunately, unplanned urbanization and alleged corruption in manipulating survey numbers lead to encroachment of buffer zones of rajakaluve which culminate in clogging of inlets and outlets. Ultimately water either dries out due to summer heat or perhaps due to other factors such as eutrophication, weeding and sedimentation. Lakes and waterbodies must be maintained with scientific interventions and corrective measures. These are the real natural rain water reservoirs and can recharge ground water and meet the dry season water demand. Monsoon may fail but man should not fail!

Published in Dwarka Express on 19.8.23

What is the relevance of these three animals we are talking about? Lions day on 10^th Aug, Elephant Day on 12^th Aug and Wolf Day on 13^th Aug. So, all three days were observed in the last week. It is indeed a good gesture that the world observes these days together, to draw the world’s attention to these slowly disappearing wild animals. But how many of us gave serious attention to some ecards which were posted in groups or some painting/quiz competition held by some NGOs/schools and colleges. The reality is such things do not draw our attention, in our busy schedule. When an elephant or a lion does not draw our attention that the poor owl would have attracted any attention. Yes, on Aug 4^th, the world also observed International Owl Awareness Day, for sure. The significance of observing these days is obviously to give a caution that these are under threat and may become extinct if conservation measures are not envisaged.

It is not a new phenomenon that the wild animals enter into human territory. Elephants are the glaring victim of human perception that they have entered into the human territory. Three million years ago, lions roamed in Africa and Eurasia freely. Now their homes have shrunk and sometimes they come out of jungles in search of food. While life risk for man cannot be ignored, its also essential that these animals deserve justice. The international days should not be a one-day affair or just to draw a lion or an elephant picture. Conservation efforts are needed, not only to retain their population but also increase them. There is a serious threat to our conservation efforts in the wake of amended Forest Conservation Act. This needs to be revisited and remedial measures must be taken.             

Published in Dwarka Express on 5.8.23

The new Biological Diversity Amendment bill is now an Act, as the parliament passes the bill on July 25^th, 2023. The idea of the bill is to preserve the Biological Diversity and it comes as an amendment to the existing 2002 Act as claimed by the Minister of Environment.  The act inter alia decriminalizes certain offences against biological diversity, which is the bone of contention for environmentalists.

‘Ease of doing business’ is a buzz word in political circles nowadays. Under the garb of making quick clearances, One of the largest and richest diversities hotspots, India is being put to vulnerability, fumes the environmentalists.  The amendment is expected to exempt traditional medicine producers and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) companies for using the codified traditional knowledge to a large extent according to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This means that the Indian profit-making pharma companies dealing with Indian plants for medicines in (AYUSH) need not share the profit with the Government. Neither they need to seek approval from National Biodiversity Authority.

The minister claimed that that the bill was ‘significant’ in the light of the ongoing global climate crisis, desertification and loss of biological resources. Interestingly, all the three aspects are connected to conservation of natural resources. When the bill was introduced in 2021, experts and MPs wanted the bill to be moved to a joint parliamentary committee as the proposed amendments were favouring industry and were against the ideals of the global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

In fact, the bill ‘simplifies’ the patent application process of the bio products. One cannot forget how India’s Basmati rice lost its patent right long back and how it is no more an Indian product. Like that, many of our biological products would have been stolen, had we not brought the patent right and established the original act in 2002. After 20 years, the Minister is of the opinion that the Act would impede the ease of doing business, if we don’t bring amendments. Environmentalists are not convinced and raised concerns that the local communities will be deprived of benefit sharing with the profit-making businesses in AYUSH segment.