Published in Dwarka Express on 16.7.23

11^th July, World Population Day. India is at 142 crore while China is at 145 Crore population. India is just 3 Crore short of Chinese population and the day is not far off when we may hear that India has surpassed China, as per worldometer website data. (See box). This indicates that we do not have any check on the unabated growth of population. It is reported by United Nations that it took lacs of years for the planet earth to reach a population of 1 billion or 100 Crore and by 2011, earth has touched 700 crore. Now it has crossed 8 billion, i.e., 800 Crore. Precisely, within 10 years, earth added an equal number of homo sapiens, which was done by lacs of years so far. What an achievement! A country like India which has got just one third of the land area of China is having a population which is equivalent to them. So, the population pressure is more in India and there is a dire need to revisit our demographic planning.

The per capita share of natural resources is on the slide and may deteriorate further, given the speed with which the infra structure projects are taking shape. Mining and transportation Industries have taken a heavy toll on the forest areas. The tag that India is one of the richest nations in terms of natural wealth is slowly getting blurred. With the latest amendment to the Forest Conservation Act, nothing is going to be left out for posterity. One of the amendments of the 2023 Act speaks about excluding 100 KMs area from international borders or the line of control (LOC) from the purview of prior forest clearance for construction of highways, hydel power projects and so on, is literally fixing the last nail in the coffin. National population policy 2000 focuses on health care for all and reducing Infant mortality. All such measures increase the longevity of the age profile of Indian populace. Approximately 25% of population is below 15 years while 67 % is between 15 to 64 years as per global data. It is essential that the policy makers need to envisage family planning measures for all, irrespective of caste, color and creed. Unless otherwise balancing between available natural resources and ensuring quality of life will become more cumbersome.

Published in Dwarka Express on 11.11.23

If you think of the age of your electronic gadgets like smart phone of laptop, TV or digital clock, at the maximum age you could remember may perhaps be 2 to 3 years. The model becomes obsolete and you feel like throwing it and get a new one to stay tuned to the modern lifestyle. Consumerism has taken a heavy toll indeed. But the other reason for the heaping up of e-waste is that the life of all these electronic gadgets is also very less. The changing paradigm of volatility vis-à-vis consumption pattern poses a biggest challenge to yet another conspicuous environmental issue known as electronic waste or simply e-waste. The present economy is working on a linear pattern known as ‘TAKE-MAKE-DISPOSE’. This is clear with the India’s e-waste growth rate that has surpassed 30% Compound Average Growth rate (CAGR) according to one study. In 2020-21, India generated about 16.01 lacs tonnes of e-waste out of which hardly 33% was collected and processed last year. The rest ended up in landfills or incineration plants instead. While India has sufficient processing and recycling units to handle the entire lot of e-waste, it is simply weird that the e-waste is mounting up.

As per E-Waste (Management) Second Amendment Rules 2023, a new set of guidelines and obligations for producers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) and their components come into force in India. The producers have to ensure that their products do not contain hazardous substances like lead, mercury, and other restricted materials beyond the maximum prescribed concentration limits. This is to prevent the harmful environmental and health impacts that can arise from the improper disposal and recycling of e-waste. Further the rules focus on the recognition and registration of producers who bring electronic products into the market. The rules also highlight the importance of skill development for workers involved in the dismantling and recycling of e-waste. This is a positive step towards effective e-waste management.

Secondly from the present linear model, we need to shift quickly to the Circular Economy (CE) which is a deliberate intervention that aims to be restorative and regenerative. It replaces the concept of end-of-life with restoration and regeneration, embraces the use of renewable energy, eliminates the use of harmful chemicals that hinder reuse and return to the environment, and strives to eliminate waste through innovative material design, product development, system implementation, and business model creation. Electronic recycling needs efficient handling of the toxic heavy metals and other hazardous chemicals, which requires technical competency. Improper handling of e-waste will affect the health of the recycling workers and children.

Published in Dwarka Express on 4.11.23

After five nightmarish days for the local residents, the elusive leopard in Bangalore South was located and killed by the forest officials. The leopard was seen roaming freely near MS Dhoni School at Kudlu Main Road in South East Bangalore which is hardly 20 KMs from Bannerghatta National Park. It is a debatable question why a leopard should be killed when there are ways to trap it and relocate it. The Chief Conservator of Forest S.S. Lingaraja said that the Chief Wildlife warden has already given permission to shoot the animal at sight. There may be an argument that the forest officials were not able to locate it for 5 days and people’s life was more important. Let us analyze the whole episode

The video footages in social media suggest that the leopard first got into the net and immediately after that, there was a shooting sound. The debated question was why the young adult Leopard was shot after it was trapped into the net. The animal was dead within a few minutes of capture and it could not be revived. The Forest Department could have used tranquilizer shot to sedate the animal which might have saved it. Of course, the scared locals would laud the forest department’s action because there is a big relief from the scare.

The forest department rolled out a massive combing operation for 5 days and even summoned the Leopard Task Force from Mysore. Drones, pugmarks and droppings were used by patrolling by gunman who admit that they could not make a breakthrough in their operations. A 75 strong team was clueless to trace the animal in this congested area. Reports say that a veterinarian was also attacked. It is understandable that people’s life must be protected, but the modes operandi make our eye brows raised. In the ever-increasing man-animal conflict, the big blame by man is that an elephant or a tiger has entered into human territory who comfortably forget that we have entered into their territory. At the end of the day, shooting a valuable wildlife could have been avoided, and truly there is no voice for the voiceless!

Jim Corbett, the hunter turned conservator might have killed a few man eater tigers in early 20^th century when technology was unknown. With drones and other latest technologies, tranquilizing and sedating an animal could have used by the forest conservators. Death is a punishment for a heinous crime. What sin the leopard have done in the present case? Forests are stripped and forest laws are tailored to allow encroachment. Either it is a state sponsored ‘encroachment’ under the garb of development, ignoring sustainability or it may be a cancerous intrusion of buffer areas of jungles. A recent effort to reduce the buffer areas of the river ecosystem from 1 KM to 500 Meters near Bangalore is one such bad example. We reiterate what we wrote in this column on 15.10.23. “Encroachment is a menace if it is unauthorized. But it becomes a rightful activity if it is permitted by the law”