Nature | Dr V Selvarajan

Published in Dwarka Express on 14.4.24

Who cares Great Indian Bustards (GIB)? It is almost extinct and just about 150 birds are left out. Maybe the research community is cared, for submitting papers on the status or a few nature lovers may cry that the bird should exist for posterity. How many of us are thinking of the extinct birds namely white-rumped vulture or lesser adjutant stork or Nicobar pigeon. Forget these unfamiliar names. What about our House Sparrows? Many of us do not even remember how a sparrow looks like. Kids search google to do a school project on sparrow. When that is the case for sparrows, who knows how a GIB looks like? Interestingly, GIB is the state bird of Rajasthan and deserves special status for conservation.

But the story is different in Supreme Court. The court is forced to strike a balance between green energy and bird conservation. And that too, when India is committed to ZERO EMISSION by 2070. Last week, Supreme Court was on the reverse gear to revisit its 2019 decision 2019 decision restricted overhead transmission of solar and other renewable energy in GIB area of 90000 Sq km. This will impede the ambitious renewable energy capacity of 450 gigawatts by 2030. SC in 2019 suggested underground cables in this area but the task of laying underground cables is near impossible.

Now there is a catch 22 situation. Whether to save GIBs or produce green energy? Court now considers the green energy over GIBs. Logically it may sound correct. But as usual the victims are going to be the voiceless creatures. SC has appointed a 7-member experts committee to determine the core area of GIB. The committee is expected to submit its findings by July 24. While Green energy is the need of the hour, we hope that certain justification will also be available to the Rajasthan’s state bird. (Picture source: Wikipedia online)

World Soil Day was celebrated only on 5^th Dec 2023. And the theme of the year is “Soil and water, a source of life” So what? International Days come and go. Celebrations keep going. We mark the day with runs and rides with banners wearing t-shirts. But soil or water…, are we serious to preserve them? To form one inch topsoil, it takes 100-1000 years. Sand mining is one that we hear quite often. No Indian River is liberated from illegal sand mining. Wherever revenue or police authorities intervene, the sand mafia goes underground for sometimes but re-emerge to continue their crazy business. In Tamil Nadu, the sand theft is quite common and is known by its notorious name manal_kollai, meaning sand theft. Politicians and contractors join hands to continue their activity thus destroying riverbeds and seashores despite the hue and cry.

While sand theft continues unabated on the one hand, Bengaluru has a inimitable experience of soil dumping. Bengaluru is growing fast and the population has already breached one core mark. Still the hunt for land is going on as many wants to settle down in Bangalore. Clandestine efforts are on by the land mafia to grab the lake beds. Vanishing lakes is a major concern and the locals here and there are vehemently trying to save the left-out lakes in their proximity.

A recent revelation at Hennagara lake near to Electronics city is shocking. It is reported that the Hennagara lake falls under gram panchayat in South Bangalore. South Bangalore is a home for MNCs known for the software export. Construction activity is endless and search for sites to build multi stories and villas is continuing. The only space left out inside the city is lake which becomes easy victim for the craze. The Govt map like Dishank app is also misleading occasionally as the survey numbers are wrongly marked in the official map as private land. Every lake has a buffer zone of 30 meters, where construction activities are banned. But if the lakes are also wrongly marked where is the question of buffer zones? During the last one year, it is reported that about 10000 trucks have dumped soil in the 330-acre Hennagara lake. At this rate the lake will soon disappear. Hennagara is not the only one being dumped. Many attempts are made in the past by authorities even to dump waste and soil. Belandur and Varthur lakes are such notable victims. Kempe Gowda, the founder of the Bengaluru city was a visionary as he created innumerable tanks called kere in Kannada which even after a few centuries are coming handy for the city to recharge the ground water besides keeping the city green and cool. But at this rate of vanishing lakes, the day is not far off that the garden city will face the heat spell and raising pollution. Environmentalists warn that the city will lose its waterbodies soon if timely corrective measures to protect the lakes and their feeder canals known as Rajakaluves.