The India We Want

“The India I want”? It is very easy to pen down a thousand words worth of ideas, which will theoretically turn India into a utopia. Corruption eradication, women empowerment, science funding, education planning, medical infrastructure, pollution reduction, tiger protection, environmental awareness, etc… the list alone can reach a thousand words.

 

We all have read about the Fundamental Rights our Constitution guarantees us, and we don’t hesitate to approach the courts when our rights are being denied. But how many of us remember the 42^nd Constitution Amendment Act of 1976, the one that speaks of Fundamental Duties? It is expected that a citizen of India, while enjoying fundamental rights, should also perform these duties. One of these overlooked duties states “to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and to have compassion for living creatures”. Even Article 48A of the Constitution mandates the State to protect the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. Keeping this in view, India set up the National Green Tribunal in 2010 to assure citizens the right to a healthy environment. After Australia and New Zealand, India is the third country which has such a system.

Man Eater of Dodabetta shot dead. Photo Courtesy: The Hindu

First of all let us go through a current example of the problems we are bound to face in the future if

the present state of affairs continues, i.e. man-animal conflicts. The Man-eater of Dodabetta was recently put down after it killed three people near Ooty. Even as I write this, a leopard continues to prowl through the streets of my birth-place, Meerut. It is very easy to blame the animal in such situations and put them down. But we fail to see the larger picture. Why are the animals entering human habitations in the first place? Due to decreasing forests. Why are the forests disappearing? Due to human activities. So who is to be blamed now?

A very famous Cree Indian proverb says that “Only when the last tree has been felled, the last river poisoned, and the last fish caught, shall we realize that we cannot eat money”.  So appropriate for the developing countries like India, who have to choose between development and environment as if they are mutually exclussive? But believe me when I say that we can have the best of both, development as well as environment, and also a better India in particular, and a better Earth in general, for our kids. The magic word is “Sustainable Development”.

“The earth has enough resources for our need, but not for our greed”-Mahatma Gandhi

People are quick to blame a tree-hugger like me for the failed or halted ‘development’ projects like mines, power plants, ports, etc. But when we talk about development, whose development do we actually mean? Do the people who are relocated due to such projects develop? Does the environment develop? Both are left in shambles. The development comes only in urban areas located hundreds of miles away and also in the bank accounts of corporate tycoons. History bear testimony to the fact that the people who are in the immediate vicinity of mining activities have never developed due to those, and neither have the mineral rich states of India. Another question we need to ask ourselves is that why is it that only the tribals in hills or farmers in villages need to be relocated? One of India's largest oilfields is directly under the city of Ahmedabad; would we even consider relocating the entire city of Ahmedabad? No, never. Talking about relocation- people give up their farmlands for liquid cash or employment in the mines. But after a few years, the mine is exhausted and the land does not remain fit for cultivation either. What do these people do now? Do we expect the State or the Corporate to take care of these people? Remember, a nation is developed only if it can provide a decent lifestyle to its citizens, not if it can build malls, flyovers and airport terminals in swanky cities while a majority of its population have to breathe fly-ash.

I will also agree that environmentalists are quick to point fingers at corporate houses for finding loopholes in the laws, or outright bending them. We accuse aluminium refineries while ordering a can of a soft drink; we criticize the petroleum industry while driving our SUVs; we speak against thermal power plants from the comfort of our air-conditioned rooms. What hypocrisy! “Be the change that you want to see in this world”, said the Father of our Nation. The change need to start from us. I won’t elaborate on what changes we can adopt in our daily life to take a step towards a more sustainable lifestyle, one can google them up. But also being an animal lover, I must point out the importance of vegetarianism towards this. I am proud of the fact that India has more vegetarians than the rest of the world combined. Even UN Chief Ban Ki-moon has urged people to go vegetarian to reduce their green house gas emissions.

Wrapping up, I would want the India of my dreams as a country, not a market. I want people from the land of Buddha and Mahavira to love all animals, and respect their right to life. I would want people to step out of the malls, look around at the crumbling infrastructure and dying rivers and ghettoed greens, and ponder, “Hold on, this isn’t progress!” I want an India where clean water and fresh air are not luxuries. I want to be able to say “India is an amazing country” from the bottom of my heart and not try to contain it and define it by a word called ‘market’. My dream India will ensure that “Sarve sukhinah santu, sarve santu niraamayah, sarve bhadrani pashyantu, maa kaschid dukha bhaag bhavet” (May all be happy, may all be free of illness, may all see what is auspicious and not suffer).