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June 5th is celebrated as World Environment Day by the
United Nations. In October, we observe National Wildlife Week.
How would you respond if I said that the true temples of Lord
Ram, the forests of India, are nevertheless being destroyed
and that virtually no one from the Sangh Parivar is doing
anything to protect this ancient and hallowed heritage?
(Smiling) How should I respond? I agree with you that
our forests, indeed the earth itself, should be looked upon
as a temple of God. But society seems unable or unwilling
to treat our forests with respect. In fact, they are treated
merely as commodities for sale. Almost every God and Goddess
in our pantheon is associated with some animal. And, that
animal is venerated almost as much as the deity itself. Our
folklore and our arts and crafts reflect our love and reverence
for the animal world. Sadly, the reality is otherwise.
But should part of the responsibility for this state of
affairs not be laid at the doorstep of post-Independence planners
and politicians, who have, in fact, moved the country away
from such ancient values?
Again there is some truth to what you say. People in the government
and the administration cannot shirk their responsibility.
But you cannot blame narrow segments of our population for
this. We are collectively guilty of drifting away from old
values. One of the most visible signs of such drift is the
condition of the Ganga, the mother river and the fact that
the tiger, the vahan of Durga is not safe from poisons,
traps and guns.
As Chairman of the Indian Board for Wildlife (IBWL), surely
you have the power to change this state of affairs. But how
will this happen if the Board meets only once in four or five
years?
I sincerely regretted this delay when I addressed members
of the IBWL on January 18, 2002. I would like the Board to
meet more regularly.
You did indeed inject fresh impetus into the wildlife movement,
but will you support the hard decisions that need to be made?
Or will short-term gains rule the day as they have done for
the past five decades in India?
We will take hard decisions. Even the Supreme Court is encouraging
us to do this. But as the Prime Minister of a nation of one
billion people, I must also carry the public and different
sections of society with me. We will achieve much more if
we work together rather than at cross-purposes. I firmly believe
that future human development will be linked to protecting
the earth from mindless consumption and destruction. Repairing
the excesses of the 20th century will be integral to future
development programmes. An example is the devastation wrought
by drought that we read about today in our papers. Soon the
same areas may be in the grip of floods. It is not a secret
that forest destruction has a major role to play in both these
tragedies. So, we have to evolve a long-term, sustainable
perspective on development.
In which directions do our solutions lie?
Many of the solutions already exist. They do not need to be
invented. Take the example of Palamau district in Bihar where
pani panchayats exist to harvest water and manage watersheds.
Here, traditional structures and modern scientific inputs
are combined to determine how much water a particular crop
needs. This drought-prone area is undergoing positive change.
There are many more examples and many individuals, such as
Rajinder Singh of the Tarun Bharat Sangh in Alwar (Rajasthan)
and Anna Saheb Hazare in Ralegaon Siddhi (Maharashtra) and
Sundarlal Bahuguna and his Chipko movement in Uttaranchal.
I believe that in the name of development and modernity, we
have dismantled strategies for sustainability and the traditional
life-sustaining structures that had served our people for
centuries. Perhaps, it is time we went back to the future.
How does this plan fit in with India's global image and
ambitions?
If you go back a decade, you will see that the 1992 Rio Conference
acknowledged the need to harmonise economic development with
resource use. Successive Indian governments have been trying
to achieve this balance and while we have succeeded to some
extent, clearly we have a very long way to go.
Could you point to some of the successes that you refer
to?
There are many but let us start with wind power generation.
Even the most critical among us will agree that electricity
production is crucial to national development. India has a
built capacity of over 1,000 MWs of wind power! That places
us fourth in the world, after Germany, the US and Denmark.
But my advisers suggest that India has a wind power potential
of 20,000 MW, which is why I feel that we have a long way
to go. In the Tenth Five Year Plan, we have set ourselves
the target of producing at least 10 per cent of power from
renewable sources of energy.
Another success is the fact that the tiger is still alive
in India, despite dire predictions from experts as recently
as 1990 that our national animal will not survive to see the
21st century. I acknowledge that the tiger is still in grave
danger. I do not wish to give the impression that I am trying
to cover up or deny our national failures. But sometimes we
must look at a half-full glass and not always a half-empty
one, as environmentalists tend to do.
Here I would like to acknowledge the catalytic role played
by the 'Kids for Tigers' who accompanied you and Sunil Alagh
of Britannia to my residence earlier this year, when the children
asked me and my Cabinet colleague Shri T.R. Baalu, Minister
for Environment and Forests, to save the tiger. Since then,
both of us have instructed officials to try and make up for
lost time. I am committed to saving the tiger and our natural
heritage.
How can environmentalists play a more positive role in
India's development?
I do not wish to be misunderstood. I believe that environmentalists
are already playing a vital role in India's development. It
was brought to my attention, for instance, that carefully
constructed rainwater harvesting systems in Rajasthan, set
up centuries ago, were being ravaged by miners who had been
given licences to quarry. Soon the affected area was hit by
a severe drought. Had the structures been in place, the impact
of the drought would have been somewhat less. I hope that
such a crucial watchdog role continues to be played by environmentalists.
I also hope that some kind of internal self-regulation takes
place to prevent lobbies from manipulating environmental groups
for narrow ends, which as you know, also takes place.
Your support for the National Wildlife Action Plan and
the National Conservation Strategy 2002 was welcomed. But
on the ground, support for tigers is still lacking. In the
Kudremukh National Park, for instance, the government advocated
redrawing the boundaries to facilitate iron ore mining.
I am aware of this particular conflict. Often wildlife and
economic imperatives are going to clash. I hope, however,
that such exceptions are the ones that will prove the rule
that India seriously wishes to protect the tiger and its remaining
wild forests. In the long run, the two objectives are not
antithetical to one another. I personally brought this to
the notice of all Chief Ministers when I reminded them about
how the super-cyclone that devastated Orissa had spared all
those lives and homes and properties that were sheltered behind
the thick mangroves in the Bhitarkanika area. Protecting our
environment does not mean putting a stop to development, or
halting progress. We must evolve pragmatic solutions to problems
posed by development projects.
Prime Minister, we are waiting for the very first point
on the National Conservation Strategy to be fulfilled, namely
that "wildlife and forests shall be declared a priority sector
at the national level for which funds should be earmarked."
You also said that you would announce a Forest Commission.
(Smiling) You are putting questions to me like a Parliamentarian
now! These things take time. Our meeting was held in mid-January
this year. You know the kind of traumas the nation has been
through. Our decision to declare wildlife and forests as a
priority sector is pucca. And I agree that it should
not be delayed too long. Ecological security determines internal
security and you will shortly see us take some positive steps
on both fronts.
India has some of the best laws and policies in the world,
but they are not implemented.
In this regard, the responsibility of the centre is unambiguous.
We can strengthen, coordinate, monitor and, in some instances,
even take corrective action. But for concurrent subjects like
wildlife and forests, the operational functions lie with the
states. Sometimes, there is a gap here. To plug this gap,
we must win the support and involvement of various sections
of society. People must internalise the fact that caring for
wildlife cannot be limited to maintaining zoos or even designated
sanctuaries. As a people, we must want to provide space
for elephants and tigers. I have instructed that the Tenth
Plan lays greater emphasis on winning peoples' cooperation,
but all of us must assume responsibility to achieve such ends.
If you had a magic wand, how would you use it to improve
the environmental conditions of our people?
I would restore the age-old philosophy of co-existence, not
merely between human beings, but between all living beings
that need to live in harmony within the cosmos. I would restore
the delicate balance of nature, the complementarity and co-existence
of different life-forms; between plants and animals and between
nature and humans. This is the only way that the balance of
the five basic elements - the panchtatva - air, water,
fire, earth and sky can be restored.
What would you leave with us as your last thoughts on the
subject of environmental protection?
History proves that good ideas only make a real impact when
they become mass movements. This is what the environmental
movement must become, not merely in India but throughout the
world. This is in our self-interest. It is in the interests
of the children for whom we must somehow leave behind a cleaner,
better, safer country and a more beautiful world.
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