Friday, June 26, 2009
global warming & the environment - "Plant A Billion Trees Campaign
A campaign to plant a billion new trees is being welcomed by environmentalists, but with a warning by some that in certain regions it could do more harm than good.While the campaign claims that each tree uses up 26 pounds of co2 emissions and in return produces enough oxygen for a family of four, planting the right trees is important to help the world improve her ecological and environment balance.In areas that historically have suffered from a lack of rain, and in areas where global warming could potentially produce deserts, new trees that use a lot of water could have a serious affect on their biodiversity.Eucalyptus trees can consume two thousand litres of water a day, and planting new ones in Africa would be a catalyst to disaster, and local campaigners for planting trees are urged to consider their area needs and decide carefully before deciding on which type of tree to plant.As well as individuals planting a tree, it is hoped that businesses will do the same and encourage employees to do the same, with government and civil servants also being asked to take active participation to reach the target of a billion trees by the end of this year.The patron of the campaign is Prince Albert of Monaco. Prince Albert has been campaigning for the environment since becoming Monaco's Sovereign two years ago, and one of his first acts was to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Previously, along with Australia and the USA, Monaco was one of a handful of countries not to ratify the treaty.MonacoPrince Albert's father, Prince Rainier, was Europe's longest reigning Monarch until his death in April 2005. Known affectionately as the 'builder prince' he transformed Monaco into the world's favourite tax haven and ensured the Monaco Grand Prix became one of the best known annual sporting events. The Principality Albert succeeded to was a country known throughout the world for money and glamour, and the Monte Carlo casino only added to its legendary status.Albert has continued in his father's footsteps with a plan to develop an island off Monte Carlo, and like his father with the reclaimed land in Fontvieille the map of Monaco will change again.In keeping with his stance on the environment, it is thought that a successful bid to build the island will need to be seen to be environmentally friendly, with the possibility of lower rise buildings than some parts of Monaco have endured to create more living space.Monte Carlo has long been associated with glamour, heightened throughout the world in 1956 when Prince Albert's father married his mother, US actress Grace Kelly.Speculation was rife earlier this year that Prince Albert would be announcing his own engagement to South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock.'Things have gone quiet recently on the Charlene front', comment a Monaco travel guide, 'Monaco is all about glitz and glamour and perhaps a surprise announcement will be made soon. But it's possible that Albert is more interested in environmental affairs than affairs of the heart'.Monaco has been making the news recently as Monte Carlo real estate prices have escalated, and are on a level with London and New York.Even the cheapest studios are edging towards the million Euro level according to Monaco estate agents.'Increasing taxes elsewhere in Europe, especially in the UK, have seen inquiries increase significantly over the last twelve months,' they say, 'and it's not the weather in Monte Carlo that's drawing buyers, but the income tax free status of being a resident, and the security that goes with living in Monaco. There's one policeman for every one hundred residents and has to be the safest country to live in Europe'.
global warming & the environment - "Harmful Effects of Deforestation"
Human beings always have been and probably always will be to some extent dependent on forests. Trees were their habitat, their environment, their source of food and their protection from enemies. Forests are very important to man, and other organisms, and one of the biggest problems the world is facing today is the threat of totally losing the forests due to massive deforestation and suffering the harmful effects of deforestation.Deforestation can be defined as the large scale removal of forests. Deforestation occurs when forests are converted to non-forest areas for urbanization, agriculture, and other reasons without sufficient reforestation. It is the permanent destruction of forests and woodlands. At present, forests are considered among the most endangered on the planet. Everyday at least 80,000 acres of forest vanish from Earth. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations show that the rates of deforestation has not abated and has actually increased by 8.5% from 2000-2005 compared during the 1990s. FAO has approximated that about 10.4 million hectares of tropical forest have been permanently destroyed from 2000-2005 compared to 10.14 million hectares in the period of 1990-2000. The process of deforestation is often a complex pattern of progressive fragmentation of the forests. Mistakes of this sort could lead to forest destruction. Along with this destruction is the extinction of many species, heavy soil erosion, greenhouse effect, silting of rivers and dams, flooding, landslides, denuded upland, degraded watershed, and even destruction of corals along the coast. Extinction of Thousands of Species - Destruction of the forests leads to a tragic loss of biodiversity. Millions of plants and animal species are in danger of disappearing as a result of deforestation. Tropical forests are much more biologically diverse than other forest and a very serious effect of deforestation in tropical countries is the loss of biodiversity.Heavy Soil Erosion - One function of the forest is that its roots hold the soil in place. Without trees soil erosion and landslides easily happen. When heavy rains and typhoons come, soil is easily carried to lower areas especially to communities at the foot of the mountains. Greenhouse Effect - Deforestation increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The conitnued degradation of our forest heightens the threat of global warming because the trees and other plants that takes up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be used for photosynthesis are gone. The burning of wood or its decay contributes to the release of more carbon which combines with oxygen in the atmosphere thus increasing further the levels of carbon dioxide that causes greenhouse effect. Silting of Rivers and Dams - Deforestation results in the silting of rivers sediments deposit which shortens its life span and clogs irrigation system. As a result of deforestation, the reservoir behind many dams are filled with sediments more rapidly than expected. Flooding - One major importance of forest is that they absorb water quickly in great amount during heavy rains. But due to massive deforestation there are no trees to absorb the water thus resulting to the loss of many lives.Landslides - The roots of the trees bind soil to it and to the bedroock underlying it. That is how trees prevent soil from getting eroded by natural agents like wind or water. When trees are uprooted, there will be nothing to hold the soil together thus increasing the risk for landslides which can cause seriously threaten the safety of the people and damage their properties. Denuded Upland - After several harvests of the forest the cleared land is no longer suitable for planting trees. It has become a desert. The transformation of a forest to a semi-desert condition is called desertification.Degraded Watershed - When forest mountains are denuded, watersheds are degraded and this leads to the loss of sustained water supplies for lowland communities. This is because trees affect the hydrological cycle. They can change the amount of water in the soil, groundwater, and in the atmosphere. Destruction of Corals along the Coast - Coral areas are degraded and coral reefs are affected by siltation. As a result of deforestation there is an increase of flooding during the rainy seasons and decreased stream flow in dry seasons. The forest provides us with many products and important services. It stops soil erosion, refreshes the air, and protect us from typhoons and other calamities. But if rampant deforestation is not controlled it will result to several problems. In one way or another, the denuded forests will back fire and people will certainly lose to the harmful effects of deforestation.
global warming & the environment - "Saving the environment; every little steps count"
Saving energy and the overall environment is a topic that has gained public attention more recently. People are realizing that at the rate we are using earth's valuable resources, we will face serious shortage in a near future.Water is the first resource we have been wasting in the past. We have to be aware that everyday, people worldwide are dying from lack of drinkable water. Yet, in our "civilized" countries, we let purified water go to waste in many ways daily.Small steps a person can take to limit her consumption of water is: only wash the dishes or do the laundry when there is a full load to be done, do not let tap water run for long periods while brushing one's teeth. Other obvious drinkable water savings would be not to use sprinklers on rainy days or using a broom to sweep one's carport instead of the garden hose.Another valuable earth's resource we have been wasting is electricity. Again, in many developing countries, electricity could save hundreds of lives. Yet, we are openly wasting this valuable resource in western countries. Small steps that can be taken to limit the quantity of electricity consumed daily are: close all lights that are not being used, do not put the air conditioning on (or a heating system) if windows are opened, wash clothes that do not require special care with cold water instead of hot water.Forests and trees have also been overused by man and wasted in more ways than can be counted. Recycling paper is the very first step in limiting paper (and trees) waste. I have personally contacted all the magazines with which I am not subscribed and asked them to send me these hundreds of paper I did not read and wasted. It took time and patience but eventually, I evaluate I must have saved an entire small forest by that little step alone. Writing on both sides of paper is also a very good way to diminish one's consumption of paper and thus limiting deforestation.Quality air is also a resource we have wasted to the worst degree. By overusing cars and toxic emissions which affected the ozone layers, we have wasted our most valuable resource: the air we breathe. Small steps that can be taken are exactly this: taking small steps instead of using the car for any small trip to the corner store. In taking such action as walking to get to near places, a person will also gain physical benefits and enjoy a better health condition.Saving oxygen and the quality of the air that we breathe also means taking a strong stand and pressuring governments in place to adopt and apply strict rules and regulations to limit pollution and toxic gas emissions.Another valuable resource that we have been shamefully wasting is the wildlife. Many animals are now on the endangered species list or, worst, have disappeared because of man's careless actions. Reading and keeping up to date on the most recent developments and again taking action to limit the damages caused to animals are small steps a person can take to start making a difference.
World's corals face danger as global warming whips up powerful storms
A new scientific study
has found that as global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world's coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage.
"We have found clear evidence that coral recruitment - the regrowth of young corals - drops sharply in the wake of a major bleaching event or a hurricane," said lead study author Dr Jennie Mallela of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian National University.
Using the island of Tobago in the Caribbean as their laboratory, Dr Mallela and colleague Professor James Crabbe of the University of Bedfordshire, UK, backtracked to 1980 to see what had happened to the corals in the wake of nine hurricanes, tropical storms and bleaching events.
"In every case, there was a sharp drop in coral recruitment following the event - often by as much as two thirds to three quarters. Not only were fewer new coral colonies formed, but also far fewer of the major reef building coral species recruited successfully," Jennie said.
"This finding mirrors our modelling studies on the fringing reefs of Jamaica, and on the Meso-American Barrier reef off the coast of Belize," said Professor Crabbe.
Tobago lies outside the main Caribbean hurricane belt and therefore is more typical of the circumstances of most coral reefs around the world.
Nevertheless, its corals are disrupted by a major storm or bleaching every three or four years - and the frequency of this may be growing.
"Climate researchers are seeing increasing evidence for a direct relationship between global warming and rising hurricane intensity as well as frequency," Jennie explained.
"Global warming produces significant increases in the frequency of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and hurricane winds are strengthened by warm surface waters," she said.
The high temperatures cause bleaching, while the storms inflict physical destruction on the corals as well as eroding the rocky platforms they need to grow on, or burying them in sand.
"Maintaining coral reef populations in the face of large-scale degradation depends critically on recruitment - the ability of the corals to breed successfully and settle on the reef to form new colonies. Our research suggests this process is severely disrupted after one of these major events," said Jennie.
According to Jennie, the concern is that if major storms and bleaching become more frequent as the climate warms, the ability of individual reefs to renew themselves may break down completely
has found that as global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world's coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage.
"We have found clear evidence that coral recruitment - the regrowth of young corals - drops sharply in the wake of a major bleaching event or a hurricane," said lead study author Dr Jennie Mallela of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian National University.
Using the island of Tobago in the Caribbean as their laboratory, Dr Mallela and colleague Professor James Crabbe of the University of Bedfordshire, UK, backtracked to 1980 to see what had happened to the corals in the wake of nine hurricanes, tropical storms and bleaching events.
"In every case, there was a sharp drop in coral recruitment following the event - often by as much as two thirds to three quarters. Not only were fewer new coral colonies formed, but also far fewer of the major reef building coral species recruited successfully," Jennie said.
"This finding mirrors our modelling studies on the fringing reefs of Jamaica, and on the Meso-American Barrier reef off the coast of Belize," said Professor Crabbe.
Tobago lies outside the main Caribbean hurricane belt and therefore is more typical of the circumstances of most coral reefs around the world.
Nevertheless, its corals are disrupted by a major storm or bleaching every three or four years - and the frequency of this may be growing.
"Climate researchers are seeing increasing evidence for a direct relationship between global warming and rising hurricane intensity as well as frequency," Jennie explained.
"Global warming produces significant increases in the frequency of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and hurricane winds are strengthened by warm surface waters," she said.
The high temperatures cause bleaching, while the storms inflict physical destruction on the corals as well as eroding the rocky platforms they need to grow on, or burying them in sand.
"Maintaining coral reef populations in the face of large-scale degradation depends critically on recruitment - the ability of the corals to breed successfully and settle on the reef to form new colonies. Our research suggests this process is severely disrupted after one of these major events," said Jennie.
According to Jennie, the concern is that if major storms and bleaching become more frequent as the climate warms, the ability of individual reefs to renew themselves may break down completely
Stagnant waters: Party manifestos offer little
Every year, as soaring temperatures of April and May scorch much of the country, newspapers start being dominated by stories of water shortages and water crisis. This time around, there is a competitor - the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha and a few state assemblies. While elections are a time for focussing on the key issues being faced by people, a counting of the columns and the sound bytes shows other stories - such as whether the Prime Minister is weak or not - hogging the headlines.
It is not that water is not an issue - stories of water problems do claim their share of space in the inside pages; and in states holding elections to the assemblies, water is a bigger concern. But at the national level, water does not seem to figure very high up in the considerations of major parties, at least as seen in their manifestoes.
BJP and the NDA
The 2004 manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP had three separate sections devoted to water under the headings of Agriculture, Rural Development and Infrastructure that detailed water related promises. In contrast, the BJP's manifesto for the current Lok Sabha elections (the NDA has not issued one) has no separate section for water. In the Agriculture section, the party promises creating additional irrigation facilities for 35 million hectares of land. It does not give any details about how this will be achieved. The manifesto also promises "Water, health, sanitation and hygiene for all families/habitations" under the section on Dalits, OBCs and economically weaker sections of society.
Though L K Advani has declared in election speeches that if elected back to power, the NDA would take up on a priority basis the ambitious river-linking scheme, it finds only a passing mention in the manifesto. It makes its appearance under the section on "Reviving the National Economy", where the party promises making "massive public sector investments in job generating infrastructure programmes, especially building of roads and highways, and linking of rivers."
There are some other scattered references to water. For example, under the North East section, it is promised that the flood control in Assam and river water management will receive special attention. Possibly the most significant declaration related to water is the promise by the BJP to "make access to clean drinking water a fundamental right for all citizens." (The Congress manifesto promises to enact a Right to Food law).
It is interesting that on 21 April 2009, after votes to 124 seats had already been cast and the day on which campaigning for 141 seats came to a close, the BJP released its Infrastructure Vision. The Press note announcing this vision says that the Vision "articulates, in far greater detail than was possible in the Party's Manifesto ... our broad perspectives and plans ..." Promises for various sectors are given in separate sections and the section on water now clearly pledges "speedy implementation of the river-linking project" and completion of major irrigation and drinking water projects. It also promises construction of at least one new water conservation facility (pond, check dam, etc.) in each of the six lakh villages in the country and universalisation of rainwater harvesting in urban India. It would be interesting to know why the BJP issued this vision document so late in the election process.
Indian National Congress
The Congress Manifesto is even more taciturn on the issues related to water. It makes a rather general remark at one place that "Water security is of paramount concern to the Indian National Congress and steps will be taken to enhance it measurably for local communities," but it is not elaborated how this would be done. The Manifesto also lists among the achievement of the UPA government the Bharat Nirman program that has provided irrigation and drinking water, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) where "work amounting to over Rs.42,000 crores is in progress", covering areas that include water supply and sanitation.
The manifesto promises to consolidate and take forward these missions and programs. There is also a promise of stepping up public investment in agriculture and infrastructure and a faster and more inclusive growth. Presumably, this includes investment in the water sector.
New, but not significantly so
The greatest role that is possibly expected from the centre is a leadership role in setting out a vision of decentralised and participatory development of water resources. However, here the manifestoes disappoint. The BJP's promise of one rain water harvesting structure in each village is a far cry from a vision of a bottom-up water management based on the development of the local resources. It is also nothing new - programs of water harvesting, conservation and watershed management have been increasingly been promoted by both the NDA and UPA in various forms, but they still remain add-ons, with the main thrust based on large, centralised projects.
The same goes for urban rain water harvesting. BJP promises to make it universal. The UPA government's JNNURM and UIDSSMT programs already require states to revise bye-laws to make rain water harvesting mandatory in all buildings and adoption of water conservation measures. Yet, local water resources are still not an integral part of planning for urban water supply.
The BJP's promise to make drinking water a fundamental right is the only significant new promise in the manifestoes of the two major parties. Yet, here too, there is no word on how it will be realised, and no indications of how possible contradictions between this and the increased role to be given to the public-private-partnerships would be resolved.
Much that the Centre can do
Thus, it seems that the two major parties - and leaders of the two coalitions, NDA and UPA, that are the primary contenders for forming the Government - have not given due importance to water issues. One could argue that water is a state subject and hence the manifestoes for a national election would have only limited engagement with it. However, this is not correct. The Central Government has significant influence through financial and regulatory means and moreover, is expected to play a leadership role in several areas in water sector.
In case of water resources and water issues spanning states, the role of the Centre becomes very important. Interstate water disputes are of course, one such area where there has always been a clamour for the Centre to play a stronger role. There have been suggestions to shift water to the Central list of the Constitution to give more powers to the central government - though this would end up with even more centralisation in the water sector whereas decentralisation is the need of the hour. Even with the powers at its disposal today, the Centre can, and is expected to play a key role in resolving inter-state water issues. Important among these are the sharing of waters of interstate rivers, and floods extending across states (or floods whose causes lie in another state - for example, the floods last year in Assam suspected to be due to the releases of water from a dam in Arunachal Pradesh).
The massive 'inter-linking of rivers' scheme is another such interstate program where the centre is expected to play a key role. The UPA's Common Minimum Program had promised to carry out "a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of linking the rivers of the country ... in a fully participatory manner". Not only has this not been done, but the promise seems to have been dropped from the Congress manifesto. The BJP of course wants to push the project ahead, but it would have been far better if it had also promised to re-assess it first, given the mounting evidence of its serious implications.
One would also expect the centre to play the main role in institutionalising the conservation, rejuvenation and restoration of rivers. In particular, there is an urgent need to address emerging concerns like minimum river flows. The Central Government would be the natural choice to take the initiative in establishing processes to determine what should be the limits of extraction from rivers and other water bodies and how much water needs to be maintained as assured environmental flows to keep the rivers flowing.
The Centre also has responsibility in areas where international dimensions are present. One such area is water resource planning in trans-boundary river basins like those that India shares with Nepal and Bangladesh. Another area is in the realm of international treaties and agreement. For example, the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services of the WTO), where there have been strong pressures from developed countries for India to open up its water services to international players. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) promises to keep water out of the purview of the GATS, though Congress and BJP are silent on this.
Another critical area where the Central government is expected to play a major role vis-à-vis the water sector is in assessing, combating and planning for adapting to climate change and its impact on water resources. It is critical that the implications of climate change for the viability of various projects - like the large number of hydropower dam projects planned for the Himalayan region - be evaluated urgently - a task that only the central government can carry out. Yet, neither the BJP nor Congress manifestoes mention this, though action on other aspects of climate change is promised.
It is not that water is not an issue - stories of water problems do claim their share of space in the inside pages; and in states holding elections to the assemblies, water is a bigger concern. But at the national level, water does not seem to figure very high up in the considerations of major parties, at least as seen in their manifestoes.
BJP and the NDA
The 2004 manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP had three separate sections devoted to water under the headings of Agriculture, Rural Development and Infrastructure that detailed water related promises. In contrast, the BJP's manifesto for the current Lok Sabha elections (the NDA has not issued one) has no separate section for water. In the Agriculture section, the party promises creating additional irrigation facilities for 35 million hectares of land. It does not give any details about how this will be achieved. The manifesto also promises "Water, health, sanitation and hygiene for all families/habitations" under the section on Dalits, OBCs and economically weaker sections of society.
Though L K Advani has declared in election speeches that if elected back to power, the NDA would take up on a priority basis the ambitious river-linking scheme, it finds only a passing mention in the manifesto. It makes its appearance under the section on "Reviving the National Economy", where the party promises making "massive public sector investments in job generating infrastructure programmes, especially building of roads and highways, and linking of rivers."
There are some other scattered references to water. For example, under the North East section, it is promised that the flood control in Assam and river water management will receive special attention. Possibly the most significant declaration related to water is the promise by the BJP to "make access to clean drinking water a fundamental right for all citizens." (The Congress manifesto promises to enact a Right to Food law).
It is interesting that on 21 April 2009, after votes to 124 seats had already been cast and the day on which campaigning for 141 seats came to a close, the BJP released its Infrastructure Vision. The Press note announcing this vision says that the Vision "articulates, in far greater detail than was possible in the Party's Manifesto ... our broad perspectives and plans ..." Promises for various sectors are given in separate sections and the section on water now clearly pledges "speedy implementation of the river-linking project" and completion of major irrigation and drinking water projects. It also promises construction of at least one new water conservation facility (pond, check dam, etc.) in each of the six lakh villages in the country and universalisation of rainwater harvesting in urban India. It would be interesting to know why the BJP issued this vision document so late in the election process.
Indian National Congress
The Congress Manifesto is even more taciturn on the issues related to water. It makes a rather general remark at one place that "Water security is of paramount concern to the Indian National Congress and steps will be taken to enhance it measurably for local communities," but it is not elaborated how this would be done. The Manifesto also lists among the achievement of the UPA government the Bharat Nirman program that has provided irrigation and drinking water, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) where "work amounting to over Rs.42,000 crores is in progress", covering areas that include water supply and sanitation.
The manifesto promises to consolidate and take forward these missions and programs. There is also a promise of stepping up public investment in agriculture and infrastructure and a faster and more inclusive growth. Presumably, this includes investment in the water sector.
New, but not significantly so
The greatest role that is possibly expected from the centre is a leadership role in setting out a vision of decentralised and participatory development of water resources. However, here the manifestoes disappoint. The BJP's promise of one rain water harvesting structure in each village is a far cry from a vision of a bottom-up water management based on the development of the local resources. It is also nothing new - programs of water harvesting, conservation and watershed management have been increasingly been promoted by both the NDA and UPA in various forms, but they still remain add-ons, with the main thrust based on large, centralised projects.
The same goes for urban rain water harvesting. BJP promises to make it universal. The UPA government's JNNURM and UIDSSMT programs already require states to revise bye-laws to make rain water harvesting mandatory in all buildings and adoption of water conservation measures. Yet, local water resources are still not an integral part of planning for urban water supply.
The BJP's promise to make drinking water a fundamental right is the only significant new promise in the manifestoes of the two major parties. Yet, here too, there is no word on how it will be realised, and no indications of how possible contradictions between this and the increased role to be given to the public-private-partnerships would be resolved.
Much that the Centre can do
Thus, it seems that the two major parties - and leaders of the two coalitions, NDA and UPA, that are the primary contenders for forming the Government - have not given due importance to water issues. One could argue that water is a state subject and hence the manifestoes for a national election would have only limited engagement with it. However, this is not correct. The Central Government has significant influence through financial and regulatory means and moreover, is expected to play a leadership role in several areas in water sector.
In case of water resources and water issues spanning states, the role of the Centre becomes very important. Interstate water disputes are of course, one such area where there has always been a clamour for the Centre to play a stronger role. There have been suggestions to shift water to the Central list of the Constitution to give more powers to the central government - though this would end up with even more centralisation in the water sector whereas decentralisation is the need of the hour. Even with the powers at its disposal today, the Centre can, and is expected to play a key role in resolving inter-state water issues. Important among these are the sharing of waters of interstate rivers, and floods extending across states (or floods whose causes lie in another state - for example, the floods last year in Assam suspected to be due to the releases of water from a dam in Arunachal Pradesh).
The massive 'inter-linking of rivers' scheme is another such interstate program where the centre is expected to play a key role. The UPA's Common Minimum Program had promised to carry out "a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of linking the rivers of the country ... in a fully participatory manner". Not only has this not been done, but the promise seems to have been dropped from the Congress manifesto. The BJP of course wants to push the project ahead, but it would have been far better if it had also promised to re-assess it first, given the mounting evidence of its serious implications.
One would also expect the centre to play the main role in institutionalising the conservation, rejuvenation and restoration of rivers. In particular, there is an urgent need to address emerging concerns like minimum river flows. The Central Government would be the natural choice to take the initiative in establishing processes to determine what should be the limits of extraction from rivers and other water bodies and how much water needs to be maintained as assured environmental flows to keep the rivers flowing.
The Centre also has responsibility in areas where international dimensions are present. One such area is water resource planning in trans-boundary river basins like those that India shares with Nepal and Bangladesh. Another area is in the realm of international treaties and agreement. For example, the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services of the WTO), where there have been strong pressures from developed countries for India to open up its water services to international players. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) promises to keep water out of the purview of the GATS, though Congress and BJP are silent on this.
Another critical area where the Central government is expected to play a major role vis-à-vis the water sector is in assessing, combating and planning for adapting to climate change and its impact on water resources. It is critical that the implications of climate change for the viability of various projects - like the large number of hydropower dam projects planned for the Himalayan region - be evaluated urgently - a task that only the central government can carry out. Yet, neither the BJP nor Congress manifestoes mention this, though action on other aspects of climate change is promised.
You must be either very dumb or very rich if you fail to notice that development stinks", says Gustavo Esteva, a Mexican activist and development critic. A few days back I happened to read what Gustavo Esteva had to say. His quote was being used in a case study describing the devastation by the petrochemical industry in Nigeria - heralded by the multinational giant Shell - and its impacts on local cultures and lives. I had not even finished reflecting on the case when I received an anguished and angry missive from groups in Raigarh district of Chhatisgarh, about an industrial accident involving children. Esteva, I reminded myself once again, was not just relevant in faraway Mexico, but right here in India too.
The dictionary meaning of the word 'development' often does not match the corrupted reality of its use in India and elsewhere in the world, particularly in economies that are labeled 'developing'. At the same time, in the deeply embedded liberalised economies that one has been living in, the same word is read as a given paradigm, and the human and environment damage accompanying it - as they are in Raigarh - are regarded as necessary side effects.
The death of a child
To return to the letter I received - its contents spoke of one more incident in a by-now-familiar tale of woe over the operations of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) around Raigarh town. Ramesh Agrawal of Jan Chetana, an NGO in Raigarh, sent alerts to human rights and environmental groups, drawing attention to a sad but true industrial accident. On the afternoon of 17 April, 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, daughter of a JSPL employee Sanjay Thakur, and her brother were inadvertently caught in an open live-burning ash dump near a nearby residential area, the Indira Awaas colony. While her brother escaped with burn injuries to his legs, Twinkle died the following day, after being hospitalised first.
Villagers living in the area say the incident took place around 3-4 PM on the 17th. There were delays in informing the police, lodging complaints and booking suspects, but that has become the norm in incidents like this across the country. Twinkle died at 11 AM the following day, whereupon the police registered a case against an unknown JSPL contractor under section 304 A of IPC alleging death due to negligence. However, this was done without a site inspection - or verifying whether a contractor or JSPL itself was responsible for dumping the hot ash in the residential area.
Local activists have reported for many months now that JSPL has allegedly illegally dumped ash around Indira Awaas, which has led to serious accidents involving children. In fact ash dumps can be seen all around the plant site without any protection or regard to safety measures.
Dousing out the memory
Immediately after the accident, the hot ash was cooled off by JSPL, by sprinkling water through water tankers. Industrial operations like JSPL have their own fire brigade. "Soon after the incident, the very next day on 18th all the ash was removed from the accident spot. Tire marks of heavy vehicles could be seen even 4-5 days after the incident." says Agrawal. He argues that this action by the company (either directly or through its contractors) amounts to tampering with the accident site before the investigation is complete, and will come in the way of a just and proper assessment to determine the real culprit. "This is can be understood as a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence of the accident." he says.
On 29 April, the regional Hindi newspaper Chattisgarh reported on the incident in great detail. The report also included a statement by JSPL's public relations department denying the allegation that the illegal dumping of flyash is by the company. Accordingly to the statement, JSPL has designated dumping sites and methods for operations there. However, several villagers including those from Kirodimal Nagar (close to where the incident occurred), take ash from the JSPL plant for land filling and land leveling purposes. The statement implied that the hot burning ash that took Twinkle Thakur's life was one such instance of the material being moved by villagers to a different location than the one where it was dumped by the company.
Reports from the area indicate that Twinkle's house is locked, and her parents have left for their home town in Bihar. There is little that the local groups can also get out of the hospital administration, who are choosing to be quiet about the incident and the happenings after that. A few villagers complained to the District Collector Manish Tyagi, but rather than an immediate and urgent inquiry in response to their complaint, what they have got is legal notices asking them to appear for testimony. Further, more than fifteen days have passed but not a single senior officer from the district administration has visited site of the accident. Nor has the State Pollution Control Board (there is a regional office of the Chhatisgarh State Environment Conservation Board in Raigarh) taken any action against illegal dumping of hot ash direct from kilns at unguarded open residential place.
What is important to understand, in all this, is that this accident and its aftermath are not simply an isolated instance - not in Raigarh, nor elsewhere in India and definitely not across the 'developing' world. The faces of the villains, victims and audiences are the only things that change. Whistle-blowers find varied degrees of success while seeking justice. But more often than not, the industrial face of such projects is able to quickly put a lid on the whole affair. While the odd mention is made in papers, especially when children like Twinkle die, it is quickly back to business as usual - endless frustration for those who question it, and a nightmare for those whose lives are shattered, but a forgotten past for those who choose not to engage with it.
The verb "develop" is often defined as 'to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of or bring to a more advanced or effective state'. When one stops to ponder how routinely this advanced or effective state has included horrible tragedies visited upon the poor and disenfranchised, it is easy to recognise Gustavo Esteva's criticism for what it is - a plain observation of the truth. Development, packaged in the language of GDP and 'necessary' choices, stinks. And as we debate, define, resurrect, and reclaim our definitions, the world's realities are throwing them back at our faces, until we can evade them no more.
Incidents such as this and the lack of any due action, are of routine occurance in the burgeoning Raigarh district. Industrial development is playing out to its worst, with blatant violations, disregard for life along with fear and corruption as marks of "development". For the last 4-5 years I have been regularly writing in India Together on issues related to rapid industrial expansion in Raigarh district. The most recent article was on the expansion of the Monnet Ispat Plant where in school children were being impacted by pollution of existing operations, and no action was taken despite repeated complaints by the Principal
Article by Kanchi Kohli
To see that JSPL is part of a larger pattern is easy; one has to just land at the Railway Station, breathe the air, and circle around the plant, and the evidence is everywhere
The dictionary meaning of the word 'development' often does not match the corrupted reality of its use in India and elsewhere in the world, particularly in economies that are labeled 'developing'. At the same time, in the deeply embedded liberalised economies that one has been living in, the same word is read as a given paradigm, and the human and environment damage accompanying it - as they are in Raigarh - are regarded as necessary side effects.
The death of a child
To return to the letter I received - its contents spoke of one more incident in a by-now-familiar tale of woe over the operations of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) around Raigarh town. Ramesh Agrawal of Jan Chetana, an NGO in Raigarh, sent alerts to human rights and environmental groups, drawing attention to a sad but true industrial accident. On the afternoon of 17 April, 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, daughter of a JSPL employee Sanjay Thakur, and her brother were inadvertently caught in an open live-burning ash dump near a nearby residential area, the Indira Awaas colony. While her brother escaped with burn injuries to his legs, Twinkle died the following day, after being hospitalised first.
Villagers living in the area say the incident took place around 3-4 PM on the 17th. There were delays in informing the police, lodging complaints and booking suspects, but that has become the norm in incidents like this across the country. Twinkle died at 11 AM the following day, whereupon the police registered a case against an unknown JSPL contractor under section 304 A of IPC alleging death due to negligence. However, this was done without a site inspection - or verifying whether a contractor or JSPL itself was responsible for dumping the hot ash in the residential area.
Local activists have reported for many months now that JSPL has allegedly illegally dumped ash around Indira Awaas, which has led to serious accidents involving children. In fact ash dumps can be seen all around the plant site without any protection or regard to safety measures.
Dousing out the memory
Immediately after the accident, the hot ash was cooled off by JSPL, by sprinkling water through water tankers. Industrial operations like JSPL have their own fire brigade. "Soon after the incident, the very next day on 18th all the ash was removed from the accident spot. Tire marks of heavy vehicles could be seen even 4-5 days after the incident." says Agrawal. He argues that this action by the company (either directly or through its contractors) amounts to tampering with the accident site before the investigation is complete, and will come in the way of a just and proper assessment to determine the real culprit. "This is can be understood as a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence of the accident." he says.
On 29 April, the regional Hindi newspaper Chattisgarh reported on the incident in great detail. The report also included a statement by JSPL's public relations department denying the allegation that the illegal dumping of flyash is by the company. Accordingly to the statement, JSPL has designated dumping sites and methods for operations there. However, several villagers including those from Kirodimal Nagar (close to where the incident occurred), take ash from the JSPL plant for land filling and land leveling purposes. The statement implied that the hot burning ash that took Twinkle Thakur's life was one such instance of the material being moved by villagers to a different location than the one where it was dumped by the company.
Reports from the area indicate that Twinkle's house is locked, and her parents have left for their home town in Bihar. There is little that the local groups can also get out of the hospital administration, who are choosing to be quiet about the incident and the happenings after that. A few villagers complained to the District Collector Manish Tyagi, but rather than an immediate and urgent inquiry in response to their complaint, what they have got is legal notices asking them to appear for testimony. Further, more than fifteen days have passed but not a single senior officer from the district administration has visited site of the accident. Nor has the State Pollution Control Board (there is a regional office of the Chhatisgarh State Environment Conservation Board in Raigarh) taken any action against illegal dumping of hot ash direct from kilns at unguarded open residential place.
What is important to understand, in all this, is that this accident and its aftermath are not simply an isolated instance - not in Raigarh, nor elsewhere in India and definitely not across the 'developing' world. The faces of the villains, victims and audiences are the only things that change. Whistle-blowers find varied degrees of success while seeking justice. But more often than not, the industrial face of such projects is able to quickly put a lid on the whole affair. While the odd mention is made in papers, especially when children like Twinkle die, it is quickly back to business as usual - endless frustration for those who question it, and a nightmare for those whose lives are shattered, but a forgotten past for those who choose not to engage with it.
The verb "develop" is often defined as 'to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of or bring to a more advanced or effective state'. When one stops to ponder how routinely this advanced or effective state has included horrible tragedies visited upon the poor and disenfranchised, it is easy to recognise Gustavo Esteva's criticism for what it is - a plain observation of the truth. Development, packaged in the language of GDP and 'necessary' choices, stinks. And as we debate, define, resurrect, and reclaim our definitions, the world's realities are throwing them back at our faces, until we can evade them no more.
Incidents such as this and the lack of any due action, are of routine occurance in the burgeoning Raigarh district. Industrial development is playing out to its worst, with blatant violations, disregard for life along with fear and corruption as marks of "development". For the last 4-5 years I have been regularly writing in India Together on issues related to rapid industrial expansion in Raigarh district. The most recent article was on the expansion of the Monnet Ispat Plant where in school children were being impacted by pollution of existing operations, and no action was taken despite repeated complaints by the Principal
Article by Kanchi Kohli
To see that JSPL is part of a larger pattern is easy; one has to just land at the Railway Station, breathe the air, and circle around the plant, and the evidence is everywhere
The empire flows again
Sir Arthur Cotton, deified by generations of engineers and technocrats - with his statues found almost everywhere in Andhra Pradesh's coastal districts - supervised construction of what is called the Cotton Barrage (the Godavari anicut) which was completed in 1852. Back then, he viewed it as something greater than a mere engineering effort.
As Cotton saw it, the barrage was something a "Christian government' should do for its subjects ... The emphasis of all this is to give them (the 'natives') entirely new ideas of what a Christian Government is and thus to prepare them to receive Christianity." [Col. Arthur Cotton, Profits upon British Capital Expended on Public Works in India as Shown by the Results of the Godavery Delta Works, of Irrigation and Navigation, London, 1856]
The British are long gone from India, but the language, and the metaphors used in British colonial times continue to be used today. "The river must be restrained from wandering" wrote Cotton; "and all its branches must be provided with artificial embankments to protect the country from being flooded ... It is necessary, by artificial means, to keep the water constantly at a level which shall command the country, and also by a multitude of channels to lead it to every acre of land." And, "The system of works now in progress in the Delta of the Godavery are intended to embrace these four object, viz - to restrain the river; to preserve the land from floods; to supply it constantly with water; and to pervade the tract thoroughly with means of very cheap transit." [Col. Arthur Cotton, London, 1856]
Theirs was a philosophy of obstructing ('taming') what we today call ecological (natural) flows, and also of economic exploitation to maximize profits. And constant irrigation was seen as the means to generate revenue, even if it changed the traditional cropping patterns and methods of irrigation. When the cultivable land was left to 'breathe' at timed intervals, it bothered the British no end. "The number of ploughs lying idle every khureef season (2,000) would cultivate about 8000 acres of rice land, assuming that people work no harder than they now do ..." if irrigation access was provided. [Glasfurd, 1868] "It is necessary to keep the water constantly at a level which shall command the country and also by a multitude of channels to lend it to every acre of land." [Col Arthur Cotton, 1856
Cotton's statistics post-anicut, in the Godavari Districts, proved the benefits of these works in economic terms to the Empire. "The revenue of the Delta including that part that is in Masulipatnam, has increased about 60,000 Pounds ... (and) the amount of money re-circulated in the district had increased to 100,000 Pounds, above the average in years preceding the works; the internal traffic is now estimated at 180,000 tons carried thirty miles ..." [Col Arthur Cotton, 1856]. For his part, Cotton foresaw a larger role for private enterprise on the Godavari in the immediate future, and was disappointed that the Government in Britain was not taking as much initiative in this as was needed.
The empire flows again
More than a hundred years later, not only in his legacy of exploiting the river alive in the form of numerous projects that are ongoing, even his unfulfilled dreams of adding private exploitation to publicly-funded ones are close at hand. Commercial tourist traffic, based on the navigation idea that Cotton so religiously defended, to begin with, has already established itself.
Within a month of the Congress government being re-elected in Andhra Pradesh, its Major Irrigation Minister has announced that the Government seeks "national" (project) status for five irrigation projects related to Godavari waters. These include the Polavaram dam (top on the list of priorities), the Dummugudem tail pond, and three other projects at Pranahita-Chevella, Sujala Sravanthi and Sripada Sagar.
Signalling the urgency, he informed that Rs.18,000 crores have been allocated for these, of which Rs.4000 crores would be spent to clear pending bills for these projects. Surprisingly, the enthusiasm for these projects was not evident before the elections. Indeed, neither the Polavaram dam nor Godavari waters in general were part of the electoral discourse, except for the seemingly sudden shift in the Congress' campaign strategy in the last lap of campaigning in coastal Andhra districts - where the party warned voters about possible lack of access to the Godavari waters if Telangana state was allowed to become a reality.
'Utilisation of the Godavari waters' as a slogan was not invoked very much this time, to the extent it was in the 2004 elections. Water resources had a far greater share in electoral debates in 2004 than in 2009. In a conversation at the time of the elections, the former engineer K Vidayasagara Rao said, "Nobody is bothered about water issues. TRS was never against water being given to farmers, nor against Polavaram per se, but only against it in its present design and form. We have been highlighting the need for several small structures - not a big dam - to minimise the extent of displacement."
Even the opportunity for such nuance (TRS has also called for a fortification study of Polavaram, and independent reviews of the projects) may now have passed. Now that TRS has been defeated and the Left has been routed, and even the few remaining voices of opposition within the Assembly have been silenced, the implications on the spate of irrigation projects lined up in the State are worrisome. Several legal violations and socio-economic dimensions of these pending projects (not to mention the long-term environmental impact of restraining natural flows to the sea) have been discussed outside the Assembly. But with the Congress achieving a comfortable majority in the house of the people, these will no longer be part of the Assembly debates. Nor are other parties showing much interest in water issues.
The second coming of the Congress government in the State thus has opened the doors for aggressive consolidation of a form of privatisation and total control of Godavari waters we have not seen before. Sir Arthur Cotton's legacy is likely to continue without critical examination despite concerns about environmental flows, displacement, and exploitation of nature and climate change across the globe at several platforms. Until the idea of exploiting for profit continues, these concerns will remain unaddressed.
As Cotton saw it, the barrage was something a "Christian government' should do for its subjects ... The emphasis of all this is to give them (the 'natives') entirely new ideas of what a Christian Government is and thus to prepare them to receive Christianity." [Col. Arthur Cotton, Profits upon British Capital Expended on Public Works in India as Shown by the Results of the Godavery Delta Works, of Irrigation and Navigation, London, 1856]
The British are long gone from India, but the language, and the metaphors used in British colonial times continue to be used today. "The river must be restrained from wandering" wrote Cotton; "and all its branches must be provided with artificial embankments to protect the country from being flooded ... It is necessary, by artificial means, to keep the water constantly at a level which shall command the country, and also by a multitude of channels to lead it to every acre of land." And, "The system of works now in progress in the Delta of the Godavery are intended to embrace these four object, viz - to restrain the river; to preserve the land from floods; to supply it constantly with water; and to pervade the tract thoroughly with means of very cheap transit." [Col. Arthur Cotton, London, 1856]
Theirs was a philosophy of obstructing ('taming') what we today call ecological (natural) flows, and also of economic exploitation to maximize profits. And constant irrigation was seen as the means to generate revenue, even if it changed the traditional cropping patterns and methods of irrigation. When the cultivable land was left to 'breathe' at timed intervals, it bothered the British no end. "The number of ploughs lying idle every khureef season (2,000) would cultivate about 8000 acres of rice land, assuming that people work no harder than they now do ..." if irrigation access was provided. [Glasfurd, 1868] "It is necessary to keep the water constantly at a level which shall command the country and also by a multitude of channels to lend it to every acre of land." [Col Arthur Cotton, 1856
Cotton's statistics post-anicut, in the Godavari Districts, proved the benefits of these works in economic terms to the Empire. "The revenue of the Delta including that part that is in Masulipatnam, has increased about 60,000 Pounds ... (and) the amount of money re-circulated in the district had increased to 100,000 Pounds, above the average in years preceding the works; the internal traffic is now estimated at 180,000 tons carried thirty miles ..." [Col Arthur Cotton, 1856]. For his part, Cotton foresaw a larger role for private enterprise on the Godavari in the immediate future, and was disappointed that the Government in Britain was not taking as much initiative in this as was needed.
The empire flows again
More than a hundred years later, not only in his legacy of exploiting the river alive in the form of numerous projects that are ongoing, even his unfulfilled dreams of adding private exploitation to publicly-funded ones are close at hand. Commercial tourist traffic, based on the navigation idea that Cotton so religiously defended, to begin with, has already established itself.
Within a month of the Congress government being re-elected in Andhra Pradesh, its Major Irrigation Minister has announced that the Government seeks "national" (project) status for five irrigation projects related to Godavari waters. These include the Polavaram dam (top on the list of priorities), the Dummugudem tail pond, and three other projects at Pranahita-Chevella, Sujala Sravanthi and Sripada Sagar.
Signalling the urgency, he informed that Rs.18,000 crores have been allocated for these, of which Rs.4000 crores would be spent to clear pending bills for these projects. Surprisingly, the enthusiasm for these projects was not evident before the elections. Indeed, neither the Polavaram dam nor Godavari waters in general were part of the electoral discourse, except for the seemingly sudden shift in the Congress' campaign strategy in the last lap of campaigning in coastal Andhra districts - where the party warned voters about possible lack of access to the Godavari waters if Telangana state was allowed to become a reality.
'Utilisation of the Godavari waters' as a slogan was not invoked very much this time, to the extent it was in the 2004 elections. Water resources had a far greater share in electoral debates in 2004 than in 2009. In a conversation at the time of the elections, the former engineer K Vidayasagara Rao said, "Nobody is bothered about water issues. TRS was never against water being given to farmers, nor against Polavaram per se, but only against it in its present design and form. We have been highlighting the need for several small structures - not a big dam - to minimise the extent of displacement."
Even the opportunity for such nuance (TRS has also called for a fortification study of Polavaram, and independent reviews of the projects) may now have passed. Now that TRS has been defeated and the Left has been routed, and even the few remaining voices of opposition within the Assembly have been silenced, the implications on the spate of irrigation projects lined up in the State are worrisome. Several legal violations and socio-economic dimensions of these pending projects (not to mention the long-term environmental impact of restraining natural flows to the sea) have been discussed outside the Assembly. But with the Congress achieving a comfortable majority in the house of the people, these will no longer be part of the Assembly debates. Nor are other parties showing much interest in water issues.
The second coming of the Congress government in the State thus has opened the doors for aggressive consolidation of a form of privatisation and total control of Godavari waters we have not seen before. Sir Arthur Cotton's legacy is likely to continue without critical examination despite concerns about environmental flows, displacement, and exploitation of nature and climate change across the globe at several platforms. Until the idea of exploiting for profit continues, these concerns will remain unaddressed.
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