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Environment Kashmir and S.Asian politics. by peeji Parimoo
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Environment Kashmir and S.Asian politics. |
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Blogs,Books,Hinduism
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Environment Kashmir and S.Asian politics. The raging controversies and cross fire of accusations centered around India’s Environmental ministry has had the fortunate fall out in that it has made Indian nation seriously conscious about Environmental conservation. Considered to be a recent fad and the creation of Jolla wala, the pseudo intellectuals in our country, the concept had been receiving mere lip service as do several other subjects like Gandhian way of life and the superiority of Indian culture repeated and cited like mantras of yore by our political leadership of every hue. Nearly two decades back the Germans raised the intellectual drawing room issue to a national political level with the formation of the important Green party which today enjoys an important say in the nation’s politics. But man’s serious concerns for the nature conservation date much earlier than that. We have historical evidence of the state involvement in nature conservation enforced by an ace engineer of Kashmir, Suyya during the reign of Avantiverman in 9th century A.D Much later in early thirteenth century a nation branded barbaric and ruled by one of history’s most blood thirsty kings, Chengiz Khan, who has gone down in history as the man who had hundreds of thousands particularly the Muslims of central Asia(Balkh) and eastern Iran massacred, had at least one highly civilized trait; the concern for environmental conservation. The law of the Mongol land had specific rules for conserving the water bodies the concern for which was so serious that any body found bathing or washing clothes in a stream or a communal water body could be beheaded. The nature conservation issue involves a whole gamut of human activity. We may concentrate on three of the most important environmental facets here namely: water, Mangroves and Forest cover. All the three subjects have become raging controversial topics in South Asian politics. With every passing day the water issues in many countries of the world are increasingly affecting the people and their national politics. The water distribution treaties agreed upon between India and Pakistan, have been rendered extremely controversial if not redundant owing to visible ecological changes and reduction in the volumes of water available. The treaty between the two countries, under Article 5.1, envisages the sharing of waters of the rivers Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Jhelum and Chenab which join the Indus River in Pakistan. According to this treaty, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, are allocated for exclusive use by India before they enter Pakistan. However, a transition period of 10 years was permitted during which India was bound to supply water to Pakistan from these rivers until Pakistan was able to build the canal system for utilization of waters of Jhelum, Chenab and the Indus itself, allocated to it under the treaty. Similarly, Pakistan has exclusive use of the Western Rivers Jhelum, Chenab and Indus but with some stipulations for development of projects on these rivers in India. These stipulations allowing development works like de-silting of Salal Dam in Jammu and Kashmir State and other minor schemes however have become a bone of contention between the two countries. Recently when some proposed work for repairs of the famous sweet water lake, Wullar in Kashmir valley, was being carried out, the Engineers and workers were forced to abandon the work at gun point by the extremist infiltrators from Pakistan. The signing of the water distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, the financing of various water storage projects to benefit Pakistan and India resulted in tensions getting minimized and to a great degree; much of Kashmir's water importance was forgotten for the next couple of decades. As the populations of both countries increased exponentially, water resources came under increasing stress. With India preparing ambitious irrigation project plans, it was possible to see how, by the 1990s, Kashmir's hydrological importance had once again become a serious issue. It is worth noting that the Pakistan based JuD(Jamaat ud dawa) has publicly presumed India’s possibility of blocking water to Pakistan, hence a justification to wage jihad. In most public statements, however, the JuD tends not to link water and Kashmir, in contrast to the Pakistani military's position on the argument. India, however, has consistently and emphatically maintained that it has never meddled with Pakistan's share of the Indus waters. The water dispute of India with its eastern neighbor Bangla Desh has been less vehement even during the rule of anti Indian Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) party. The 1996 treaty established a long-term solution and considerably eased the strains between the two neighbors. The treaty has been attacked by the ruling Awami League's main rival, BNP but it did not renege from the treaty when it came to power in 2001. The BNP and other Bangladeshi political factions allege that India is drawing excessive water and the amount allocated to Bangladesh is unjust and insufficient. India in turn complains that the water allocated to Bangladesh leaves it with less water than necessary for the functioning of the Kolkata Port and the National Thermal Power Corporation at Farakka. The State of Gujarat in India has had to face severe opposition from a microscopic minority of its own population who were more concerned about the submergence of some barren or bushy lands if the height of its much publicized Sardar Sarovar Dam over the River Narmada was increased. Despite the highly critical stand and agitation of some prominent members of the Indian Society, the Supreme Court gave clearance for the height to be increased to 121.92 m (400 ft), but in the same judgment Justice Mr. Bharucha gave directions to Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra the adjoining states that before further construction begins, they should certify that all those displaced by the raise in height of 5 meters have already been satisfactorily rehabilitated, and also that suitable vacant land for rehabilitating them is already in the possession of the respective States. This process shall be repeated for every successive five meters increase in height. Though the water resources are so meager still many nations mistreat its usage, contamination of water bodies, lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater is rampant. Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Gujarat State of India in its intensive drive against the water pollution discovered how some industries were force pumping their extremely toxic wastes into the underground subsoil water. It came to notice when farmers drawing water from their wells found coloured water oozing into their wells. Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these water bodies. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological cycle as has happened in case of Kashmir’s famous Dal Lake. River Ganges, Ganga to the devout, like several of her sister rivers so much revered by Hindus would have been spared the shameful defacement as it suffers today, had India enforced even the mildest of laws to keep its rivers clean. Even the traditional de facto guardians of these waters the holy Sadhus never lifted their little finger to preserve the purity of the very rivers they worship. The Shri Shri Sants , Mahant Maharajas,and the Domb rajas all disgustingly profiting by making our holy waters the refuge of unburnt cadavers and other decomposing materials. The issue of Environmental conservation has now become a pressing issue of environmental regeneration; besides the conservation is a gigantic task which can be handled with the crusaders zeal at the State level on a macro scale and by citizens on a micro scale. The nations of the world though aware of the pressing emergency are not uniform in their sincerity of implementation. Unfortunate as it is, the common citizenry can take a lead by demonstrating what can be achieved by handling the issue even at micro levels. Simple small gestures conducted on a massive scale will force even the callous rulers of the world to heed to public opinion. Boycotting fine gauge plastic bags by durable and non disposable cloth bags, rather than paper bags would go a long way to prevent blockage of drains, stagnation of water bodies and reduction in deforestation by reducing demand for paper. We need plastics but we need Engineering plastics for replacement of wood and metal. If we can force the governments to reduce duties on manufacturing of metallic doors, windows and also on anodizing processes, we can render wood too expensive and redundant for use in the ever booming construction industry as has been achieved in Europe. This will give a second chance for our forests to revive and bless us with their bounties. Present dependence on wood needs serious thought now before it is too late. Solar heat wherever available in abundance, lignite reserves and even the ancient cow dung may be our ultimate answers for the domestic fuel need of the generations to come at least so long as the atomic energy technology does not evolve into a reliable and safe form of energy available to common man. Mangroves are facing the threat of extinction given the ever increasing human population’s propensity to acquire more and more of elbow room. Mangrove forests and estuaries besides being the breeding and nursery grounds for a number of marine organisms including the commercially important shrimp, crab and fish species serve much higher purpose of guarding the shore line and prevent soil erosion. The slightest ecological imbalance can take a heavy toll. Mangroves’ role in stabilizing these areas is basic and hence very vital. No engineering and technological solutions can substitute the role of Mangroves for stabilizing these areas. Even if we negate all benefits of mangroves as forests, their value as protectors of shoreline is reason enough to assure their conservation. Functioning as buffers between the land and the sea coastlines the world over; the mangroves of the world effectively face the problems of coastal erosion and threat of rising sea levels due to global warming. To control such assault of the sea on land, the nature has provided what is called as Mangroves, a tropical ecosystem which is more dynamic than the sea itself. The area under mangroves in Gujarat (India) is the second largest along the Indian coast, after Sunderbans in West Bengal. Gujarat has about 23 percent of India's estimated mangrove cover of 4.88 lakh ha. Of the total mangrove cover in the state, the coastal district of Kachh has the highest acreage. FOREST cover:The tiny country of Bhutan nestled in the lap of outer and inner Himalys can boast of being one of world’s countries with highest percentage of dense forest cover. It not only scores over the rest of South Asian countries in terms of forest cover but can easily claim to be the region’s least polluted countries. According to the U.N. FAO, 69.1% or about 3,249,000 ha of Bhutan is forested, Between 1990 and 2010, Bhutan lost an average of 10,700 ha or 0.35% per year. In total, between 1990 and 2010, Bhutan gained 7.1% of its forest cover or around 214,000 ha. As against this the picture in India is disheartening The Forest area (% of land area) in India was last reported at 23.02 in 2010 The forest cover in the country has decreased by 367 sq kms with the green area decreasing in 14 states. According to India State of Forest Report-2011, forest cover has decreased in 14 states including Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Tripura, an official release said here today. reports on deforestation, shows that in the last 50 years, deforestation has accelerated as a result of poor government control (and in some cases corruption), lack of local awareness, and military conflict. Sustained deforestation has begun to have a severe effect on the entire environment of Jammu & Kashmir. In both Jammu and Kashmir state and Pakistan administered Jammu & Kashmir, the cutting down of old growth alpine forests have occurred at an alarming rate. Illegal timber smuggling has emerged as one of the main illicit livelihoods and largest of sectors in Kashmir's "conflict economy". In India-administered Jammu & Kashmir, whole forests have been cut down illegally. In Pakistan- administered Jammu & Kashmir, there are cases of army officers treating their posts as commercial logging opportunities. In the past, entire forests were cleared and sold. Cases such as these underscore the need to develop effective measures safeguarding Jammu & Kashmir's forests and other natural resources. Logging companies carve roads into the area; strip the land of much of the old growth forest and move on, leaving bare hillsides exposed to the heavy rainfall common to the area. The rain waters rush down the hills, covered only by loose soil, and erosion causes this soil and silt to flow into the rivers and lakes. Deforestation and the resulting loss of habitat is driving a number of endangered species to extinction. In order to save the environment of Jammu & Kashmir, rigid conservation and preservation of the forests are vital. Keeping in view the sluggish response or outright nonchalance by several nations, it becomes imperative for the International community to assert more forcefully on the member nations than it has been doing so far. Related Articles - Kashmir, forests, Salal, Bhutan, Bangla Desh, Ganges, Mangroves, Forests, Dal lake, Wullar lake,
Related Articles -
pakistan, India, Bangla desh, water treaty, Salal project, Kashmir, Kalhan,
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