Just read about the monsoon warning by the World Meterological Organisation and the almost double probability of the El Nino happening this year. We are, as a nation, staring at a possible drought - the probability of the said calamity happening being twice that of each year.
From the view point of our normal, regular and insane neglect, this is a 'natural' calamity if it so happens and one which we can do nothing about but to fold our hands and recognise it being invincible and just measure losses, lick wounds and carry the dead to the pyre ....
But, is this really a natural calamity that we will face, if at all?
Think about it. Our agriculture is still rain dependent. It needs water for it to do well. And, if we can arrange water through the year, we won't need to look skywards all the time. Not to say, we won't need rains. But, just that, with good water management, we will be in a position to not depend on 'good' or 'normal' monsoons for our subsistence! But, next 'yakshaprashna' is .. what is good water management?
Good water management will entail proper and planned development of concrete and 'green' structures, continuous monitoring and maintainence of ground water tables, efficient use of water as well as electricity, proper garbage recycling, so on and so forth. But, the real reason lies in the concretisation of any and every available space and complete neglect of sustained increase in forested areas.
What effort does our elected representative put in for aforestation? Plant and few saplings on world environment day, thats it? No one even glances at those strggling saplings next hour onwards and the soon barren land that it becomes is then made available for the use of some builder to raise some more glass and concrete's mindless structures of 'development'. The truth cannot be more farther than that. The fact of the matter is .... we are digging our own grave and lighting our own pyre!
Look at this wonderful post from a great blogger which details the growing concretisation and receding forest area ... http://20twentytwo.blogspot.com/2009/06/mumbai-concrete-jungle.html
Interestingly, this is only Mumbai which has lost almost 100% non-forest greenery and gained 200% more concrete!!!!! And this we are not measuring the height of the concrete yet ... only floor area .... think what will be the equation when we compare with the heights we have cut and heights we have raised ... I cannot even start to think the damage that Mumbai has sustained... and it ain't broke yet and so, we are still in the game and hence, continuing with this madness ...
Same is the story of all the 2-tier and 3-tier cities in the country. We are not even starting to look at the desertisation that is happening to the country side. Rains are attracted by the green cover on the land. This is a simple equation. As we plan concrete, we MUST plan greens too. Harsha Bhogle once said a very interesting thing that the Australian cricket board is all about cricket and hence, they are successful at it... Indian cricket board is all about money and hence, we have all the money! It shows what happens when we have our hearts in the right place... just when Indian administrators started putting all those well-earned dollars in the right places, we started getting a far superior crop of Indian cricketers...
Isn't the lesson too obvious? We talk of spirituality being our USP as a civilisation. Are we spiritual anymore? Or is greed guiding each and every action of ours? I consider western countries like Germany better and more spiritual as a society than ours who care so much about the entire environment that they are living in and not just their living quarters ... It is already past eleventh hour; yet this is a burning question which we as a nation must figure out ASAP ... because this will decide whether we let our next generations to live or we let them die ... we must ask for that particularly important reason to ourselves... Are our hearts in the right place???
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