The Himalayan region is a particularly fragile ecosystem. The interconnections between the different types of vegetation, between plant life and the soil, between the soil, vegetation and water are so close and so precariously balanced that the slightest change in one plunges the entire system into jeopardy. Ecosystems on seismic belts, for example, are literally ‘at the mercy of the land’. Nature plays havoc in other ways too: the monsoon pattern often spells drought in the dry season, and terrible floods during rainfall.
¤ DeforestationEmbrace the trees
Save them from being felled;
The property of our hills,
Save them from being looted.
– Folk poet Ghanshyam Raturi
¤ An Age Old Process of Human Extension
Way back in 326 B.C., when Alexander the Great came to India, his advance was checked by almost impenetrable forests along the Indus. By the time Emperor Ashoka ascended the throne, stretches of forests had already been cleared to make roads.
Ashoka realised the importance of conserving forests, and even appointed an officer for the purpose.
Sher Shah Suri was also farsighted, and planted trees all along the route from Delhi to his capital Patna. However, the Mughals’ interest in forests was sadly limited to a rather hedonistic passion for big game.
Under the British rule, deforestation became rampant in order to procure timber to build furniture, railway sleepers and ships for the British navy. However, the British soon realised that forests had to be spared the ordeal.
After Independence, forests were cleared whenever wood was needed either for timber or agriculture, or for setting up townships.
Forests were razed to the ground mindlessly till the eastern hill people decided to say a collective ‘Stop’!
¤ The Starting of Chipko Movement
That was in the 1970s – the beginning of the Chipko Movement, one of the country’s most successful environmental movements, which then spread rapidly across the Himalayan foothills. Here, one must mention the name of Sundarlal Bahuguna – an ascetic Gandhian, and perhaps the torchbearer of India’s struggle to save its forests.
Chipko literally means ‘to stick’, although here we’ll use the more appropriate version which is ‘to embrace/cling’. Fuelled by a strong urge to save trees from being chopped down, the women of the Himalayan region embraced the trees in an attempt to protect them.
The sight of a man with an axe was enough to make hordes of people race out of their huts to cling to the nearest trees.
and they would stay put with their arms around the trunks until the ‘aggressor’ had passed. If the man’s intention were to actually cut down a tree, he would stare around in amazement while the local population ‘embraced’ as many trees as he could see. He would then simply leave, for the alternative would be to hack human beings before getting to the wood.
¤ Forest Distructions Through Fire
Forest fires have largely contributed to deforestation. Forests in India are very susceptible to fires, especially in summer. All it takes is one little spark and a forest fire could reduce considerable green stretches to ashes in a matter of a few hours.
Earlier the Bishnois of Jodhpur (Rajasthan) even laid down their lives to save trees. The Bishnois are a religious community, famous for their loyalty towards animals and trees. In fact, they are known to worship the blackbuck as a sacred animal.
Various measures are being taken to curb the felling of trees. Clearing forests is now an offence under Indian law, unless approved by the concerned authorities. However, deforestation has acquired alarming proportions in India. The country’s total forest cover today has fallen to a little more than approximately 10% –a dismal situation for a country with a population of over a billion.
¤ Land Degradation
Every year, valuable topsoil is swept away by floods in the rainy season. and deforestation contributes to the problem of soil erosion. Man may well have compounded the problem.
¤ Introduction of Chemical Farming
To sustain the country’s enormous population, intensive chemical farming was introduced in the 1960s, ushering in the ‘Green Revolution’.
Chemical fertilisers and high yield grains were used on an unprecedented scale. Although production tripled, the quality of the land took a battering. Chemicals and toxic substances too have taken their own toll on the land. Desertification (cultivable land turning barren) is a serious problem in some parts of the country, especially in Rajasthan.
¤ Water Conditions
Despite high rainfall, water levels have dropped alarmingly in many places in the country. Obviously this is due to the demands of a burgeoning population. In any case, the monsoon cannot always be relied upon; it is not uncommon for a region like Rajasthan to be stricken by drought once every two to three years.
While hydroelectric projects are a partial solution to the problem, their overall ‘efficiency’ is not beyond interrogation. The Narmada Valley Project – a vast project of several dams aimed at providing water and power for Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra – when completed, is projected to submerge an estimated 350,000 hectares of forest and 200,000 hectares of cultivated fields, and displace nearly 400,000 people.
Spearheaded by the environmentalist Baba Amte, Medha Patkar, and more recently Arundhati Roy, a vigorous campaign is in progress against the building of the dams.
Another controversial project is the Tehri Dam in Uttar Pradesh. Besides the displacement and loss it is projected to cause, another dread is that the dam may burst as it is being constructed on an earthquake-prone zone.
The distinguished man in white, Sunderlal Bahuguna has once again spared no effort at raising public consciousness about the issue at hand.
¤ Pollution
Despite having some of the strictest laws in the world against pollution, India is one of the most environmentally polluted countries in the world.
Air pollution is so grave in cities like Delhi, Calcutta, Kanpur and some others, that simply breathing the air is equivalent to smoking 10-20 cigarettes a day! Recently, Delhi acquired the dubious distinction of being one of the five most polluted cities in the world. The rivers in the country have not been spared either.
Industrial waste and a combination of other factors have contributed to the plight of these ‘dying’ rivers. In some places, safe drinking water, is a rare commodity. Lakes and river habitats too have been polluted. The Yamuna Action Plan was a project undertaken at a tentative cost of Rs 20,000 crore (see Yamuna Action Plan under Delhi) to cleanse the river of pollutants. A similar project was undertaken for the mighty Ganga River.
¤ Conservation
Ancient texts including the epics, the Buddhist Jatakas, the Panchatantra or the more recent Jain scriptures, all preach non-violence towards even the lowest forms of animal and plant life, a philosophy that the Indian Maharajas and their British guests chose to overlooked for a while.
The Indian Government has an uphill task to perform. It has been able to protect only about 4% of the total forest cover in the form of National Parks and similar reserves. Underhand activities like poaching are not entirely unheard of even in these restricted areas.
Currently there are about 80 National Parks and 441 sanctuaries in the country. Massive tree plantation programmes are also being undertaken. The Vana Mahotsava, first started in 1950, is an annual tree-planting festival celebrated across the nation.
¤ Individual Efforts
Vishweshwar Dutt Saklani of Garhwal, in Uttar Pradesh, is a small time farmer who started planting trees to seek solace after the death of his brother (who had initiated the practice) in 1948.
In the last 50 years, Vishweshwar has overlaid 100 hectares of land with oak, cedar, walnut and rhododendron. People were dismissive of him until they saw the sea change that his work had brought about in the village.
Denuded hills became green, land became more fertile and dry streambeds filled up. Fodder and fuel were in plenty and everyone was happy.Vishweshwar received the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award in 1986.
Bikkalu Chikkaiah and Thimmakka were a childless couple who worked in a quarry close to Bangalore.
They decided to raise banyan trees in lieu of the children they were unable to have. So they chose a barren piece of land en route to their quarry.
The couple planted saplings and put protective barriers around them. In the evenings, they lugged water from a well a kilometre away. 40 years later, 284 banyan trees provided shade to a 3km stretch. Thimmakka received the National Citizen’s Award in 1996.
Abdul Karim of Kasargod, Kerala too did something similar. He turned a dry piece of land into a veritable forest after 19 years of hard labour. His deciduous trees brought water back into the soil. Karim went a step ahead and got some animals in this forest, to successfully replicate a healthy ecosystem.