DEVELOPMENT AT WHAT COST? NEED FOR INTROSPECTION

Every nation aspires to be in the fore front of development vying for a place in the comity of nations with pride and honor. But the routes they choose may be different depending on the policies and practices of the ruling class which controls their destiny. Common sense tells that an agriculturally predominant country must use the strength of its farm sector to base its development while those with weak agri cultural base have to go for industrialization on a massive scale. Some countries have both these strengths and therefore have options to concentrate on either of them or both. Take for example the case of India which was a predominantly agricultural country till a few years ago and the shift in priority occurred after the economic liberalization starting in early nineteen nineties. Progressively agriculture is being sidelined and industrial and service sectors are getting more priority attention at the hands of successive governments during the past two decades. While industrial development has a place in national development policies, what is being ignored is the cost at which these developments are achieved. World wide environmental degradation is occurring on a massive scale putting the very survival of this planet in peril and one of the causes has been reckless industrialization without any environmental impact analysis. Here is a classic case from India where once revered and adored water bodies are being systematically destroyed in the name of development under the very nose of the government which has no time to see the indiscriminate destruction all around!  

"Methane gas is bubbling up from the black-coloured stew, and the water smells horrible. The holy river Yamuna, once teeming with life, is practically dead, yet a homeless man is rinsing his mouth with the noxious liquid. Under a nearby bridge, scavengers on a self-made raft are fishing out votive offerings that drivers throw from their cars to Yamuna, which is worshipped by Hindus as a goddess. But it is people and politics that are choking Yamuna to death, and ecologists are warning of a looming environmental catastrophe as World Water Day approaches on March 22. The river, New Delhi's lifeline, is reputed to be India's most polluted as well as one of the most toxic waterways worldwide. The Yamuna provides an example of Indian government policies that are focused on economic growth, often at the cost of the environment. In the meantime, the river is dying a slow yet unpublicized death, partly because it has mostly vanished from public sight behind concrete after the river was moved. A highway now runs along the old riverbed. Access to the river is possible at only a few points and glimpses of it can be gained only from road or subway bridges. Vimlendu K Jha, executive director of the environmental organization Swechha, estimates that 60 per cent of New Delhi's 14 million people have never seen the river."How can you save the Yamuna if nobody ever sees it?" he asks. The river is indeed rather beautiful -- before it reaches New Delhi and is polluted with raw sewage and toxic waste".

Every Indian must hang his head in shame listening to the sad story of the Taj Mahal "kissing" Yamuna river which has its origin in the sacred Himalayas. Millions of rupees are "wasted" in the name of rejuvenating rivers like Ganges and Yamuna while the quality of water in these rivers is progressively deteriorating to the extent they can be safely called dead rivers! There is a high profile minister calling himself "Environmental Minister" in the UPA cabinet with great conviction about what he says but with very little power to do any thing substantial at the ground level. The importance of water, qualitatively and quantitatively, cannot be under estimated and if such a policy continues disaster will be waiting to happen which the people of this once great country may have to face with terrible consequences!


V.H.POTTY
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