I hope that this write up, might get noticed by some policymakers who wish to implement environmental laws in practical India.

Today, in the morning when I was on my way to my office (in New Delhi), I came across a storm water drain. The drain was carrying effluent water with dark green colour and strong odour. On the further way ahead, my mind was completely occupied by the fate of that effluent, its effects on the water bodies, on the flora and fauna of that water body and ultimately on the man who consume those fishes or water. My mind got further irritation when I realized that there must be hundred such nallas in the city and thousands of sources of such effluents, which ultimately get their space in the so called SACRED river YAMUNA.

According to my best of the knowledge, we have a Yamuna Action Plan implemented since past …. years but still no significant improvement in the state of the river. What I strongly believe is that we are wasting our money, energy and time on the rehabilitation of the river and not doing anything on stopping such effluents(at source) from coming into the mainstream.

I do not challenge the national laws and statutes for environment protection in India, but I question the practical implementation of these. We have a robust system of environmental clearances for all the industries and the industries are supposed to submit their environmental performance on annual basis to the ministry or pollution control boards. But the main loop hole is how industries manipulate their environmental performance and there is no regular check available from the government.

My suggestion here is that we should have GREEN COPS available at all industrial zones of the country who would have a direct reporting to the central ministry and any misconduct should result into the action against the industry and the state pollution control board. GREEN POSTS should be accessible by the common man, where anyone can report any environmental misconduct observed by him in the area.

The qualifications, eligibility, compensation of the green cops can be determined as such that they must be self motivated and environmental conscious for an effective line of control.

I just wanted to convey my thoughts to the right people, if in anyways it can be of help to the nation or our MOTHER EARTH.

One of my favorite professors at school, Dr. Tim Henry, who practiced dentistry for a while, and now teaches anatomy & physiology, amongst other subjects, lent form to a nebulous idea that had been floating in my mind for a long time. He views the imbalance on our planet akin to imbalance in our body - disease as a dangerous shift from a stable condition of health or 'homeostasis'. As I read further into the wise writings of eminent scientists who have been diagnosing the illnesses of the earth over the past few decades, I realize some disturbing patterns...

Extending Dr. Henry's idea further, one may 'postulate' that the variety of afflictions now tormenting various segments across the globe are symptoms, in the least, of something much worse; only collateral damages - but not the root of the problem. Al Gore, the fearless knight of the American climate crusades, portrays climate change as a planetary 'fever'. It will be of interest for you to note that fevers are not diseases, but symptoms, and rather 'side effects' of a more insidious illness. The hysteria developing over climate change is much like the Western medical approach to resolving a situation where a patient suffers from a fever. To attack symptoms is a form of urgent action, which is not necessarily the right action always [especially when the disease is causing much more damage than just a merely harmless increase in temperature].

Our planet is currently suffering from a disease analogous to what ails humans in the form of Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome AIDS. The planet is failing in more than one way - the melting of ice bergs, hotter summers, stronger cyclonic storms, and more unpredictable weather, lower biodiversity, lower crop yields, spread of invasive species, and the like. The symptoms are numerous - much like the multi-faceted failure of the AIDS patient, our planet is probably unable to deal with a gang of remarkably varied criminals, each attacking a separate organ.

I cannot even begin to understand the complexity of this sinister issue - the climate scientist is just as much in a quandary as those doctors who faced the complex situations of diagnosing their first AIDS patients. The Earth-doctors feel similarly helpless and flummoxed, having never encountered something so powerfully devastating. What hope can they give? What hope can I or you give each other in times that we are numb to pain, but not immune to it? The quest for truth, for justice and fairness has already been lost in the din of the crowded marketplaces of a million glittering pieces of glass. We can live in denial - like the first victims of HIV that do not perceive the symptoms for quite a while before the deathly virus gains foothold. Isn't it so easy to deny such a misery than accept it and do what it takes to counter it? Does our civilization have the moral courage for such actions?

Does our civilization have any hope? What hope can we give to each other if our planet has been similarly diagnosed with an incurable, stigmatic illness - one whose effects are not even manifest completely yet. What plan of action does our world now choose - to keep exercising the economic 'biceps', bailing it out occasionally with protein shakes and steroids, while ignoring the crucial ethical leukocytes, and educational nerves? An AIDS patient might have avoided the illness by wrapping tight in a moral fabric too strongly knit to keep breathing in colorful freedom. What kind of devices would have kept the earth from contracting such a promiscuous illness that leads to its failure to sustain itself?

The reluctant messenger of truth has a short lifespan and needs more than bulletproof jackets. It would probably be worthy to criticize my ideas as pessimistic and nihilistic, only if it were true that we have been faithful to our planet. As messengers of the betrayal, climate scientists and writers are often caustically rebuked for throwing cinders onto a peaceful relationship. The enigmatic analogue I present herein may be meaningless and astringent, but I am hoping that a sharper intellect will dissect this piece of linguistic flesh in a future post-mortem to reveal deeper truths, or shallow lies, of the situation that presents itself to us today - an ailing planet, a sick economy, and the critical failure of intellectual courage to go beyond the symptoms and signs, and attack the germs of greed, anger, malice, envy, and lust. Are we training smart farmers who can cultivate a future world, uprooting evil weeds and destroying its sinful seeds? If we cannot be such farmers, will we afford the siesta that could be?

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water is one of the most precious natural resource of our mother earth. During this monsoon we have to harvest the rain water so as not to deplete our ground water table. Many people are unaware of this. can we all together bring a awareness camp in the villages atlease spending one to two days in a month apart from our routine work atmosphere.

If any one can join this mission, i will be very thankfull. if not also i request them to educate their neighbours atleast

Raghava

Dear All,

King Cobras Ophiophagus hannah are large, endangered serpents with an uncertain future mainly due to human-induced pressures on their populations and habitats. There have been reliable un-published reports of king cobra sightings in the North Coastal A.P - Orissa border.

Although this anecdote is basically about spotting a dead king cobra specimen in Srikakulam agency area of A.P, it is the first authenticated record of the species with photographic documentation from this geographical location.

You may access it by directly clicking on the link below

http://www.zoosprint.org/ZoosPrintNewsLetter/Reptile_Rap_10_28June2010.pdf

I hope this might be of some interest to you all.

Thanks & Regards.

Sincerely,

Murthy K.L.N,

Programme Officer,

Centre for Environment Education,

Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad - 380054.

Government CCAP sketchy to say the least’

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Government’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) has come in for serious flak for its “naive approach” to aproblem as multi-dimensionl as global warming and its impacts onagriculture and food security. Hosted on its official website for public response, the plancharts out actionable points for 11 sectors with budget outlines.Objections and reactions will be accepted till June 25. Thereport can be view at http://orissa.gov.in/portal/occap.pdf.

However, most find the document ill-conceived since it does not provide for institutional delivery mechanism for many sectors.

“The priorities section does not talk about targets leading to achieving the objectives.

There is no mention about the mechanisms to execute the plan. Furthermore, the document deals more with researchand studies and adequate emphasis is not given on action points,” saidOrissa Civil Society in its response to the Government.

One of the key challenges that climate change offers is food security and it has not been dealt adequately by the action plan giventhe state of Orissa’s economy, its vulnerability quotient and theextreme poverty levels.

The State being extremely vulnerable to natural calamities such as floods and drought which occur regularly, food security assumesserious importance because Orissa banks heavily on agriculture.

Issue of food security, challenges faced by small and marginal farmers in agriculture has not been given adequate emphasis in theaction plan.

Similarly, system of rice intensification which is emerging as a sustainable paddy cultivation practice and contributing positively toarrest climate change by emitting less methane should be promoted amongthe farmers. Such practices like Sustainable Sugarcane Initiativeshould be promoted but are missing in the CCAP. There is no system to enhance farmer’s participation inplanning and implementing.

Besides, drought being a major impact of climate change, any mitigation plan not finding place in the documentis surprising. No focus on indigenous seed variety and traditionalweather-resistant crops are given any focus. The action plan is silent on how low carbon economy can be brought about which ideally should be the thrust.Stating that the document is completely silent on the follow-upactions to be undertaken based on the research findings which thegovernment intends to undertake in the coming days, the critics said,the budget of Rs 143 crore outlined for reviewing the presentagricultural policy is big waste.

According to Bijay Mishra of Vasundhara, creation of more forest in revenue areas to compensate the loss on green cover to miningand industries will cost the State dear. The loss is that of potentialagricultural land which could have been used for growing morefoodgrains to address food insecurity. He also felt that the Governmentshould have ideally given more time for gathering response instead ofhurrying through it. The CCAP was posted on the website June 6.

Himanshu

Vasundhara