Need for Eco-Literacy

COMMUNICATION

When Nature’s laws are flouted and Ecology Illiterates rule the roost, man-made disasters are bound to happen.

The notification by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, dated December 18, 2012, correctly stated that the 135 km stretch from Goumukh to Uttarkashi is an eco-sensitive area. Its implication was that the series of hydro-electric projects planned along the river Bhagirathi needed to be abandoned and the construction of hotels and resorts needed to be avoided for these inevitably would need the use of dynamites. But the State Government of Uttarakhand urged the Union Government, including the Prime Minister, to withdraw the notification. Though the Union Government did not withdraw, it did not seriously reprimand. The inevitable results followed.

Now, such constructions would have to wait for a century, if not more. The principles of ecology are of paramount importance for the formulation of economic or political programmes at all levels.

Sailendra Nath Ghosh
B-77, Manavsthali Apartments
Vasundhara Enclave,
Delhi-110096

sailendranathghosh@yahoo.com/
sailendranathg@gmail.com and sailendranathghosh.blogspot.com