The cynicism of ‘development’ is the scourge of Nature. Take the case of Aarey Forest Colony, which has become an ecological cause celebre. In the suburban Mumbai colony, authorities cut 2,141 trees out of over five lakh trees in a green belt where a large variety of birds and animal species live. It is also home to 27 tribal villages. The buzz saws belong to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, which desires to build a metro car shed there.
A metro car shed?
Seriously?
Oh, the woods are lovely, dark and deep but where else can metro cars, which travel for miles, sleep? After the Bombay High Court in its wisdom declined to stop the demolition by ignoring public outcry, the Supreme Court’s judicial activism for good causes has thankfully put a chokehold on the ruling until October 21. Mumbai has already lost 40 per cent of its mangrove cover, which protects the city from the fury of rain and floods. But what the heck? It’s just goddamn trees right? India is not an environmental disaster waiting to happen. It is an environmental disaster that is happening.
The not-so-secret cabal of bedfellows—politicians, babus and the mafia in mining and construction—is nuking our forest cover faster than Little Boy from the Enola Gay falling on Hiroshima. Take the Aravalli Hills, which are close to India’s seat of power where Parliament sits and the environment ministry conducts its lofty, leafy business. They stretch over 800 kilometres from the capital across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana, and are believed to date back 350 million years. That is older than the Himalayas, the fount of ancient Indian wisdom. Put that in your chillum and smoke it, babaji. In March, the Supreme Court saved it from an eco-disruptive amendment. But is it right to expect judges to step in each time a tree is cut or bulldozers maul the land?
The long-term solution is not judicial help but sensitising the system and citizens to the nurturing power of Nature. Last year, the apex court ordered the demolition of Kant Enclave in the Aravalli range, full of illegal construction: houses, office complexes and even a University. And guess who bought the houses? India’s rich and powerful like retired Army officers, retired babus, top lawyers, entrepreneurs, an ex-MP and even a former Chief Justice of India. If people whose dharma is to uphold the law break it, is there any place for conscience?
The Atharva Veda celebrates Nature saying, “O mother, with your oceans, rivers and other bodies of water, you give us land to grow grains, on which our survival depends.” The constituency of the Modi administration is both ancient and modern India. Lord Ram took refuge in the forest, sages meditated in glades, gurus taught their students under venerable trees. Modern India’s future lies in rebuilding its ancient pastoral heritage. Not building a metro car shed.
Ravi Shankar
ravi@newindianexpress.com