14 hindustantimes
TUESDAY, J UNE 05, 2018
e sta b l i s h e d i n 1 9 24
Thefarmsector
needsalifeline
Growth fetishism in agriculture
is fast reaching its limits
T
hat the farm sector has been mired in economic dis-
tress is not an unknown fact in India. Until now,
there has been a fundamental asymmetry in who
bears the pain of the agrarian crisis. Lakhs of farm-
ers have committed suicide in the last two decades.
Farmers’ protests too, have been
largely symbolic in nature; such as the
Long March of farmers in Maharashtra
and prolonged sit-in by Tamil Nadu farmers in New Delhi. These
actions have not had any material impact on India’s non-agricul-
tural population, especially the middle class which plays an
important role in shaping political opinions. This seems to be
changing. Over the past few days consumers in many Indian
states are paying higher prices and even looking at a potential
supply crunch for horticultural products and milk as protesting
farmers’ organisations have cut supply lines to wholesale mar-
kets. It needs to be kept in mind that farmers, whose economic
condition is always precarious, are inflicting economic damage
upon themselves by adopting such a tactics.
India’s agricultural sector has been on a proverbial wild
goose chase in trying to find a solution to its systemic crisis. Our
ruling establishment, both the current and previous ones, has
only sold promises, reports and occasional palliatives such as
loan waivers to the farmers. Minimum Support Price-based pro-
curement can at best be an anchor of prices for some important
food grains. It will take a drastic enhancement in warehousing
capacity and radical reforms in wholesale markets to provide
remunerative prices to farmers. The fact that farmers are pro-
testing despite roll-out of policies promoting digital connectivity
and trade in many wholesale markets and crop-insurance pro-
grammes, etc shows that little has changed on the ground.
Our politicians and policy makers have become used to
flaunting high agricultural growth rate and record crop produc-
tion figures in their attempts to dismiss concerns about a sys-
temic agrarian crisis. The fact that farmers are dumping the
same products is a clear warning that this growth fetishism is
reaching its limits as far as agriculture is concerned.
§
Governmentsmustnotlet
politicsholdartshostage
Kannadaactivistshavecalledforaban
onRajinikanth’supcomingfilmKaala
R
ajinikanth’s latest movie Kaala will hit theatres on June
7, and before its release, the movie has run into several
controversies. Pro-Kannada activists in Karnataka want
the movie not to be released in the state because Rajinikanth had
said that the Centre should implement the Supreme Court order
to constitute a Cauvery Management Board, at the earliest. This
stand against Kaala is supported by Sa Ra Govindu, the president
of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, which has said the
movie will not be shown in Karnataka.
Similarly, Rajinikanth’s comments on the Thoothukudi vio-
lence where he said that a few anti-social elements had infil-
trated the protests leading to attacks on police, destruction of
property, etc, didn’t go down well with some Tamil ‘activists’
who have asked that Kaala be boycotted. It is not just Rajini mov-
ies. Last year pro-Kannada activists called for a ban on the
release of Bahubali 2: The conclusion. The grouse was that Tamil
actor Satyaraj, who plays a role in the movie, a decade ago had
made statements perceived to be against Karnataka’s interests
in the Cauvery dispute. Satyaraj was made to issue a grovelling
apology before the movie could be released in the state.
Violent protests and enforced boycotts because of an artist’s
ideological or political positions are reprehensible. This is not
limited to a single movie, actor or a state. In the name of regional
pride based on language, ethnicity, caste, class or religion, fringe
elements are dictating choices for the silent majority. Nothing
can prevent them from choosing not to watch a particular movie
because they disagree with the actor’s politics. However, this
doesn’t give them the right to force this choice on others, espe-
cially with a threat of implied violence. It doesn’t help that pusil-
lanimous administrations usually choose to keep quiet for politi-
cal gains instead of reining in such fringe elements. Govern-
ments should ensure that art isn’t held hostage by politics.
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§
past&present
RAMACHANDRA GUHA
ForIndia,sustainabilityisnotaluxury
India’s political class must realise the enormous
human costs of environmental abuse
B
ack in 1928, Mahatma Gandhi
had warned about the unsustain-
ability, on the global scale, of
Western patterns of production
and consumption. “God forbid
that India should ever take to
industrialisation after the manner of the
West,” he remarked, adding: “The economic
ourtake imperialism of a single tiny island kingdom
[England] is today keeping the world in
chains. If an entire nation of 300 million took
to similar economic exploitation, it would
strip the world bare like locusts”.
The key phrase in this statement is ‘after
the manner of the West’. Gandhi knew that
when India became free, it had to develop
economically, to eliminate mass poverty and
assure a dignified life for its citizens. But
because it had far higher population densi-
ties thanthe West,and because it did not have
colonies to command and exploit, India had
to be more responsible in its use of natural
resources, lest it destroy the environment on
which all life, and especially human life,
depended.
Gandhi’s environmental ideas were taken
forward in his time by such visionary think-
ers as the sociologist Radhakamal Mukher-
jee and the economist JC Kumarappa. How-
ever, they were comprehensively disre-
garded by the governments of post-
independent India, which, in their blind
arrogance, chose to adopt resource-inten-
sive, energy-intensive policies regardless of
Indian realities. This led to massive human
suffering, to the dispossession of village and
tribal communities by corporate takeover of
their resources or by degradation caused by
polluting projects. It was this destruction, of
nature and of human livelihoods, that was
Why India is taking the
lead for a clean planet
The nation is a leader in recycling and innovation. That’s
why we can find solutions to the world’s plastic problem
HARSH
VARDHAN
B E
efore we had plastics, we used bags
made of jute and paper and combs of
wood . Frugality, recycling and reus-
ing was part of our tradition. The
belief that there is more than one life for
everything was entrenched in the psyche of
Indians.
Somewhere along the path to develop-
ment, we moved away from our natural way
of living. Plastics are now littering our shore-
lines, clogging some beaches totally. Plastic
waste is choking drains in cities, causing
them to overflow, making them a breeding
ground for diseases. Our oceans and ecosys-
tems are turning into dumping grounds.
This is not just India’s problem, but a
global one. We are all connected through the
seas. Plastic packaging has been found float-
ing with icebergs and in the deepest depths of
the ocean. Where the ocean currents meet,
there are huge floating islands of waste: plas-
tic bags, cutlery, packaging, bottles, drinking
straws and more. Some of these items are
used momentarily and discarded adding to
our waste woes. This has huge adverse effect
on sea life.
Used wisely, plastic is a miracle material.
Look at any hospital and see the exquisitely
created sterile packaging and basic
items that save countless lives. However,
plastic materials that are used for manufac-
turing myriad products not degradable.
Our obsession with plastic, coupled with
over consumption, the use-and-throw
culture, and littering creates a hazardous
environment for animals, marine life and
human beings.
Plastic debris in the sea kills an estimated
100,000 marine mammals and millions of
birds and fish annually. According to the UN
Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific
Aspects of Marine Pollution, land-based
sources account for up to 80% of the world’s
marine pollution, 60- 90% of the waste being
plastic debris. Every year, an estimated eight
million metric tonnes of plastic ends up in
our oceans, equivalent to a full garbage truck
every minute.
It’s time to recognise and accept the cause
of this: it’s not plastic that is the problem, but
OUR OBSESSION WITH PLASTIC,
COUPLED WITH OVER
CONSUMPTION, THE USE­AND­
THROW CULTURE, AND LITTERING
CREATES A HAZARDOUS
ENVIRONMENT FOR ANIMALS,
MARINE LIFE AND HUMAN BEINGS
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MANAGING EDITOR: SOUMYA BHATTACHARYA
comment
opposed by popular movements such as the
Chipko and Narmada Andolans, and the fish-
erfolk struggle. This ‘environmentalism of
the poor‘ led to the belated creation of a min-
istry of environment in 1980, and to a slew of
laws designed to prevent ecological abuse by
vested interests.
However, in recent decades the environ-
mental gains of the 1980s have been whittled
away by successive central governments,
both UPA and NDA, as well by regional par-
ties in the states. This is in part because of the
mistaken belief that India must first grow
rich before it can afford to clean up, and in
part by the capitulation of political parties to
privatecorporationswho areconcernedwith
their own short-term profit rather than the
larger good of society as a whole. This fresh
Age of Ecological Arrogance has caused even
further damage, as manifest in our polluted
cities, our dead or dying rivers, our depleting
aquifers, our contaminated soils, and more.
John Maynard Keynes famously wrote
that “practical men who believe themselves
to be quite exempt from any intellectual
influence, are usually the slaves of some
defunct economist.” This is absolutely true
of all politicians in India today. They are
slaves of the economists of the 1950s, who
believed that poor countries had to be less
concerned with environmental degradation
than rich countries. On the other hand, the
best economists of the 21st century have con-
clusively demonstrated that a country like
India must be even more environmentally
responsible than (say) the United States. This
is for three reasons: because our population
densities are far higher, because tropical eco-
systems are less resilient than temperate
ones, and because it is the poor who dispro-
what we do with it.
Plastics and polymers in solar panels and
wind turbines are at the heart of India’s eco-
nomic and energy revolution. However, sin-
gle-use plastic has created several problems
for the environment as it is not bio-degrada-
ble. According to United Nations estimates,
every year the world uses 500 million plastic
bags, half of which are used just once.
India is already a global leader in recy-
cling. We’re also a leader in innovation.
That’s why we’re committed to leading the
world in finding solutions to this problem. As
a globalhost of the upcoming World Environ-
ment Day on June 5, India will be moving into
high gear against single-use plastic pollu-
tion.
I urge upon citizens to pledge to do one
“Green Good Deed” a day at least – which
effectively means taking green good actions
that reflect our green good behaviour. This
indeed is our green social responsibility
towards the earth and also the future genera-
tion for whom we must leave a better planet.
From the boardroom to the classroom;
from the cricket field to the railway station;
from the office to the beach; I call upon people
to come out of their homes and become
“Green Good Deed” warriors in our battle
against plastic.
Community action comes first, and it
delivers tangible results. We should all be
inspired by the beach-cleaning community
movement being taken up in Mumbai, which
is a huge success story. I would like to remind
all of you on this occasion that as a result of
the team’s hard work, turtles have returned
to the beaches near Mumbai. This movement
has also resonated around the world, inspir-
ingthousandstoactandpushforchange.The
ministry of environment, forest and climate
change has also taken up beach and river
cleaning activities with the help of state gov-
ernments, NGOs and several community-
based organisations in different parts of the
country this year.
Even if not being involved directly in a
clean-up, anyone can exercise their power
and influence as a consumer – by refusing
unnecessary single-use plastics such as
straws, carry bags, cups, bottles, plastic
utensils, etc.
Second, we need the private sector to do
what it does best: innovate. Time and again
we have shown the world the creativity and
entrepreneurial spirit of our people. On
World Environment Day, it is now time for us
to pledge to innovate our way out of a throwa-
way future. Many Indian business leaders
are already doing so: there are plastic-free
hotels and waste-to-energyprojects that keep
rubbish out of landfills. An increased accept-
ance of the idea that extended producer
responsibility is also good business is now
visible.
Whatever we use, we must use many times
over. Zero waste must be India’s mission.
Harsh Vardhan is Union minister for environment,
forest & climate change
The views expressed are personal
HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW D ELHI
n Police confronting a protestor demanding
the closure of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper
unit, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, May 23 PTI
portionately bear the costs of pollution,
deforestation, soil degradation, etc. In India,
the ignorance of our rulers is compounded by
their malevolence, their readiness to sacri-
fice the interests of the aam admi to the greed
of their favourite crony capitalist.
Misguided by out-of-date economists and
by corporate apologists in the Press, the
Indian middle class was lulled into believing
that environmental sustainability was a lux-
ury we could ill afford. But in recent years
that complacency has been called into ques-
tion, because the evidence of environmental
abuse is now so starkly in our face — and in
our chests — and because those who are the
victims of such abuse have once more begun
to protest. Thus scholarly studies have dem-
onstrated that Indian cities have the highest
rates of pollution in the world. Meanwhile,
India andtheIndo-Pacific
balance atShangri-La
India’s vision for the Indo­Pacific reinforces an Asean
whose unity is undermined by Chinese influence
DHRUVA
JAISHANKAR
ach year, the Shangri-La Dialogue
inSingaporeconvenesdefencemin-
isters and military commanders
from across Asia, Europe, and
NorthAmerica,alongwithrepresentatives
of defence companies and assorted aca-
demicexpertsandjournalists.Overthepast
two decades, it has evolved into Asia’s pre-
mier security conference, where matters
such as tensions on the Korean peninsula,
terrorism, and nuclear proliferation are
deliberated. Keynote speakers in recent
years have included the prime ministers of
Japan,Singapore,Thailand,andAustralia.
Thisyear’skeynoteaddressbyPrimeMinis-
ter Narendra Modi, therefore, proved an
important opportunity to highlight India’s
perspectivesonregionalsecuritydynamics.
Not surprisingly, Modi’s address was
filled with a laundry list of India’s regional
partnerships and activities. He mentioned
India’sties withJapan(“the cornerstone of
our Act East Policy”), “momentum” with
SouthKorea,“freshenergy”inpartnerships
with Australia and New Zealand, and
engagementwithPacificIslandnations.He
also highlighted New Delhi’s “special and
privileged” partnership with Russia and a
multi-layered relationship with China. He
discussedvarious ways in whichIndiawas
engagedwiththeregion,includingmilitary
exercises,tradeagreements,andassistance.
Andhescoredpointswithhishostsbydraw-
ingspecialattentiontoSingapore,acountry
that Modicharacterised as India’s “spring-
boardtoAsean”and“agatewayforIndiato
the East.”
ButModi’smainmessagewashisarticu-
lation of India’s vision for the Indo-Pacific
region. The idea of the Indo-Pacific as a sin-
gle strategic space is an outgrowth of
China’s growing influence in the Indian
Ocean region. It signifies the interconnect-
ednessoftheIndianandPacificOceans,the
importance of the oceans to security and
commerce, and India’s role in the broader
region.Butithascometobeseenbysceptics
as a byword for a strategy to balance China
by other countries, including India. Critics
in China argue alternatively that the Indo-
MODI’S VEILED MESSAGE WAS
DIRECTED AT CHINA, AND
REFLECTED A MORE
WIDESPREAD CONCERN ABOUT
HOW BEIJING IS WIELDING ITS
ECONOMIC AND MILITARY
MUSCLE
there been a resurgence of the environmen-
talism of the poor, featuring (among other
such groups) tribals dispossessed by open-
cast minining, and peasants whose liveli-
hood is threatened by industrial pollution.
The recent protests in Thoothukudi were
by working-class victims of environmental
abuse. That they ended in such tragedy
should have led to a belated dawning of envi-
ronmental wisdom. But it appears that our
decision-makers and those who drive them
are determined not to learn. While there has
indeed been some fine field reporting on the
issue, this has been quickly followed by arti-
cles by editorial writers unaware of ground
realities, seeking to whitewash Sterlite and
its crimes. These apologists have variously
claimed (with scant evidence) that the pro-
tests were violent and foreign-inspired, while
implying (with even less evidence) that
imposing environmental responsibility on
large corporations will lead to economic dis-
aster.
India today has the intellectual capacity to
frame policies which can combine economic
growth with environmental sustainability.
In our research institutes we have outstand-
ing scientists who can help our governments
(at the Centre and in the States) pursue
industrial, agricultural, forest, water,
energy, housing and transport policies
which will enhance growth without imperil-
ing our long-term future. Tragically, how-
ever, we do not have politicians willing to lis-
ten to these experts. The State’s murder of
innocent citizens in Thoothukudi would, in
a more transparent and accountable democ-
racy, have been a wake-up call in this regard.
But I fear that in our own deeply flawed polit-
ical order it will soon be forgotten, particu-
larly with a general election approaching
and the coffers of political parties waiting to
be filled up.
Ramachandra Guha’s books include
Environmentalism: A Global History
The views expressed are personal
Pacific concept adds to tensions and lacks
substance,whileinSoutheastAsiaconcerns
have grown that it could contribute to divi-
sions within the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean).
Modiclarified that for India the Indo-Pa-
cificwasneitherastrategynoranexclusive
club. He described it as a “natural region”
ranging“fromtheshoresofAfricatothatof
the Americas” and argued that it should be
“free, open, and inclusive”; grounded in
“rules and norms…based on the consent of
all,notonthepowerofthefew”;andcharac-
terised by respect for international law,
includingontheissueoffreedomofnaviga-
tion and overflight. His language closely
mirroredthatusedbytheUnitedStatesand
Japan, both of whom have begun to articu-
late their own “free and open Indo-Pacific”
strategies. Modi’s veiled message was
directedatChina,andreflectedamorewide-
spread concern about how Beijing is wield-
ing its economic and military muscle.
But just as important, Modi gave a reas-
suringmessagetotheSoutheastAsiandele-
gates. He characterised the Indo-Pacific as
consistentwithAseanunityandcentrality.
ModipointedoutthatAseanhadinfact“laid
the foundation of the Indo-Pacific Region”
andkeyAseaninitiativesembraceitsgeog-
raphybyincludingIndia.Therefore, India’s
vision for the Indo-Pacific reassures and
reinforcesanAseanwhoseunitycontinues
to be undermined by Chinese influence.
If Modi’s speech did not explicitly high-
light the roots of the primary challenges to
regional security, US secretary of defense
James Mattis was less circumspect in his
address at Shangri-La. “China’s policy in
theSouthChinaSeastandsinstarkcontrast
totheopennessofourstrategy,”Mattissaid,
pointingtoChina’sdeploymentofmissiles,
electronicjammers,andbomberaircraftin
disputed islands as an act of “intimidation
andcoercion”.HisdescriptionoftheUSfree
and open Indo-Pacific strategy included an
emphasis on the maritime domain, naval
capacity building, interoperability, and
investmentininfrastructureandconnectiv-
ity. This too aligns with Indian concerns
about China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Chinese officials continue to downplay
the Indo-Pacific as a concept, a number of
developments have concretised. The num-
berofstrategicdialogues,intelligenceshar-
ing mechanisms, military exercises, and
defence compacts involving large and
medium powers in the Indo-Pacific —
including India — have rapidly multiplied.
Nowherewasthismorepronouncedthanin
Modi’s prior stop in Indonesia, where a
rangeofrecentandimminentIndia-Indone-
sia defence mechanisms were highlighted.
In a region where tensions are growing,
ModihaslaidaclearmarkerofIndia’sorien-
tation. The Indo-Pacific is a multipolar
region that is increasingly contesting the
notion of one state’s potential hegemony.
Dhruva Jaishankar is fellow, Foreign Policy,
Brookings India, New Delhi
The views expressed are personal
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