TOPIC OF THE DAY –
“To Be An Environmental World Power”
Ecological ruin is on a gallop across South Asia, with life and livelihood of nearly a quarter of the world’s population affected. Yet, our polities are able to neither fathom nor address the degradation. The distress is paramount in the northern half of the subcontinent, roping in theswathe from the Brahmaputra basin to the Indus-Ganga plain.
Within each country, with politics dancing to the tune of populist consumerism, nature is without a guardian. The erosion of civility in geopolitics keeps South Asian societies apart when people should be joining hands across borders to save our common ground.
Because wildlife, disease vectors, aerosols and river flows do not respect national boundaries, the environmental trends must perforce be discussed at the regional inter-country level. As the largest nation-state of our region, and the biggest polluter whose population is the most vulnerable, India needs to be alert to the dangerous drift.
China has been resolutely tackling air pollution and promoting clean energy. But while Beijing’s centralised governance mandates environmentalism-by-decree, the subcontinental realities demand civic participation for sustainability to work. Unfortunately, despite being a vast democracy where people power should be in the driving seat, the Indian state not only neglects its own realm, it does not take the lead on cross-border environmentalism.
Thus, Bihar is helping destroy the Chure/Siwalik range of Nepal to feed the construction industry’s demand for boulders and conglomerate, even though this hurts Bihar itself through greater floods, desertification and aquifer depletion. Air pollution is strangling the denizens of Lahore, New Delhi, Kathmandu and Dhaka alike, but there is no collaboration. Wildlife corridors across States, provinces and countries are becoming constricted by the day, but we look the other way.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has chosen India to be the ‘host country’ to mark World Environment Day today. But when will New Delhi rise to connect the dots between representative democracy and ecological sanity?
WORDS AND MEANINGS –
1) Gallop
Meaning: (Of a process or event) progress in a rapid and seemingly uncontrollable manner.
Example: “His life gallops headlong towards disaster”
2) Fathom
Meaning: Understand (a difficult problem or an enigmatic person) after much thought.
Example: “The locals could not fathom out the reason behind his new-found prosperity”
Synonyms: Understand, Comprehend
3) Paramount
Meaning: More important than anything else; supreme.
Example: “The interests of the child are of paramount importance”
Synonyms: Cardinal, Foremost
4) Swathe
Meaning: A long strip or large area especially of land.
Example: “Huge swathes of rainforest are being cleared for farming and mining”
5) Drift
Meaning: To move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction.
Example: “No one noticed that the boat had begun to drift out to sea”
6) Tackling
Meaning: Make determined efforts to deal with (a problem or difficult task).
Example: “Police have launched an initiative to tackle rising crime”
Synonyms: Address, Approach
7) Realm
Meaning: A field or domain of activity or interest.
Example: “The realm of applied chemistry”
Synonyms: Domain, Sphere
8) Conglomerate
Meaning: A thing consisting of a number of different and distinct parts or items that are grouped together.
Example: “The Earth is a specialized conglomerate of organisms”
Synonyms: Mixture, Combination
9) Aquifer
Meaning: A body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.
10) Depletion
Meaning: Reduction in the number or quantity of something.
Example: “The depletion of the ozone layer”
Synonyms: Exhaustion, Use
Antonyms: Augmentation
11) Denizens
Meaning: A person, animal, or plant that lives or is found in a particular place.
Example: “Denizens of field and forest”
Synonyms: Inhabitant, Resident
