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Showing posts from April, 2022

Why were 20,000 people resettled from Delhi near highly polluting landfill site?

By Bharat Dogra  A big fire at the Bhalsawa landfill near Delhi has led to the emergence of a highly hazardous situation in Delhi. Official sources have attributed this to the release of methane gas, a GHG many times more more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its impact on climate change, as well as a long spell of dry and hot weather conditions. The multiple authorities in Delhi have been exchanging blame as they usually do, and a technical team is being dispatched to Mumbai to find ways of capturing the gas and reducing high risks. However questions arise as to why these and other solutions could not be found much earlier, as the risk of fires as well as other serious hazards has continued to remain at high levels for some years at Bhalsawa landfill as well as at other landfill sites of the city like Ghazipur. An even more important question that needs to be raised is why these landfills have been allowed to become such huge monster type threats of the capital of India, while

There is need to distinguish between RT-PCR positives and clinical cases of Covid-19

Insisting on the need to distinguish between RT-PCR positives and clinical cases of Covid-19, an open letter by 20 doctors and medical professionals: *** Firstly the virus has gone through the Indian population enough and is now well established as an endemic infection which shall keep causing flu like illness in only few people as most will not even develop severe symptoms. The ICMR had already called for the suspension of testing anyone not having any symptoms (Jan 2022). Children have been shown to tackle the virus much easier than adults. Children also do not pass Covid infection to others that easily as adults do to children. Schools have opened and no single outbreak or incidences of severe disease have been documented. Therefore healthy children must not be tested for Covid anymore unless the treating doctor in hospitalised cases requires it. Calling people (children or adults) with RT-PCR positive report as “cases” is faulty. A “case” is a person who has disease and presents wi

Justice, equality, peace, harmony, environment protection: Alternative path for India

By Bharat Dogra In the middle of unprecedented world problems and many-sided internal distress, India must find a firm path based on equality, justice, meeting basic needs of all, strengthening creative livelihoods, social harmony and peace. As its present path is far from being such a path, there should be very sincere efforts to evolve such a path. This note is written as such an effort. This is a modest effort from a writer-activist who has been involved with such endeavors, with the hope that more learned friends will improve this. It is hoped that the government can benefit from this, and/or the opposition forces and people’s movements can make creative use of this. The unity of democratic opposition forces needs a common program, and this note can also contribute to this. It is hoped that this will also contribute also to the wider world movement for alternatives. India in the 75th year of its independence today stands at a very important juncture of history, faced with very seri

Earth Day re-emphasizes need for resolving survival crisis before it is too late

By Bharat Dogra This year the Earth Day ( 22 April 2022 ) is being observed at a time when the dangers to our once beautiful and bountiful planet appear to be at their most extreme. This is not just because of the more worrying projections of climate change by leading scientists, or because of similar projections of a worsening situation with respect to other serious environmental problems. This is also because of the deeply disappointing attitudes of world leadership as seen in the rapid escalation of the Ukraine crisis and now in the Ukraine war. When our home is in extreme danger of collapsing, shall we repair the home or shall we fight in such ways that the structure gets damaged even more? This is a question that people need to ask their leaders at a time when the world is getting divided and the dangers of actual use of nuclear weapons, or other weapons of mass destruction, are increasing. In the course of Ukraine war such threats have been used and fears have been expressed as

J&K environmental protection fails to get required attention unlike Uttarakhand, HP

By Bharat Dogra In areas which experience more political tensions including those relating to conflicts, environmental problems tend to be sidelined and neglected. This can lead to less remedial actions than in other comparable areas, while problems continue to increase. This can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir. While environmental problems have been widely discussed in the context of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, despite the issue being equally serious in Jammu and Kashmir, these have not received the same attention here. So it is nice to see several members of the younger generation taking keen interest in environmental issues in Jammu and Kashmir. One example is the way in which several young persons have taken the initiative to clean the polluted and badly threatened Tawi river in Jammu for quite some time. They certainly need, and deserve, much more support from the authorities. Another good sign in an overall bleak scenario is the positive role of the National Green Tribunal in

Suspended, Par-Tapi-Narmada River Link Project should be fully withdrawn

By Bharat Dogra There has been a great surge of united actions by tribal communities against the Par-Tapi-Narmada River Link Project following which the central government and the Gujarat state government have suspended the project for the time-being. Apart from protests by tribal communities, the fact that the Congress party has extended its support to the opposition of this river-link project and that assembly elections are due in the near future must have also weighed with the governments while suspending work on this project. Under this project three rivers are to be linked—the Par, the Tapi and the Narmada, using 7 dams, three diversion weirs, two tunnels and a 395 km. long canal. Six dams are to be constructed in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra. However the most reported aspect of this project recently has been the the big and united opposition by tribal communities who have formed struggle committees for various dams and regions. They have asserted that they want a more real comm

Lesson from Narmada: Free flowing rivers better equipped to fight climate change

Rappahannock river By Lori Udall When I think back on my work in India in the late 1980s and early 90s, my memory takes me most often to the Narmada River and Manibeli, the first Adivasi village in Maharashtra to be submerged by the Sardar Sarovar dam. The storied Narmada, with its Hindu temples, landscapes, the mystical parikramas and distinct voice will be forever stored in my soul. As an activist who tracked World Bank development projects in India, I worked with Narmada Bachao Andolan. As I travelled on or near the Narmada, I documented the resettlement issues facing the Adavasi and other oustees and sent reports back to the World Bank and U.S. Congress. I live now by another river, the Rappahannock River in Virginia that flows through our farm and travels south to the Chesapeake Bay. As with all rivers, the Rappahannock tells her story as she flows by to those who listen, watch and wade in her waters. The Rappahannock is the longest free-flowing river in the eastern United Stat