CHAPTER II - Shodhgangashodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/14964/10/10_chapter 2.pdf · CHAPTER II REGIOBAL DISPARITIES AND EHVIRONKEHTAL CONFLICTS IB IBDIA Every country,

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

REGIOBAL DISPARITIES AND EHVIRONKEHTAL CONFLICTS IB IBDIA

Every country, whether developed or underde-

ve loped, has economica.lly adva.nce.d and backward regions.

The basic question is how to minimise the gap. Again coun

tries are divided in to regions based on linguistic or

racial differences i.e. India and Belgium. Others are

divided on the basis of riatural factors such as in Peru,

Columbia and Equador where the country is divided into

coastal, forest and mountainous regions. While Holland is

simply divided into western and eastern region. For the

purpose of the present study, we shall have an economic

divisions of region in India-rich and poor or advanced and

backward etc.

Economists of India are generally tempted to look

at the problems of the country from above. They think of

the problem of different parts of the economy in macro

terms and compare states ad regions and sub-regions by the

levels of growth, development and productivity. But now the

economy of India has new trend. The problems and

complexities of the modern economy of India are largely due

to structural and institutional constraints. It is

essential therefore, to identify the critical problems of

economy of India, the process of economic thinking must be

changed and steam lined. We must have a national policy and

54

economic planing in such a manner that they are directed

towards the state, region and sub-regions. This is in fact,

based on the assumption that all the deep-rooted problems

of India and the potentials of India are to be found in

state and regions. Therefore, the problems of mass poverty,

specially the structural and institutional changes needed

and the requirements of intensive development of

agriculture, industry and services at the regional and area

level call for a pattern of intensive and integrated

development which reaches down to region and sub-regions

and integrates agriculture, industry and service sectors.

Hence so far it is clear that there are regional

disparities in our country on two levels. First created by

nature i.e. fertile plain of Ganges and Desert area, second

is the man made gap between two particular regions like

Punjab area (due to green revolution) and Kalahandi Orissa

(because of sheer neglect). The former variation is natural

gift and nobody can change while the latter one has

resulted due to the lack of human being's conscious

efforts. Though the gap between two particular regions can

be minimised whether it is man made or natural but changes

are more in the man made phenomenon because of the

multidimensional role played by a man in every sphere of

life. Now here arises the basic question of conceptual

context about what is the 'region' because on this very

issue experts and economists as well as sociologists and

political scientists may differ, and especially in a

diverse country like India it is but natural. Therefore,

55

considering all these factors - the concept of region has

to be defined, to avoid the controversies.

Geographically, the term 'region· is nebulous in

character and speaking the very concept of region varies in

shape, size, purpose, ~ontext, time and space. Therefore it

is not an easy task to define it, even than scholars have

come up with their profound opinions i,e Hartsharne consid-

er region as the phenomenology of land scape, while C.C

Carter viewed region as "good servants (and ) bad 1nasters".

Minshull, expressed his idea regarding regions as,

"the concept of region floats away when

one tries to grasp it, and disappears

when one looks directly at it, and tries 1

to focus".

The other regionalists like Hettner and Whittlesey

generally defined region as a concept of homogeneous

phenomenon over a particular space, that can be sub divided

on the basis of area variables. German regional geographers

have defined regions in physiographic term. Now a days the

most prevalent views are of two types first, the concept of

regional method is a means to an end while the second holds

that the regions actually exist in nature as an adjective

facts. Infact the regional approach - rather to say he idea

of regional development originated with Stalin. He wanted

to develop each economic region within U.S.S.R. in such a

way that in the event of in invasion, the occupation of any

56

region by the capitalist powers might not cripple the

economic power of the country. Therefore strategic

considerations prompted Stalin to develop all regions

equally. During the second world war, it was the German

bombardment which led to the dispersal of industries in

England and attention was focused on the development of

backward ares.s. The two economic deve lop1nent, preludes i.e.

Barlow commission in 1937 and the PEP (Political and

Economic Planning) group in 1939 had laid down the

foundation stone for dispersal of industries in backward

regions. As a matter of fact all over the world whether in

developed or underdevelop countries, they have their

backward areas as well and pay attention towards their

development. The first attempt in this regard extended in

U.S.A. was the Tennessee valley area to be developed.

Thus it is very clear that the particular region

should have homogeneity, in terms of physiography, culture,

racial or linguistic and economic activities, putting all

these factors together, we can have an specific identity of

the particular area that can be called a region as Joerg w,

I.G. puts it,

.. An area whose physical conditions are

homogeneous ... To K. Youngs' .. A geographic

area unified culturally, unified at first

economically and later by consensus of

thought, education, recreation,

distinguishes it from other areas.

57

which 2

In our country t~ identify a region for

developmental strategies are recent realization but, geo-

graphically sub continent has been broadly divided earliest

by McFarlance in his volume: Economic geography, while well

known work in this regard was produced by stamp, L.D.

during 1922-24 the period of 1922-24, taking into account

physiographical structure and climate. He divided entire

India into three 1'1acro-leve 1 regions and twenty two sub-

divisions as under:

(a) The

(b) The

(c) The

natural regions of the mountain wall;

natural regions of the Northern plain;

natural regions of the Indian plateau.

Stamp described all these regions as "Natural 3

regions·· , in his book. On the other hand Mr. Kazis. Ahmad

proposed the fourth division of subcontinent i.e., the

coasts and islands of India as a separate are. At the end

of the 1930's some other scholars made a serious efforts

for further regionalization of India. O.H.K. Spate is one

of the leading personality to divide India in to different

regional divisions and his work was more refined than

others. He generally aggreed with Stamp and Baker's scheme,

highly critical of Pithawala's work as well as Kazi Ahmad's

proposal of fourth division of India.

Taking serious note on diversity especially in the

country like India he felt that

58

"any serious division at this stage

therefore, cannot be more than a recon-4

naissance".

Spate's classification was more empirical. His

schem~ was as follows: Three macro regions (except Ilands),

Thirty five first order regions, seventy four second order

and two Hundred twenty five sub-divisions as well. He was

very dynamic and liberal to observe and adopt the objective

conditions of a particular area to divide into further sub-

units. He was very much aware about the ignorance of

regional identify for better under standing that is why he

endorses kuriyan·s view that "understanding is more 5

important than classification" in India.

Then later on R.L. Singh has regionalised entire

India in to well defined manner. According to his scheme

there are twenty eight Meso level regions under four basic

physiographic divitions further divided into sixty seven

first order sub regions and on~ hundred ninety two second

order sub anits. Thus this is the scheme of Regional divi-

sions of India made so far, begining from Me Farlane to

R.L. Singh taking into account all socio-political and

geographical factors for further understanding or develop

mental strategies.

Economically speaking the term 'Region·, in the

Indian context, means a state within the union of India

59

which is formed on linguistic basis. But for the purpose of

planning, it may imply an economically backward area or

state i.e. west Rajasthan (Desert) and dry areas of Andhra

Pradesh. Hence a region may be a district, a town or a

village. Whatever geographers may have divided entire

country into divisions ~nd sub divisions, first order or

second order but considering economic developmental

activities, whole nation can be divided into two catagories

like backward and forward regions. There may be lots of

variables or indicators i.e. income. Agricultural and

industrial factors through which one can asses that

particular region is a backward or forward one. Although on

the surface it seems that all these variables are

independent but the harsh reality is that they are

interconected and linked to each other in such a manner

that can be identified by an interdisciplinary approch and

scientific orientation only.

Now next step after identifying the region as

backward, comes the question of strategy to

gap between top and bottom regions in

indicators. In our case Government of India

minimise the

a particular

have adopted

the policy of developmental plans after independence to

achieve this objective of minimising the gap between the

advanced and backward regions of our country. Therefore it

is essential to have an analytical look over five year

plans, whether they have minimised the gap or increased the

same through their strategies.

60

While in the first plan, the rate, and pattern of

development that would take due considerations of regional

balance and sustained growth has been mentioned. But due to

the limitation of resources no serious attempt was made to

correct regional disparities. Infact regional imbalances

has ben increased due to the wide gap in the per capita

development expenditure on states like, Hysore (49), Bombay

(42), West Bengal (29.4) Madhaya Pradesh (19.6), Utter

Pradesh (17.6) Rajasthan (15.5) Bihar (15.1) Orissa (12.4).

Thus percapita expenditure on developmental activities

itself proved that most backward state like Orissa, has got

12.4 percent, Bihar Rajasthan etc. a.nd on the other side

developed region i.e. Mysore, Bombay has got relatively

higher amount therefore regional disparity increased under

the banner of development plan so proper strategy and

monitary system is mainly needed to check them up at the

appropriate time, other wise it would be a reverse effect

on development activities. To thras out the problem of

Regional disparities in our country the second five year

plan has emphasized that disparities in levels of

development between different regions should be

progressively reduced. Keeping into mind this approach,

number of programmes were inclu~ed in this plan such as (1)

the provision for power, water supply, transport,

irrigation facilities in backward areas; (2) programmes for

the expansion of village and small industries in these

areas; (3) the new enterprises in accordance with the need

for developing a balanced economy.

61

In pursuance of this policy, village and small

industries were encouraged and industrial estates were

located near small towns. A number of such industries were

located in backward areas of Orissa, North Bihar, Andhra

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajashthan, Assam Tamilnadu etc.

But even than the second plan only touched the fringes of

the problem of regional disparities. Despite the highest

share of central contribution to the state plans of Orissa

(89.5 %), Madhya Pradesh (75%) and Rajasthan (74%), their

per capita incomes were Rs. 226, Rs. 274 and 271,

respectively, much lower than the all India level of Rs.

309 at current prices. Hence after this much serious

efforts second five year plan failed to do always with

regional diversities.

Again .in the third five year plan it has been

realised that balanced development of different parts of

the country, extension of benefit of economic progress to

the less developed regions and wide spread diffusion of

industry are among the major aims of planned

And to implement this plan for removal

disparities deliberate attempts were made to

development.

of regional

expand the

power, transport, irrigation, education and training facil­

ities as . well as the development of village and small

industries. Some backward areas in various states has been

given special consideration in this regards. The factors

such or population pressure, on cultivated land, state of

communication, technical and administrative setup also

62

seriously thought on how to deal with this problem of

regional variations in terms of development. While third

plan also failed to solve the same problem of regional

disparities. Some improvement has been witnessed in the

increase of percapita income in different states but the

gap between the forest and richest region continued to be

of the same magnitude. Maharastra gave away the first

position to Punjab which has continued to enjoy this

position since then.

and Tamil Nadu,

Haryana took the place of West Bengal,

Andhra Pradesh inter changed their

position. Bihar continued to be at the bottom while some

states like Punjab, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh pushed up

in their positions mainly due to new enterprises,

especially small scale industries and rapid increase in

agricultural productivity. The other developed states has

also improved their status in the sphere of dispersal of

industries. In this rat race of development, the natural

tendency for new enterprises and investments to gravitate

towards the already prosperous areas continued to persist

and the regions already laging behind in this tag of war

has witnessed the same result of relatively widening gap

between the advanced and deprived regions of our country.

The fourth plan approach has been much more prag­

matic than the previous plans one to deal with the problem

of regional disparities. Because strategically the plan

devised a triple formula for removing regional imbalances:

the first, emphasis on the allocation of central assist-

ance; second, to instal the central projects in backward

63

areas; the last but not least third one adjustment in the

procedures and policies of financial institutions so as to

provide concessions to small and medium scale industries in

backward areas. The fifth plan carried forward the same

approach to the development of backward areas as the

fourth plan.

The sixth plan approach, also emphasised

continuing the existing policies for removing regional

disparities and added certain new dimentions i.e. (a)

Diffusion of skills and technology to backward areas so as

to increase productivity. (6) strengthening of the weak

resource base of such areas by specific programmes for

their development. (c) Such area development special

programmes would be devoted with the over all development

plan of the state in order to make them cost effective. (d)

modification and ~valuation of central and state investment

and incentive schemes relating to private enterpreneurs

such as concessional finance, tax reliefs, seed, margin

money, interest susidies, and investment, etc. (e) To

strengthen the arrangements for area planning so as to

enable financial institutions, commercial banks and co­

operatives to increase substantially their lending in back

ward regions in agriculture and allied activities as well

as for small scale industries and villages. (f) the NCDBA

(National committee on development of Backward Areas),

recommendation would be considered, introduced and modified

time and again.

64

There is so much emphasis to thras out the problem

of regional disparities in seventh five year plan (1985-

90). The main focus was on rapid growth in food grains

production, employment apportunities and productivity

within the framework of basic tenets of planning, namely.

growth, modernisition, self-reliance and social justice.

Therefore this period has witnesed sea

developmental strategy in which an issue

change in

of regional

disparities has been overtaken by the social inegualities.

Thus the basic thrust of planning has been changed one

social issues has been seriously thought of,due to the

changing socio-political scenario of our country. The

planners has to think about a fresh approach on these issue

because of the demand of time as Mrs. Gandhi viewed this

situation;

"Growth has not been merely for the sake

of growth. A vigorous thrust for social

justice

strategy"

is 6

an integral element of our

Hence the main focus of the seventh plan was on

food, work and productivity, or in other words self sus­

taining growth with social justice.

The Eight Five Year Plan (1990-95) could not take

off due to the fast changing political development at the

centre. In the meantime, the new Government which assumed

power at the centre decided that the Eight Five year Plan

65

would commence on 2 April 1992 and that 1990-91 and 1991-92

should be treated as separate annual plans. For mulated

within the framework of the earlier approach to the Eight

Five Year Plan (1990-95), the basic thrust of these annual

plans were on maximisation of employment and social trans-

formation.

The actual Eight Five Year Plan (1992-97) formu

lated against the bac drop of momentous changes which took

place recently in many parts of the world and our own

economic crisis of unprecedented dimensions which threat

ened to disrupt the entire fabric of the economy, the new

approach to the Eighth plan entitled."Objectives, thrusts 7

and macro Dimensions of the Eights Plan··. Which was

approved and endorsed by the national development council

on December 23-24, 1991 seeks to give a new orientation to

planning in the country. Now the planning will be

indicative in nature and trade as well as industry will be

increasingly freed from bureaucratic control. It also

element in the process of development. The emphasis is also

laid on the building of a long-term strategic vision of the

future keeping in the mind, sweeping changes all over the

world. The plan document also stresses on the need to

withdraw the public sector from areas where no public

purpose is served by its presence.

The main objectives of Eighth Five Year Plan are

adequate employment generation, containment of population

growth, eradication of illiteracy, provision of safe drink-

ing water and primary health facilities, self, sufficiency

66

in food, generation of agricultural surpluses for export

and stren~thening of the infrastructure. Thus there is no

special thrust on the problem of regional disparities in

seventh as well as in Eighth Five Year Plan. Because of the

orientational change from dealing with the regional

disparities to social inequalities alleviation strategies

has been adopted in last two Eighth Five Year Plan.

Historically speaking the roots of regional imbal­

ances lie in the British regime in India because of their

professional development strategies to promote those areas

which possessed facilities for prosperous manufacturing

and trading activities. They have developed periphery areas

of India, namely, Bombay at West East, Calcutta at the east

west and Madras at South East while they neglected entire

core area which was just supplying raw materials to these

three metropolitan cities. hence they have given special

emphasis on these regions and rest territory remained

relatively backward. Their primary objective was to earn

profit more and more so that Anglo-business could flourish

lip by leaps and bounds. They were least bothered about the

regional

Therefore

imbalances or peoples deprivation so and

Britishers have contributes a lot to

regional disparities in India.

so for.

created

Now after independence Government of India have

evolved the developmental strategies through planning

process. and statistically speaking we have completed Seven

Five Year Plans till 1990. There has been major thrust to

67

sort out the problem of regional deprivation in some of the

plans. While in other planning strategies the issue of

regional imbalances either became secondary or totally

neglected. The First Plan even did not refer to the problem

of regional diversity. But in the second Five Year Plan

document, it is clearly mentioned that in any comprehensive

plan of development, special need of the less· developed

area should receive due attention. the pattern of invest

ment must be so devised as to lead to balanced regional

development. Third plan emphasised the necessity to locate

basic industries in less developed areas but the spread

effects of public sector projects in backward areas were

far below expectation. In the Fourth Plan, (NDC) National

Development Council took the matter very seriously to do

away with the industrial backwardness in deprived regions.

They have evolved five criteria to identify these areas

i.e. per capita income, number workers in factories per

lack of population; percapita' consumption of electricity

(Annual), length of surfaced roads in relation to

population and area of the state, railway mileage in

relation to the population and the areas of the state.

On the basis of these five paradigms, the Pande

working group identified, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,

Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Naga­

land, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, all union terri­

tories except Chandigarh, Delhi and Pondichery as industri­

ally backward therefore qualified to receive special treat­

ment for industrial development. Again in this same scheme

68

twenty to thirty districts in ~ntire country selected for

special incentives during the fourth plan period. Thus it

was Fourth Plan in which the serious efforts were made to

deal with the regional disparities, infact it was in this

same plan's strategy to thras out this problem. Taking all

these factors into account the National Development council

appointed two different working groups namely, first to

identify industrially backward areas using above mentioned

five criterias headed by Mr. Pande. Second working group

led by Mr. Wanchoo recommended fiscal and financial

incentives for starting industries in backward area. Hence

Fourth Plan document would be remembered as milestone in

the history of development planning regarding dealing with

the regional deprivation and disparities. The serious

thought which was extended in Fourth Plan to sort out the

regional

magnitudes

diversity problem has been marginalised in

in the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth

its

Five

Year Plans. Infact this very issue has been over taken by

social issues i.e. to minimise the social inequality.

Social justice so an so far due to the changing socio­

political equations.

attempts

the other

Although development plans have made very serious

to tackle the regional disparity problem but on

side the plan itself created some regional

in terms of uneven investment, opening new variation

industrial units i.e.

69

Table~1. Regional location of industries (percentage)

Factories

Maharasthra 16

Ta~rli 1 Nadu 11

Gujarat 11

West Bengal 9

Andhra Pradesh 9

Total For Five 56 States

All Other 44 States

All India 100

Fixed Employ capi ta.l ment

16 19

8 10

9 9

9 15

6 7

48 60

52 40

100 100

output Value added

25 26

0 10

11 10

11 15

6 4

63 63

37 37

100 100

Source: Annual Survey of Industries, 1974-75 p. 12.

Thus the table 1, brings out clear picture of the

gross imbalances in the regional location of industries

which led to create more regional disparity than to

minimise it. The first five states accounted for 56 percent

of all large factories, 48 percent of invested capital, 60

percent and above of employment, of output and of value-

added. All other states and union territories taken

together account for the balance. ·The concentration of

small scale industries also has been found more in these

five states. They have managed to surge forward while

deprived areas have remained backward the statistics on

industrial licensing for the period 1952-75 also revealed

that 16,000 total licences were issued during this period,

70

out of which 10,6000 licences of 66 percent of all the

licences issued were grabbed by all these Five top states.

It is more intere~ting that Maharashtra and West Bengal

together garabbed about 44 percent of the total licenc~s

issued. Again it is very surprising that this problem of

regional disparity exists within advanced or backward area

because at the first order they have sidelined the backward

states, and in second order, to ignore the relatively less

developed area within the advanced states i.e, in West

Bengal, 70 percent of new industrial capacity was located

in the Hoogly district. While in the case of Maharastra

about 86 percent of registered factories to be found in few

urban areas like Bombay, Poena etc. This sort of

concentration is highly grave in Punjab almost 95 percent.

Therefore it is in this context the regional

disparities could be analysed in rational manner, that the

most developed areas of the advanced states i.e. Ferozpur

in Punjab, Hoogly of West Bengal and Bombay, Poona belt of

Maharashta should be compared with the least developed

areas of the backward states, like Kalahandi of Orrisa,

and Barmer, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur (Sergarh Tehsil) of

Rajasthan desert, can reveal the true face of regional

disparities. Ofcourse it is planning strategy ~hich should

own sole responsibilities for widening the gap between

Hoogly and Kalahandy, consciously or unconsciously that

added one more dimension to create regional disparities in

one of the two most unequal regions.

71

The resource oriented development pattern has

undermined the productive potentiality of natural resources

and created severe ecological, imbalances. Contemporary

environmental problems emerged as an indicators to assess

the development process. The recent ecological degradation

and economic deprivation generated by the resource inten­

sive classical model of development have been resorted in

the environmental conflict and ·their ramification can be

noticed in the ecological upsurge and concern all over the

world in general and India in particular which attempting

to redesign the distribution pattern and extent of natural

resources utilisation to ensure ecological sustainability.

The notion of limited resource base and development

aspiration led to the upsurge of Environmental conflict in

India competed by the fast changing socio-political

equations of our society as a response to safeguard the

interests of the socio-politically and economically

deprived individuals, groups, and states of the global

society.

The global environment in general and India in

particular

hunger for

threatening

beings. In

has been deteriorating alarmingly artd

an affluent life style for few has

the very survival of the majority

the era of so called unipoler

unending

started

of human

world,

environmental degradation and ecological imbalances created

by spurious development, which led to the release of toxic

72

gases into the atmosphere, rising sea levels, deforestation,

soil erosion, green house effect, acid rain, and depletion

of ozon layer, etc, needs a serious attempts to deal with

these ecological problems created by roan.

Historically speaking ecological catastrophes of

an ancient civilizations have been under stood as ·acts of

god' or natural disasters· were infact largely generated or

substantially aggravated by collective and cumulative human

behaviour. It is generally believed that there was a sub­

stantial ecological components of the emergence and col­

lapse of agricultural complexes in all ancient civiliza­

tions i.e. Egypt, Greece, Hegopotamia, Phoenicia, Pales­

tine, Rome, Indus valley and China etc. These civilizations

had to solve the basic problem of producing food surpluses

and collecting raw materials from rural areas to sustain

large urban populations engaged in commercial activities.

service sector, arts and culture. Every civilization pur

sued to produce food and procure resources left their

characteristic mark on the environment. Some of these

strategies proved not to be sustainable and overtaxed the

regional natural resource base resulting in the depletion

of water, soil or forest reserves. The general pattern was

one of gradual emergence, brief flowering, and rapid col

lapse of civilizations, often taking the from in the final

stages of devastating military struggles for the control of

arable land or essential resources.

The Techniques of agricultural intensification­

terracing, crop selection animal husbandry, irrigation and

73

the like-were devised to meet repeated crises of produc-

tion. Despite short-term improvements in output, however,

the long-term consequences of these technologies were to

foreseeable by early agricultural innovators. In subsequent

decades or centuries. Problems of over grazing, water-shed

deforest~tion, soil erosion, siltation, water logging, soil

salinization and crop blight often left whole regions

permanently destroyed for agricultural use. The contempo­

rary writings frequently explain these phenomena in terms

of military, political or religious rivalry and conflict

perhaps most obviously because the elites that wrote such

literature were part of political, military or religious

institutions. These explanations inevitably oversimplify

and distort a more fundamental under standing of the dynam­

ics of agricultural civilizations. Current archaeological

research based upon scientific analysis of soil profiles,

vegetations and landscape evolution indicates that in the

rise and fall of ancient civilizations there was at the

base of nearly all sustained conflict a vital ecological

component patterns of rivalry in the Mediterranean region

could express either a momentary ecological crisis or a

long-term depletion of some fundamental element of ecologi

cal ·capital. The ecological dislocations were frequently

most visible in the peripheral areas of the great

Mediterranean empires, for it was here that the imperial

powers established system of commercial agriculture and

proceed to exact levels of agricultural production that

74

exceeded the ecological capacity of land.

Thus the concept of 'Environmental Crisis' in not

new but present problem is emphasised through modern

dimension of the issue, which is difficult, standing amidst

social change to discern its source, and persistence.

So much of what fills the media and overwhelms our

senses will be seen in retrospect as momentary fad,

pendulum oscillation of values, or recurrent wave of

reform. Normally white prefers a long view: a decade is

desirable, two decades better,· long looks backward and

short, cautious peeks forward. Whites thoughts about the

meaning of environmental crisis are still cogent today it

remains true that the source of public concern transcend

the facts of the environmental crisis. The trends in

scientific perception continue-a focus on meso-scale

systems, a search for another impacts, a recognition of the

global unity of some environmental issues. Perception of

the environmental as hazard has flourished-a

quasidiscipline of risk assessment has created in the

interim. Many universities now have interdisciplinary

environmental centres displaying weaknesses that Fhite

feared and few of the strengths that he hoped for. Finally,

the expected North-South confrontation evident on the eve

of the Stockholm conference has diminished. Many developing

countries now recognise the importance of environmental

issues, but few third word countries have effectively dealt

with them.

75

The current concern about environment has a crisis

dimension which most of us would recognize. it shows in the

popular expression of fear that pollution will render the

planet union habitable to man and that exhaustion of

resources of soil and water in the face of burgeoning

population will bring massive famine. It is voiced in the

Earth Day 22 April, 1970, in the campaign against phos­

phates in detergents, in the rash of grass roots protest

provoked wherever a bulldozer scratches the site of a new

dam or a nuclear power plant, in efforts to extend wilder

ness areas, curb signboards, outlaw the private automobile,

and ban DDT etc. Therefore environment has became a

paradigm, it means different things to different people.

The variations in individual's notion of environment ranges

from one's immediate physical surroundings to political set

up or socio-economic conditions. In fact, environment is

everything that affects not only man but other organisms

also. In this regard environment is a multi-dimensional

system. It has spatial, temporal and functional dimensions.

Every intervention of man in the environment

around him incurs some risk as to both favourable and

unfavourable consequence. And that is taken in the face of

partial ignorance as to what its effects will be and

involves uncertainty as to the ultimate outcome. As we

analyse man experience in dealing with natural hazards such

as hurricanes floods, earthquakes, and drought we find

several lessons that may have significance for all con-

76

cerned with crisis in the environment. It already has been

noted that people tend to have a more accurate perception

of the severity of a crisis according to the efficacy they

feel they have in dealing with it.

It also is evident that man in industrial society

has a strong inclination to fix on a single technological

solution for any problem which appears, and having done so,

he may exacerbate rather than improve the very situation he

sets out to remedy.

The concentration on a single means for solution

diverts attention from other means and encourages people to

incur still greater risk in anticipation of public efforts

to bail them out in times of distress. At present the

environmental problems created by human being by over

exploiting natural resources, needs global solution. Be­

cause when their global dimention is rflected in commondis­

ease of the planet i.e. global warming, rising sea level,

depletion of ozon layer as well as natural hozards needs

Holestic approach to deal witht hese problems. In the

recent past environmental issues have resulted in

environmental conflicts. These conflicts have resulted in

certain political movements based on ecological issues

concerniny the quality of life inhebited in order to

reconcile the interest of various groups which are involved

in environmental conflict.

Environmental protection is a major threat of the

present society because man's desire for more joy and com-

77

fort has led him to over exploit nature's free goods to the

extent of reducing its natural capacities for self

stabilisation up to man ha.s been indiscriminately

manipulating the environment and nature to fulfil his

narrow selfish interests. In the process, he has some times

left the environment so badly mauled and mutilated that it

is proving hartnful to the hulft.a.nity itself. As a consequence

of this out right disregard of the impact of these

activities on the environment, numerous ecological problems

have arisen. But the main reason behind this ruthlegs

exploitation of natural resources is man's greed, not the

need as M.K. ~andhi has very righty viewed that,

"The earth provides enough to satisfy

every man s need but not for anybody's 8

greed".

Infact most of environmental problems originate

from man's misbehaviour with nature. The most alarming of

man's assaults on the environment is pollution of air,

earth, river and sea with dangerous and even lethal sub

stances. The very pollution is generally irreversible; the

chain of evil it initiates in the life. Support system of

the world as well is in living tissues is for most part

irreversible. In this regard, often unnoticed calamity,

radiaction caused by these substances is changing the every

nature of the life. Chemical released through nuclear

explosion come to earth in rain or drift down as fall out,

get depsited in soil, enter in to the grass or ears of

78

grain and ultimately the bones of a human being to remain

there until their death. Similarly, chemicals sprayed on

croplands or forest or gardens i.e. along the soil,

entering into living organism, and keep passing on from one

to another. These chemicals dissolve into stream water and

get converted into clouds and come down with rain and wreck

unknown havoc today, horrors of word lik"e 'acid rain' and

nuclear winter· have become well known.

The nature of environmental problems is different

in developed and third world countries. Therefore it has

spatial as well as temporal dimensions at various levels.

In developed countries, these problems have emerged due to

the advancement of scientific and technological

development, whereas the environmental problems of

developing countries are in large measures those that have

arisen from the lack of development. They are problems; in

other words, of both, rural and urban poverty, In both the

towns and the country side not merely the quality of life

but he life itself is endangered by poor water, housing,

sanitation and nutrition and by sickness disease and by

natural disasters. They are problems which affect the

great mass of mankind. It is also true that problems

arising out of the process of development are also evident

in these countries. Indeed as the process of development

gets underway the latter type of problem is likely to

assume increasing importance (as India is facing now-a­

days) the process of agricultural growth and transformation

for example, involves construction of reserviurs and

79

irrigation systems; clearing of forests; use of fertilisers

and pesticides, etc. These processes certainly ha.ve

environmental implications. Now it is very clear that

environmental deterioration and its critical impact have

risen sharply in the years since the second world while in

the post second world war period, environmental pollution

has emerged as one of the main health hazards in the west.

Rapid population growth, fast industrialisation and

urbanisation, the technological explosion and the patterns

of economic growth have all directly contributed to growth

of this irritant. Although growth has brought extraordinary

benefits, it has not been accompanied by sufficiently

farsighted efforts to guide its development.

In India, people have been conscious about envi-

ronmental problems ever since the Vedic times. it is clear-

ly mentioned in the scriptures that

"nature and humankind (i.e. Prakriti and

Purush) form an inseparable part of the

life support system. This system has five

elements-Air, water, land flora and

fauna-which are interconnected, in terre-

lated and interdependent and have to-9

evolved and co-adapted"

As long as human kind, as apart of this system,

worked in harmony with nature and used the resources for

its normal sustenance, damage to the system was minimal.

80

With the process of development, human activities assumed

such enormous dimensions that the life support system could

no longer sustain these. As a result the waste generated

through human activities was much mor'e than the system

could absorb or assimilate. This ongoing, process has been

witnessed in all ancient civilizations including Indus

valley civilizations. Our past History has proved that

environmental awareness was our part and parcel of way of

life. Man-nature relationship was so interdependent at the

beginning of life but as soon as settled life started,

agricultural activities initiated, forest being cut down,

the misbehaviour with nature started, as our oldest litera-

ture, the Rigveda, contains a revealing exploration of the

state of mind of a traveller who lost in a forest.

"Spirit of the forest, spirit of the

forest, who seems to melt away, how is it

that you do not ask about a village ?

Doesn't a kind of fear grasp you ? 10

( 10 .146)"

·In this case traveller projecting his own fears on

to the mysterious others, portrayed in feminine terms, the

Vedic poet intuits the possibility that the village could

be a source of terror to the spirit of the forest as the

forest is to him, the spirit of the village.

Eco-historically speaking Aryan agriculturists and

pastoralists cleared forests with merciless efficiency. The

81

old deities of the hunter-gatherers which animated specific

naturla objects were exorcised by the abstract Aryan nature

goods, led by the god of settled cultivation, Agni. There

is a grim story in Mah~bharta which goes that the forest of

Khandava was burned by Lotd Krishna and warriour Arjuna at

the reguest of Agni in the guise of a Brahman. This is also

harsh reality that when the Aryan, agriculturalists and

pastoralists marched over the aboriginal hunter~gatherer

societies, emense amount of forests were progressively

destroyed and colonised, most fertile land came under the

plough and there was limited forest land' available for

conversion. The environmental conflict has been a part of

our cultural heritage in different phases of the

civilization. When ever there was a change in socio-

political,

played a

economic and religious belief system

remarkable role in this affair. The

ecology

rise of

Buddhism and Jainsim can be viewed in this context which

stimulated heterodox opposition to the Brahman Yajna

specialists and their wasteful practices like the burning

of wood and ghee and the ritual slaughter of animals. This

ecological crisis discredited the aggressive ideology of

the agriculturalists and the supernatural sanction claimed

for it. As a consequence, Buddhism and Jainism. Which

combined rejection of the supernatural with the advocacy of

a rational arrangement of human affairs· alongside an ethic

of non-violence, garnered support.

82

It was again in the age of agricultural surpluses

stimulated trade and empire. Large states sought to expand

their surpluses through improved irrigation as well as

through the annexation of smaller states. The domestication

of elephant played a significant role in the Mouryan

colonization

the empires

of the river ralley of the hilly regions on

fringes. A measure of conservation was

introduced when the killing of elephants was banned; forest

tracts were preserved for royal sport. With the exhaustion

of the boundary came the resource crunch which led to the

popularity of cults which advocated the prudential use of

natural resourc~s. The explicit adoption of conservationist

goals by the state came with the conversion of Ashoka to

Buddhism.

The fourth century B.C. saw the begining of a

decline in trade and urban centres, due to the marginal

agricultural surplus, the consequences led to the decline

of Buddhism and Jainism which were associated witht he

expansion of commerical activities. The period 4th to lOth

centuary B.C. witnessed utter resource crunch and

strengthen the rigid caste system which provided a model of

'conservation from below· this affected a solution to the

problem of the prudent use of natural resources by lowering

inter-caste competition, diversifying the use of living

resources and apportioning non-over lapping niches to caste

groups.

83

In the era of modern Science and Technology,

scientific knowledge has been used by the contemporary

societies to considerably enlarge man·s access to natural

resources, on the one hand and on the other to consume the

natural resources at extremely high rate of utilisation. In

the pre-colonial indigenous economic processes, the levels

of resources utilisation were generally not significant

enough to result in drastic environmentally safe resource

utilisation and people protested against destructive

resource uses even against the kings. A major change came

with the British, who linked the resources of this country

with the direct and largescale non local demands of Western

Europe. Natural resource utilisation, by the East India

company and later by the colonial rulers, replaced the

indigenous organisations for the utilisation of resource,

like water forest, minerals, etc. that were mainly managed

as commons.

With the establishment of B~itish colonial rule in

India, the ever increasing resource demands of the indus­

trial revolution in England were largely met from colonies

like India. Forced cultivation of indigo in Bengal and

Bihar, growth of cotton in Gujarat and the Deccan led to

large-scale commitment of land for the supply of raw mate­

rials for the British textiles industry, the flag bearer of

the Industrial revolution. Forests in the sensitive moun­

tain ecosystem i.e. Western Ghats or the Himalaya were

84

felled to build battle-ships or to meet the requirements of

the expanding railway network. Forest of Bengal-Bihar-

Orissa region were used for running wood-fuel locomotives

in the earlier periods of railway expansion. The latter

stages of colonial resource utilisation and control includ-

ed the monopolisation of water rights like in the Sambhar

lake of Rajasthan or the Damod_ar Canal in Bengal. The colo--

nial intervention in the natural resource management in

India led to conflicts over vital renewable natural re-

sources like water or forest and induced new form of pover-

ty and deprivation, guided by the classical model of eco-

nomic development based on resource intensive technologies

led Gandhi to seek an alternate path of developmental

strategies for India when he wrote:

"God forbid that India should ever take

to industrialism after the manner of the

west. The economic 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 11

strip the world bare like locusts.

The changes in resource endowments and entitle-

ments introduced by the British came in conflict with the

local people's age-old rights and practices related to

natural resource utilisation. As a result local responses

got generated through which people tried to regain and

85

retain control over local natural resources. The Indigo

movement in eastern India, Deccan movement for land rights

or forest movement in all forest areas of the country, the

western Ghats, the central Indian hills or the Himalaya,

were the obvious expressions of protest generated by these

British created conflicts. The conflicts resulted by the

colonial modes of natural resource exploitation could not,

however, grow with a local identify. Rightly, with the

advancement of anti-colonial peoples movement at the

national level, these local protests merged with the

national struggle for independence. With the collapse of

the colonial rule internationally, and the appearance of

sovereign independent countries in the third world,

together with India, resolution of these confiicts at the

local level became a possibility. While the political

independence vested the control over natural resources.

With the Indian state, the colonial institutional frame

work for natural resource management did not change in

essence. Where 6olonialism ended, the slogan of economic

development stepped in. There was unfortunately no other

possible institutional mechanism than those of the

classical model of development left by the British, with

which the newly formed Indian nation could respond to the

accentuated aspirations of the Indian people for a better

life.

The intensity and range of the environmental

conflict in independent India have kept on increasing as

86

predatory exploitation of natural resources to feed the

process of development has gone up in extent and magnitude.

This process has been characterised by the huge expansion

of energy and resource intensive industrial activity and

major development projects like Big dams, forest exploita

tion, mining, energy intensive agriculture, etc. The re

source demand of development led to the narrowing down of

the natural resource base for the survival of the economi

cally poor and powerless, either by direct transfer of

resources away from basic needs or by destruction of the

essential ecological process that ensure renewability of

the life supporting natural resources. In the background of

this the environmental conflict came up as the people's

response to this new threat to their survival and as a

demand for the ecological conservation of the vital life

support beyond clean air, are the common property resources

of water, forests and land in which the majority of the

poor people of India depend for survival. It is the

to these resources that has been at the centre

environmental conflicts in the last few decades.

threat

of the

Among the various ecological movements in India,

the Chipko movement (embrace the tree to oppose cutting

down) first phase is least known started at Khejarly vil­

lage, 26 km South East to Jodhpur city in ·Rajasthan, in

which Khajarly villagers and surrounding area people

sacrificed their lives in 1730 A.D. to save the Khejari

tree (prospis cineraria) from the Jodhpur state's execu

tioner to cut down the Khejery trees to burnt brikcs for

87

the construction of new place for Maharaja. Out of these

marteyadoms majority of the victims were from Vishnoi

c Olrtmu n it y , infact the initiator of this conflict were

Amrita devi and her daughters from the vishnoi community.

Vishnoi follows 29 principles of their religian in which

principle No 14. Says protection of green trees at any

cost. Therefore guided by this principle Amrita Devi, the

leader of the movement, before offering her head to the

king's exveutioner, chanted that, ''seir santhe runkh raheb, 12

to bhee sastoj an". (it is still a small price to pay if

at the cost of my head the tree is saved) has become the

basic principle of all ecological movements and today every

body says, 'Trees for survival'. Mockery of the situation

is that this great ecological revolt remained a local

incident while the small beginning of the chipko movement

second phase in a remote village of Himalaya attracted

global attention and support.

The chipko movement second phase started as a

movement of hill people in the Garhwal region of Uttar

Pradesh to save the forest resources from exploitation by

contractors from the plain area. In the March 1973 at the

remote hill town of Gopeshwar in Chamoli District, some

representatives from a sports foods factory situated in

Allahabad reached Gopeshwar to cut 10 ash trees near

village mandal. The villagers courteously told them not to

do so but when the contractors persisted, they hit upon the

idea of hugging the e~rmarked trees. The next day the

88

sports goods manufactures had to return empty-handed. Some

weeks late the same contractor surfaced at Rampur Phata,

another village 80 km away from Gopeshwar, with a fresh

allotment from the forest department. As soon as the

villagers of Gopeshwar learned of this, they marched to

Rampur phata with drums and Gongs, gathering more people on

the way. A confrontation ensured and the agitators hugged

the earmarked trees to foil the contrators once again. The

Chipko movement reached its climax in 1974 when the women

of Reni village, some 65 km from Joshimath, got involved in

a dramatic way. One day when their men were away in

Joshimath protesting against the auction of a forest

neighbouring Reni, the contractor arrived at the village to

being felling, taking this as an opportune moment.

Undaunted by the number of men or their axes, the women of

Reniled by Gaura Devi, an illiterate woman of fifty at

that time barred the path to the forest which went through

the village. As the woman stood there, they sang:

"This forest is our mother's home, we 13

will protect it with all our night"

While the construction of the Tehri Dam at Tehri

town itself on the confluence of river Bhilangana and

Bhagirathi has been challenged by a local organisation

Tehri Bandh virodhi sangarsh samiti led by Sunder lal

Bahuguna. The protest has been going on for last twenty

years. They are objecting on the seismic zone and that has

been proved time and again but latest in October 91

89

Uttarkashi Earthguake in which many human cauality as well

as property damage has been witnessed. The Tehri Dam

opposition committee has appealed to the supreme court

against the proposed dam by identifying it as a threat to

the survival of all the people living near the river Ganga

up to West Bengal.

The another popular environmental agitation going

on now a days is Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by Megha

Patkar. The main issue of this movemerit is the displacement

of tribals, aboriginal and indigenous people of Madhya

Pradesh and Gujarat, would be replaced by the Government,

for constructing big Dam to provide the water supply to

Gujrat Madhaya Pradesh, Maharastra and two districts of

Rajasthan to fulfil the demand of drinking water as well as

irrigation (Government version). The agitators seeks to

meet these demands by constructing small dams in lue of Big

dams to avoid the Tribal replacement and resettlement

problems.

In the southern part of India the APPIKO movement,

which was inspired by the success of the Chipko movement in

the Himalaya, is actively involved in stopping illegal

over-felling of the forests and in replanting forest lands

with multi-purpose broad-leaved tree species. The Silent

Valley Poject in Kerala was opposed by the environmental

activists on the ground of its being a threat, not to the

survival of the people directly, but to the gene pool of

the tropical rain forests threatened by submission. In fact

it was the first major campan against a dam in India,

90

which started in the early Eighties, it successfully saved a

genetically rich and one. of the last-remaining rain forests

in Kerala from being submerged. The campaign was

spearheaded by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, an

organisation whose main objective is the demystification of

science.

Despite all these major environmental conflicts

there are various· other small ecological agitations came

up during last two decades like, save the soil campaign or

commonly known as Mitti Bachao Abhiyan, the movement was

launched in 1977 against water logging and salinity caused

by ihe Tawa Dam in Madhya Pradesh. The campain mobilised

local farmers to demand compensation for the affected

lands. Then came the that Vashet campaign, the siting of

the world's biggest urea plant just 21 km from Bombay

evoked enormous opposition from the ~ity groups, notably

Shyam Chainani's Bombay, environmental Action, group, which

feared that the plant would increase Bombay's pollution and

congestion. Their concerted efforts delayed the project

over two years, but ultimately failed to change the site.

The Bedthi campaign regarding hydro-electric project in

Karnataka was the second in India-after silent valley- to

be abandoned after environmental protests. The project

would have submerged tracts of dense forest and prosperous

arecanut, Cardamon and pepper gardens but local farmers and

eminent scientists from Bangalore campaigned and got the

project scrapped.

91

Other campain started agains the nuclear plant at

Kaiga in Karnataka in 1984, Government has decided to go

ahead with the project, it may not come up due to escalat

ing costs concerted and continued agitation against it.

There was one more protest against Karnataka Government has

d~cided to grant nearly 80,000 acres of degraded forest and

revenue land to a joint sector company for deforestation

was being opposed by environmentalists. A local voluntary

agency, Samaj Parivartan Samudaya, has filed a petition in

the supreme court contending that the people's access to

government forest land is crucial to their survival and so

the decision to undertake deforestation through commercial

interests affects their fundamental right to life.

Then came, save the Western Ghat's March, Padaya­

tra jointly organised by a number of environmental groups

in 1988, covered over 1,300 km across the states of Maha­

rashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The March

which was very popular focussed attention on the environ­

mental problems of the Western Ghat. In July 1985, J.B.

Patnaik, then chief minister of Orissa, announced that a

national testing range for missiles would be set up at

Baliapal, a fertile coastal area in Orissa, resulting in

the eviction of 70~000 people. The people of Baliapal

(under the banner of the Khepanastra Ghati Pratirodh com­

mittee along with environmentalists all over the country

have been protesting against he scheme. But all that the

92

government has done so far is to revise its estimate it

now says that only 40,000 and not 70,000 people will be

displaced. But this figure is disputed as it does not

include the migrant population or the fishermen. Environ­

mentalists feared that pollution from the Mathura refinery,

located 40 km away, could seriously corrode the pristine

marble of the Tajmahal. The campaign they generated forced

the authorities to take precomtionary measures and monitor

the monument for any further signs of deterioration.

Last but not the least came the issue of Doomed

limestone mining in the Doon valley and Mussoorie

Hills has left permanent scars on this famous hill region,

destroying forests and permanent water sources. The Rural

litigation and Entitlement Kendra in Dehradun field a

public interest case in the supreme court, which in a

historic judgment ordered the closure of the mines on

grounds of environmental destruction.

Thus the environmental conflict in India can no

longer be considered merely specific and particular happen­

ings. But they are an expression of the Global socio­

ecological impact of a narrowly conceived development based

only on short-term commercial criteria of exploitation. The

impact of these eco-conflicts can not be assessed merely in

terms of the impact on particular development projects they

orinate from. The impact, in the final analysis is on the

very fundamental nature of politics, economics, science and

technology which together have created the classical para­

digm of development and resource use. ·

93

The environmental conflicts in India reflects as a

revolt against classical model of development in which

natural resources are treated as just commodity in a free

market mechanism and could be utilised in a whatever why

desired. Infact environmental conflict starts when an

ecological dialogue with nature stops. This dialogue has

been stopped because industrialism as ideology transfer

nature from living system into a mine of raw material-dead

and inert, a resource which does not rise from itself, but

gets value only through industrial exploitation. The deval­

uation and deadening of nature is linked to the devaluation

and deadening of local communities which it and participate

in its rhythms and processes. The end of the ecological

dialogue led to the emergence of reductionist expert who

can listen neither to nature nor to people, and in their

deaf arrogance build knowledge systems which tear nature

and communities apart. It is also linked to authoritarian

structures of decision making by states super-states insti­

tutions like the World Bank, I.M.F. GATT etc. Distance

decision making and distant knowledge cannot enter into a

dialogue with nature. Hence they fail to be ecological.

Thus environmental conflicts in India is just ramification

or side effects of classical model of development as well

as regional disparities persisting even after independence

and four decades of planning processes.

94

REFEREBCES

1. Minshull, Roger: Regional Geography: Theory and practice Hutchinson University Library, (London, 1967), p. 13.

2. Ibid p. 18.

3. Stamp, L.D., Asia: A Regional and Economic Geogrpahy Methuen and Co. Ltd., (London, 1967), 219.

4. Spate, O.H.K.: India and Pakistan: A General and Region­al Geography Methuen and Co. Ltd. (London, 1957), p.354.

5. Singh R.L. India A Regional Geography. UBS Publishers 5 Ansari Road (New Delhi- 1989) p.32.

6. Datt, Ruddar Company Ltd.

KPM Sundharam Indian Economy (New Delhi, 1990) p. 227.

7. Planning Commission, The Eight Five Year Plan, p.3.

Chand

8. Pyarey Lal Mahatma,-The last phase vol. II in Chapter towards New Horizones.

9. Ramakrishnan Mission, Cultural Heritage of India. Vols III p. 21.1972.

10. 0. Flaherty, W.D. The Rigveda: An Anthology, Translated Penguin Books (London), 1981,p. 242.

11. Gandhi, M.K. Young India (December 20, 1928), p. 422.

12. Moti Ram Vishnoi Face to face interview age 82 village Khejarly Jodhpur. Dated 28.2.93, 10.30. A.M.

13. Neni Devi, Face to face interview age 74 village Reni, Tehri-Garhwal. Dated April 12, 1993.

95