Editor,
June 5, World Environment Day is not the only day to go for mass cleaning drives and other environmental activities to show our respect towards Mother Nature. It should be more about changing our mindsets towards the environment and to educate our young ones that our surroundings are as important to us as the food we eat and the air we breathe. As a young visionary and student who is concerned about the degradation and pollution of the environment, together with some friends of the same purpose, we have tried our level best to take up issues of pollution in Shillong city, mass cleaning drives in market hubs to make people more aware about cleanliness and health. We have organised tree plantation, awareness programs and free campaigns in schools and villages in the outskirts of Meghalaya. It was a wonderful journey until we encountered the big business elites of cement industries who encroached into acres of forest land, polluting the nearby rivers. The setback was due to political intervention but this did not deter us from fighting and spreading awareness about conservation of nature in sustainable ways.
It is unfortunate that the NGT had to interfere in our land which we should ourselves have conserved for our future and present generation. Our state machinery has failed to address environmental issues like the illegal stone mining in Balpakram National Park, the high acid content in Lukha river in East Jaintia, dumping of solid waste and sewage waste into Wah Umkhrah and Umshyrpi, rat hole mining, releasing of untreated polluted water to rivers by hotels and guest houses etc. There are many more environmental issues like the acid mine drainage in Simsang river, pollution in Myntdu river, the flash floods in West Khasi Hills and Garo Hills and pollution of critical catchment areas in East Khasi Hills, our biodiversity hotspots, landslides etc, apart from the ongoing issue of uranium mining, that need to be addressed.
We may have received the environment awards among the small states category but people should be more aware at ground zero. We have had enough of lectures on sustainable development and promises to meet our basic necessities which were supposed to have been delivered after the very first election in 1972. But we still don’t have electricity, potable water, employment, sustainable livelihoods etc., which are our fundamental rights. Will the 2018 election come up with a state policy for comprehensive development; of social and financial inclusion and of promoting a sustainable way of living?
We can only protect the environment if we change our attitudes. At the moment we are killing the earth by our destructive actions.
Yours etc.,
Wallamkupar Nongsiej
Via email
Zika enters India
Editor,
The World Health Organisation confirms the first three Zika virus cases in India – at Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. We need to be on red alert as Zika virus can cause epidemic in no time. It is also a matter of concern that other mosquito – borne diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunia keep on taking many lives every year in our country. let us not forget that Sri Lanka has become a malaria-free country despite its long history with the disease. Now, Sri Lanka has got the status of the second malaria-free country in the Southeast Asian region after Maldives. India should take lessons from these two countries to eliminate the menace of deadly vector – borne diseases.
Yours etc.
, Sujit De, Kolkat