India is a kaleidoscopic landmass and a cohort of cultures as you look at southern Indian peninsula which is encompassed and enlivened by the panoramic waters of three oceans. Northern India is dominated by the majestic and invincible mountains of the Himalayas which the world cherishes as the stupendous mountains that keep rising across the land and the awesome universe of this mystical country. This great land is a many plateaued, undulated mass that attracted warriors, mercenaries and spiritual seekers who fell for its indescribable glory, and made India their home and hearth.
Such is the geographical and historical impression of the country that it needs to be viewed in a large perspective. Similarly, Karnataka needs to be looked at from such various viewpoints. The state has the Western Ghats forests and rivers, it then permeates into the scrub jungles and shapes further into undulated pits and mounds forming the lake ecosystems and still further to the east, it develops into the grassland ecosystem of the Deccan plateau.
This geography, part of Uttar Karnataka, formerly known as the Bombay Karnataka, is ecologically known as the ecotone belt that ranges from Ranebennur to Belagavi, in length for about 200 km, and stretches about 45 km from West to East where Dharwad is situated covering all the four ecosystems, thereby making the land distinct and fertile.
Imagine a land that is endowed with the coastal belt, the celebrated mountains - virtually the water towers - have been listed and declared as the heritage and biodiversity hotspots of the Western Ghats by the United Nations. This invaluable stretch of land could be the divine gift for any society that desires to prosper provided we understand how the precious gift of environment promoted music, literature, arts, education and poetry that embellished and established Dharwad as the great cultural centre of the country.
It’s not just talent but the salubrious climate, the soil, the forests, air and water and the great biodiversity that promoted not only fruits and foods and vegetables but provided a great initiative to read, write, think and produce great arts, literature, poetry and the sublime music that has held the name of Dharwad very high in India. It’s, therefore, important that we admire, save and preserve such impressive ecology and environment which have given us so much but which we have destroyed in the last couple of decades.
We have taken the wrong advantage of the economic liberalisation and the process of globalisation and went on building great cities. The material concrete structures will not stand us in good stead because urbanisation is skewed and unplanned. The growth came at the cost of the small towns and villages which once constituted India. It came in handy for many to make fast bucks.
There emerged some people who wrongly thought of economic growth as the panacea for the problems of our nation. How a nation could grow in a comprehensive way was out of the view of these people. Their idea of building the country was placed on faulty foundations. Thus, rural India was relegated into the background while the cities flourished and divided the country in several ways.
The mega-cities literally drained the environment irrevocably. Agriculture, the backbone of the country and the economy, even today suffers the many crises and evils. So, the agriculturists have risen to revolt. Without farmers, the country has no future. Not even the world has a future if farmers are neglected.
We ruined the lakes, chopped forests, asphalted the precious soil and neglected grasslands as wastelands and thereby destroyed the forage of the great ecosystems.
Crumbling society
As a cultured and refined nation, we should have cared for the environment which gave us so much to survive and celebrate. It is sad to look at ourselves as the culprits of the social, cultural and civil decimation and ruination that has led the way for the unjust rise of the bunch of people who wrongly were chosen as the democratic leaders of the society which is crumbling today.
However, it’s still not very late if we could think wisely and raise the awareness of what we have lost and how it could be regained to some extent so that we will be able to stop further destruction and bring back the lost resources of this precious land and rebuild the ruined ecosystems to a considerable extent and live a life that will be in balance with nature and the environment.
We should understand that forests are not just bunch of trees and animals, they are rich sources of biodiversity which give us good air, soil, medicine, rains, rivers and streams, and keep recharging the underground water tables so that we keep getting water to drink and also to produce food.
Because of the forests, we have pollination that produces great amounts of healthy food and fruits. We need to preserve all the water bodies and not destroy the catchment areas. Soil, the most vibrant and living symbol of the earth, needs to be preserved and only some to be asphalted where it is essential to do so. Therefore, a new innovation in soil and environment preservation has to be formulated so that we could survive and sustain the civilisation.
If Karnataka is to remain resourceful, vibrant and economically sound, we need to look at its environment and ecology and bring into the minds of the younger generation the urgent need to preserve its features and biodiversity which are the basis of all knowledge and prosperity. The rest of the things will just follow.
(The writer is an environmentalist)