This book is a collection of thought-provoking essays by India`s leading environmentalists. Covering a range of very important `sub-units` of what we call `our environment`, each essay discusses the small and large scale impact of current trends and policies on each of these so called `sub-units` i.e. trees, water etc.
"This book offers a timely, clear-headed, and uniquely important contribution to conservation, one that should be read by all bureaucrats, scientists, and others involved with development projects that supposedly benefit wildlife and wilderness."--George B. Schaller, author of Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe
This book introduces readers in the environmental policy-making and management process in India by examining various dimensions of environmental challenges faced by the nation. These are: environmental policy development, institutional mechanisms, legal and regulatory questions, cultural and spiritual aspects, and international environmental concerns influencing India. The book is divided into four parts.
This book is the first major study of the history of environmentalism, from its origins in romanticism and the nature cults of the late 18th century to the global environmental movements of today. Radkau shows that this is not a single story of the steady ascent of environmentalism but rather a multiplicity of stories, each with its own dramatic tension: between single-issue movements and the challenges posed by the interconnection of environmental issues, between charismatic leaders and bureaucratic organizations, and between grassroot movements and global players. While the history can be traced back several centuries, environmentalism has flourished since the ‘environmental revolution’ of 1970, spurred on by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and the growing concern about global warming. While environmentalists often opposed the scientific mainstream, they were also often led by scientific knowledge. Environmentalism is the true Enlightenment of our time Ð so much so that we can call our era ‘the age of ecology’. This timely and comprehensive global history of environmentalism will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the most pressing global issues of our time.
In our drive to improve human standards of living, we have paradoxically paid scant attention to the need for clean air and water; the impact of acid rain on agriculture, lakes and rivers; the effect of pollutants on the ozone layer; the safe disposal of hazardous wastes, and the relationship between population growth and the environment. It seems that every time governments are faced with an apparent choice between economic development and the protection of the environment, priority is always given to the former. Short-term plans -- dictated by canons of political survival and expediency -- always seem to take precedence over long-term strategies, with politicians and decision-makers deftly relegating environmental concerns to the realm of rhetoric. This book is an effort to better understand the problems faced by our global ecosystems. It is also the result of the authors deep commitment to urge both citizens and their leaders the world over to work together for a better protection of the environment so that our planet may be saved for the present and for future generations.
As the first ethnohistory of modern urban Indians, this perceptive study looks at Indians from many tribes living in cities throughout the United States. Fixico has had unparalleled access to Native Americans, particularly their contemporary oral tradition. Through firsthand observations, interviews, and conventional historical sources, he has been able to assess the major impact urbanization has had on Indians and see how they have come to terms with both the negative and enriching aspects of living in cities. The result is an insightful and empathetic account of how Indian identity is sustained in cities. Today two-thirds of all Indians live in cities. Many of these urban Indians are third- or fourth-generation city dwellers, the descendants of those who first came to urban areas during the federal government's push for relocation from the late 1940s through the 1960s. Fixico looks at both groups of urban Native Americans--those who first settled in cities some fifty years ago and those who have grown up there in the past thirty years--and finds in their experiences a record of survival and adaptation. Fixico offers a new view of urban Indians, one centered on questions of how their modern identity emerges and perseveres. He shows how the corrosive effects of cultural alienation, alcoholism, poor health services, unemployment, and ghetto housing are slowly being overcome, particularly since the 1970s. After fifty years of urban experiences, Native Americans living in cities are better able today than at any other time to balance tradition and modernity.
India is facing a river pollution crisis today. The origins of this crisis are commonly traced back to post-Independence economic development and urbanisation. This book, in contrast, shows that some important early roots of India’s river pollution problem, and in particular the pollution of the Ganges, lie with British colonial policies on wastewater disposal during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Analysing the two cornerstones of colonial river pollution history during the late 19th and early 20th centuries – the introduction of sewerage systems and the introduction of biological sewage treatment technologies in cities along the Ganges – the author examines different controversies around the proposed and actual discharge of untreated/treated sewage into the Ganges, which involved officials on different administrative levels as well as the Indian public. The analysis shows that the colonial state essentially ignored the problematic aspects of sewage disposal into rivers, which were clearly evident from European experience. Guided by colonial ideology and fiscal policy, colonial officials supported the introduction of the cheapest available sewerage technologies, which were technologies causing extensive pollution. Thus, policies on sewage disposal into the Ganges and other Indian rivers took on a definite shape around the turn of the 20th century, and acquired certain enduring features that were to exert great negative influence on the future development of river pollution in India. A well-researched study on colonial river pollution history, this book presents an innovative contribution to South Asian environmental history. It is of interest to scholars working on colonial, South Asian and environmental history, and the colonial history of public health, science and technology.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated (Second Raisina Dialogue, New Delhi, on 17th January 2017)that the civilisational legacy of 'Realism, Co-existence, Cooperation and Partnership' moulded India's strategic vision. The above statement reflects India’s ambitious project to attain great power status, which has been a constant element in India's foreign and strategic policy since its independence. The quest for great power status is a shared belief and behaviour. Moreover, Prime Minister Modi has been continuing, at a fast pace, with the reforms initiated in 1991 by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and pursued by his immediate predecessors. We can notice in Narendra Modi's approach of 'strategic interconnectedness' or 'multi-vectored engagement' or panchamrit a continuity that aligns perfectly with the policies of his immediate predecessors. At the dawn of independence, the non-alignment approach facilitated liberal capitalist economic development with socialist flavours on an upward trajectory. Narasimha Rao rehabilitated India into the orbit of neoliberal political and financial architecture. Modi's objective is to take India into the league of leading countries in the multipolar world order through his Multivectored Alignment. There exists a symbiotic relationship between foreign policy strategy and domestic economic growth. Modi's Make in India project, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and similar initiatives constructed on multi-vectored alignment or strategic interconnectedness have given India unprecedented visibility worldwide. This book is a collection of essays penned by a few established scholars in the field and budding scholars under the guidance of established scholars. One retired diplomat and one retired Vice -Admiral, contributed each piece, rooted in their own experiences. The attempt is to comprehensively analyse India's strategic culture, doctrine, and foreign policy behaviour.