Nurungukal..2..contd..

    This summer was unbearable. The mercury went high unusually. The water table went down. The change in the climate though predicted made all of us to think about the ways to combat it effectively. It was an anticipated phenomenon. Still we were unprepared. Global warming, el-nino etc are subjects discussed in every forum.It is my apprehension that these effects might have set in ever since we triggered a development based on fossil fuel. And now it has reached the peak stage, damaging the environment and human life irretrievably. All of us know that how many million years it might have taken to accumulate the fossils and how soon we depleted it, making an irreparable damage. Now we calmer for remedies.

       Many are in the fray to provide a soothing touch. Most of us think that planting a few saplings here and there with much fan fare would help in rejuvenating the earth. It is not the planting of trees alone that can come to our help. The most important aspect is that who will sustain them, who will nurture them, or who is concerned about their growth. Every year come June people come with plans like vanamahotsavam, thanal marangal or ormamaram etc. etc. depending on their imaginations to coin catchy glossary and also derive support from social forestry etc and plant numerous seedlings, mainly on both sides of our highways and waste lands. But if you take stock of the survival a few years later a dismal picture will emerge.

       There is no dearth of trees in Kerala. When compared to other states we are blessed with a better greenery and eco systems. There may be short falls here and there. But over all the situation is not so alarming, if we can arrest the plunder in future. For that I believe that corrective steps should be initiated in the cities and towns where the pollution is at its peak. Our cities and towns have attained the present status by demolishing fragile eco systems. Take the case of Olavanna village near Kozhikode. It was once a serene and salubrious place to live. The undulating terrain, ravines, paddy fields,wet lands and stretches of coconut groves, a perfect blend of nature and aboard of many species of flora fauna and animals birds etc. It was the scenario in the fifties and sixties. Now look at it as you pass through any one of the by pass highways. The contrast will  make a shudder in any nature lover’s mind. Need no explanation. Here also the real villain is the so called development based on petroleum products.

      Now our young Agriculture Minister has vociferously declared that he will not allow not an inch of paddy field or wet land to be reclaimed here after. A declaration we all look forward to be implemented in its true spirit. At first let me tell you that paddy eco system is not one created by nature. It is one evolved as a result of man’s intervention on mainly marshy lands for meeting his food security. And now only very few small or medium farmers hold paddy fields. With the existing facilities provided by the Sarcar a farmer derives only a meagre income, often resulting in loss, and due to the vagaries of nature.  Law does not permit him to grow any other crop. So he will be always looking out for a better income. Very often such a quest will result in the sale of his beloved land to a land mafia. The mafia is an expert in manipulations and disposes the land by virtue of the loopholes in the law.

         What the government should now think of doing to avoid the distress sale of paddy fields is to ensure a better price to paddy and also to provide irrigation systems besides other incentives so that a farmer can take more than three crops in a year. The huge funds available with the Government on account of carbon trading or carbon credit can be channelled to create a corpus fund exclusively for helping those farmers who conserve an eco system, be it be paddy field or a sacred grove or any other nature friendly biodiversity preservation work.

        Be frugal .avoid plastic,paper cups,napkins at functions. Try to retain our traditional systems. O.K let us work together.