Issue 42 Vol II, June 30, 2007

E N V I R O N M E N T

Understanding Environment and Reporting Disasters
Vaibhav Sharma

AS the toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory  in Bhopal killing almost 3,000 people, India woke up to the  new hazards and disasters waiting to happen. Around 1 a.m. on Monday, the 3rd of December, 1984, in a densely populated city of Bhopal, a poisonous vapour burst from the tall stacks of the Union Carbide pesticide plant. This highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanine had disastrous effect on 80, 0000 people living in that area. Nearly 2,000 died immediately, and as many as 300,000 were injured. In addition, about 7,000 animals were injured and one thousand killed. Bhopal Gas Tragedy has also been rightly called “Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry” as it was one of the worst commercial industrial disasters in history.

It also brought home the tragic fact to the stunned public that multinational corporations find people in the less developed countries a game.

That was way back in and people of Bhopal continue to suffer the tragedy. Even an awakened people and strong public opinion has not brought the culprits to book and the compensation as well as treatment has been paltry, if not downright insulting.

The Indian nation sat consternated and the world took notice of the second hand treatment being given to India. One good consequence was that the   environmental journalism in India had finally arrived and the nation committed itself towards the protection of its environment through the 42nd amendment, forming of the ministry of environment and forests and passing of the Environment Protection Act. It was appalling to see that the country had to undergo such a disaster to understand the relevance of environmental issues.

As environmental issues became a part of the societal conscience people got to know about what was happening to their surroundings. With the advent of cable T.V., news channels like B.B.C. and C.N.N. made inroads into the Indian household and issues like global warming, deforestation, melting of polar ice caps became problems in the mind of the average Indian. People started talking about issues, without even understanding what there repercussions are and how they are poised to affect them. Environmental journalism in India was taking giant leaps, but the problem was, it had lost its sense of direction.

An appropriate example of the media going berserk over an issue without reaching its core is the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The mega buck project has taken heavy criticism from the media, but has government backing on the grounds that it is poised to do a lot for the three neighboring states. The media has criticized the building of such a big dam by the government, saying that it will not be able to perform the functions that are required of a project of this magnitude. The fact is that being anti-big dams is a western concept as abroad they don’t need huge dams due to limited land resource.

But that is not the case with India, due to the vastness of our lands. The western concept of smaller dams being better is continuously harped by the media without understanding how or why these projects are decided and followed. In truth, the project has its share of inadequacies, but the media has to recognize and analyze them. Rehabilitation of the ‘Adivasis’ is a debatable cause between growth and the price that every society pays for it, but not the size of the dam. The media without realizing this has gone on to question the very concept of building large dams.

The environment and its needs might be universal, but there are factors; local, regional and national that need to be looked at by the media before giving out its verdict that may mislead the public. The problem lies within the layers, where one realizes that the basic fabric of every problem has connotations that are exclusive to each country. This also offers one the chance to see the blindfolded approach of the media in India, as we have never questioned the rationale of the whole concept of global warming, and why the U.K. and U.S. have been the only major donators towards the research. A recent study in Canada has concluded it to be a farce by the two countries as they have been pumping major money into this field using the threat of global warming to the world. Also there hasn’t been any significant cut in the pollution levels of these countries, so how exactly do they expect the world to follow? An anti-green peace campaign has also been launched trying to question the melting of polar ice caps and the increase in global temperatures. Even if the whole movement against global warming is not accurate, it still is better than toeing the line drawn by the U.S. and not using our own intellect to look beyond what we are made to believe is the obvious.

The whole point of journalism is to provide people with a perspective that they might not be able see on their own. Without looking into the authenticity of these matters, environmental journalism in India will soon become irrelevant. A steady and careful approach towards these issues needs to be taken as they hold a lot of significance for the common man, as in a natural incursion, he is the first one to get miffed, and the last one to get refuge.

“I need no inspiration other then Nature's.”- Mahatma Gandhi

BACK