Text of Hon'ble Minister's Speech - Ministry of Environment and ...

osustainable development. But, while we're talking in a one-sided way about developmentversus environment, I just want everybody in this room to go out and say when we finishfishing that last fish, when we finish cultivating that last plant, when we finish taking outthat last piece of coal that we have mined, when we finish destroying the last tree in theforest, then what will you eat? Will you eat the coal? Will you eat the money that you'vemade? Will you eat this development that you've artificially created? This is a soberingthought, because natural resources cannot be replaced with money, cannot be replacedwith coal, cannot be replaced with iron ore or steel, and therefore it is that we mustremember that all of us sitting here, all of us in Delhi, in the country, in the world, we arenot like Atlas holding up the world on our head. It is the earth which is holding all of us andwe should always remember that, and the famous cliche that the world is not somethingthat we inherited from our ancestors to do with as we will, it is something we borrowedfrom our future generation and need to hand over to them in good order, in good workingorder.3. So much has been said, so much has been said about how environment concerns aredismissed as being obstacles to the path of development and I want to say here thatenvironment concerns are cross-cutting concerns which is of everybody's concern whetherit is finance, whether it is agriculture, whether it is defence, coal, steel, oil, petroleum,natural gas. I think environment spans the entire gamut of our day to day life, from theminute we get up in the morning, if the water that you turn in your tap does not comethrough, or if you happen to live in an urban city like Chennai which is my hometown and ifyou come out of your house to find the pipes which have been laid down by the oilcompanies are leaking and the outside of the house there is a fire from those pipes and it'snot been safeguarded, every single thing is the matter of environment concern, and thesooner people realize this is a cross-cutting concern and this is everybody's concern, this isthe concern of every ministry, this the concern that every citizen ought to have, I think thebetter it is for the country and for the development of the country because I repeat alongwith "Think-Eat-Save and reduce your foodprint" that there can be no sustainabledevelopment unless environment is given back pride of place, unless we dispel all mythsthat environment is an obstacle, that environment is a hurdle on the path of progress.Unless these myths are dispelled I believe that it will not be possible for this nation toachieve sustainable progress and at the same time I also want to take this opportunity andthis platform to share with you that while I say this I also say that when environmentclearances come, we have to be very sure, those of us who are working in the ministry, weneed to be very sure that the concerns with which we look at projects should be totallyobjective, fair, accountable, transparent, and absolutely clear to the people who are askingfor those clearances, so that nobody can say that environment is standing in the way.4. Having got that out of the way I want to go on to the actual subject of the day, thetraditional society and the traditional culture in India. I remember my grandfather, what hehad for breakfast was last night's rice soaked in water. That was breakfast. It was not ahuge big spread which all of us have today and suffer later in the day while we put onweight and worry about it. This was called Pariyashogan (please check Tamil term) inTamil and it was filled with potassium and iron and gave every person who ate it so muchstrength while not wasting the previous day's food. This is the kind of culture that our2,I

society has actually developed over the centuries and it is a matter of tragedy that thatculture has gone today and we have moved into a fast food culture or grabbing ahamburger culture, that has absolutely no connection with the Indian ethos, Indian valuesand the Indian traditions which have evolved over the centuries. We are busy unlearningjust like I unlearned all standards of allowing the other person to speak first, allowingsomebody to finish his sentence, when I first entered Parliament I felt you could never beheard if you allowed somebody to speak before you. We are unlearning all the wonderfultraditions that our ancestors taught us and to go into a completely unsustainable way oflife. I think as Indians we should first commit ourselves to going back to those paths whichwe followed which never ever allowed food to be wasted, which always made sure thatfood was eaten'the same day, food was local produce, food was freshly prepared, foodwhich was eaten and then somebody else ate it or the remaining food was eaten the nextday so that not a single morsel of food was wasted. This is the responsibility that we owe.5. There are so many children in our country, there are many many figures which havebeen given to us today. So many children in our country, so many people in our countrywho go to bed hungry and on the other side we have this tremendous ostentation, thistremendous amount of food that is wasted. I think as a country, as a nation, as a world, weneed to think about that responsibly and as all the others before me have spoken, I thinkwe need to understand that it is morally wrong to waste food when so many people aregoing hungry and this is a moral responsibility that each one of us has to accept not to beostentatious, not to have ostentatious parties and weddings. We can meet people, cooksimple food, make sure that the food is not wasted and make sure that at least whateverfood is made and leftover should be distributed to people who are hungry, go out on theroads. When I have friends who do it, some people think they are mad, they thinksomething is going on when you go and offer people on the road food, they don't even takeit from you. But I think a start should be made by making sure that food is not wasted. Idon't want to repeat what has already been said. I want to concentrate on an even moreimportant issue. The enormous wastage of water in this country is something all of usshould be totally ashamed of. In Delhi I am told that the per capita usage of water is 220litres. This is something way beyond hugely water rich countries in the West like Belgium,or Finland, or Norway, way beyond that, and then not only do we stand in the shower andallow water to flow when people in the villages don't even have drinking water. This alsocreates a tremendous amount of waste water and that waste water is going straight intoYamuna or into Ganga, creating a tremendous waste water management problem which weneed to manage. It is nothing short of immoral to waste water and I think we need to thinkvery very seriously about our usage of water. I only want to share with you a story I heardsome time ago about a young girl in a village who was crippled from birth waistdownwards. When some social workers found her and her mother was then too old to helpher, they asked her what she would like. This young girl said that I would like for you toidentify and pay any woman in the village to help me go out into the bushes outside thevillage for my daily ablutions, so that I can conduct my daily ablutions. When she was askedwhy, she said that after her mother became ill, every day when a man was taking her out,because there was no drinking water or definitely not a bathroom in her house for sanitaryfacilities, every day a different man in the village was taking her out into the bushes andevery day she was being sexually exploited by those men. This is the kind of untold story3./

that makes our toes curl in horror. This is the kind of India that's still out in the villages.This is the kind of India where people walk miles and miles to fetch brackish drinkingwater and I think we should as responsible citizens make sure that this water that we alluse is managed properly and therefore a very important message I want to convey thatwater is something that has to be managed properly, both the demand and the supply side.6. I really think that the Ministry of Environment and Forests has been very veryconscious of its role in spreading awareness on environment matters, but governmentalone cannot protect the environment. Every single citizen can and does contribute to thetask of conservation of nature and environment, and therefore the environment movementhas to become a people's movement. Not just NGOs but a citizens' movement whichincludes corporate, which includes big business, which includes those who set up massiveplants, industries. All of them have to be aware that our natural resources are biodiversity.Those books we have released that we are so proud of. India is a mega biodiversity richcountry and I am proud to say in conclusion that this government despite whatever youmay read, and my final point will be about my friends from the media who are here. Howmany of you actually report positive developments in environment? It is always that eitherthe government has done something terribly wrong in allowing a mine to be opened or thatit is an obstacle in the path of development. How many are going to report that so manynew species were discovered in India? How many are going to report the magnificent workthat was done by the Dr. Kasturirangan's committee in various aspects, in exploringperhaps the Western Ghats and perhaps other areas. How many of you are aware of thework that has been done for example by the GB Pant Institute, in Himalayan traditions? Inthe Himalayan ecosystem how much work is being done by the Ministry, by the officials, bypeople working, by scientists working over there? We have achieved a great deal, above allthe kind of work we are trying to do is very very far reaching.7. The latest we are trying to do is to put together the data base of all governmentdepartments, whether it's space, we want to ask for the cooperation from those Ministries.Of earth sciences, space, so that we have a complete data base of all our traditionalknowledge, all our flora and fauna, so that scientists and at least government can drawupon this knowledge to take the country forward on the path of development. Butunfortunately the attention span of people is drawn only to sensational issues, only tocertain parts which are sensational of the world of environment, or its mythical battle withdevelopment.8. On this day I would like to make an appeal and say that this government standsfirmly behind sustainable development, firmly behind the question of India's subscribingtotally to climate change, to stop climate change from impacting and degrading ourenvironment while at the same time protecting India's right to develop in international forato talk about common but differentiated responsibilities, and this government will standfirm in making sure that this planet, our country is protected and handed over in full to thenext generation.Thank you.i4