Coal is dangerous.
The extent of the destruction caused by coal mining became clear to me when I accompanied a fact-finding team to Singrauli. Singrauli is a district in Madhya Pradesh, which supplies a lot of the coal that gives us electricity.
Vast stretches of barren land, smoke and ash. That’s what coal mining has done to this district. The coal fumes are spreading fatal lung diseases. Life in all its forms, human and animal, has been affected. Only the companies and politicians seemed to have gained from this destruction.
Singrauli has made me understand how privileged my city life is. I now see the real price of the electricity we urban Indians often waste. Forests harbour and protect so much. Destroying them, especially when there are alternative energy sources, is not acceptable.
I was among the first few thousands who became citizens of the Republic of Junglistan. The virtual republic represents those who want the forests to be saved from coal.
The Republic has been growing steadily. The bigger it is, the better are our chances of making a strong case for the protection of the forests. The Republic needs to gather strength to counter the clout of the powerful coal lobby. You can do this by getting more of your friends to become citizens of the Republic of Junglistan.
Coal: 1 Forests: 0.
So last year, I met Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and told him to not demand more forests for coal. I had the support of over 90,000 people from across the country.
I told him that his plans to increase coal mining in forests across Central India were going to harm endangered wildlife and lakhs of people that depend on the forests for their livelihood.
He said that he shared these concerns and promised another meeting to discuss the issue in detail. I am still waiting to meet the minister for the ‘detailed discussion’.
And now Mahan has provisional clearance.
Clearly, the Coal Minister did not share any concern. His Ministry and the government have just been working hard to get clearances to destroy more forests, mine for more coal and please those companies who now stand accused of corruption in the coal scam.
It’s a powerful ministry that has the full backing of the PM to ensure it gets what it wants. If the environment ministry is to be believed, the Coal Minister already has 55,000 hectares of forest land, and more clearances than he ever needs. Yet he has been asking for more forests.
The Coal Minister is getting away with these reckless demands for more forests because the country doesn’t really know what is going on. Share this now, reveal his ulterior motives.
Ask the Prime Minister to stop all new coal allocations and forest clearances until the scam has been investigated and there is a clear demarcation of areas that shouldn’t be mined.
Under‘mining’ our future.
Living far away from forests does not mean that we don’t get affected by their destruction. The one thing I’ve understood in my two years of working on this issue is that, destruction of natural forests affects everyone.
How? Forests are oxygen banks. They retain carbon dioxide, so clearing them will release all this C02 and there goes our plan to check carbon emissions. So all the talk about the climate is a waste if we are going to cut down forests and burn more coal.
These coal mines will cut across tiger, elephant and leopard habitats, destroying important corridors between forests that these species need. Tiger populations in some of most famous tiger reserves like Kanha, Bandhavgarh, and Tadoba-Andheri will be at risk if rampant coal mining is allowed in the forests of Central India.
Then there are millions of people who depend on these forests. For generations they have been making a living out of these forests, and unlike our government they have not destroyed the forests.
The leaked draft of a CAG report tells us that the allocation of coal mines is the biggest scandal to have hit the country. Between 2004-2009, the Coal Ministry, which was then under the PM allocated coal blocks to companies for peanuts. There were no auctions, as one is supposed to have before allocating coal blocks. The scam surpasses the 2G scam in every way. It represents a huge loss to the country and a hand-out to the coal companies.
Challenging Coal.
After everything I’d seen in Singrauli, this was it for me.
Now this fight has become even more crucial. Giving up now will make it easy for the Coal Ministry and the government to give away more and more forests. This will destroy some of the most important corridors linking some of the best reserves in the country. Thousands, maybe lakhs, will be made homeless and poor.
It’s tiring sometimes. The stubborn attitude of the government makes me want to give up at times. But then, when I think of what’s at stake, I know it’s worth fighting for.
Many forest dependent communities have been fighting to save the forests for really long now. We can help them win this.
So now I am travelling the country, meeting those who have been affected by coal mining. Documenting forests which are still safe, and the state of those we couldn’t save.
I am doing everything I can to save some of the finest forests in our country. The forests stand a better chance if there are more of us trying to do the same.
Ask the Prime Minister to stop all new coal allocations and forest clearances until the scam has been investigated and there is a clear demarcation of areas that shouldn’t be mined.
Healthy, Wealthy and Renewable.
I have never for once denied the fact that we need electricity. So before you say, ‘if not coal, then what?’, I’ll tell you renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Renewable energy has given remote villages in Bihar access to electricity. Infact, I read about a hospital in Bihar which uses solar power to meet a lot of its energy demands. A large number of villages in remote Bihar get electricity from rice husk. Incredible isn’t it? So why can’t we make use of solar and other renewable energy options in the cities and wherever possible instead of relying only on coal?
If businesses and factories are made to use energy efficiently, we will dig out a lot less coal- and destroy fewer forests- in the first place. Stringent rules on the way energy is consumed can save our forests.
It’s not like coal is our only hope. Forests don’t have to be sacrificed to meet the demands of the city people. Clean energy can provide for all without hurting the environment.
Win it for Junglistan.
The government says that all the forest destruction is needed to provide electricity needed by urban people. But what if lakhs and lakhs of city dwellers likes us, tell the government that we want them to protect forests and use alternate sources to give us electricity.
In October, India is hosting an international Convention on Bio-diversity (CBD). The demand to save our forests will be presented to the Prime Minister at this event. Ignoring or crushing a plea to save forests, during an event meant to discuss conservation, will be tough for the PM. Here we can get the PM to make a commitment to protect our forests.
This time, the world will bear witness to the PM's decision. Protecting forests will no longer be an issue fought over between ministries. It will be a commitment made to the world, and not fulfilling it will hurt the reputation of our country.
How can you make a difference?
The Arab Spring revolution in Egypt was successful in over-throwing their tyrant regime, because lakhs of people came together to show their opposition to the regime. Individuals took to the internet. They spoke about the revolution on Twitter, shared news about the developments on Facebook and other social networks. Moreover, they kept asking all their friends to join the movement.
Thus lakhs of them filled up Tahrir square and achieved success. Occupy Wall Street in New York, and a lot of aspiring revolutions all over the world are doing the same.
Our movement to save the forests is no different. We can actually help forest-dependent communities that have been trying to protect their forests for so long. We have the internet and social networks. The movement will grow when you and me talk about it, share it with friends and then do an Occupy to make the government realise the strength of the demands being made by the Republic of Junglistan.
This way, we’ll be able to save our forests, the wildlife and the rights of the forest communities. At the same time, your friends, you and all of us will book a place in history for being part of one of the biggest movements to save India’s forests.
Get the movement started. Share it with your friends!