Fifty-five years of 'development' have spurred on unplanned urbanisation, extensive industrialisation, and the building of a series of big dams.

In the process, India has landed bang in the middle of an ecological crisis creating a disparity. We have lost half our forests, poisoned our waters, polluted our atmosphere, eroded our lands and rendered millions homeless, resource less and more impoverished. Three of our cities are amongst the 15 most-polluted cities in the world. Several of our flora and fauna are on the brink of extinction. Still, most of us are comforting ourselves within the soft confines of our homes and offices feeling unperturbed about the status quo. This lackadaisical approach towards nature has had devastating consequences on the environment. Why and how has this happened? And how can the situation be remedied? What is the difference being made by government legislation and people's movements for the environment? These are some of the questions posed by the growing number of green enthusiasts that needs to be answered. An Indian Environmentalists credo is a magisterial survey of the ills afflicting India's environment and a plea to take urgent steps before it is too late. This essay is both an affirmation of the tradition of caring for our natural resources and a timely reminder that much still needs to be done. In the wake of growing number of agitation over exploitation of natural resources of the Third World nations to cater to the demands of the powerful and rich developed countries, Anil Agarwal, a media journalist and an environmentalist has documented the reasons of changing climatic conditions over the past few years in our nation and how these foraging activities have depleted the vast and abundant green reserves of various nations, thereby modifying the natural habitats of not just the animals but also of humans local to the particular environment. There are many environment groups in India, from the earliest Chipko movement in the UP Himalayas to the Apikko movement in the Western Ghats of Karantaka, and they are doing laudable work in rallying people, both to put a stop to further ecological devastation and to bring about ecological restoration.

Being a progressive and developing economy, India has to solve the problems of poverty and unemployment and also to tackle the environmental destruction. The government has introduced capitalintensive pollution control technologies but it is adding to the increasing woes of the persecuted people, the poor and the destitute, whose only livelihood is through the various forest produces and residues. Mr. Agarwal points out that the destruction of the environment or any policy that reduces the access to the biomass resources - like the creation of a wildlife sanctuary or enforcement of forest conservation legislation will have an extremely adverse impact on the daily lives of the people who are totally dependent on forest produces and residue. In the name of environment and economic development, the government needs to bear in minds the effects on not just the concerned entity (endangered species of flora and fauna) but also examine the extent in which the schemes will have on the individuals extensively dependent on the forest for their livelihood. The experience of micro-level groups shows clearly that it is rare to find a case in which environmental destruction does not go hand in hand with social injustice, almost like the two sides of the same coin. Nature has been commercialised, effectively giving the example of peasants who grow plants (like eucalyptus) which are sold for a good price at the market. Foresters say that the landless labourers, most of them being womenfolk, are out to destroy the forest lands, who take away the dry eucalyptus leaves from the plantations for use as a fuel, and leaving no chance for the soil to enrich itself. This growing conflict between the forest officials and the peasants has degraded the natural resources, and in particular, over biomass between two sectors of the economy - on one hand, the cash economy or the modern sector and on the other nonmonetised, biomass-based subsistence economy or the traditional sector. As the balance of supply and demand becomes unstable, with the demand of biomass exceeding the supply, the pressures to exploit the remaining biomass reserves shoot up; biomass price rises resulting in increased exploitation because of sheer market forces. Today, illegal timber felling is

a major activity undertaken in the country with the full support of avaricious politicians and entrepreneurs to make quick bucks. This commercialisation of biomass and its drain towards those who have the power to purchase inevitably harms the insolvent and erode the nonmonetised, biomass-based subsistence economy. The maximum impact of this destruction of biomass is felt on women, especially those from poor and small farming families. Mr. Agarwal makes an interesting clause about male and female trees, as the testosterone-driven men are more involved with the cash economy and migrate to urban areas in pursuit of better opportunities and improved lifestyle, which increases the burden on the womenfolk as they have to bear the responsibility of the remaining house members. The number of women with increased burden is found mainly in the regions of UP and Bihar, in contrast to the few hours of work by females in Kerala and few parts of Tamil Nadu. The ecological environment of the coastline regions of India (Kerala and the Eastern Coast) helps in reducing the load on the females as they do not have to travel far-off places in search of fodder and biomass, unlike their counterparts in UP or Bihar. Mr. Agarwal gives deep insight to the causes and the effects of the same. Every head-loading woman knows the fact that the forests will soon be wiped out and her occupation will also come to a standstill. But they are afraid if they do not make use of it, the foresters will sell off the lands to contractors who will ruthlessly exploit it. This destruction of the environment is happening at a rapid rate and the transformation is affecting on the immediate and daily basis on the tribals, nomads, fisher folks, artisans and small farm households.

To combat such diverse and complex problems, there are some points suggested by the author. First is to develop a holistic approach regarding effective utilisation of land and water resources. Secondly, labourers, famers, peasants working in the rural areas, and most importantly the womenfolk need to understand the essence of Nature and work cohesively to regenerate the green covers, so as to help them live independently on

the forests produce, an idea that was envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi (that every village has to be self sufficient). It is the collective responsibility of the village folk to make their habitat a biosphere reserve, limited to the overuse of resources. The answer to Indias immediate problem of poverty lies in increasing the biomass available in nature, in such a manner that access to it is ensured on an equitable basis. Any science which teaches how to do this, will truly be the called the Peoples Science. Like the example of Kerala, easy availability of biomass leading to reduction in the burden of women created the appropriate conditions for many desirable social changes (education, health, etc.). The biggest challenge lies before social workers and politicians who have to play a dominant role in ensuring that people can participate in a biomass-based development process. They are stealing the green from our national flag!" is how the environmental movement led by the rubber tappers of Brazil summed up the relationship between national wellbeing and the environment. Anil Agarwal, in his contribution to Social Ecology, puts it thus, "The Environment is an idea whose time has come in India."