Smiling Back at the Self

Nature is not with anybody. Neither is it against anyone. It is for us to decide whether we are with it or against it. The onus is on us! Since we are a part of it, it suits our purpose if we go with it! Going against it means going against ourselves. But that is what we are doing presently!

The pretty faced young environmentalist had spoken well at the environment seminar in a prestigious public school and concluded with the above well-meaning lines. She had studied environmental studies and was now working with an NGO fighting for environmental issues. The organisation ran a monthly environment and nature magazine as well and the young activist did more than her salary justified for the editorial part of the publication. There are various compartments of identities, hopes, aspirations and desires inside us. She loved the cause of the nature and environment, but then somewhere inside her, as a normal young girl, there was the innocent ambition of moving up on the material ladder of life, having a car, costlier mobile set, some flat of her own in future, and many such mundane hopes as any other educated girl in Delhi would have. Many of her colleagues in college who had chosen more convenient subjects like economics and business management appeared to have already taken a big leap in that direction getting good salaries and CTCs.

Possessing better knowledge, drive and debating skills than even the brightest girl she could recall from her circle, she always tried her best to compensate for the lower CTC—even lesser than the dimwit school friend who was now making more money in fashion designing—by thinking about the larger cause she worked for. The cause of mother earth! But the biggest cause is the cause of the self. So she always felt the pinch and many a time wished she should have chosen a better, more lucrative subject. The young girl in her had the soft dream of a comfortable life, having all the basic amenities around her. But given the fast-paced consumerism that comes tugging at our hearts and more so at our wallets, the resources are never sufficient. We have to have more. She was no exception to this. She had her little girl’s cute cynicism building in her.

Her manager who generally wrote the editorial for the monthly magazine was outstation and not in a position to write the piece this time and she had been given this extra responsibility to write editorial for this month’s issue focussing on poverty, hunger and environmental degradation. We have our own weapons and tools to criticise. The catapulting throw is powered by our little-little miseries as individuals. But then speaking for the common cause can provide us the safe route of justified cynicism, without sounding outright jealous cribbing. With her mind calculating the prospects of a better career, the heart-chores trying to reach the farthest limits of her purse to get the costliest gift for her boyfriend on his approaching birthday, she wrote with strength and conviction.       

 

Despite hogging some mediocre limelight for making advancements in various fields India still ranks at the bottom of the list in terms of quality of life. In fact even very poor African countries are better placed than India in this regard. The reason is simple: the economic statistics that put India in the league of rapidly developing economies are just limited to the economic fortunes of mere 1 percent of the total population. How has this miniscule section of Indian population come to grab almost 80 percent of the total wealth and give a very deceptive picture of the Indian growth and development? The answer is very simple! Political-industrialist nexus has allowed the plundering of natural resources to an unbelievable extent. Take for example coal. The industrial house acquiring a coal block has to spend just 100 rupees per ton (including royalty and extraction costs) and gets legal rights to sell it for 5000 rupees. This is plain theft! How can anyone justify such mammoth profit margin? It applies to the rest of the resources including minerals, forests, petroleum, natural gas, water bodies, lands, etc. All that a big industrial house is required to do is to take the particular minister heading a crucial resource ministry into confidence, set up a deal regarding the massive returns for the party, individuals and the institutions. That is how unimaginable sums of money get deposited in secret accounts abroad. This money is then used, not for development works, but in parochial ways meant to perpetuate the ways and means of the system that allows this loot. Consider a reverse scenario! Suppose rules and regulations are reformulated to increase the royalties to the extent that the industrialist is left with a logical profit margin on the basis of investment made. Like if the industrialist has to pay back 2500 rupees out of 5000 rupees made for per ton of coal. These 2500 rupees coming back into the governmental coffers as direct visible money can be used for developmental works directly related to the quality of life of the 99 percent of the population. It will avoid a situation where just 1 percent of the population sits on majority of the resources, directly or indirectly. This is no communist dream! It is pretty much based on the market principles. Let the investing industrialist have the best returns as per the money-making ratio in rest of manufacturing and services sectors where people put up best of their management skills to earn decent sums. If it is not done then we will definitely have scenarios where the Prime Minister has to eat humble pie at the hands of criminal coal ministers having nexus with coal mafia and big industrial houses.

These were very avid and pertinent questions and issues that she raised. Reading it again she felt proud for having spoken out so loudly to reach at least the two thousand magazine subscribers. With her sweet innocent ambitions taking a temporary backseat, she definitely enjoyed the dozens of appreciation mails from the readers praising the editorial. And of course, she believed a bit more that she should feel proud of earning her bread and contributing to a social cause. In the mirror of the self inside her, she peeped to find her face happily smiling back. At least today!