Urban India is willing to fight for its green lung
The threat to the urban forest cover comes from linear infrastructure like roads, metros and high volt power lines
There appears to be a new awakening in urban India where city after city is fighting for its green spaces and its green lungs. Be it for the protection of the Aravali Biodiversity Park (ABP) in the national capital region (NCR), the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) National Park in heart of Hyderabad, or the Aarey forests in Mumbai, the last few months have seen mobilisation of urban citizens in defence of the environment. The citizens have been out on the streets, taken the matter to the courts, and also been actively mobilising the media and the political establishment in this fight.
There are at least two things that stand out: the first is that these are about chunks of land with forest cover in the heart of these rapidly growing metropolises; and the second, that the threats to all of them come from linear infrastructure – roads in the case of Hyderabad and the NCR, and the metro in the case of Mumbai.
The challenge is structural and goes down to the foundational belief of the current paradigm that linear infrastructure is one of the key drivers of development and economic growth. This linear infrastructure is now the most significant cause of wild animal mortal- ity across the country where thousands of reptiles, amphibians, birds and big and small mammals are dying in road and rail accidents or being electrocuted by high voltage power lines. The mobility imperative, of travelling further and deeper and faster, all of which originate (literally and conceptually) from the urban landscape, one might argue, has only come home to roost.
The Strategic Road Development Program in Hyderabad seeks to slice out parts of the last remaining forests of the city because road space is not enough just as the National Highway Authority of India wants to build a road through the green lung of Gurgaon to decongest the roads that connect it to Delhi.
This is also a structure that has always been hugely hostile to most other inhabitants of the urban space. Be it centuries old trees that line our roads, the public transport system, the pedestrian and the cyclist who use the most environmental friendly modes of transport and yet constitute the biggest casualties in road accidents or the cycle-rickshaw puller who is most marginalised in the hierarchy of urban transportation.
One hopes that the current battles will be won, that the forests of Aarey will be saved, that the ABP in Gurgaon will continue to be oasis it is and the KBR national park will remain the jewel in Hyderabad’s crown. But we must not forget that there are more battles waiting ahead if the fundamental issues are not addressed. In this muddled age of increasing religiosity and pseudo-spirituality, one must read Yuval Noah Harari’s three books: ‘ Sapiens: A brief history of humankind’, ‘ Homo Deus: A brief history of tomorrow’ and the latest one, ‘21 lessons for the 21st century.’
Harari explains spirituality as ‘ a euphemism for religiosity.’ It’s a sophisticated front for blatant religiosity. What we all mean by spirituality is subtly based on ‘religio-esoteric spirituality.’ An individual’s