The Art of Maligning

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

I have no hesitation to say that the current hullabaloo about the Yamuna flood plain destruction by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living World Culture Festival  is so much hogwash. The environmental activists now stalking the TV channels are a breed of glorified laymen masquerading as experts. Apart from their stereotyped verbiage, jargon  easily acquired from some pamphlets and brochures, and occasionally from some publications dealing with environment, all that they possess is disinformation wrought by naive and simplistic interpretation of this kind of warped knowledge. They are no scientists of any note, and I doubt whether the Green Tribunal has any reputed scientists who have enough credentials to sit there as experts.  If there are,  I have not heard any single scientist authentically explaining eventualities  related to the ecology of Yamuna. At present obstructionists  are mostly belonging to the tribe of activists, who are like masons  in place of engineers and  compounders or pharmacists  in place of doctors.  So I don't listen to that activist cacophony.

We should note that many great cities are built on the flood plains of great rivers.  Now those cities and towns have become part of these floodplain ecosystem as much as the original and modified biota. They are all part of its biodiversity. They are a category of riparian zones and systems. Since there is mostly a flood way as the core of the flood plains, latter is one of the easiest to restore to sustainability unlike grasslands away from water sources. Two to three year's leave-alone policy is enough to restore a flood plain, as the natural succession which is the best effective way will take over.

Wetting of the floodplain soil by rains releases an immediate surge of nutrients: those left over from the last flood, and those that result from the rapid decomposition of organic matter that has accumulated since then. Microscopic organisms thrive and larger species enter a rapid breeding cycle. Opportunistic feeders (particularly birds) move in to take advantage. The production of nutrients peaks and falls away quickly; however the surge of new growth endures for some time. This makes floodplains particularly valuable for agriculture. That is the reason civilization originated in the great flood plains of mighty rivers.

All the mumbo jumbo the differently interested activists mumble are just a smokescreen to hide their political motivation. Restoring the jamboree site  will not cost a paisa other than that for dismantling the structures after the mega event. And what was the earlier condition? Over the years the flood plains have been used as an illegal dumping ground of construction debris. 17 drains were dumping toxic waste in the Yamuna and creating a thick stench; it would be hard for anyone to stand next to the river for 3 minutes, let alone host a 3 day cultural event. Land will now be restored to a much happier and healthier condition which the activist obstructionists could never do.