THE MODEL OF UNSUSTAINABLE AND PLANNED DEPRIVATION......

this piece should not be discounted as yet another raving by an anti corporate ideology....infact one needs to get beyond the debate of pro and anti corporate and think about what is best for society and the environment at large.
the moot point is that getting into this debate of pro and anti and taking stances is not going to improve or address any thing, the status quo shall remain and by choosing not to react we set a bad precedent and end up condoning all injustice being meted out to people.
let me simply open up by stating that we all talk of sustainable development but do we really know and understand the term because in the name of discussion all that results is rhetoric and no concrete action
let me refer to the latest development that is sweeping through coastal india albeit very quietly but just as gale winds start quietly only to end up as cyclones the current situation has every ingredient required to escalate into something that we shall not be able to handle.
the fact is today corporate interests have become so short term and goal oriented that the ends justify the means used...typical machiavellian tendencies on display
this approach has been criticised by everyone...noone says that industries are bad but every idea needs to be properly understood and implemented and all stakeholders need to be given due recognition and importance. it makes logical sense for any approach to be lasting and profit making only when the environment is given due importance, one cannot go about destroying the environemnt and claim to be sustainable at the same time. here let me refer specifcally to the coastal management zone act that talks about sustainable developemtn but the practises that it encourages along the coastlines can barely be deemed as sustainable, since when did establishing chemical plants that dump their wastes in the sea become sustainable or for that matter SEZ along the coast, dredging activities, sand mining and even nuclear reactors. if sustainable development happens in the manner as stated above the livelihoods of millions of fishermen is about to be lost foreever, it will not end at this however because these damaging acts will destrpy the marine life across the coasts and make the areas more susceptible to tsunamis as more of the mangrove forests keep getting cleared.
a similar trend is unravelling in the amazon where large tracts of pristine rainforests are being cleared in the quest to develop bio fuels and reduce green house emissions but the act of deforestation itself releases stored carbon into the air thereby ending the validation behind such a concept...just have a look at the below ststs to get a clearer picture

• 300,000 hectares of amazon rain forest destroyed over last six months of 2007
• Deforestation accounts for 20% of all current carbon emissions
  • Brazil’s mato grosso state is witnessing large scale replacement of rainforests by soybeans
  • World wide investment in bio fuels rose from 5 billion dollars to 38 billion over a period from 1995 to 2005 and is expected to top 100 billion dollars by 2010

the bigger issue therefore is that enormous amount of money is being pumped by corporates into half baked ventures that look very promising at the outset but has consequences that have not been foreseen adequately. there is another underlying trouble...since the corporates have already pumped so much of money in these ventures it is in their interests to ensure fruitition at whatever cost possible, this is the basic reason why legislations in the country get watered down to suit the interests of these lobbies who on account of their money are sought after and heard as well.
this use of soft power has by and large been very effective in running roughshod over several legilations and allowed extensive maipulation to the central tenets of the legislation.
we therefore witness large scale displacements of indigeneous people without adequate compensation in the name of development....the model of development was always meant to be inclusive but the current practises hinge on exclusion as a starting point for sustenance of projects which is a myth..unfortunately ecological preservation and respect for human sensitivities and culture are parameters that are conveninently overlooked...
the emergence of the concept of CSR is a case in point itself...why was the need for CSR felt if all was so good with these corporates..the very fact that they invest in CSR is justification of the premise that the current scheme propogates imbalance and such initiatives are taken up to mitigate them but then it is often a case of too little and desperately late...
but then i feel it is not the fault of these corporates rather the times we are in that give us little or no time to reconsider our actions...in other words we are so overwhelmed by the speed trap that we no longer know who we are and what do we stand for...what is emerging is an identity crisis that is going to hit the conscience of these very people who have annihilated in the name of development and destroyed in the name of creation....
as the roman emperor calgassus once said after his defeat at the hands of greeks....they come in hordes and lay waste to an oasis of hope..the greeks called it pax romana which means an even deal but this is even worse...
are the corporates listening or have they posotioned their ivory towers so far away that even the light of reason shall take aeons to reach!!!!
can these people see the tears yet presume them to be aberrations
can they not see the loss of hope and the sullen eyes of generations that would otherwise have lived with a twinkle in their eyes......
can they or wont they......if not its time to make them see, feel and experience the pain that deprivation is associated with.....
i have picked my flag against them......wont you?????