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Environmental Injustice In Punjab
Pardeep Singh Rai
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WSN presents a summary of the book, Environmental Injustice in
Punjab. Though much has been written about Water rights of
Panjab, this research encompasses details of degradation of
water and its loot on both sides of the Radcliff line. Born in
Malaysia, settled in London, the never-say-die activist wants to
do something constructive for Panjab and yearns to “spend the
next few years of life near Moga in Punjab, rearing goat and
sheep in my village lands presently usurped by someone.” |
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 “Many of the wars this century (twentieth) were about oil,
But those of the next century (twenty-first) will be over water.”
--Dr Ismail Serageldin, ex-World Bank vice president for
environmental affairs
and
chairman of the World Water Commission in 1995.
Water is a precious commodity in every arid country in the world as
it sustains life. In Punjab, water is all the more meaningful
because the very existence of Punjab depends on the waters of the
five rivers. Moreover, water plays an important role in the
spiritual and cultural beliefs of the Punjabis. The Punjabi Hindus
use water for tirath isnaan (baths at places of pilgrimage)
to purify the body and the Punjabi Muslims perform wudhu
(ablutions) with it prior to performing prayers. The Sikhs use it
for amrit (baptism ceremonies) and have sarowars
(tanks of water) at their Gurdwaras (Sikh places of
worship). Accordingly, the rivers of Panjab are not only resources
but places of reverence and homage that have very important value
for its people.
Introduction to Panjab
Panjab, the famous ‘Land of Five Rivers’ is a semi-arid landlocked
region in the north - western part of South Asia. Its name is
derived from the Persian words panj meaning five and ab
meaning water (Latif, 1891).
Panjab, in fact, represents the vast fertile plain through which the
five rivers flow after they leave the Himalayan Mountain ranges. The
five rivers of Panjab, all tributaries of the mighty Indus River,
are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej (from west to east).
These five tributaries have their originating source in the
Himalayan Mountains as small lakes and rely on melting snows and
monsoon rains. They flow in a northeast to southwest direction
across the immense alluvial plain of Panjab. The confluence of the
five rivers of Panjab is at a place named Panjnad (the five
streams). The river waters then enter the Indus River, which finally
ends in the
Arabian Sea.
 Panjab has a semi-arid subtropical continental climate with four
distinct seasons. Summer is excessively hot and dry between April
and August while winters are generally cool with some frosts.
Historically, however, this Land of Five Rivers has been divided
between India and Pakistan since 1947. Agricultural production in
India and Pakistan depends to a large extent on Panjab and it was in
this region that the Green Revolution was a success. Thus, this
highly productive region is known as the 'bread basket' of both
countries as it supplies more than 60% of their food grains
requirements. Although efforts have been made to look at the
environmental issues affecting all parts of Panjab, the main
emphasis of this report has been on Punjab state in India, which has
borne the brunt of the environmental degradation.
Environmental History of Panjab
Panjab was among the first in the world to develop a civilisation
based on settled agriculture. It was here that the Indus Valley
Civilisation of the third millennium BC, which is acknowledged as
‘one of the great historic achievements of the human race’ (Clark,
1969) was established. It was an urban literate civilisation with
developed agriculture based on an organised system of irrigation by
inundation and the use of the plough (Thapar, 1975). Archaeologists
have now come to the conclusion that the cities of Mohenjodharo and
Harappa
of this civilization 'fell when waterlogging caused a build-up of
salt in the soils and the crops failed' (Pearce, 1992).
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Punjab today faces major environmental concerns with water
scarcity, ground water depletion, water pollution, dry water
sources, eutrophication, land degradation, degradation of
watersheds, waterlogging, salinization, sodicity, flooding,
water erosion, soil erosion, wind erosion, drought, and
desertification. |
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In
addition, the construction of buildings with kiln-fired bricks
required huge amounts of wood. Within a few hundred years, the
people had cleared the forests, causing severe erosion of the
farmlands. An environmental disaster occurred in ancient Panjab
because of the salinization and erosion of farmlands caused by
intensive irrigation systems, deforestation, and over-grazing by
domesticated animals coupled with the added pressure of climate
changes. However, the over-exploitation of the environment for
short-term gains while ignoring the long-term consequences was a
major cause. Today history is repeating itself once again.
 Panjab was in complete harmony with its resources and environment.
It was a vast region of diverse ecosystems including mountain and
riverine forests, open scrub woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, and
freshwater aquatic ecosystems such as rivers, canals and choes
(seasonal rivulets). The diverse habitats co-existed largely
unspoilt until the region lost its independence in 1849. The British
Raj brought commercial agriculture and indulged their predilection
for big game hunting (Shikars), driving tigers, leopards,
wolves, cheetah and bears almost to the brink of extinction (Rai,
2005). However, it was not until the Green Revolution of the 1960s
brought a dramatic increase in the use of intensive irrigation,
chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that decisive
environmental degradation set in.
Environmental Degradation of Panjab
Panjab today faces major environmental concerns with water scarcity,
ground water depletion, water pollution, dry water sources,
eutrophication, land degradation, degradation of watersheds,
waterlogging, salinization, sodicity, flooding, water erosion, soil
erosion, wind erosion, drought, and desertification. Climate change
is exacerbating all of these problems as the result of increased
greenhouse gases and global warming. Panjab is also beset by other
environmental concerns such as air pollution, loss of biodiversity,
deforestation, excessive use of pesticides, GM crops, improper waste
disposal, unsustainable energy use, polluting transport,
unsustainable housing and noise pollution. This is the result of
changes brought about by the impact of political, economical and
social factors. Shiva discovered ‘that rather than abundance, Punjab
state has been left with diseased soils, pest-infested crops,
water-logged deserts, and indebted and discontented farmers. Instead
of peace, Punjab (state) has inherited conflict and violence’
(Shiva, 1993).
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The desire for clean air, water and soil transcends caste,
religion and gender and the movement to protect these basic
human rights offers an unprecedented opportunity for Punjabis to
come together with a common purpose. |
The
environmental degradation of Panjab ‘is a slow, everyday phenomenon
(and therefore, perhaps, more pervasive) which does not fit into a
neat category of crisis’ (Sharma, 2001). The need of the times is to
be to come to the rescue of the affected area at the first call of
distress, instead of waiting for the situation to become totally
hopeless and then there will be no way back. In actual fact, the
environmental degradation of Panjab has trigged a ‘positive feedback
loop’ – a system begins to move in a certain direction, and then
responds to change in a way that makes the process faster and
faster. Thus, we are headed into a downward spiral of deterioration
and destruction.
Hope for the Future
Kisey Panjabi de des nooh berbadh kar raheh,
Waikhaan aah ke kadoh tikh kareh gah.
A
Panjabi’s homeland is being destroyed,
Let’s see when he comes to put things right.
--(Paraphrase of a Sufi Kalam by Pir Mian Mohammad Bakhsh)
Panjab, the very name stands for abundance of water, but the present
situation of water resources in the region is highly critical with
water scarcity, water pollution, depletion of groundwater and
insufficient drinking water. However, water issues in Panjab ‘are
now so snarled in the politics of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism
that they cannot be untangled. A clumsy water decision could still
set off a major insurrection’ (De Villiers, 1999). It is clear that
until the dispute over the rights to the river waters is settled,
the Punjab (state) crisis will continue to simmer and may even
escalate again. The Indian government is fully aware of this issue
and it has been noted that the scarcity of water in the entire Indo
- Gangetic area will make ‘water security an extremely important
issue’ (Malik, 1999). As the conflict over the environment
intensifies, it must be recognised that the environment is ‘the
national security issue of the early 21st century’ (Kaplan, and
Rieff, 2000).
Meanwhile, Panjab’s rivers of living waters are being diverted or
choked off under our very noses and the homeland is being destroyed
to keep crops growing where they do not belong. For most people in
Panjab, the path to water for drinking and irrigation has been made
extremely difficult. Moreover, ‘where water scarcity and environment
degradation occur, it is the poor, the landless and the women who
have always been adversely affected’ (Rai, 2001).
The
situation in Panjab is a classic example of a sub-group pursuing its
own private interest at the expense of the wider group, even to the
point of environmental suicide. There are others who are either
ignorant, sceptical or in denial of the facts staring them in their
faces. Corruption, fraud, wastage, red tape, bureaucratic delays,
poor management of biological resources, deficiencies in
environmental knowledge and lack of conservation measures are major
factors that have lead to the present sorry state of the
environment. Added to this are economic systems that fail to value
the environment and its resources and the unsustainable consumption
of resources. Thus,
Punjab
state in
India has borne the brunt of the environmental degradation due to
political manipulations. The other parts of Panjab are also facing
various stages of environmental degradation. ‘Thus an environmental
injustice is being committed against the Panjabi people, who have
the right to protect their historical homeland and seek justice’ (Rai,
2001).
The
desire for clean air, water and soil transcends caste, religion and
gender and the movement to protect these basic human rights offers
an unprecedented opportunity for Panjabis to come together with a
common purpose.
The
only thing that can counteract the present environmental vandalism
of Panjab is for Panjabis worldwide to band together, lobby and cry
out to save the homeland. ‘A few lone voices in the wilderness of
the environmental movement in Panjab and here in Britain are trying
to make the governments of India and Pakistan face up to the reality
of the situation’ (Rai, 2005).
It
is clear that ‘environmental advocacy is about recognizing that we
have to preserve the basic infrastructure of natural systems; they
connect us to the lands that remind us of our history’ (Kennedy,
2004). Panjab, today, is in dire need of visionaries and
extraordinarily principled Panjabis who will pave the way for
collective national and international action. This will be critical
and vital if Panjab is to
 confront
the greatest threat it has ever faced – the wilful, deliberate and
wanton destruction
of the Land of Five Rivers.
Pardeep Singh is a London-based environmentalist and founder of DEEP
–Defenders of the Environment and Ecology of Panjab. He may be
contacted at
pardeepsingh_rai@hotmail.com
29
July, 2008
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