Don't ignore the 1st Citizen's 1st concern

Guess, which is the most amended law in the county? It's none other than the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification under the Environment Protection Act. It has been amended 34 times in 27 years. And each amendment only diluted the provisions that were laid to protect the coasts.

Please read this in the context of the recent admission by the government that about 34 per cent of the coastline is under varying degrees of erosion for the past 28 years as admitted by the government in Parliament.

Union Minister of State with Independent Charge of Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh said, "National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), is monitoring shoreline erosion since 1990, using remote sensing data and GIS mapping techniques."

A total of 6,907.18 km long coastline of the mainland has been analysed till 2018 and it is observed that (33.6 per cent) of the coastline is under varying degrees of erosion, the minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Coming as it did in the wake of the research studies that the rising sea levels can drown large chunks of coasts in just 28 years; the government report is a matter of grave concern for coastal areas. India has over 7,500 km of coastline touching nine States - Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and two union territories of Daman and Diu and Puducherry, apart from the islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman-Nicobar Islands.

Yet such issues do not seem to attract national attention. The Minister just said, "At present, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is in the process of preparing the suitable norms for mitigation measures and developing a policy to deal with the extensive displacement of people".

There was no elaboration as the government response to a question has gone as what is described as a "written reply" on a day when the Question Hour had to be suspended due to the uproar by the opposition. Will any MP take up this issue? Doubtful. Unless it comes to their necks, the elected representatives do not seem to take the environment seriously. We do not know the level of preparations for disaster management.

As this column has been repeatedly regretting that the official policies are leading to destructive construction on the coasts and river banks at a time when we ought to be planning to mitigate shocks of the impending disasters. The coastal soil erosion is in addition to the dangers arising out of rising sea levels.

One wonders as to how many MPs and MLAs will take the 14th President Ram Nath Kovind's emotional farewell speech in which he said: "Mother Nature is in deep agony and the climate crisis can endanger the very future of this planet."

Kovind went on to say that we must take care of our environment, our land, air and water, for the sake of our children. "In our daily lives and routine choices, we must be more careful to protect our trees, rivers, seas and mountains as well as all other living beings. As the first citizen, if I have to give one advice to my fellow citizens, it has to be this," the outgoing President said.

From the Central Hall of Parliament, the nation heard the new President Droupadi Murmu stressing: "I have realised the importance of forests and water bodies in my life. We take necessary resources from nature and serve nature with equal reverence. This sensitivity has become a global imperative today."

The President also said: "I'm happy that India is guiding the world in the field of environmental protection". That's it. On global platforms, we talk a lot about the environment and do precious little at home despite all profound statements from the Prime Minister to the CMs and various environment Ministers. We do not seem to have learnt any lessons from either the tsunami or the coastline erosion.

The recurring floods in the mainland or the landslides in the hills have taught us nothing. It is in this context that I read the last and the new Presidents talking about the environment. There has been a general impression that the President is a mere rubber stamp of the PM of the day.

Indira Gandhi made Fakruddin Ali Ahmed sign disastrous decrees such as the one to impose the Emergency. In fact, I understand from some tutorial class websites that the question whether the President of India is a rubber stamp has figured in the competitive exam test preparation model questions.

The question also arises from the fact that the President goes by the advice of the Union Cabinet of the day which amounts to the decision of the PM. There has been no case of any cabinet disagreeing with the PM.

But it is interesting that the Presidents – outgoing and incoming – have stressed on the importance of environmental protection, that too in a matter of 24 hours. Obviously, they reflect the government's policy because the President is not supposed to go beyond the dotted lines set by the government speech writers.

From the environmental lovers' perspective, the two statements give rise to a new hope as we can now literally hold them responsible for their words. Unlike in the past, even the President of India is open to communication through social media. He has email IDs which are in the public domain. What is more, the President's Secretariat is open to RTI requests too and follow-ups.

So, one can easily keep checking on the actions the government takes on the advice given by the Presidents. One also hopes that President Murmu will keep reminding the government, MPs and the administration about the environment. We have at least half a dozen occasions in a year to talk about the environment.

Most importantly, the Amrit Mahotsav Day - to start respecting the environment as the unchecked development has caused plenty of destruction. Prime Minister sir, we have spoken quite a bit on various global forums about the environment. Isn't it time to start acting on the home front? Let's keep reminding ourselves of what President Ram Nath Kovind said: "Mother Nature is in deep agony."

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based media veteran now running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)