Environment kashmir and s.asian politics. The fortunate result of the intense debates and charges leveled against India’s environmental ministry is that the country is now very aware of the need to protect the environment. Thought to be a recent trend and the invention of jolla wala, our nation’s pseudo-intellectuals, the idea had been getting only lip service, as did several other topics like the Gandhian way of life and the superiority of Indian culture, which were repeated and quoted like old political catchphrases by members of our political leadership across the political spectrum. When the influential Green Party was founded about twenty years ago, the Germans took the intellectual drawing room problem to a national political level. Today, the party has a significant influence on national politics. However, man’s grave worries for the preservation of nature go back far further than that. In the early 13th century, a nation known for being barbaric and ruled by one of the most bloodthirsty kings in history, Chengiz Khan, is remembered for having massacred hundreds of thousands of people, most notably the Muslims of Eastern Iran and Central Asia (Balkh). Despite this, there is historical evidence of the state’s involvement in nature conservation, enforced by Suyya, an ace engineer of Kashmir during the reign of Avantiverman in the 9th century a.d. The preservation of water bodies was a top priority in Mongol legislation, to the point that anybody caught bathing or washing clothing in a stream or public body of water risked execution. A wide range of human activities are involved in the subject of nature protection. Here, we may focus on the three environmental factors that are most crucial: water, mangroves, and forest cover. In South Asian politics, all three of these concerns are now hotly debated. Every day, the people and national governments of numerous nations throughout the globe are becoming more and more impacted by water-related challenges. Due to obvious biological changes and a decrease in the amount of water available, the water distribution treaties that India and Pakistan agreed to have become very contentious, if not obsolete. Article 5.1 of the two nations’ treaty calls for the sharing of the waters of the rivers that flow into Pakistan’s Indus River: the Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Jhelum, and Chenab. This treaty states that before they reach Pakistan, India is granted exclusive usage of the rivers Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi. However, a 10-year transition period was allowed, during which time India was required to provide water to Pakistan from these rivers until Pakistan could construct a canal system to use the waters of the Jhelum, Chenab, and the Indus itself that were granted to it by the treaty. Similar to this, Pakistan is the only country allowed to utilize the western rivers Jhelum, Chenab, and Indus, subject to certain restrictions on the construction of projects on Indian soil. These conditions, which permit development projects like the de-silting of the Salal Dam in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and other smaller initiatives, have caused a rift between the two nations, however. Extremist infiltrators from Pakistan recently ordered the engineers and laborers working on planned renovations of the well-known sweet water lake, Wullar, in the Kashmir Valley, to stop work at gunpoint. Tensions were much reduced as a consequence of the signing of the water distribution treaty between India and Pakistan and the funding of several water storage facilities that benefited both countries. For the next few decades, the significance of Kashmir’s water resources was largely overlooked. The impact on water supplies rose as the populations of both nations grew dramatically. India was planning large-scale irrigation projects, thus it was evident how, by the 1990s, Kashmir’s hydrological significance had once again escalated into a significant problem. It is important to note that the jud (jamaat ud dawa) headquartered in Pakistan has openly assumed that India may cut off Pakistan’s water supply, providing a rationale for waging jihad. Nonetheless, the administration does not generally associate water with Kashmir in public pronouncements, which is the opposite of the Pakistani military’s stance on the matter. However, India has steadfastly and unwaveringly asserted that it has never interfered with Pakistan’s rightful claim to the waters of the Indus. Even during the anti-Indian Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, there was less fervor in India’s water issue with its eastern neighbor. The 1996 pact significantly reduced tensions between the two countries and secured a long-term settlement. The primary opposition party of the governing Awami League, the BNP, has denounced the pact, although it remained true to it when it took office in 2001. The BNP and other political groups in Bangladesh claim that India is using too much water and that Bangladesh is not receiving enough of it. India, on the other hand, claims that Bangladesh has been allotted less water than what is required for the operation of the National Thermal Power Corporation at Farakka and the Kolkata Port. The Indian state of Gujarat has had to deal with strong resistance from a tiny portion of its own populace, who were more worried about some arid or forested areas submerging if the height of the well known Sardar Sarovar dam over the Narmada River was raised. The Supreme Court approved the height increase to 121.92 meters (400 feet) despite strong opposition from some well-known Indians. However, in the same ruling, Justice Mr. Bharucha directed the neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to ensure that, prior to any further construction, all those affected by the 5 meter height increase have received satisfactory rehabilitation and that the appropriate land for such rehabilitation is already owned by the corresponding states. This procedure has to be carried out for every five meters that the height increases. Despite the scarcity of water resources, several countries abuse their use of it, leading to widespread pollution of lakes, rivers, seas, aquifers, and groundwater. When contaminants are released into water bodies either directly or indirectly without being sufficiently treated to eliminate dangerous substances, water pollution results. In its vigorous campaign to combat water pollution, the Indian state of Gujarat found that some companies were forcing their highly hazardous wastes into the subsurface subsurface water. Farmers saw colored water seeping into their wells as they were extracting water from them. The plants and animals that live in these bodies of water are impacted by water pollution. Almost often, like in the instance of Kashmir’s well-known Dal Lake, the impact is detrimental to both individual species and populations as well as the natural biological cycle. Had India maintained even the most lenient rules to keep its rivers clean, the river Ganges, also known as Ganga to the faithful, like many of her sister rivers that are so highly loved by hindus, might have been spared the horrible defacement that it endures today. The holy sadhus, who are considered the traditional de facto custodians of these streams, have never done anything to maintain the purity of the rivers they revere. The dharma rajas, mahant maharajas, and shri shri sants are all obscenely profiteering off our sacred waters by using them as a haven for unburned corpses and other decaying debris. Environmental conservation is becoming a critical concern for environmental regeneration; in addition, conservation is a massive undertaking that may be taken on by people on a small scale and by activists at the state level on a large scale. Despite being aware of the urgent situation, the world’s countries differ in how sincerely they are putting it into practice. Despite how bad things are, the general public may lead by showing what can be accomplished by addressing the problem even on a small scale. Simple little actions carried out on a large scale will compel even the heartless international leaders to take public opinion into consideration. Refusing to use paper bags in favor of sturdy, non-disposable cloth bags instead of fine-gauge plastic ones would significantly reduce the need for paper, eliminate blockages in waterways, and slow down the deforestation process. Plastics are necessary, but we also need technical plastics to replace metal and wood. We can make wood too costly and unnecessary for use in the constantly expanding building sector, as has been accomplished in Europe, if we can pressure the governments to lower tariffs on the production of metallic doors, windows, and anodizing procedures. This will give our woods a second opportunity to flourish and provide us with their abundance. Consideration must be given to the current reliance on wood before it is too late. If atomic energy technology does not advance to a point where it becomes a dependable and secure source of energy for the average person, then solar heat, abundant lignite reserves, and even ancient cow dung may be our best options for meeting future generations’ domestic fuel needs. Mangroves are in danger of becoming extinct because of the tendency of the growing human population to take up more and more space. Mangrove forests and estuaries serve a far greater role of protecting the coast line and preventing soil erosion, in addition to providing the breeding and rearing grounds for a variety of marine creatures, including the economically significant shrimp, crab, and fish species. Even the smallest ecological imbalance may have detrimental effects. Mangroves provide a fundamental and hence crucial function in stabilizing these environments. There is no scientific or engineering alternative that can fully replace mangroves’ stabilizing function in these places. Mangroves are valuable as coastline guardians, which is reason enough to ensure their protection even if we disregard all of the advantages they provide as forests. Serving as natural barriers between land and ocean coasts worldwide, mangroves efficiently combat the issues of coastal erosion and the danger of sea level rise brought on by global warming. Mangroves are a kind of tropical ecosystem seen in nature that are more active than the sea itself, and they help regulate the water’s assault on land. After the Sunderbans in West Bengal, the mangrove region of Gujarat, India, is the second biggest along the Indian coast. Gujarat is home to around 23% of India’s 4.88 lakh hectares estimated mangrove cover. The coastal district of Kachh contains the largest area of mangrove cover in the state. forest cover: Bhutan, a small nation tucked between the Himalayas in both the outer and inner regions, is among the nations with the greatest percentages of deep forest cover in the world. It easily qualifies as the least polluted country in the area, surpassing not just all other South Asian nations in terms of forest cover. The U.N. FAO estimates that 3,249,000 hectares, or 69.1%, of Bhutan’s land area is covered by forests. From 1990 to 2010, Bhutan’s forest cover decreased by 10,700 ha, or 0.35% year. Bhutan acquired 214,000 hectares, or 7.1%, of its total forest cover between 1990 and 2010. In contrast, the situation in India is depressing. When the forest area (as a percentage of land area) of India was last recorded on February 23, 2010, the country’s forest cover had shrunk by 367 square kilometers, with 14 states reporting declines in green space. An official statement stated here today that the India State of Forest Report-2011 shows that the amount of forest cover has declined in 14 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, and Tripura. According to research on deforestation, armed conflict, a lack of local understanding, and inadequate government control—including, in some instances, corruption—have all contributed to an acceleration of deforestation during the last 50 years. Continuous deforestation is starting to negatively impact Jammu & Kashmir’s whole ecosystem. Old growth alpine forests are being chopped down at an alarming pace in both the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the region governed by Pakistan. One of the primary unlawful means of subsistence and the biggest industry in Kashmir’s “conflict economy” is the smuggling of illegal wood. Entire forests have been unlawfully felled in Jammu and Kashmir, which are governed by India. There are instances of army commanders using their positions as economic logging opportunities in the Pakistan-administrated regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Entire forests used to be cut and sold. Situations like this highlight the need of creating efficient safeguards for the forests and other natural resources of Jammu & Kashmir. Logging firms cut highways through the area, removing much of the old growth forest before moving on, exposing exposed slopes to the region’s frequent intense rains. The only thing covering the hills as the rainwater rushes down is loose dirt, which erodes and flows into the rivers and lakes together with silt. Numerous endangered species are in risk of becoming extinct as a consequence of deforestation and the subsequent loss of habitat. Strict protection and maintenance of the woods are essential to preserving the ecology in Jammu and Kashmir. Given the slow or flat-out noncommittal reaction from a number of countries, it is necessary for the international community to make stronger demands of its member states than it has up to this point. related articles: mangroves, ganges, woods, dal lake, wullar lake, bhutan, bangladesh, kashmir, forests, salal, related articles: water treaty, salal project, kashmir, kalhan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Send a friend an email with this story!get posts like this one sent straight to your inbox!Get a free subscription now!
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