| We are on the home stretch. In a week, we will know which
political party breasts the tape in the race for power. If the pollsters are to be
believed, there will be no clear winner; it means the referee of the great Indian election
jamboree, has his work cut out. President K.R. Narayanan has to make sense of the
conflicting claims to decide who will rule India. If recent history is any indicator, he
will acquit himself well. In just his fifth month as President, the Congress deserted the
United Front Government; Narayanan's considered response to the crisis spoke well of his
equipoise. Now, as our cover story this week reveals, a harder
test awaits him. One of the tragedies of this
election has been the conspicuous absence of discussion on vital issues. Politicians have
preened before crowds, made personalised attacks on each other, yet shied away from
addressing the problems that confront this nation. This week we have focused on one of
them. It began with Assistant Editor Samar Halarnkar picking up a two-paragraph government
report on receding forests buried in the inside pages of a newspaper and investigating it
further. In the last two years, as governments have fallen, so have our forests. What we
uncovered was a depressing, shocking tale of how India's vast natural wealth is being
plundered with governmental connivance. Our correspondents helplessly watched giant Olive
Ridley turtles die on the beaches of Orissa, visited tribal villages in dense Andhra
Pradesh jungles to understand how people still live in harmony with the forests, and spoke
to decision-makers and ecologists. But this isn't only about turtles and tigers. Few
realise that many of India's rivers originate deep in protected forests. As Halarnkar
says: "The number of animals is an indicator of the health of the forests. If the
jungles go, so does your water."
Perhaps, once the election rhetoric is over and a government
put in place such fundamental issues will find some attention.
(Aroon Purie) |
