Panel Discussion

A Panel discussion has been organized on the occasion ‘World Environment Day-2022 at Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission towards promoting and accelerating the degree of awareness around environmental causes in our society. The topic of discussion is –   “Are we helpless or unconscious in preserving the environment?” and exploring the remedies. Prominent leaders from organizations like Dr. Chandrima Sinha from Nature Environment and Wildlife Society, Mr. Aniruddha Dey from PRISM, Mr. Subhrajit Goswami from Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment, Mr. Arjan Basuroy from Nature Mates Nature Club, Mr. Shibajee Mitra from Badu Reptile Conservation Society, Mr. Ranajit Debnath and Mrs. Sarbani Nag from Wish Foundation participated and gave their views.

The discussion has been proceeded through a question and answers session in which Mr. Abir Biswas, on behalf of Mukti, asked the members from other NGOs about the five elements – Erath (Khiti), Water (Apo/ Jal), Air (Marut) and Fire (Tej) of nature and they answered that question. Mr. Biswas quires them how these five elements are being polluted and can’t we take any initiative to address this problem or are we not willing to do? For instance, he depicts the story of the “Green Revolution” of Punjab in 1960. Due to the green revolution, on the one hand, our food needs have been met and on the other hand, due to the use of a lot of chemical fertilizers, people are suffering from cancer.

Mr. Subhrajit Goswami from “Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment” has aware the audience about the danger of soil pollution. Soil pollution is a dangerous environmental issue in India that threatens the productivity of all-natural ecosystems such as agricultural, forest, pasture and human sustainability inducing severe impacts on agricultural and soil productivity, aquatic imbalance, damaged drainage network, deterioration of water quality in rivers and reservoirs, infrastructure and the environment. In addition, polluting soil severely affects the soil structure, hydrological systems, natural habitats and ecosystem services. Moreover, increasing population, intensive agriculture, deforestation, overgrazing and higher demand for wood for fire also cause soil erosion. We have destroyed half of the earth’s fertilizer soil. If we continue like this, in the next 60 years, we will completely destroy the productive soil of the world.

Mr. Biswas asked Mr. Ranajit Debnath about the way out of the soil erosion. Mr. Debnath – Bank Official (UBI) and social workers have shown a way to stop soil pollution. Today, 11% of the world’s soil has been destroyed. Soil needs to be treated in 5 different ways – farmers need to know about soil quality and people need to learn waste management. Soil erosion can be stopped by planting trees, using natural alternatives to toxic substances, purchasing organic produces and adopting organic farming. Bush fallowing must be encouraged and farmers must get aware of the necessity of such farming.

Mr. Biswas asked Dr. Aniruddha Dey from PRISM how much we should be concerned about air pollution. Dr. Dey in his speech said that we can see different types of pollution meters on city streets. This air pollution is mainly emitted from the smoke of cars. In rural areas, there is almost no vehicle pollution but there is indoor pollution such as cooking. The oil-mixed smoke emitted from cooking can cause lung disease if the person who is cooking stays a long time in a closed kitchen where ventilation is a cause of concern. In this case, gender discrimination is created where the health of the housewives is not taken care of. Thus air pollution unknowingly harms human health.

Water is an essential element for the survival of living things. It has both solid and aqueous forms. Due to our negligence, the amount of alkali in the water is increasing which is a cause of danger for the earth. Mr. Biswas wanted to know from Dr. Chandrima Sinha how we can protect water from getting contaminated? Dr. Sinha from Nature Environment &Wildlife Society said that first, we need to realize the importance of water. Water is priceless because water can be purified but not created. For some of us, the water is priceless as we don’t need to buy it and can waste it as per one’s will. In daily life, water is used in agriculture, factory work, housework and for many other purposes. Above all the whole ecosystem survives on water. Many of us do not know the adequate, moderate and proper use of water. We have to keep a balance in the use of water so that the water balance in nature is maintained and there is no shortage of drinking water.

The next topic of discussion was how to save flora and fauna from extinction due to environmental disasters. Mr. Arjan Basuroy from “Badu Reptile Conservation Society” explained the way. Extinction is a natural process and has a scientific reason. Through extinction, new life is born. Consolidation is more important than extinction. We have to live together with everyone in this world. If it is not so, one-day humans will be wiped out. We are consciously helpless. We need to know about the world around us because we are disconnected from anyone but ourselves. We are conscious to avoid dust building concrete roads, houses, cutting down trees and killing numerous animal species. If we respect all the animals on earth, live with them and realize their importance then the world will be beautiful and our unconsciousness will be removed a lot.

Mr. Shibajee Mitra from “Badu Reptile Conservation Society” explained the meaning of bio-diversity. We are very consciously avoiding our responsibilities. We are using plastic bottles, foil papers for our own convenience without carrying drinking water. We store them in a particular area designated by ​​the municipality that may be an animal’s habitat. We are forcibly desecrating or breaking into their homes. They are being evicted and forced to find their homes elsewhere. Each of them has a specific area of ​​the organism. Going from there to another place he gets traumatized and is repulsed by the creatures living in that place. Rather than learning coexistence, we are moving creatures from one place to another. This is the danger of bio-diversity.

From the discussion of the panelists, it has been understood that the imbalance of one or more elements causes problems in nature as well as human life and by balancing these elements these problems can be resolved.