Environmental Ethics

Author(s): S M Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 70

continuously forced to inhabitate inhospitable dangerous seismic zones, volcanic regions, flood plains, deserts and sunami prone areas susceptible to more severe disasters and miseries. Medicinal science has made considerable progress. Inspite of vaccination, more and more number of hospitals, there is overcrowding in hospitals. The percentage of literates may have increased but the number of illiterates is also going up. There are phenomenal technological advances yet the air, water and soil pollution is increasing e.g. a whopping expenditure of over Rs. 1000 crores on Ganga Action Plan to clean river Ganges have been incurred, yet the river is more polluted now.
The satellite imageries may show slight percentage increase in forest cover mainly because of naturally spreading obnoxious and aggressive Prosopis juliflora, in real terms the density and bio-diversity of natural forest is decreasing. Trillions and trillions of trees have been planted since 1952, yet the status report of green cover is yet alarming because plants are soon wiped out under increasing biotic pressure of exploding population of men and domestic animals. There are similar several other maladies continuing unabated. There will be no respite unless population and consumerism is checked. In spite of stringent laws encroachments on forest and public lands will continue and so all the malaise of overcrowding everywhere, shortfalls in power, water and food supplies, filth and squalor, crimes and wars and miseries to people. Whatever measures that may be taken to solve problems, these will always be inadequate against galloping population and consumerism which will continue to accentuate existing problems and generate new problems also.
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