Research Methodology Assignment Critical analysis of a paper Submitted by Gargi Rajawat (1007 MNE)

The paper in question is An Indian Environmentalists Credo by Anil Agrawal. This paper was published in year 1986 and in effect is quiet old in its ideas as of today and visionary for its own time. He was an Indian journalist and environmentalist who founded the Centre for Science and Environment in 1980. In 1987, the United Nations Environment Programme elected him to its Global 500 Roll of Honour for his work in the national and international arena. The Indian Government also honoured him with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan for his work in environment and development. This paper is maintaining balance between development and environmental conservation in the modern era. At present, environmental issues are one of the key areas of concern all over the world; however, the strategies to combat them are significantly different for developing countries and developed countries. The paper is an effectively written overview about environmental concern with an Indian perspective it had good observations and lucid narrations throughout the excerpt which was taken from the fifth world conservation lecture: human nature interaction in the third world country. The first thing that I immediately observed is the format of the paper in which it was presented. It was not the standard format that publishing houses generally accept i.e. paper written in two columns on each page. There were no pictorial and/or graphical representation of facts and data collected. The primary objective of the topic taken by the writer is a concern not a factual question. Environment is a vast subject, if seen through social perspective it needs to be thoroughly researched and validated and verified. The selection of the research topic was done on the basis of social problem , prior research and human services practice. One of the major limitation of this paper was out of box thinking, this paper was presented in 1986 and the world as we know then was just starting to realize the impact humans had on the environment.

Another limitation of the study was thats the facts gathered from case studies and archival material are used subjectively, so that they cannot be measured, tested or verified. There was no pictorial or graphical representations of the facts and findings. The analysis of facts , inferences derived and concepts presented are substantiated by ill defined references ( inadequate-ineffective bibliography). This was a subjective study based on interpretation of an individual, it uses surveys and ex-post fact research which means it is an analysis of old surveys and doesnt show recent change in views. It uses case studies extensively. Concepts of author appear balanced , lucid and meaningful but facts are presented in a non measurable format, which cannot be tested by conventional analytical tools This paper is based on reports, records and interpretation of data , it does not represent an objective, dynamic study. Publication satisfies the objective of presenting an overview and subjective analysis. It lacks the objectivity of measurable data which can be tested, visualization of facts in term of graphics is also lacking. As to what this paper says- Author has tried to highlight that long term development can take place only at the cost of environment, but there should be a decided extent up to which it can be exploited. As increasing population and thereby growing needs and demands of todays world has to be met for sustenance thus more of the resources have to be exploited. However, this fact contradicts with authors other point, as decision of point or extent beyond which exploitation must not be done is subject to change in world of rapid modernization. Thus, decision of extent or a point will always remain indecisive. According to the author, solution to one problem aggravates the other resulting in a vicious cycle. Environment destruction in the world has been attributed to the demand for natural resources generated by consumption of the rich and refers the poor as the affected ones. This reflects the element of bias as only the rich group is not the one which exploits natural resources rather same is the role of poor (villagers, tribals, etc.) to meet their daily needs. The destruction of environment could not be attributed only to urbanization and cannot be translated simply in terms of what could easily be noticed. There are several underlying facts that need to be looked and considered. There are several groups like villagers; tribes etc. which entirely depend on natural resources for

their livelihood. In comparison to rich class, these groups although play a crucial role in conserving the natural resources but they do not have diversification in their livelihood dependency factors. As an example the infrastructure building as a part of urbanization has to take environmental clearance necessarily from the government, but poor section never seeks for any such clearance and overexploits the natural resources. Thus poor sections along with the rich section have the considerable contribution in both environment destruction and resource exploitation. Another key point highlighted by the author is the loss of traditional livelihood patterns and lifestyles, mainly as a result of change in land use pattern, industrialization and urbanization. As the development in terms of both industrialization and urbanization could not be confined to a particular region or a section thus loss of livelihood and lifestyle has to occur. The balance could be maintained only by marking the boundaries beyond which urbanization/industrialization should not be brought up but keeping in mind that section beyond the marked boundary should also be given the equal share out of the benefit obtained. This section must not be deprived of the access to technology and development as for global development each section has to be taken into account. This demarcation would result in conserving the forest up to a greater extent and would reduce the burden of foraging for fuel and fodder on women.