Silent Killing

Chandan Sukumar Sengupta1

Abstract

This article is an extract from a book titled Economist of

Mahatma. We all understand the need of trees. There are no
alternatives having adequate capabilities to replace the contribution of
trees in keeping the surrounding safe, healthy and hygienic. A grown
up tree with 100% canopy can support normal breathing of 8 people
throughout the year. It can keep the atmospheric temperature of the
surrounding down. It can accommodate thousands of creatures. There
are several other services delivered by a tree in terms of immediate

1
Working in the field of Education and Informatics since 1995. Major
relevant publications are as follows:

1. Economist of Mahatma [ ISBN 9789352915347]

2. Cultural Nonviolence [ ISBN J47S1YYPT1E]

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and prolonged economic returns. If grown up trees are not replaceable
entity of our environment, then what would be any immediate
alternatives, suitable and acceptable, for us to keep the pace of growth
intact? This article also analyses the possibilities of establishing a
suitable adjustment between resources, technologies and human
aspirations for enhancing the sustainable economic growth through
stepping of renovation, modernization and industrialisation.

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The Background

Cutting down age old trees for the expansion of

roads, modernization of semi urban habitat and
implementing ambitious projects are going on in a full
swing. Governmental and allied agencies, duly involved in
the activities, are not putting their adequate effort in
working out any comprehensive plan for safeguarding age
old living legend of our immediate habitat. This is also due
to some sort of escapism inflicted with prejudice and bias.

What a tree can do for us, is not any new

lesson for any aspirants of nature. Their role in keeping the
environment balanced is also a fact of our traditional
knowledge. There are agencies responsible for looking
after the issues related to the environment and forest.
There are people having adequate knowledge of the
importance of the living legend of our surrounding. What
grown up trees do for us, is obviously an established fact.
There are internationally renowned agencies working
upon their plan of actions for safeguarding trees at any
cost. Simply there requires an effort to solve the issues

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related to the loss of biota. Mechanism of trapping
sunlight, replacing carbon di oxide by oxygen in the
environment and keeping the surrounding cool are not the
only selective concerns; trees can provide shelter for
hundreds and thousands of living organisms of some
specific types. They all, in a joint bond, arrange a big cycle
of activities for accommodating some of the economic and
social activities of the surrounding biota. Human beings
are not the outnumbered beneficiary of this biotic circle.
Day by day, only plants are losing their habitat in a rapid
progression.

The purpose of this small discussion is to

highlight the issues related to the organised deforestations
meant for the purpose of modernization and renovation of
any type. Is there any alternative with any immediate
considerations, which can retain the survival of the living
legend without hampering the pace of modernization? We
move on through this discussion by analyzing the present
day context, identifying the strategic issues, understanding
willingness of people and identifying the least possible
issues having potential for balancing the human
aspirations and environmental sustanability.

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Fact finder

What a tree can do for us? This question requires

lot of efforts to put in for finding out the justifiable and
viable statistics. Exact figure may not quantify our
calculations. One of the findings reveal that a mature tree
can produce enough oxygen in a season to compensate
the annual breathing of ten people. Driving of a car for
26,000 miles can be compensated by a single grown up
leafy tree. 8 people per acre of tree cover having 100%

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canopy is the ratio of the balance of gases that can be
accomplished.2

Estimates of forest cover we have in West Bengal,

as evident from the survey of Environment and Forest, is
13.38% of the total geographical area. Extent of water
bodies in the forest cover has been observed increasing
since 2005 onwards from 82 sq. km in 2005 to 104 sq. km
in 2015.

Percentage of open forest, as evident from the

environment and forest statistics 2015,3 indicates the
importance of this cover in maintaining a balance in the
environment.

2Source: McAliney, Mike. Arguments for Land Conservation: Documentation

and Information Sources for Land Resources Protection, Trust for Public Land,
Sacramento, CA, December 1993.

Nowak, David J.; Hoehn, Robert; Crane, Daniel E. Oxygen Production by Urban
Trees in the United States. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2007. 33(3):220–
226.

3
Source: Database of Environment and Forest of West Bengal, 2015.

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Fig 1: Percentage of different forest types in West Bengal

(Eenvironment and forest statistics 2015)

A tree can produce bio-organic litter in plenty. Such

role of a tree one can rarely replace with any other agency
of adequate potential.

An ideal state should have 33% of greenery.

Moving up from 13.38% to 33% is a terrific task, that the
state government of West Bengal has to come across. Any
ambitious project aiming towards killing of more than a
thousand of grown up trees is obviously an objectionable
initiative. One cannot pass through the process without
ensuring enough guarantee of the revival of greenery.
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A Mismatch

Industrial growth, population growth and growth,

in terms of economy, implies an increasing demand upon
the system for fulfilling the development in the field of
infrastructure. Roads are not up to the mark for
accommodating large industries. Heavy vehicles may
rarely move across the roads for fulfilling the growing
demand of business houses. There requires modifications
of roadways for accommodating rapid growth of traffic.
Without ensuring renovation of the infrastructure, without
providing basic facilities to industrial houses and without
safeguarding their aspirations the growth of commerce
and industries are not accomplishable.

It is also the demand of people that roadways

should have enough space for heavy vehicles. One should
accommodate oneself suitably along with the growth of
industries and services. Growth of any kind should not
have any halt due to any reason. Roadways should be of
such type through which one can take the guarantee of
safest progression of goods and services. Widening roads,
means cutting down of hundreds and thousands of grown

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up trees. Replacement of an established greenery with
that of a non-green constructive structure. If it is
admissible, then up to what extent? If it is not admissible,
then what are the other best possible alternatives? If there
are no best possible alternatives, then what should be
done to welcome the industrial growth? Can we put a halt
on the growth and aspiration of people residing in semi
urban and sub urban areas of a state?

Fig 2: Grown up trees with 100% canopy beside a National Highway

There are several other questions, to be taken in

account, for addressing the issues related to
environmental degradation. Is it possible to replace the

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greenery having 100% canopy by any other effective
system, having enough capabilities of compensating the
loss due to reduction in greenery?

Demand of contextual growth is compelling the

government to allocate additional lands on housing,
roadways and for establishing industries. If some of the
sectors are gaining lands then some other sectors, like
agriculture and forestry, are losing their land cover.
Growth of population, industrial set up and township,
alongside the shrinkage of greenery with a rapid
progression, is an indication of the forthcoming threat.
This threat may put the entire state in trouble.

Aspirations of People

People wants progress. They also want to keep the

environmental balance intact. They have ambitions of
modernizing roadways, railways, industries and housing
estates. But none of the initiatives should be at the cost of
environmental degradations. In one of the report of ISFR,

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it is estimated that more than 170,000 villages (of the total
of 650,000 villages in India) are located in the proximity of
forests. They are directly or indirectly relying upon forest
produces for earning their livelihood. It is a kind of
economic return of the greenery, which often remain
unrecorded, as well as not clearly estimated. What people
gain, in terms of immediate visible economical reflections,
are simply in the form of timber. People living amidst the
proximity of forest cover dependent on the forests for
fuelwood, fodder, small timber, non-timber forest
produce, medicinal plants, non- edible oilseeds and
bamboo to a great extent. India has recorded an increase
in dense as well as open forestry. Still the state, like West
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, has a lot to accomplish.

Table 1: Estimated Carbon Stock in Indian Forests

Particulars Value in million

tonnes
Total Carbon Stock in Forest 7,124.6

Increase after 2017 42.6

Annual increase 21.3

Source: ‘India State of Forest Report (ISFR 2019)

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 There are various recommendations, of both
national and international types , that implied stress on
encouraging the Social Forestry to compensate the loss of
greenery due to modernization, urbanisations and
industrialisation. Government organisations responsible
for accomplishing the task are also putting adequate
efforts in conserving the specified Bio Diversity Zones in
India through ambitious projects of the Conservation of
Bio Diversity Zones. 54 out of 102 Bio Diversity Islands of
Sundarban are already deforested. People silently and
swiftly admitting their entry in rest of the other Bio
Diversity realms of the area. Ambition of cutting down
trees for the purpose of renovating Jessore Road is also
implying an additional burden upon the Diversified Biota.
It can be considered as a direct threat to such a vast realm
of Bio Diversity.

Conservation efforts are also having aspirations of

people with mixed impression. Some of the artisans, crafts
persons and harvesters rely entirely upon the forest, but
they rarely maintain any idea of conserving the expanded
greenery having 100% canopy with adequate understory.
They are not in a position to form any closed user group

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with any collective apprehension of safeguarding the
greenery. It is the reason that makes any effort of
conservation from people’s side as a fainted one.

For any organised conservation initiatives, we

directly or indirectly depend upon government agencies.
Sometimes plan of government agencies move against
each other. It is also because of the lack of any sectoral
coordination between related departments and executives
concerned.

Progressive Trend

There exists certain directives which can keep the

progressive trend of a state intact. Land utilization pattern
should be explored in a better way for accommodating
ambitious projects duly impregnated with enhanced
potential. Any area, which is already under any threat,
should not be explored for implementing such projects.
During consideration of any development or renovation
project baseline situation of a Bio Diversity, alongside the
possible alternatives for securing their survival, should be
addressed first.
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 Putting environment and forest in trouble for
implementing any development of renovation project is a
kind of escapism. It insists planners and implementing
agencies to keep aside the contribution of the producer
community of the ecosystem. The gap of the population of
producers and consumers is rapidly declining day by day.
It, in a long run, will hamper the pyramidal stability of the
energy transfer through the associative trophic level of the
ecosystem.

Implications of ecological imbalance, in form of

greenhouse effect and global warming, is already with us.
We, simply inflicted with some sort of negation and
without putting our efforts to come out of the problem,
cannot wait for allowing the problem to become more
turbulent. Social forestry, as implemented by the forest
department, is working like a temporary remedy. It is a
strategy of utilizing non forest land for increasing greenery
through issuing some encouragement for people to impart
themselves in the drive of increasing greenery.
Contribution of social forestry in increasing greenery, up to
a considerable amount, cannot be ruled out. It has its own
sets of benefits.

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Betraying Oneself

There was an instruction for government

authorities to plant five times more trees to compensate
the loss due to any organised deforestation meant for the
purpose of modernization, renovation or industrialisation.
Renovations of roadways caused such loss to the state
government of West Bengal, they have sanctioned budget
for the purpose of the plantation, works which was
proposed earlier as a strategic initiatives of increasing the
greenery. The agencies working for implementing the
scheme gets involved halfheartedly. Due to this reason
some of the afforestation program remain in vein. This
kinds of halfheartedly efforts can be easily spotted out
besides any of the highways recently renovated by the
government. Plants, newly placed there, remain at the
mercy of god. Situation is , more or less, same regarding
participation of people in compensating the loss incurred
upon the biota. It can be considered a kind of negligence
towards community property from the side of people.
They are simply biting nails on their own wounds. They

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should have enough awareness and wishes of
safeguarding and maintaining a community property.

Innovative Plans

There are so many ways out to cope up with the growth of

wholistic type, having enough scope of progress for both
plants and human beings. Living together for the
prosperous tomorrow should have a clear vision and
support from agencies responsible for looking after the
growth and maintenance of community properties.
Centralization of services and industrial practices are the
root cause of all the problems mounting in the form of
growth of population in urban settlements.

There should be decentralised economic practices

for ensuring proper accommodations of related industrial
housed and processing out pockets of a state. Growth
pattern of modernization and industrialisation should have
some inclusive patterns for accommodating the survival of
the living legends of nature. They are not in an exhibits of
agitation. It does not mean that they should be chopped
off without marking their contributions. One can
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accommodate the living legends settled by the side of
roads by constructing another sidelined arterial channel of
communication having equal potential of driving out the
rush. Affinity of centralizing service activities should be
replaced properly by a decentralized plan of activities on
the basis of resource mapping. Land utilization pattern
should have adequate scope of utilizing the resource base
of the immediate context.

Any abrupt planning inflicted with exploiting

resources, without addressing them through economic
channels of productivity and utilization, will put the entire
commune under question mark. A responsible citizen,
having passion of making the development a sustainable
one, may not confer any sanction upon initiatives of
chopping off the green litter of prosperity and harmony at
the cost of modernization, industrialisation and
urbainsation.

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About the Book:

Economy and growth, in all respect, are the central idea of

all human activities in the modern world. Day by day all
the communities and territorial unions are confining their
views on collective progress for securing their progressive
trend in forthcoming periods. All such territorial unions
including India are searching for something comprehensive
plan of development that can successfully link up people
and gradually mobilise them towards attainment of

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collective progress, as well as prosperity. This search of
special kind is the driving force that becomes a guideline
for most of the efforts of Research and Innovation in
present day context.

Here question arises. Shall we have something to

learn from our immediate past? Is there anything
comprehensive in the plan perspectives duly proposed and
experimented upon by our beloved leaders like Mahatma
Gandhi, J. C. Kumarappa, Vinoba Bhave and other
followers of the altruistic ideals? Is such plan still relevant
today? Is there any scope of flexibility for incorporating
some new variables influenced perpetually by informatics
and technological trends? Is the wave of modernization
competent enough to go through the aspirations of leaders
who were maintaining their brilliant ideas of making the
people of this world united? Lot of other such questions
can be raised to trace out the need of the hour.

Another aspect of this discussion is to

popularise the balanced process of conflict resolution

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mechanism that our beloved leader were maintaining
during their periods of activity.

Chandan Sukumar Sengupta

Arabinda Nagar, Bankura

West Bengal – 722101

Email: senjics@gmail.com

Phone: 9474864613

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