Day 6 : Need vs. Greed - Adani enters Konkan
Things are upside down here. We think that it will take atleast another decade for the picture to change but we don’t realise how much it has changed already. Until now I was told that most people sold their land for cheap for personal reasons, but the more I dig, the more information keeps coming out. Here, a decade back, many land dealers had scared the villagers. They said that the government will someday make plans in these areas, after which they will take your land, so better than giving it to the government for free, sell it to us. Thus many villagers— who were uneducated in terms of land dealings and economics, sold their land for next to nothing. This is what British did during their conquests. Many of these lands were bought by then local leaders— who are now ministers of the state. The reality of the day is, more than 80% of land around each and every village is either bought by big business people or some politicians aide. The beach next to Revdanda is owned by Hiranandani. The creek and marshes filled with mangroves is owned by Adani (the guy facing corruption charges in the US). What do we have left to fight??
These villagers never really cared to call the land their own. They knew it was the nature who nourished them- she was sacred, how can you own your mother? The mountains they used were never really owned by anyone. They were communal properties, but the government took over these areas and turned them into Forest land and stopped the movement of locals into the forest.
The irony of the situation is, there are patches of land within the reserved forest land, owned by private investors. While the villagers are not allowed to use their own land, these private investors are given freedom from already existing forest conservation laws. No one is allowed to build a resort on forest land, but they are. If you bribe the forest officers, anything can happen. A jungle can turn into your playground. Ofcourse its not the forest officers who are at fault - the ministers (who are supposed to be people’s representatives) pressurise them to do such things. Corruption money is shared all around.
The villagers from Tarabandar came together and fought against the encroachment of Adani. Mangroves are a life source for the Koli community here. Their life revolves around fish and crabs. Adani wanted to build a port here and thus he started to level up the mangroves. After a protest from the village community, this project was given a stay— not withdrawn, but given a stay. It feels like they want to tire out the villagers and drag this for as long as they can, before the finally give up. Mandva had a similar story. Lodha (a minister from Mumbai) is now building his building on those very mangroves.
These ministers and businessmen know whats going to happen in the future, the bills are passed under their supervision. Hence they use these early years to buy out the land and make their own buck. Each and every person is involved in this racket.
This is not really the government of India. This is actually the repeat of the colonial mindset of the East India Company. Just like them, these politicians and business people are the new version of East India company ruling over these people. There are cuts for each land sale that takes place. The minister, government authority and others all get 8-10-12% cuts on each sale and purchase. Thus they give the permissions to build resort in an otherwise forest land. The under the table stuff is on steroids here.
The fishing community has lost most of the fish to the large trailers that put LED light in the sea. Fishes get attracted to it and thus the entire coastline has less and less fish. Traditional techniques of catching fish are going extinct due to this commodification of fishing.
Another thing I learnt today, was that illegal trade of Ambergris takes place in these very waters. (Ambergrease, or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. This is used in expensive perfumes.) The sperm whale is pierced which gives it a shock, which then secretes this ambergrease. This vomit is used to make the perfumes that are now popular in high society. We are spraying ourselves with vomits which are produced by harming the sperm whales. I don’t understand where we have come as a species. This seems like a lack of understanding between need and greed. Nature has enough for your needs but your greed has no bounds.
People were moral in the past. They cared for ethical conduct. None of the development harmed the land. But this development is ridiculous. How can we call this development? Can humanity going towards immoral growth called “development”?
We are lost in our phones. Seriously. We have no clue of what is happening around us. Even after reading this, you too will forget this in a few minutes, because our life has turned into an endless sesspool of information. We are going back to the “hunter-gatherer” stage. Only that this time we are all only gathering information.
Let’s end this and become humans once again.
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Thanks for your continual support. I am truly grateful!
Oh my!! I’ve never heard of LED fishing before, how depressing. I had heard of ambergris as an ingredient for perfumes, but had no idea what it was or where it came from. Thank you for educating me on these things. Human beings on the whole appear insatiable, thankfully, the natural world does have limits, and we will eventually figure that out… the hard way I’m afraid.
Desolating to read about LED fishing and ambergris... I witnessed LED fishing on the south coast of Jamaica last spring. There were practically no fish left near the shore, and the few that were left, juveniles, were hunted by the pool guard of the hotel where I was staying. In a few years, there'll nothing left at all, except algae that suffocate the corals. It will be entirely dead.