The great Indian election saga has begun and social media is the war zone. Allegations are made, manifestos are repackaged and sold to the people and development is nothing but a word.
A few days ago, the two major parties, the BJP and Congress, launched their respective manifestos which talked about development, digital development, and still more development, but it was disappointing to know that both the parties missed out on a crucial issue – “climate change”. There is no mention of measures to tackle environmental issues or climate change.
Indian agriculture is facing problems due to untimely rains in some regions and droughts in others. There is a rise in human-animal conflict, which eventually affects the ecosystem. Some cities in India are among the most polluted in the world. And still the BJP and Congress did not think it was important enough to even mention or talk about it in their manifestos or any of their ‘Vikas speeches’.
When we have a cleaner environment, standards of living improves. The flora and fauna in India urgently needs preservation and conservation.
The political parties and people cannot live in denial anymore, while countries across the world are prioritising the environment and sustainable development, it is time the Indian environment scenario changes too.