ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS
Adverse Impact of Religion, Economy, and Politics
Keywords:
Religion, Economy, PoliticsAbstract
Journal of Dharma is published from Bangalore, a city located in south India. Bangalore was known as the Garden City of India, both for its salubrious climate and an abundance of trees and large stretches of gardens maintained within the city limits. I arrived in this city, as a university student, in 1985, and had the fortune of experiencing the glories associated with the Garden City. Over the last 20 years, Bangalore has undergone a sea-change by the migration of millions of people from different parts of India and abroad. As more and more people are flowing in, as more and more employment opportunities are generated, especially in the IT-related segments, the city also has become quite different from what it used to be. More and more water-bodies are vanishing everyday; in fact, the handful of water-bodies that still remain face extinction in the context of rapid developmental activities. Gone are the days when you would see varieties of magnificent trees on both sides of every road; though the old gardens can still be located, they too have become less attractive due to the increasing levels of pollution and contamination of soil, water, and atmosphere. The practice of taking a refreshing walk through the city roads is almost impossible as the vehicles plying through Bangalore roads have skyrocketed over the last 10 years. Further, the Bangalore weather has undergone tremendous change; indeed, it has become warmer and almost unpredictable! Is this peculiar to Bangalore alone? No, not at all! In fact, the sketch I have tried to draw about Bangalore, indicating a lot of distortions with regard to the landscape and weather, people and their lifestyle, would be shared by almost all cities, though the degree and extent would be different in specific cases.
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