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Bhopal: Renowned journalist, documentary maker, wildlife photographer, author, and Editor Lalit Shastri underscored the imperative to safeguard forests and wildlife from reckless exploitation driven by human greed.

Delivering the keynote address at a special Environment session during the second edition of the “Media Council-2” program, organized by the Bhopal International Centre on Friday, May 3, 2024, at the Boardroom of Kushabhau International Convention Centre (Minto Hall) in the State capital, Shastri emphasized the significance of preserving the Central Indian Highlands and the river basins of Madhya Pradesh. He highlighted the critical role these areas play as a vast watershed, feeding rivers like the Narmada, Chambal, Betwa, Son, and Mahi, which in turn recharge major rivers such as the Ganga, Yamuna, Tapti, Mahanadi, and Godavari. The Central Indian Highlands or Madhya Pradesh should be recognized as India’s water capital, Shastri went on to underscore.

Shastri drew attention to the recent COP 27 held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022, focusing on the theme of “Adaptation and Agriculture.” COP 27 addressed global concerns regarding food security for a burgeoning population amidst challenges such as climate change-induced floods and heatwaves. He emphasized the need for climate-resilient agriculture, especially in light of recent global events like Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, which has exacerbated food shortages.

Reflecting on India’s agricultural history, Shastri traced the evolution from agrarian scarcity at Independence to the transformative Green Revolution of the 1960s. While acknowledging its role in achieving food self-sufficiency, he cautioned against the unintended consequences, including environmental degradation and reliance on chemical inputs. Shastri highlighted the intersection of industrial interests with agriculture, citing the example of Union Carbide’s presence in India and its link to the Bhopal gas tragedy.

When India attained Independence in 1947, the Indian economy was mainly agrarian and there was food shortage. But the stagnation in agriculture was broken by the green revolution in the mid-60s of the last century, Shastri stated adding Green revolution resulted in a large increase in the production of food grains resulting from the use of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds and the use of these seeds required: 1. the use of fertiliser and pesticide; and 2. regular supply of water. The farmers who could benefit from HYV seeds required reliable irrigation facilities as well as the financial resources to purchase fertiliser and pesticide.  In the first phase of the Green Revolution (mid-1960s up to mid-1970s), the use of HYV seeds was restricted to a handful of affluent states such as; Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

In the second phase of the green revolution the HYV technology spread to a larger number of states and benefited more variety of crops. The spread of green revolution technology enabled India to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains.

Shastri dwelt further pointing out that eying India’s Green Revolution as a gold mine, a multinational giant like Union Carbide came on the scene recognizing the potential for the manufacture of pesticides in India.

In 1969, UCC applied to the Union Government for a license to manufacture pesticides and finally, the Union Government issued the licence to the company in 1975 to produce Sevin Carbaryl – a pesticide based on MIC. From this point of time, till the mid-1980s – coinciding with the Bhopal gas disaster, the country went through the second phase of the Green Revolution (mid-1970s to mid-1980s). Coinciding with this, in December 1984 Bhopal was hit by the worst industrial catastrophe when tonnes of poisonous gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killing thousands and critically affecting hundreds of thousands of others.

Shastri said that he wrote a series of investigative stories to warn the powers that be about the destruction that would be caused by the Bunder diamond Mine in Chattarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, in the neighborhood of Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh if Rio Tinto was allowed to go ahead with the diamond mining activity in that area.  Shastri went on to inform the audience that he had raised this issue in a big way to prevent the devastation of a precious forest area near the Panna Tiger Reserve in 2016.  The message to Stop Rio Tinto from devastating an eco-fragile zone was taken to the doorsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Eventually, Rio Tinto was forced to abandon the project on the issue of compliance.

Investigations revealed that the TOR (terms of reference) issued to Rio Tinto Exploration India Private Limited, the Indian subsidiary of Rio Tinto, by the Government of India Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) and the proposal for Bunder Diamond Mine submitted in April 2012 by the company, had thrown up questions that went unanswered. These were gaping gaps concerning impact on the environment, wildlife, flora and fauna, and lives of the stakeholders.

If Rio Tinto had the mining license for its Bunder project, the company would have gone for a mechanized open-cast mine going up to 360 meters.

Similarly, in 1996, Shastri said that he had investigated the environmental threat and damage that was imminent if Diamond giant De Bears was allowed to go ahead with diamond mining in an area near Raipur, now in Chhattisgarh.

A series of investigative reports and a major Sunday piece by him on this issue in The Hindu on November 10, 1996, played a huge role in stopping the diamond giant De Bears from plundering undivided Madhya Pradesh.

Shastri spoke of a documentary he had made for Assignment Earth in collaboration with globally acclaimed journalist Gary Strieker in October 2006. This documentary titled “Last of the Gharial” was focused on a 15-km stretch of sandy bank under the Chambal bridge that has remained an ideal breeding ground for the endangered Gharial for millions of years. The documentary audio visually projected how this endangered species that lay eggs in the sand was facing the threat of extinction due to biotic pressure and reckless illegal mining of sand. This issue was also flagged by him in an exclusive report in The Hindu.

After his report had appeared in The Hindu the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court asked the Madhya Pradesh Government to ensure that no sand mining is carried out in the National Chambal Sanctuary in violation of the apex court’s orders.

The CEC Member-Secretary wrote to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary raising the issue of illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and asked the State Government to comply with the Supreme Court’s earlier order in this regard. Enclosing a copy of the report that appeared in The Hindu on October 15 regarding illegal sand mining, he wrote to the Chief Secretary that the CEC had taken suo motu note of that report during a hearing. The Chief Secretary was also asked to get the matter inquired into immediately and send a detailed report.

Shastri also underscord the importance of environmental Journalism and advocated the need for enhanced space and time on media outlets on environment and ecosystems and the challenges being faced on this front. He threw light on minor forest produce collection with special focus on Sal seeds. Explaining the reality, he said that the tribals get only a fraction of the money generated despite putting in maximum work as against business houses that reap huge profits through export of Sal seed since it is an alterntive to chocolate and is in great demand by confectionaries in Europe and other parts of the world .  

The session on environment was chaired  by  Prof. P.K. Biswas, V.C. of  Jagran Lake  University. Dr.  Pradip Nandi was a key panelist.

Speaking at the end this session, Rajendra Kothari, who has had a long and distinguished innings as a leading corporate professional with Hindustan Electrographites Limited, had a special word of praise for Shastri. He stands as the tallest among journalists of Bhopal, Kothari said adding he has contributed immensely as a journalist for the development of Madhya Pradesh. While most others were busy angling for an opportunity to spend few moments with the Chief Minister or powers that be, Shastri never had any time for such things as he has always been too busy pursuing journalism in the true spirit and with full commitment.

At the outset, Shashidhar Kapur, founder of Bhopal International Centre, gave a brief introduction about the Centre’s media vertical.

The First formal session was on the state of media in Bhopal the capital of the central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. Its key panelist Chandrakant  Naidu, Shashidhar Kapur, and  Sunil Shukla, while praising the proliferation of media activities in Bhopal, also lamented the lack of quality journalism. Poor linguistic skills apart from lack of commitment came in for censure.

The next session was on Investigative journalism. It began with a talk on RTI (right to information) in Madhya Pradesh. Rahul Singh, outgoing State Information Commissioner, and former Senior jurnalist was the guest speaker. He said journalists should note that there are many human rights stories possible through RTI. Villagers know the facts on the ground hence for them it is the most empowering tool. All posts of Information commissioners are vacant in Madhya Pradesh, he said adding none have been appointed due to the ongoing general election to the Lok Sabha. Most importantly, there is no Public Records Act in Madhya Pradesh, whereas most other states have enacted this Act.

In this session, Deepak  Tiwari , Hindi Editor  of  Global  Investigative network  and  former VC  of  Makhanlal  University spoke on “ Investigative  Journalism”. Quoting Noam  Chomsky, he said that  Journalism should satisfy the norms of   Public service and social justice. According to him, Aniruddha Bahal is not exactly an investigative journalist since most of his stories are by stealth and deception. A Real Journalist need not be Nationalistic as he is beyond borders, he added.  The use of social media for managing dissent is a cause for worry. Tiwari expressed concern over the growing trend of “breakfast Journalism” journalists being fed stories over lunch by news hungry politicians.

The final session was about the “Future of Journalism”. In its first section, there was an interactive online talk on “Artificial Intelligence in Journalism” with  Nilambar Rath, Founder and Editor of  Odisha  Live. He said that Journalists must embrace A.I.  as informed individuals: The biggest danger is to students – if they start using A.I.  mindlessly, as their complementary intelligence may become vestigial. Senior Digital Journalist Sarman Nagele said that the government of India till date doesn’t have an A.I. Act. Even the Election Commission does not have qualified personnel for A.I. So, so they have outsourced it to social media outlets.

Media Council ” – II  ended with a vote of thanks by Preeti Tripathi, Co-Founder, Bhopal International Centre, and an announcement about the  First  International Festival and Forum in June this year coinciding with Bhopal Merger Day.