Great Nicobar Project
The report, “Over nine lakh trees likely to be axed for Great Nicobar project” (Page 1, August 4), was disheartening to read. The number fails to reflect the total damage that will happen to this pristine ecosystem.
Valuable and unique flora and fauna will be wiped out in the name of development.
As seen in the recent legislation amending the Forest Act, the government of the day only seems to be paying lip service to conservation and carbon neutrality. There can be other plans on a much smaller scale to build defence and security installations.
B. Sundar Raman,
Coimbatore
True, the Great Nicobar Project holds the key to immense advancements in trade, infrastructural development, and national security. However, one fears that environmental concerns are taking a back seat. Clearing virgin and ancient forests on a mammoth scale will destroy the biodiversity of the pristine island.
Michael Jom,
Thiruvananthapuram
The report is shocking. We are replacing a vast area of original forest in the name of ‘development’. We need to focus on sustainable development rather than mere development.
Aleena Raj,
Thiruvananthapuram
One fails to understand the necessity and logic behind such a project. Environmental issues in India need very careful handling especially in the aftermath of the gradual sinking of Joshimath town in Uttarakhand.
There are other examples in India that highlight the consequences of meddling with nature. The flooding in Bengaluru, destruction in Kerala and the havoc caused in parts of north India cannot be forgotten or glossed over.
B. Suresh Kumar,
Coimbatore
Environmental management does not seem to be this government’s strength, as is evident in the many troubles the ambitious cheetah project is facing and the baffling logic of “afforestation” being proposed in Haryana to compensate for irreparable environmental damages that are likely to arise as a result of the “Great Nicobar Project”.
When will this regime realise that ‘cut from one place and paste in another place’ logic is not the solution to complex ecological problems?
A. Venkatasubramanian,
Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu
On homoeopathy
Evidence-based medicine is the backbone of allopathy (Editorial page, “India needs evidence-based, ethics-driven medicine”, August 4). There is no disagreement with this. At the same time, homoeopathy has its own supporter base whose members strongly believe in the system.
If homoeopathy had not shown results, it would not have survived the colonial age and the modern era.
M. Lakshmi Narayanan,
Chennai
Homoeopathy is a pseudoscience. The Ministry of AYUSH has made a mistake in clubbing it with Ayurveda, a knowledge base of value. The idea of medical pluralism cannot be employed to legitimise superstitions and fantasies.
Dr. G.L. Krishna,
Bengaluru
