In the name of Development

What will one tribe have to do, to save everything they know?

Mine, narrated by Joanna Lumley, tells the story of the remote Dongria Kondh tribe's struggle to protect Niyamgiri, the mountain they worship as a God. London-based mining company Vedanta Resources plans a vast open-pit bauxite mine in India's Niyamgiri hills, and the Dongria Kondh know that means the destruction of their forests, their way of life, and their mountain God.

What is the meaning of Development?

 Is it constructing  factories that exploit the wind, water, forests and all other natural resources?... Is it constructing roads that stops rain-water to seep into the ground and hence the drop in underground water-level?... Is it the building of dams which disturbs the ecological balance and cause flood in some areas while droughts in others?... Is it the deforestation in the name of expanding colonies again causing floods, decrease in amount of rain, drop in the oxygen content of atmosphere and so many other things?... Or is it the ever increasing use of  non-biodegradable products like plastics, that will take hundreds of thousands of years to degrade and in the process make the atmosphere unsuitable for human existence?


I'm really confused. At one hand I have the Mother Earth feeding us with all she has and asking nothing in return, and on the other hand is entire Human race. The most intelligent race this planet has ever seen which changes the course of events with the power of its mind. A race which guides itself to faster and swifter ways to accomplish what it thinks and what it needs... all this, along with ever increasing new inventions and discoveries. What all has this brought to us is in no terms explainable. But there is one thing that this evolution has been doing  is negligence. Negligence towards who we are, what we have been, what is the reason behind our existence and survival for so long, where our roots are still lying, looking at us from a far distance which is now almost unreachable.

Can't we find alternative ways? Ways which are more Eco-friendly. Ways which can halt this march towards self-destruction and which will help us lead towards a better tomorrow. Ways which will ensure that our children and their children will enjoy the love of Mother Earth in a similar way we are enjoying now. I believe we can find them... after all we are the best minds ever existed...