Climate challenge, civil society and politics in Tamil Nadu

There are growing concerns about the climate issues and the potential responses from the people and the government

There are growing concerns about the climate issues and the potential responses from the people and the government. The Chennai floods and drinking water scarcity in other parts of Tamil Nadu including the capital city are ironies difficult to defend our administration and politics. It is necessary to observe that the political parties and their leadership do not acknowledge the significance of climate change issues yet as revealed in the assembly elections in 2021 and the parliamentary elections 2024. It is important to raise the question that why political parties in Tamil Nadu including the national parties do no raise climate concerns and other environmental issues even during the elections.

Climate challenge, civil society and politics in Tamil Nadu

The answer lays in the fact that environmental clearance for public projects is considered as an administrative convenience and right of way for the political parties depending on the power factor than being drawn into the climate change and environmental debate. The role and impact of political and administrative corruption can be seen extensively in daily life in the fields of stone and sand quarrying in Tamil Nadu combined with the operational nexus between the politicians and bureaucracy at different levels. The sand quarrying in Palar river through Thirupattur, Vellore, Ranipet and Kanchipuram districts and the industrial pollution of the same river from Vaniyambadi to Ranipet are based on different considerations but located on the specific crisis of lack of accountability and corruption within the system. A similar rationale applies to the industrial pollution of Cauvery river in Erode and the sand quarrying in Karur and Trichy districts of Tamil Nadu.

A slow but steady erosion of natural environment and the destruction of water bodies including the rapid decline of forest cover have gradually disabled the potential resistance against the climate challenge as faced by the ecological system and society today. The political, administrative and corporate-industrial nexus have been the critical factor resulting in the disappearance(s) of common properties and deprivation of peoples’ rights to the commons. The idea of commons conveniently fell under the public control and supervision of the same agencies and authorities who cannot be trusted for respecting environmental laws and political-administrative accountability. This is the paradox of political democracy with extreme socio-economic disparities.

The anti-sterlite movement in Thoothukudi and the unprovoked firing against the protesters in May 2018 is a case in point to distinguish the orientation of the politicians, bureaucracy and the civil society towards ecology and justice. The fate of Aruna Jagadeesan commission’s report may be subjected to the political considerations of the political parties in and out of power but the ecological and environmental dimensions of the peoples’ movement cannot be overlooked forever. The forced acquiring of cultivable farm lands for State Industrial Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) without the consent of the farmers in Melma and others surrounding villages in Thiruvannamalai district and the enforcement of The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Forest Offernders, Sand Offenders, Slum-Grabbers and the Video Pirates Act, 1982 (popularly known as Goondas Act) against the farmers is another example of the hidden agenda of the political leaders and the misplaced priorities of the government in the name of development.

There are no explanations provided and justifications sought when the influential corporation decides to cut thousands of trees to build sidewalks or beautify the city in the name of smart city like the Vellore Municipal Corporation. The people must agree to cut the trees in front of their houses or live without street access until they concede without any record or official protest in a hot climate city like Vellore. This is the extent of climate consciousness even in the case of smart city projects in Tamil Nadu. The Ennore creek deserves a much urgent attention and co-operation of the state and central governments to address the challenge while global warming poses a threat to people living in cities like Chennai. The Cooum and Buckingham Canal are integral to the collective wisdom of addressing the floods in Chennai as much as the need to restore the waterways after clearing of their pollution.

It is time that politicians and the political parties begin to understand that the age of thriving on crisis is coming to an end. The climate issues are far more challenging than the vote bank politics. We have moved beyond the metaphor “everybody loves a good drought” to the “government that performs”. There is a marked difference between the vote bank politics greased with money and power and the climate issues governed by the crisis of consciousness and commitment for the earth and environmental justice.

Prof.Ramu Manivannan is a scholar-academic-social activist in areas of education, human rights and sustainable development through an initiative “Multiversity.” He is currently the Special Community Scholar at the Institute of Comparative and Regional Studies (ICRS) at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA.