An ‘Inthinai Environment Festival,’ organised by ‘Poovulagin Nanbargal’, a group of individuals working for the cause of environment protection and development, and the ‘Enviro Club’ of Loyola College, was held on the college premises on Sunday.
In her inaugural speech, eminent social activist and Right Livelihood awardee Krishnammal Jagannathan, spoke about her association and experiences with Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement. “Vinobaji literally walked for 14 years throughout the nation, taking the ‘Bhoodan’ movement forward. He redistributed lands donated by rich Indians to the rural poor.
“After him, following his path, we undertook the work of empowering the rural poor by redistributing lands to the landless. Till now, we got 15,000 acres of lands from the rich and distributed those lands to 15,000 families. Atleast 50 times I went to every landlord and begged for a piece of land. Those days people valued lands, because it was their livelihood. But today, most of the cultivable lands are being turned into concrete jungles due to real estate activities. Governments across the world, it is said, are working towards millenium development goals. But truly, they are working toward ‘millenium destruction’,” said Krishnammal.
In his special address, eminent organic farming scientist Ko Nammazhvar, said, ‘’In today’s world, the human being is the most dangerous species. Whatever problems we have, be it global warming or extinction of any species, everything is created by us.” In the name of forest and environment protection, the government is only taking away resources from the people.”
Apart from seminars and lectures, the festival had a wildlife photo exhibition, a book exhibition and organic food festival.
The afternoon sessions were about the various problems related to the five types of lands mentioned in Sangam literature, viz., Kurinji (hills and hilly related areas), Mullai (forest and forest related areas), Marutham (Farm and farm related areas), Neithal (coastal and coastal related areas) and Paalai (desert and desert related areas).
C Srinivasan of Vellore Hills Restoration Project, professor Murugavel, Arachalur Selvam, writer Joe D Cruze, professor Vareedhaiya, journalist Arul Ezhilan and eminent environmentalist Theodore Baskaran spoke.
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