The "green" revolution?
Following its independence from the UK in 1947, all national experts agreed that India would sink into famine. However, India managed to prove them wrong, by organizing what came to be known as the Green Revolution: a massive industrialization of agriculture.
But there was nothing green about the Green Revolution. Pesticides were introduced barely a year after independence, accompanied by heavy farm machinery, GMOs and other chemical fertilizers. Today, the damage is many: infertile, even desertified soils, contaminated water tables, deforestation, significant loss of biodiversity...
And it's the snake that bites its own tail: the green revolution, which once saved the Indian population from famine, could now plunge them back into it. Farming is becoming increasingly difficult, due to the unpredictable climate, shrinking arable land, lack of pollinators, water scarcity, increased risk of landslides due to poor soil quality... Farmers are plunged into such a precarious situation that India is experiencing a wave of suicides among them, which is no longer a wave, since it has been going on since the 1990s.
Today, a new hope is emerging, in the form of a new revolution, this time a truly green one: that of organic farming. Although farmers who have opted for organic farming are still largely in the minority, they are determined to change things. For example, the state of Sikkim, bordering Bhutan, Nepal and China, has decided to make no concessions. Since 2015, it has been 100% organic! The use of chemical inputs is now punishable by prison and a heavy fine.
We're suffocating!
According to a ranking by the Swiss air analysis institute IQAir, 14 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world in 2022 are Indian. And all 14 of them are in North India! The phenomenon is such that, according to the scientific journal The Lancet, by 2020, 1.67 million deaths will be directly attributable to poor air quality. Among them, the capital New Delhi, which regularly suffocates under a cloud of pollution, would alone account for 20,000 deaths.
Like other cities in the country, it suffers from pollution caused by exhaust fumes and toxic industrial emissions. Another major factor is the still widespread practice of agricultural slash-and-burn. Every year, in late autumn, farmers clean up their fields by burning them after the harvest. This practice, although prohibited, is on the increase. The inhabitants of North India are critical of the lack of political involvement in this crucial issue.
India and its waste
Rapid, disproportionate population growth has led to a serious waste management problem. India, now the world's most densely populated country, sees waste piling up in poorly managed open dumps all over the country. As well as bringing vermin and numerous diseases to the inhabitants, they also pollute the water tables, as rainfall washes over the toxic waste.
In New Delhi, the Ghazipur landfill is over 75 m high, taller than the Taj Mahal! This rotting monster poisons the lives of local residents with its methane fumes and rats. In 2017, it even caused the death of two people when it collapsed under its own weight. Although the authorities have repeatedly planned its closure, it has been systematically cancelled for lack of any other solution.
If waste is becoming such a problem, it's because the country lacks the infrastructure needed to sort, store and recycle these mountains of detritus. In 2014, however, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to launch the Clean India Mission program. The program aimed at improving India's sanitary conditions included street cleaning, organizing solid waste management and implementing recycling. Although there has been a marked improvement, there is still a long way to go.
In addition to waste management, the government is also trying to tackle the problem at source, by limiting waste production. In 2022, the government banned many single-use plastic objects.
Ecology at the heart of religion
The conservation of nature, indeed its sacralization, has long been a practice in India, as it is one of the pillars of Hinduism and Buddhism. Indeed, isn't North India the only region in the world to boast the world's first ecologically-minded people? That's what we call the Bishnoi, an indigenous people of Rajasthan. This community of 700,000 follows the precepts of Jambeshwar Bhagavan, a 15th-century guru. These are characterized by respect for life in all its forms. It is strictly forbidden to kill an animal or cut down a living tree, and people are required to share 10% of their harvest with wildlife.
Although these values were somewhat disrupted by colonialism, they are still deeply rooted in the culture today. India is the country with the most vegetarians in the world, with a third of the population!
Between monsoons and droughts
Due to climate disruption, the Indian seasons are becoming increasingly polarized, between a period of ever more intense monsoons, and another of catastrophic droughts. 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023... Droughts are becoming increasingly frequent. In the summer of 2023, extreme heat struck northern India, killing over a hundred people in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In 2016, the city of Phalodi, in northwest India, recorded the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the country: 51°C. A record that sadly came close to being dethroned in 2019, when the city of Churu, in Rajasthan, recorded 50.8°C.
These disastrous droughts are compounded by poor management of water resources. Like waste, water does not benefit from the right infrastructure for storage and use, and all too often ends up unfit for consumption. Groundwater, meanwhile, is overexploited, particularly by agriculture, which pumps over 80% of resources. The threat of water shortages is such that, in 2022, India was forced to curb its wheat exports to protect its own food security. These water crises are set to become increasingly frequent, as it is estimated that 40% of the Indian population will not have sufficient access to water by 2050.
Himalayan warming
The roof of the world is not immune to global warming. On a global scale, it is estimated that glaciers have melted 65% faster in the last decade than in the previous one. As a result, they could lose 80% of their volume by the end of the century. Yet 1.65 billion people depend on the water flowing from Himalayan glaciers for their survival, and their disappearance poses a terrifying threat to these inhabitants. In the shorter term, this accelerated melting poses a risk of major flooding in the valleys surrounding the Himalayan mountain range.
Protected areas
North India boasts some of the country's finest national parks. Corbett National Park, in Uttarakhand, was India's first national park, opened in 1936. This park at the foot of the Himalayas is best known for being the first where Project Tiger was launched. This government program, which began in the 1970s, was dedicated to the conservation of the Bengal tiger. To date, it has helped to more than double the country's tiger population. Numerous other parks later joined the project, becoming prime sites for Bengal tiger observation. Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, for example, has grown from 26 tigers in 2005 to at least 70 today. These lush landscapes were once the hunting grounds of the maharajas of Jaipur, so the felines, like many other animals, were decimated.
In the state of Assam, bordering China, Kaziranga National Park has also been part of Project Tiger since 2006, and is home to the highest density of Bengal tigers in the world. But its rainforest is also home to other fragile and precious species: the Indian Rhinoceros. The park alone is home to two-thirds of the species' population, which is classified as vulnerable.
The Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh, covering almost 1,000 km2, is one of the largest in the country. Among the hundreds of plant species to be found in its forest, the park is particularly renowned for the sal tree (Shorea robusta). This large tree is an integral part of the local culture, used for many purposes. Its resin, for example, is transformed into incense, which accompanies Hindu ceremonies. Its seeds, meanwhile, are processed into a firm butter. Finally, its wood is reputed to be very strong, making it one of the most widely used construction woods in India.
