The Almighty Allah has created the beautiful piece of land on the mother earth called the Jammu and Kashmir. It is very famous across the globe for its unmatched natural beauty. Its mesmerizing snow clad mountains, serene water bodies’, shimmering lakes, gushing streams, canals, springs, wetlands, lush green forests, meadows and what not are attracting visitors all across the world for enjoying its fascinating beauty and pleasant climate. Everything created on the beautiful piece of land has a great ecological value and function and all help in maintaining the ecological balance of nature. Over the past many years, the materialistic and careless people have destroyed the beauty of the Jammu and Kashmir that Nature had bestowed. The fresh water of springs, canals and streams in villages once used for drinking, washing and cleaning purposes have lost due to heaps of all kinds of waste. Due to sheer negligence of people, water bodies, lakes, streams, wetlands, forests continue to become dumping sites in Jammu and Kashmir. A large number of careless and unaware people are throwing biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes into water bodies and many careless people are dumping wastes in public parks, agriculture lands, forests, community lands and roadsides. Graveyards, cremation grounds, mandis, markets, roads, lanes, drains surface up with biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. Wastes have caused soil and water pollution. Soil and water pollution have given rise to many waterborne diseases to people like typhoid, jaundice, cholera and many intestinal diseases. Vibrant civil society, The Environment policy Group, Green citizen council members are expressing their concerns for carelessness of unaware people. Someone has rightly said that, “Rights and duties are two sides of the same coin”. Although, people have rights over the judicious use of resources but at the sometime, they have duties towards the resources of the environment as protection from exploitation, degradation and destruction but unfortunately majority of people do not bother for the heaps of waste particularly plastic scattered all around on the beautiful motherland and in the water bodies. Due to population explosion and rapid development, Tons’ of waste are produced on a daily basis in Jammu and Kashmir. The generation of waste is not confined to Srinagar and the Jammu cities only but also in all rural villages of Jammu and Kashmir. The unsegregated waste in villages is getting easy way into water bodies, fertile land and ecologically sensitive places that are causing various social, economic and environmental concerns’. It is ironic that despite compost pits provided to the rural people by the government, compostable and non-compostable wastes are not segregated by rural people at their homes but are dumped deliberately into water bodies, agricultural lands, forests and public places without any regret.
Protection of the environment, ecology and biodiversity is our collective responsibility. Let us pledge to save our environment from all kinds of wastes. The clean environment plays an important role in healthy living and the existence of life on only one planet.
Obnoxious smells have been emitting from such dumping sites and are causing innocent, civilized and environmentally conscious people to suffer very much. Deliberate adding of waste into the water bodies and ecologically fragile places is a gross violation of the Water Pollution (Prevention and Control) Act, 1981 and the Environment Protection 6Act, 1986 and is a great threat to our ecology and the environment. Solid waste produced in rural villages is a big challenge in contemporary time. Due to unabated solid waste, many springs, canals and streams in villages’ are battling for survival. Waste in villages is also clogging lanes, drains and brooks at a high pace posing threat to rural people for flash floods. The Government of India has launched Swachh Bharat Mission with the aim to make all villages’ free from all kinds of solid and liquid wastes and creating avenues for generating incomes for rural households and creating new livelihood opportunities. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission program, the government spends huge amounts of money every year on awareness raising and waste management in villages’ but unfortunately there is a lack of active participation and cooperation of people. The growing neglect and lack of active participation, support and cooperation of people is adding to damage and destruction to natural resources. There are many ways by which waste produced can be managed in all villages and natural resources can be saved from destruction in the unmindful race on the path of development. By involving schools, colleges’, communities in cleanliness drives can contribute significantly in waste management and can be instrumental in accomplishing practical objectives. All sustainable development goals have connections to the environment and quality education. The government of India is always committed to achieve all goals of the sustainable development declared by the United Nations. The NEP 2020 stresses teachers of the country to inculcate, aware, educate and encourage students to take leading roles in protecting the environment from damage and destruction. We cannot always blame the concerned departments for the waste management. The responsibility of every citizen is to become Swatchh Grahi and Eco-Guard and to work tirelessly for cleanliness of his or her respective Mohalla in a village. Consistent efforts to maintain the surroundings and address waste management challenges is the duty of a law-abiding citizen and it reflects citizen’s great dedication and commitment to waste management. Eco watch and waste management is our collective responsibility to address the growing environmental challenge. Swatch villages in Jammu and Kashmir will pay way for a greener, sustainable and prosperous future. Development of civic sense and behavioral change in the community regarding waste management play a pivotal role in saving the natural resources. The government of Jammu and Kashmir needs to devise and formulate a multi-pronged strategy for waste management for all rural villages. Development of sound infrastructure for waste collection, segregation and treatment at all Panchayats will address the waste challenge to more extent. Identification of sanitary landfills for biodegradable wastes and recycling of non-biodegradable waste on Gujarat/ Indore model will definitely make the villages’ swatch for healthy and better lives. Environmentalists, sensitizing stakeholders, government agencies should emphasize the significance of cleanliness, hygiene and environmental consciousness among the people. For segregating and dumping household and farmland waste, all beneficiaries under Swachh Bharat Mission Scheme in villages should use their compost pits for dumping biodegradable waste in an environment friendly manner. Noted Social and RTI Activist Syed Adil of Ganderbal District said, “It is the responsibility of all people to take great care of the fragile ecosystem that has already suffered damages over the last many years. Resources like water are important for human existence and economic development so natural resources need continuous watch and ward throughout the year”. The government departments, concerning agencies, Environmental policy group and Green Citizen Council, civil society and NGOs, should join hands together with the public to save the environment from wastes that are disastrous for the resources of the environment. Protection of the environment, ecology and biodiversity is our collective responsibility. Let us pledge to save our environment from all kinds of wastes. The clean environment plays an important role in healthy living and the existence of life on only one planet.
(The author is a teacher at Govt Boys Higher Secondary School Beerwa Budgam. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.) [email protected]