User:Pratyush Chowdhary/SAVE THE JUNGLISTAN

this article is for the campaign,all words are from http://junglistan.org/act

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/How-Coal-mining-is-Trashing-Tigerland.pdf

SAVE THE JUNGLISTAN

http://junglistan.org/act

http://www.youtube.com/greenpeaceindia

https://www.facebook.com/greenpeaceindia

https://twitter.com/greenpeaceindia

COAL IS A SCAM

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/How-Coal-mining-is-Trashing-Tigerland.pdf

We must stop the Government from cutting down giant areas of forest in Central India to get the coal that lies beneath.

What’s at stake: About 35% of the 1700 wild tigers are in Central India. Almost half of the forest dependent communities in India depend on the forests here. Cutting down forests and burning coal will release large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. This will heat up the atmosphere and threaten all life on Earth.^[1] If that isn’t enough, a coal scam larger than the 2G scam is coming to light. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) says that the Coal Ministry, then headed by the Prime Minister, allocated coal blocks at a throw-away price costing the taxpayer Rs 1.86 lakh crores ₹1,860,000,000,000 (US$22 billion) ₹186,000 crore (US$22 billion)^[2] (an earlier leak of the report put the figure even higher at Rs. 10.67 lakh crores ^[3](212 billion US dollars)).^[4]

Ask the PM to stop all new coal allocations and forest clearances until this scam has been investigated and there is a clear demarcation of areas that shouldn’t be mined.

“

We need 100,000 signatures by October to convince our PM to act. Here’s why:

The PM is hosting a United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in October.
We’ll give him this petition in front of the entire world at this conference.
A 100,000 people asking him to save the forests, when he’s discussing conservation with the entire world, will put pressure on him to make a commitment.

”

http://junglistan.org/act

https://twitter.com/greenpeaceindia

TARGET: 100,000

COAL IS DANGEROUS

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/How-Coal-mining-is-Trashing-Tigerland.pdf

The extent of the destruction caused by coal mining became clear to brijesh when he accompanied a fact-finding team to singrauli.Singrauli is a district in Madhya Pradesh, which supplies a lot of the coal that gives us electricity. Vast stretches of barren land, smoke and ash. That’s what coal mining has done to this district. The coal fumes are spreading fatal lung diseases. Life in all its forms, human and animal, has been affected. Only the companies and politicians seemed to have gained from this destruction. Singrauli has made brijesh understand how privileged his city life is.brijesh singh now see the real price of the electricity we urban Indians often waste. Forests harbour and protect so much. Destroying them, especially when there are alternative energy sources, is not acceptable. brijeshwas among the first few thousands who became citizens of the Republic of Junglistan. The virtual republic represents those who want the forests to be saved from coal.

The Republic has been growing steadily. The bigger it is, the better are our chances of making a strong case for the protection of the forests. The Republic needs to gather strength to counter the clout of the powerful coal lobby. You can do this by getting more of your friends to become citizens of the Republic of Junglistan.

http://junglistan.org/act

COAL : 1 FORESTS : 0

So last year, brijesh met Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and told him to not demand more forests for coal. brijesh had the support of over 90,000 people from across the country.brijesh told him that his plans to increase coal mining in forests across Central India were going to harm endangered wildlife and lakhs of people that depend on the forests for their livelihood. He said that he shared these concerns and promised another meeting to discuss the issue in detail. brijesh is still waiting to meet the Minister for the ‘detailed discussion’.

And now Mahan has provisional clearance. Clearly, the Coal Minister did not share any concern. His Ministry and the government have just been working hard to get clearances to destroy more forests, mine for more coal and please those companies who now stand accused of corruption in the coal scam. It’s a powerful ministry that has the full backing of the PM to ensure it gets what it wants. If the environment ministry is to be believed, the Coal Minister already has 55,000 hectares of forest land, and more clearances than he ever needs. Yet he has been asking for more forests.

The Coal minister is getting away with its reckless demands for more forests because the country doesn’t really know what is going on. Share this now, reveal his ulterior motives.

Ask the Prime Minister to stop all new coal allocations and forest clearances until the scam has been investigated and there is a clear demarcation of areas that shouldn’t be mined.

UNDER‘MINING’ YOUR FUTURE

Living far away from forests does not mean that we don’t get affected by their destruction. The one thing brijesh has understood in his two years of working on this issue is that, destruction of natural forests affects everyone.

http://junglistan.org/act

http://www.youtube.com/greenpeaceindia

https://www.facebook.com/greenpeaceindia

https://twitter.com/greenpeaceindia

CHALLENGING COAL

After everything brijesh had seen in Singrauli , this was it for him. Now this fight has become even more crucial. Giving up now will make it easy for the Coal Ministry and the government to give away more and more forests. This will destroy some of the most important corridors linking some of the best reserves in the country. Thousands, maybe lakhs, will be made homeless and poor. It’s tiring sometimes. The stubborn attitude of the government made brijesh keswant to give up at times. But then, when brijesh think of what’s at stake, brijesh know it’s worth fighting for.

http://junglistan.org/act

Many forest dependent communities have been fighting to save the forests for really long now. We can help them win this. So now brijesh is travelling the country, meeting those who have been affected by coal mining. Documenting forests which are still safe, and the state of those we couldn’t save. beijesh isdoing everything brijesh can to save some of the finest forests in our country. The forests stand a better chance if there are more of us trying to do the same. Ask the Prime Minister to stop all new coal allocations and forest clearances until the scam has been investigated and there is a clear demarcation of areas that shouldn’t be mined.

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/How-Coal-mining-is-Trashing-Tigerland.pdf

HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND RENEWABLE

brijesh have never for once denied the fact that we need electricity. So before you say, ‘if not coal, then what?' Renewable energy has given remote villages in Bihar access to electricity. Infact, brijesh read about a hospital in Bihar which uses solar power to meet a lot of its energy demands. A large number of villages in remote Bihar get electricity from rice husk. Incredible isn’t it? So why can’t we make use of solar and other renewable energy options in the cities and wherever possible instead of relying only on coal? If businesses and factories are made to use energy efficiently, we will dig out a lot less coal- and destroy fewer forests- in the first place. Stringent rules on the way energy is consumed can save our forests. It’s not like coal is our only hope. Forests don’t have to be sacrificed to meet the demands of the city people. Clean energy can provide for all without hurting the environment.

WIN IT FOR JUNGLISTAN

The government says that all the forest destruction is needed to provide for the electricity needed by urban people. But what if lakhs and lakhs of city dwellers likes us, tell the government that we want them to protect forests and use alternate sources to give us electricity.

References

^ Indian coal mining a threat to tigers, Greenpeace warns, The Guardian, August 3, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/03/indian-coal-mining-threatens-tiger
^ Report on coal fields creates fresh furor for Indian government http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/23/world/asia/india-coal-scandal/index.html
^ BBC News - Outrage over report that India lost $210bn in coal scam www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17471359
^ No-bid coal scandal blackens India's government ... - The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10401315

External links

http://junglistan.org/act

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/How-Coal-mining-is-Trashing-Tigerland.pdf

CAG coal mine report: Govt lost Rs 10.67 lakh cr by giving 'undue benefits' to firms, Business Standard, March 22, 2012. http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/cag-coal-scam-report-upa-government/1/23419.html
Coal mines allocation to private companies caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore: CAG

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/coalgate-caused-a-loss-of-rs-186-lakh-crore-cag/282348-37-64.html