Nagaland with the rest of the Northeastern States very often talk about the vision 2020 goal with focus on development as the center piece of this policy. Economic growth is very essential no doubt for the overall development of our people. However growth should not be only about wealth creation but must include the vision for promoting human health and protecting our environment. Our policy makers need to step back for a moment and reflect on the present framework and see whether development is promoting the quality of life and not just quantification. A recent write-up under the column “Health & Healing” by Ian Anthony Jones published in the Morung Express presents a strong argument about the need for our Nagaland State to focus on human health and environment. The writer starts by saying that “the very lack of development to be found here is actually one of Nagaland’s greatest assets in a strange way”. According to his argument, which is true to a large extent, “the western world is now waking up to many of the sorry results of more than one hundred years of industrialization and development without regard to human health and the environment”. Many of us in the developing world, Nagaland and its people included, we are blinded by the western model of development so much so that we are unaware of the horrendous price that is being paid in terms of “huge increases in degenerative disease”, as the writer puts it. And according to his write-up, cancer now strikes as many as 50% of Americans, which is one out of every two men coming down with cancer. Fifteen or twenty years ago, this was not the case. Now even cancer among children is getting more and more common. Some are even born with it.
Only recently, we had commented in these columns about the killer endosulfan pesticide used in several states of India for growing crops and is known to have caused serious health problems. Because of its long usage in some places it has contaminated everything— wells, ponds, soil, air, etc —so much that the poison had seeped even into the genetic system of the people. In Kasaragod (Kerala) it is reported that people there are suffering from mysterious problems like cancers, reproductive disorders, early maturing of girls, late maturing of males, severe convolution of limbs and other deformities — all caused by Endosulfan poisoning. Our concern should be whether similar pesticide is being encouraged among our farmers in Nagaland. As already suggested the Nagaland government needs to do something, about not just Endosulfan but other toxic substances used for agriculture and horticulture across the length and breadth of our villages and population. As rightly cautioned in the Health & Healing column, such dread diseases hardly existed before the massive use of toxic chemistry became the standard in agriculture and the manufacture of everything from building materials to consumer goods. A new study has also found that the toxic pollution on the city highways and streets, caused by vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution, causes severe brain damage. A developing society and State like Nagaland can learn from the present degeneration of the west whether it is to do with morals or simply put the quality of life. Development should be sustainable so that we can utilize and at the same time protect our soil, water, air, and food necessary for life. The goals of vision 2020 should give greater focus on environment and public health. The progress and prosperity of Nagaland and its people should not be at the cost of its health and life itself.
Only recently, we had commented in these columns about the killer endosulfan pesticide used in several states of India for growing crops and is known to have caused serious health problems. Because of its long usage in some places it has contaminated everything— wells, ponds, soil, air, etc —so much that the poison had seeped even into the genetic system of the people. In Kasaragod (Kerala) it is reported that people there are suffering from mysterious problems like cancers, reproductive disorders, early maturing of girls, late maturing of males, severe convolution of limbs and other deformities — all caused by Endosulfan poisoning. Our concern should be whether similar pesticide is being encouraged among our farmers in Nagaland. As already suggested the Nagaland government needs to do something, about not just Endosulfan but other toxic substances used for agriculture and horticulture across the length and breadth of our villages and population. As rightly cautioned in the Health & Healing column, such dread diseases hardly existed before the massive use of toxic chemistry became the standard in agriculture and the manufacture of everything from building materials to consumer goods. A new study has also found that the toxic pollution on the city highways and streets, caused by vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution, causes severe brain damage. A developing society and State like Nagaland can learn from the present degeneration of the west whether it is to do with morals or simply put the quality of life. Development should be sustainable so that we can utilize and at the same time protect our soil, water, air, and food necessary for life. The goals of vision 2020 should give greater focus on environment and public health. The progress and prosperity of Nagaland and its people should not be at the cost of its health and life itself.
