Country’s political system not prepared to accept reality of climate change: Amitav Ghosh

The author warned about large-scale migration if proper action was not initiated in Bengal delta.

January 25, 2020 07:17 pm | Updated 07:19 pm IST - Kolkata

Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh

Author Amitav Ghosh, who more often than not uses climate change as backdrop for his novels, on Saturday stressed the need to generate environmental awareness, while ruing the fact that the country’s political system was yet to acknowledge the seriousness of the issue.

Speaking at a session on climate change at Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here, the writer contended that Bengal delta, home to millions of people, is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

“People in neighbouring Bangladesh have taken several measures to mitigate or address the crisis. However, here, on our side of the border, there is very little awareness about climate change,” he said.

Maintaining that our political system was not yet prepared to accept the reality of climate change, the Jnanpith awardee said, “In 2016....there was an epic drought in central India, in Bundelkhand... thousands of farmers were hit.”

“Parliament, however, held just one discussion on the matter and only 10% of the MPs were present. We have to accept the reality, but our political system seems unprepared for this,” he said.

Calling for urgent action to combat the effects of global warming, Mr. Ghosh, who has several fiction and non- fictions to his credit, including the Ibis trilogy, said people in the 17th century were probably more aware about climate change as they had various systems in place to deal with the effects of calamities.

“Bengal delta happens to be one of the most vulnerable areas in the whole world in terms of facing the brunt of climate change. (If action is not taken), it will trigger large-scale migration,” he warned.

About the role of scientists in creating awareness about the looming threats, the author said, “They are just messengers. They can only tell us what is happening.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.