Understanding Environmental Problem

    05-May-2022
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Maisnam Susmina and Rajendra Kshetri
Contd from prev issue
Ecocentrism and anthropocentric moral reasoning or perspective are adopted to understand how humans perceive and interrelate with nature. An anthropocentric perspective is to take a human-oriented view of the environment. This is an ethical argument that what we should do with nature should be for the benefit of humans. While eccentric, nature deserves moral consideration because nature has intrinsic values. The UN also states that humans have a right to live a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. The question is: why do we protect nature? Because we love it or because we need it? Because nature has a right to exist by itself or because we can use it to benefit us?
Municipal Solid Waste Management is still one of the major problems faced in the heart of Manipur. Air pollution in Manipur is mainly due to commercial earthmoving activities, many automobiles, burning of domestic solid waste In Imphal (the Municipal Solid Waste Management is still infused with challenges), and dust-fall due to bad roads management. Even though air pollution in Imphal may not be as crucial as it seems to be in the big metropolitan cities, if we don't manage to control the increase in automobiles at some point, it will go unmanageable and uncontrollable. There are still people who refuse to accept the seriousness of air pollution. People's attitudes towards the environment need to change. The three Rs for a sustainable life, i.e., Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, must be encouraged and become a way of life for the people. Compared to public transport, the level of growth in private vehicles is a significant contributory factor to urban air pollution in Manipur. It pollutes the air and causes congestion because of unregulated traffic jams even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Imphal Smart City Mission to effectively provide technology-based services, including traffic management, Solid Waste Management, and city surveillance. The question is, "When will the mission be achieved?” During my week-long stay, I was in love and mesmerized with Sikkim despite their narrow and hilly roads; the traffic management was so satisfying, and the people were morally correct towards the environment. Back home, the thought still lingered around "If a state like Sikkim can, why can't we?"
References
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*The author is a Research Scholar in the Department of Sociology,M.U
**The author is Professor of the Department of Sociology, M.U