Before climate talks, Tagore, KM Munshi and others championed sustainable living

India Today

05-06-2025

Well before environmentalism became part of the modern world's policy vocabulary, a group of visionaries had already begun articulating ideas around sustainable living, ecological balance, and decentralised development. Rabindranath Tagore and KM Munshi were among the early 20th-century Indian thinkers who not only shaped cultural and political discourse but also laid down a framework for environmental thinking -- one that has become even more relevant as India faces growing ecological crises.Today, on June 6, as the world observes World Environment Day, the voices of these great thinkers remain absent from mainstream discourse. Despite the undeniable facts before us, we lack the kind of compelling voices that can truly reach and move the masses.advertisementRamachandra Guha's latest book, Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism, revisits the works and legacy of the early thinkers and how they at that time were seeing society. These emerge from the deep ethos of civilisational values.What remains striking is how foresighted these individuals were. JC Kumarappa, an economist and close ally of Mahatma Gandhi, had already warned that economies dependent on coal and oil would eventually fuel conflicts between nations.RECLAIMING FORGOTTEN FOUNDATIONS
Rabindranath Tagore's vision of establishing Shatinekatan extended beyond literature and education. He believed that any meaningful idea of national regeneration had to engage with the rhythms of the land and the lifeways of its people.His critique of industrial modernity was early and consistent. He warned against imitating Western models of progress that ignored the lived realities of rural communities. The emphasis on self-reliance, rural renewal, and holistic development shared by him would later influence Gandhian thought, but even independently, his was a voice grounded in the experience of agrarian India.
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advertisementTagore called for harmony between progress and restraint. His essays and letters reveal a nuanced understanding of how large-scale industrial activity often displaced local livelihoods and fractured social systems. For him, rebuilding India was as much about nurturing the land as it was about reclaiming cultural dignity.KM Munshi, a Constituent Assembly member and founder of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, took a more institutional route. While remembered primarily for his legal and literary contributions, Munshi's work in soil conservation and afforestation was pioneering.He launched the Van Mahotsav in 1950, envisioning it as a nationwide tree-planting campaign to combat deforestation. But beyond symbolism, Munshi advocated for watershed management and ecological planning in a newly independent India struggling with droughts, floods, and food shortages.Munshi believed that environmental regeneration was key to India's development, especially in the context of post-Partition nation-building. Yet, as Guha notes, Munshi's ideological alignment with cultural nationalism complicates his legacy.He sought to link environmental renewal with civilisational pride, which at times echoed exclusionary tones.LESSONS FROM THE PASTWe can also have a look at figures like Radhakamal Mukerjee, who critiqued the limitations of GDP as a measure of national well-being, and JC Kumarappa, who exposed the unsustainable economics of large-scale capitalism.advertisementOne wonders how the early advocates of organic farming might have responded to the Supreme Court's stance on genetically modified mustard, or how JC Kumarappa, with his sharp critique of extractive economies, would have viewed the decision to open up forest lands in Chhattisgarh for coal mining.Their writings forecasted concerns that now dominate global forums -- resource inequality, community displacement, and the environmental cost of unchecked growth.They argued that ecological balance could only be achieved when the voices of peasants, tribal communities, and marginalised groups were part of the solution.The ideas of Tagore, Munshi, and others were not ahead of their time, and perhaps even more so for ours.The roots of Indian environmentalism run deep. But to build on them, we must first remember.Must Watch