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Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Barbed wires, blackbucks and Bishnois: Ex-BSF's documentary showcases flourishing wildlife at Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan
1 2 3 4 5 6 Pune: Against the odds of scorching desert winds and a fraught geopolitical backdrop, a new documentary brings to light an unexpected story of the resilience of wildlife along the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan. 'Living with Border Security', the first film in the upcoming 'Living with Nature' documentary series, will launch on YouTube this World Environment Day on June 5. Filmed by a former Border Security Force (BSF) officer and wildlife biologist Amit Goswamy, the documentary delves into the stark, sandy stretches of Rajasthan to uncover thriving ecosystems just steps away from the international border fence. The project was made with the support of the BSF Rajasthan Frontier, India's primary paramilitary defence force along the western boundary. "While exploring the zones of human-wildlife coexistence in India, our journey took us to unexpected places, like the borders of India and Pakistan in Rajasthan. Despite the hostile weather and the legacy of cross-border tensions, there is an incredible diversity of wildlife here," said Goswamy, who served with BSF from 2011 to 2018 after completing his master's degree from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Among the desert's more elusive residents caught on film are the desert monitor lizard, brilliant agama, saw-scaled viper, spiny-tailed lizard, and more. The film also showcases scenes of chinkaras bounding through the dunes, desert jirds darting across sand, and surprisingly large herds of blackbuck, some 200-300-strong, wandering just shy of military fences. Goswamy and his team documented not only the visuals but also baseline data on species. "It was incredible to witness a good number of chinkaras thriving at the border belt," said Goswamy, who also highlighted how the BSF contributes to conservation beyond its call of duty. "In many places, BSF personnel are the unsung saviours of the wild. In fact, we saw how discarded helmets are being repurposed as water feeders for birds," he shared. Equally important to the narrative is the role of local communities, who have not only learnt how to coexist with nature for centuries but also provide care and are instrumental during rescue operations of wild animals. In northern Rajasthan, the Bishnoi community, known for their deep respect for nature, continues to play an important role. "Their compassion, even in extreme climates exceeding 50°C, plays a vital role in conservation. In various ways, their efforts have helped maintain habitats where wildlife can thrive," Goswamy observed. The film also touches on the changing dynamics of traditional livelihoods, including the 80% decline in camel populations as mechanisation renders them obsolete. "Many camels are now abandoned, left to roam free," he said. According to Goswamy, the film is more than a documentary, it's a call to rethink conservation. "This is one unique story of wildlife flourishing outside protected areas. The border belt, often seen only through a security lens, is in fact a functional ecosystem protected by the BSF in every sense," said the filmmaker. With its lens set on life that not only persists but flourishes in one of India's most challenging landscapes, the documentary reframes the border not just as a line of defence, but as a line of coexistence.
Indian Express
28-04-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
Opinion A revolution of clean energy
International Mother Earth Day was celebrated on April 22. It was established by a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2009, although its roots lie in the 1970s. The main objective behind this is to promote the Harmony with Nature initiative for the sustainable development of humanity. Earth, as of now, is the only known planet to host life. There is no 'Planet B' for humanity so far, although Elon Musk has ambitions to occupy Mars. The specific conditions and complex biosphere that sustain us are unique to Earth, making it irreplaceable for human survival. So, it is everyone's duty to ensure that in the race for economic development, we take care of Mother Earth's basic resource endowments, be it air, soil, water or biodiversity. But have we done so? The answer, unfortunately, is negative. As Gandhi ji said, 'The earth, the air, the land and water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children. So, we have to hand over to them at least as it was handed over to us.' Some major changes in Earth's resources were inevitable as humans multiplied on this planet over the past two centuries. Although it took Homo sapiens almost 3,00,000 years to hit the 1 billion mark for the first time in 1804, we added the next billion in 123 years, by 1927. Between 1927 and 2025, we have multiplied by more than four times to cross 8 billion. India is the most populous country on this planet today, and likely to remain so till the end of this century. This exponential growth of the last century has put unprecedented pressure on this planet to produce more food, housing, clothing, and other needs of travel, etc. Use of fossil fuels for energy and faster travel has been one of the major factors behind global warming and the damage to air quality of the planet. India is not in very good shape on this. The Environment Pollution Index (EPI) 2024, as constructed by Yale University for 180 countries, puts India at 176th rank. The World Air Quality Report 2024 released by the Swiss company IQAir notes that of the 100 most polluted cities and towns globally, 74 are in India. Another report by the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute says that people living in Delhi /NCR are cutting short their life expectancy by 11.9 years due to high air pollution. The Indian government may reject these findings, but the facts will not change much. It is an emergency and we know how the NCR becomes a gas chamber in November-December every year. Drastic steps are needed to restore the health of our planet. Air, though most critical for human survival, is only one of the key elements of this planet. Soil, water and biodiversity are other key elements that need to be protected for sustainable development. And these elements are basic for feeding humanity. Despite the rapid rise in population, humans have been able to produce more food for everyone by using science, be it in the form of improved seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation, or farm machinery, etc. India's Green Revolution has saved millions of lives. But in the process of producing more food for a growing population, we have damaged our soils and water sources and depleted biodiversity. Almost two-thirds of India's soils have soil organic carbon (SOC) of less than 0.5 per cent, while optimally it should be at least 3 to 4 times higher (1.5 to 2 per cent; per Rattan Lal, World Food Laureate). Groundwater in certain pockets like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan has been depleting at more than 1.5 feet every year for the last two decades or more, and getting contaminated with increasing use of fertilisers and pesticides. Rice-wheat crop rotation in the Punjab-Haryana belt has dramatically reduced biodiversity. All this points to the unsustainable nature of our production system. How can one change this for the better? Policies, practices, and products have to play an important role. Innovative policies of payment for ecosystem services (PES) need to be introduced. Farming practices and products that align with nature need to be rewarded, be it in the form of carbon credits or saving soils and precious water or promoting biodiversity. Productivity growth is important but so is nature's basic resource endowment. Dovetailing growth with sustainability is a challenge, but it can be achieved if we remain focused on achieving these twin objectives. From 2000-01 to 2024-25, India has done pretty well in overall growth of GDP at 6.3 per cent per annum, and agriculture and allied sectors' growth of 3.5 per cent per annum. This has helped India reduce poverty, feed its population, and be a net exporter of agri-produce. But policies like free power and highly subsidised fertilisers, especially urea, coupled with open-ended procurement of paddy and wheat, in places like Punjab and Haryana, are playing havoc with critical agri-ecosystem services. These subsidies need to be repurposed and given directly to farmers' accounts. Then the prices of power and fertilisers can be deregulated. It will help stem leakages and save the environment. Legumes, such as pulses and oilseeds, can be encouraged through PES to bring them back into the cropping system. They are more nutritious, and can foster better agri-ecosystem services as they are nitrogen-fixing, save groundwater, and improve air quality and biodiversity. The theme of this year's Earth Day is renewable energy, and augmenting it by 300 per cent by 2030. If farmers can be incentivised to adopt agrivoltaics as a third crop, it can help produce cleaner energy to conserve ecosystem services as well augment farmers' incomes. It is feasible if the discoms purchase power from farmers at a price that gives a 10-15 per cent premium over the cost of generating thermal power. Then it can unleash a revolution of clean energy on farmers' fields. We hope it can be done to protect Mother Earth and our farmers.
