Let the rivers flow uninterrupted: Of a dying river!
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 18 2019 -

Off beat it was, especially when the final pact between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India is at hand.

It had nothing to do with the current political issues besieging the State, but that did not stop The Sangai Express from giving front page coverage to the report on climate change and its impact on the land under the caption, ‘Impact of climate change deliberated’ in the November 15 issue of this paper and datelined Imphal November 14.

Everyone talks about it and everyone seems concerned about it, but ironically no one seems to have realised the importance of what one can and should do at one’s level.

This is the tragedy.

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced some time back that there would be a total ban on single use plastics from October 2 this year, there is nothing much to show that the BJP led Government at Imphal has taken this seriously.

The people too have adopted this ‘damn care’ attitude and plastic carry bags continue to be used nonchalantly all over the place.

So plastic carry bags or rather single use plastics continue to ‘decorate’ every inch of public space and gutters and nullahs continue to be clogged.

The concentration here is on single use plastic for this is what is most visible right now and while there are obviously other factors for climate change, plastic carry bags are the most visible and this is certainly an area where every Tomba, Hongba and Chaoba can be a part of the game changer.

Climate change and its impact need to be taken out from the conference halls and understood in the day to day existence of every man.

It is along this line that Professor Kshetri Rajendra Singh of the Department of Sociology of Manipur University penned a series of poems for over two years taking the number of poems to 100.

From September 17, 2017, the Professor religiously penned down his observations and the drastic changes that the Nambul river has been undergoing primarily due to man’s vagaries in the aptly titled ‘Cry of a Dying River’ series of poems that appeared every Sunday in the English edition of this newspaper.

A beautiful metaphor it is to liken Nambul river to a dying river and the cry that has come.

It is only a sensitive observer and someone who cherishes the memories of the river of the bygone days that one can literally hear the cry of a river that is dying, which is the Nambul in this case and Professor Rajendra Kshetri has done that beautifully and effectively in his series of poems.

In highlighting the cry of Nambul river, the Professor is in fact echoing the cry of Manipur which has been at the receiving end of man’s vagaries and disrespect of mother nature.

Time to ring the wake up call.

It is there right before everyone’s eyes and if the rampant pollution of the environment continues unabated, then it would not be surprising if one experiences heavy rainfall here in November or December and not during Monsoon.

Climate change will entail all these in the coming years if the right step is not taken right now and the first thing that everyone can do is to say no to plastic carry bags.

Let it start now and from every household. Let the rivers flow freely.