Deforestation in India: Why I don't buy the Govt argument (II)

 In my previous blog, I shared with you the government's unacceptable explanation ("Maoists are behind it") on large-scale deforestation in Andhra Pradesh - the state that is the single largest forest cover loser in India.
Today, lets look at North east - the other area with big loss of green cover - 549 square km to be exact. And here the government has blamed two factors for the loss:  biotic pressure and shifting cultivation in the region. Once again, I am not buying that. No, its not as though these don't exist. They do. What I say is that these are neither the 'only',nor the 'main' causes.

The real causes are, and I say this as a Northeasterner, combination of some state-backed or state-neglected wrong activities that include smuggling, allowing of industrial units to operate in forest areas, indiscriminate mining, and illegal logging. 

Lets look at Meghalaya to see an example.

ONGC: The Crude and Spilling Secret

Oil spills have, of late, become a common occurrence in India. In past 1 year we have seen 3 such cases in Mumbai and Goa, results of accidental colliding of tankers and leakages. 

But there is (almost unnoticed to the rest of the country) one massive oil spill that nobody can call an accident: crude oil spillage from an abandoned oil rig in 2 villages called Champang and Tssori in Wokha district of Nagaland(north east India). Guess how long the spillage has continued? 16 years! And guess who did it? None other than one of India’s Navratna(9 star) companies: the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC).