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Cauvery Calling Panel 7
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Asian College Of Journalism
5:08
Hello and welcome to, "Ways Forward," the final panel discussion of "Interrogating Cauvery Calling," organised by the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. For this session, there are video messages from Medha Patkar (Environmentalist), Vandana Shiva (Environmentalist), N Ram (Chairman, The Hindu Publishing Group), Leo Saldanha (Full-time Coordinator of ESG) and the panel chairpersons from the previous six sessions.
5:13
Medha Patkar opened the session by saying that, "Interrogating Cauvery Calling," is an important program for it includes many businessmen, such as the Godman Sadhguru and his profit-making initiative.
5:14
She says, this issue requires plantation of trees in crores.
5:15
In her video message she sates, "The Sadhguru followers do not observe the protection of river basins. There was already a green tree cover in the Narmada when the destruction took place. However, nothing saved the Narmada."
5:17
She boldly put forth questions to the Sadhguru, saying that has neither been an environmentalist nor an ecologist. His establishment, the Isha foundation has encroached on the Elephants corridor, and an FIR has been lodged against him.
5:18
Patkar further says, "They have started projects, which look for income generation and profit-making. This results in comparatively lesser standards for livelihood."
5:21
Elucidating on the issue she adds, "Cauvery is already a matter of dispute. Even the Supreme Court and NGT couldn't resolve it. Therefore, it is up to the people to solve it through dialogue. However, it is not happening."
5:22
Targetting Sadhguru's Isha Foundation, she remarked that he has gathered 800 crores through this establishment. This issue demands urgent attention, she adds.
5:24
Medha Patkar's video ends on a positive and hopeful note as she concludes, "I appeal to all - let the report of this event be addressed to the masses."
5:29
Vandana Shiva, an environmentalist enlightens the audience with her take on the Cauvery Calling issue.
5:32
Shiva opens with her warm greetings as she speaks of her experiences and works in the field of ecology and environment.
She critiques the foundation, saying that the plantation of trees was merely to be felled.
5:35
N Ram takes over the discussion, as he opens with his experience of the event. He says, "We've had a worthwhile seminar focusing on a range of issues. I'm a lay observer of experts, activists and others in this field. The bridges between them were built."
He adds, "The elephant in the room was Isha Foundation. The takeaways for me are some answers. Interrogating Cauvery Calling was just not a mere confrontation for me."
5:38
He states, "The takeaways for me are some answers. Interrogating Cauvery Calling was just not a mere confrontation me."
5:39
"The one inappropriate comment by one of the panelists on Judiciary - we disassociate ourselves from that," says Ram.
5:41
He goes on to put forth his views, saying, "Jaggi said that the farmers will be compensated for the trees planted in place of their normal crops."
He believes that it's clear that a monocultural approach is wrong and unscientific.
5:42
He recalls the words of Mihir Shah, who said that we welcome this large project but it doesn't go far enough. It's not right, too.
5:43
The issue is of raising money for the project of 242 crore trees, a total of 2.3 billion USD, he adds.
5:44
Ram questions Sadhguru's views of planting trees along the banks of a river and then simply compensating the farmers. He says, "Only 0.5 percent of the money has been collected so far. So there's still time to prevent it from going further."
5:45
5:46
He makes it clear by stating the facts and impacts of this issue by saying, "There's no transparent management structure. Planting trees along the banks and compensating farmers is clearly not the way to go. If ground water is depleted by trees that are water guzzlers, there's going to be a problem."
5:47
Delving into the realms of history, he observes the bounty of the Cauvery river and its blessing on the Indian subcontinent.
5:48
He says, "The civilization value is the diversity. Many of the achievements of South India was the gift of the Cauvery. We can be very proud of this river. In the words of Rama Koushalya, 'It's the mother of rivers."
5:50
N Ram asks a number of poignant questions, "Who gave Isha Foundation the right to transgress something, which belongs to the common people? Legitimate questions have been raised by the performance of the Judiciary. Why are there delays? Why is the progress so slow to provide economical, environmental justice?"
5:51
Moderating the session, he asks the panelists to give a three minute takeaway from their respective panel sessions.
5:53
Moving forward, Leo Saldanha congratulated the students of the Asian College of Journalism for their speedy work of collating the sessions and panel discussions with utmost accuracy.
5:54
In his three minutes, P Easa says, "The most important part of our panel is that whatever suggestions were given for Cauvery Calling were not scientifically sound."
He adds to the key takeaways from his session, "A major problem is with the people that support the fundraising for a project that they feel is alright, without any scientific scrutiny of proposals. They suggest amendments to the law, saying that the forest departments should be relieved of layering forests."
5:56
He adds, "The proposal itself has to be scrutinized and reviewed properly before raising public money. People are getting carried away with Sadhguru's YouTube antics."
6:00
Taking the discussion forward, Dhanya Rajendran praised the Asian College of Journalism for hosting such an event for the mainstream media, and many media moguls are followers of Jaagi and Sri Sri Ravi Shankara. Hence, there will be no questioning. I am extremely glad that this event was organised.
6:01
She addresses various issues, saying, "We have to question the government. Why did the Karnataka government sign the MOU? I often feel that what we say is lost in translation. Is our message not going out? What are the different ways that we should adopt to engage with our audience?"
6:05
B. Viju steers the conversation by congratulating Nityanand Shiva for his wonderful grassroot level work. "It's not easy," he says.
6:06
He then, goes on to contextualize the session he chaired, "We don't want monocrop cultivation. Jagdish spoke about biospheres that each river has, and we should have an audit of every river. Jagdish spoke about small pilot projects. Small is beautiful."
6:07
He further adds,"It's like when you talk about the Western Ghats - there are so many things to talk about. The same goes for the Cauvery basin. When you talk about conservation, you should also talk about reclaiming the tributaries."
6:08
Concluding his takeaway from his panel discussion, B. Viju says, "Lastly, I'd like to say that we need to have a paradigm shift in development projects. I mentioned it in my book as well."
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