Unsustainable practices seem to be a suicidal trait in the fashionable development concepts of today
THERE is an instances galore of the changing ways of life, aided
by market trends and unimaginative policies, driving out of
existence many sustainable and wise practices. Most of these
developments have-been propelled by the idle pursuit of comfort, and have been singlemindedly wasteful and damaging to
the environment. Perhaps the palmyrah tree and the sourcing
of sugar'as jaggery from it would be just such an example.
In most parts of south India, particularly in Tamil Nadu,
palmyrah jaggery has been the single largest source of sugar.
The tree sufvb@es well with even as little as 400 mm of rainfall.
Sugar-making was traditionally a family occupation. The male
members would climb the trees and empty the exudate collected in small mud pots. The women and older children
would be involved in producing the final product, While the
palm sap wa&collected, the old leaves were cut and used as fuel
for the production process. The owners of the trees and the
working family would usually come to an arrangement on
sharing the jaggery, and once the job was done, the family
moved on to the next village. Palmyrah was all about a
whole culture and an integral part of Tamil folklore. As a tree, the palmyrah was never
cared for, and yet it gave so much, from
roofing and fencing materials to
fruits, juices and much else.
,But then, people moved on to
another source of jagerry: cane
sugar. This is a water-intensive
crop, grown in a state perpetually complaining of being
parched. But that is only the
beginning of a series of grossly
unsustainable practices and their
ruinous environmental impacts.
Mill-based sugar processing
from cane juice leads to the discharge of pollutants, which ruin the
waterbodies they are emptied intp. W1
is worse, most of these unscrupul(
avaricious mill owners integrate tl
armills with alcohol manufacturing ur
production releases even more harmfi
the cases of mills without an alcoh
ponds of molasses remain as surplus,
groundwater further.
Sugar production is increasing,
becoming the Cinderella in the marke
ers. Why does sugar appeal to us mor(
white and crystalline and appears
'civilised'? Definitely, some food for thought!
Mill-based sugar production is cal
More people used to make a living
palmyrah jaggery than they do now from sugarmills.
The cane growers make little profit, while mill-owners walk
away with the lion's share. In fact, growing coverage of sugarcane cultivation has over-stretched the state's irrigation capacities, leading to a running battle with neighbouring
Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery waters.
This sugar-from-cane fad has ruined palmyrah farming,
and the tree-owners have fallen prey to the lure of the lucre
from felling and selling the plants to brick kiln-owners. And
the infinite foolishness and failure of our monetary and fiscal
economic structure stands out by itself by pricing 4 palmyrah
tree at just Rs 500. But then, what about the social and
environmental prices?
Our cynical economic experts often dismiss these
observations as old-fashioned, obsolete and romantic. They
hardly comprehend the concept of sustainability. They cite
burgeoning population figures and various other data, as
excuse for encouraging monstrous production aciivities.
Policy interventions and sensitive, enlightened 4nitiatives by
the society could have still kept the palmyrah alive, and
thriving. It would have actually meant considerable reduction
in the demand for cane sugar and thus, fewer mills
and lesser pollution.
Our experts also say that the bagasse
from sugar mills is raw material for
our paper industry, so, sugarcane
is an 'ecoftiendly' crop. But in
reality, bagasse is only a 20 per
cent substitute, and you still
need pulpwood. The big
sugar mills and huge paper
mills, therefore, stand shoulder to shoulder and double
the misery of the rivers.
It is always a question of
scales, of wise- compromises
and of need-based adjustments. The prejudices and
pretensions of a supposed
modernism and our hollow'expert
ulture' have together dictated our
elopment dogmas. A pragmatic
is of tradition and the technology
caused far less impoverishment of
ovators and pundits wax eloquent
ledge and learning, and tell us that
;reat place in our cultural ethos. Well,
i silently reminds us that unparalleled
Join like the Thirukkurai were written
iay be ridiculous to suggest that we go
ng on palmyrah leaves, but it is ignowe that we cannot balance modernity
and tradition. A wise course lies somewhere in between.
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