Letters

The wealth in waste

The cover article Waste pays (November 15, 1993) was excellently executed. I am sure this would attract the attention of a lot of industries to take up waste minimisation programmes in their respective units. That waste minimisation pays was well presented with the six case studies.

Incidentally, the National Productivity Council (NPC) was involved in providing the expertise and technical inputs for all the six cases. These cases form a small part of the experience the council has gained over the past 10 years and it would have been more appropriate if NPC's views and experiences were reflected in the article. ...

Hardly raiders

This is in reference to Raiders of Indian ocean of trees, written by Jyotsna Puri (October 15, 1993). Puri estimates that between 1750 and 1850, an average of 1,050 teak trees were felled annually for British shipbuilding. Assuming that an extra 50 per cent was needed for repairs, the figure works out to be 1,575 trees a year. According to the article, this felling took place along the Malabar coast, referred to as the Indian ocean of trees.

One cannot help observing that this felling would have amounted to a very small or insignificant pressure on the teak-rich Malabar. On the contrary, such light felling, if scattered, would have eventually helped the forest. Even if the felling was concentrated, the damage would have been restricted to a small area.

It is possible that Puri was unable to get the correct number of trees that were felled for shipbuilding and repairs during the century, but if the figures are correct, shipbuilding could not have caused the alleged damage to the Malabar teak. In this context, shipbuilding in India by the East India Company by using Indian teak would have certainly caused tremors among English shipbuilders of the times. ...

Three in one

This is in reference to the article where trikatu is described as a herb known as Piper nigrum (IN BRIEF, December 15, 1993). In fact, trikatu is not a herb but a formulation of three medicinal plants - Zingiber officinale (ginger), Piper nigrum (black pepper) and Piper longum (Indian long pepper). Also, Piper nigrum cannot be called a Himalayan herb because it is grown widely in south India....

Not dependent

The Sadguru Water and Development Foundation is an independent, non-governmental organisation that implements projects in the fields of natural resource management, health and handicrafts. It is not a project of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), as stated in the Network section (December 31, 1993)....

Lack of laws

Down To Earth is an invaluable mine of information for anybody interested in the environment. I would suggest you carry a lot more on environmental laws and the gap in such legislation in our country. Hope your magazine keeps up the unbeatable standards....

Save the earth

Human activities such as mining and pollution are endangering the earth. It is time people in India and other countries realise that the earth is the foundation for their continued survival and they must save it through a balanced utilisation of resources to save themselves. People all over the world must immediately adopt a global movement with a plan of action to live in harmony with the earth. ...

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