Ecocritical Thinking:Sitanshu Yashachandra's 'Tree Once Again'
Welcome Readers
On 10th November we had online session on Ecocritical thinking by Devang Nanavati sir on Sitanshu Yashachandra's poem 'Tree Once Again'.Our professor Dr.Dilip Barad sir gave us task as a sunday reading of this online session.So this blog is a response to the Barad sir on Ecocriticism.
What is Ecocriticism?
Ecocriticism is an intentionally broad approach that is known by a number of other designations, including "green (cultural) studies", "ecopoetics", and "environmental literary criticism", and is often informed by other fields such as ecology, sustainable design, biopolitics, environmental history, environmentalism, and social ecology, among others.
Thus, if we wish to understand our contemporary attitude toward the environment, its literary history is an excellent place to start. While authors such as Thoreau and Wordsworth may first come to mind in this context, literary responses to environmental concerns are as old as the issues themselves. Deforestation, air pollution, endangered species, wetland loss, animal rights, and rampant consumerism have all been appearing as controversial issues in Western literature for hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years.
Sitanshu Yashachandra's'Tree Once Again'
Ecocriticism from Daya Vaghani
This poem is about satire on human beings.In this poem Sitanshu Yashachandra make powerful satire on using tree as our need.In this poem poet describe his own thought of one trunk and also said that the dinning table, chairs, writing table, books, all are made with wood of tree and we have not idea how many trunks were used in this process of making furniture. and what we should do with them? we easily changed them and replaces with new one. we can not though the processing of these and for making these all comfort human has cut down so many trees
Examples:
On the beginning of this talk Devang sir gave an example of Mahasweta's story 'The Arjun'.
Mahasweta Devi’s “Arjun” relays the story of Ketu Shabar, a good-for-nothing drunkard who turns the saviour for his tribe. The story is an impassioned rendering that highlights the insensitivity of modern man towards forests and tribals. It portrays, successfully, the role that a tree plays in the life of the tribesmen.
Click here to know more about this story.
Here are 5 most powerful environmental movements in India's history
Mahatma Gandhi once aptly said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”
However, for many centuries, human beings have been exploiting the Earth’s many natural resources. With the depleting resources and natural energy, and the ill-effects of carbon emissions, we are now facing the detrimental effects of our actions.
In India, in the past and the present, social activists have fought to preserve and restore Mother Nature. Through environmental and social movements, citizens have time and again reminded the world of the importance of preserving our Pale Blue Dot, and raised their voices to highlight environmental concerns.
Here are some of the environmental movements that have left a mark on our rich Indian history:
1)Chipko Movement:
Chipko movement, also called Chipko andolan, nonviolent social and ecological movement by rural villagers, particularly women, in India in the 1970s, aimed at protecting trees and forests slated for government-backed logging. The movement originated in the Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh (later Uttarakhand) in 1973 and quickly spread throughout the Indian Himalayas. The Hindi word chipko means “to hug” or “to cling to” and reflects the demonstrators’ primary tactic of embracing the trees to impede the loggers.
2)The Bishnoi Movement:
In the 1700s, in Khejarli, in the Marwar region of Rajasthan, trees were ordered to be cleared for a new palace to be built.
Actor Swara Bhasker on helping 3,500 migrant workers reach home amidst lockdown
One of the villagers, Amrita Devi, could not bear to witness such an exploitation of the floral habitation. To stop the deforestation, she hugged the trees, while also encouraging others to do the same. More than 360 Bishnoi villagers were martyred in this movement.
The Bishnoi faith, that was established in 1485 AD by Guru Maharaj Jambaji, prohibited them from harming trees and animals. The Maharaja, upon learning about these events, rushed to the village and apologised to the community, and ordered the soldiers to cease their operations. He then declared the Bishnoi state a protected area.
3)Save Silent Valley Movement
Silent Valley is a tropical area in Kerala which is rich in biodiversity. In 1978, however, the lush evergreen cover was to be deforested for the construction of a hydroelectric dam across the Kunthipuzha river by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB)
The locals feared that the project would submerge at least 8.3 square kilometres of the green cover around the dam area. Several NGOs opposed the project, and urged the government to abandon it. Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), an NGO, and the poet-activist Sughathakumari played an important role in the Silent Valley protests
In January 1981, the government relentlessly gave in to the demands of the population and called off the project. They declared the Silent Valley as a protected area.
4)Jungle Bachao Andolan:
In 1982, in the Singhbhum district of Bihar, the state government had decided to replace the natural Sal forests with the highly-priced teakwood trees. The tribals of Singhbhum protested this decision.
The movement was called by many environmentalists as ‘Greed Game Political Populism’. It later spread into the states of Jharkhand and Odisha.
5)Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA):
Led by Medha Patkar with the support of Arundhati Roy, Baba Amte, and Aamir Khan, along with the adivasis, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights activists, the Narmada Bachao Andolan took place in the year 1985.
The main aim of the movement was to protest the building of several large dams across the Narmada river. It was kicked off when the people displaced by the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam were not provided proper rehabilitation and resettlement.
Although unsuccessful in their endeavour, they turned the focus into the preservation of the environment and the ecosystems of the valley. The NBA questioned the model of unchecked development across the world.
Conclusion:
To conclude we can say that we all human being must take care about the nature.Because on the earth we not only human beings are living but there are many others like trees ,insects and many others are also living here.
Here is the full video recording by Dr.Dilip Barad sir on the online session.Please watch this video for more information about this poem and Ecocritical thinking.
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