- Asnala Srinivas (Doddi Komurayya Foundation)
BIKKI NEWS (NOV. 30) : The international climate change conference Conference of Parties-30 was held from November 6–21 in Belém, a river-basin city located in the dense Amazon forests of Brazil. To improve the livelihoods of the indigenous people living in the forest region, Brazil is striving to expand the Amazon with greater ecological diversity and economic productivity. Instead of depending heavily on mining and other industries that release greenhouse gases and increase heat and pollution, Brazil has initiated a new model of bio-economy.
The Path Shown by Hidma – The Road India Must Walk – Bio-Economy
They have reduced deforestation and mining; identified several herbal plants; increased their cultivation; and are marketing health, beauty, and aromatic products made from them. As a result, migration of indigenous people has decreased. Brazil is emphasizing that the survival of biodiversity and human life depends inevitably on the survival of natural forests. Recognizing that the Amazon is the “lungs of the American continent,” Brazil is encouraging a bio-economy approach.
India’s Climate Crisis
India recorded severe climatic conditions in 2024 and again in 2025. According to the India Climate 2025 Report released by the Centre for Science and Environment, the findings are alarming.
Days with extremely high temperatures are increasing. Due to heat waves, millions of workers in the unorganized sector and street vendors are losing their livelihood security—60% of them are losing income. They suffer from heatstroke, cardiac issues, dehydration and fainting.
Farm workers wearing synthetic clothing are experiencing bacterial and fungal skin diseases due to sweat. Factory workers face illnesses caused by poor ventilation and the heat released by machines. Falling incomes force them into high-interest debts. Their tiny hut-like houses cannot even accommodate fans; and even with a fan, the hot air only worsens the heat. Coolers and air-conditioners are unimaginable luxuries for them.
Heavy rains have caused unprecedented crop losses across millions of acres and widespread destruction of homes due to floods.
Air Pollution: India’s Silent Emergency
95% of India is blanketed by air pollution. Ten of the world’s 15 most polluted cities are in India. Delhi ranks as the world’s most polluted city. Toxic chemicals and particulate matter far exceed WHO limits. This has led to respiratory, cardiac, neurological, circulatory and cancer-related illnesses. About 15% of deaths in Delhi are caused by air pollution.
In a city of 32 million people, clean air has become a luxury, a status symbol, and even a commercial commodity. Air-purifying equipment companies such as Your Own Grown Area and Breathe Easy have installed machines for 44% of Delhi’s households. But poor and lower-middle-class families cannot afford these high-priced machines
Destructive Development Under the NDA Government
While the global community strives for sustainable development, India under NDA rule is moving toward destructive and catastrophic development. The vast forest region of Dandakaranya—spread across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana—is no less significant than the Amazon for India. These forests absorb India’s carbon emissions and purify the environment. But today this region is under grave threat.
Several private companies have been granted permissions for coal and bauxite mining. Corporate groups such as Adani, Vedanta, Lloyd, Arya, Abhinav and Jindal have begun extraction.
For over 200 years, tribal communities here have been fighting for jal-jungle-zameen (water–forest–land). Mining threatens their forests, their lives, and their very existence. For the last three decades, these communities have resisted even more intensely under Naxalite leadership, taking up arms in defense of their survival. This path may not be acceptable to everyone, but when their existence itself is endangered, their fight has become a form of war. We have all witnessed the casualties of tribals, revolutionaries and security forces under the military operation Operation Kagar.
After the death of tribal warrior Madavi Hidma, the nation has begun to understand his objective, generating widespread support. People now realize that revolutionary movements are being crushed primarily to facilitate corporate mining that is pushing Indian society into the jaws of pollution.
Many people now acknowledge that the bio-economy model that Brazil is adopting today has already been implemented for the last 30 years by the Maoist movement under Hidma’s leadership in Dandakaranya.
India’s Declining Well-Being
The World Happiness Report 2025 released by Oxford’s Well-Being Initiative ranked India 118th. The index is based on per-capita income, social security, life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.
The report notes that Indians feel they lack adequate governmental support in education, healthcare, employment and transportation. Clean air and water are scarce. People believe that neither the central nor state governments are paying enough attention to their needs.
Despite limited income, people feel a serious decline in social harmony and fraternity, which is driving them into unhappiness. The report also highlights that Indians are trapped in mass migration and digital-illusion addictions
Contradiction Between Modi’s Words and Reality
On November 22, at the G-20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that for future generations the world must establish a “global repository of traditional knowledge for a sustainable and balanced lifestyle.”
But in practice, the same government is suppressing tribal movements that genuinely protect India using this very traditional ecological wisdom
India at a Critical Crossroads
Independent India has never before been at such an ecological turning point. Before public dissatisfaction escalates further, governments must awaken and ensure the constitutional right to life in its fullest sense. Policies must prioritize the welfare of the majority. Corporate influence on governance must be controlled.
Civil society must shed its silence and expose anti-people and anti-environment policies through democratic struggles. Coal-based industries must be reduced. China’s pollution-control model and Brazil’s bio-economy model must guide us. The resolutions of COP-30—reducing fossil fuel use and expanding forest cover—must be implemented.
We must stop the ongoing war against history, science, and constitutional institutions. Citizens must abandon despair and regain vigilance. Only with such awareness can we steer political institutions and governments in the right direction.
We must aim to become a model of peaceful and joyful coexistence. With the inspiration of national leaders and people who made immense sacrifices, we must confront forces that threaten this order. The democratic socialism envisioned by Nehru must be our ultimate goal.
