Historian Ramachandra Guha speaking at the Nature inFocus festival in Bengaluru on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.
Criticising the proposed tunnel road in Bengaluru, environmental historian Ramachandra Guha said it was one of the examples of politicians failing to consult scientists and experts when introducing new policies and projects.
He was speaking at the 10th edition of Nature inFocus festival in Bengaluru.
“In India today, there is a vast reservoir of scientific expertise available, if not to solve these many multifold environmental and social problems, at least to mitigate. Unlike when I started 40 years ago in this field, today India’s universities and research institutes have ecologists, social scientists, agronomists, hydrologists, urban planners, transport and energy experts, conservation biologists, all of whose combined professional expertise match international standards… But these experts are never consulted,” he said.
Mr. Guha further criticised that governments today – be it Central or State governments – are ‘knowledge-proof.’
“Think of this extraordinary project that the Karnataka government is now conceiving… the tunnel road. The most important thing about that tunnel is that the leading energy and transport experts in the country are in our city, but they are not consulted. This is absolutely tragic,“ he said.
Showpiece of liberalisation
According to Mr. Guha, Bengaluru was one of the biggest beneficiaries of economic liberalisation; however, he noted that the radical shift in economic policy also had a dark side, in terms of environmental degradation.
Terming Bengaluru “the showpiece of economic liberalisation”, he said, “The IT-BT development in the city contributed to the sense of identity and social mobility. Innovation, entrepreneurship, increased foreign exchange reserve… Bengaluru in many ways is the best side of economic liberalisation. But the dark side is economic inequality and environmental degradation.”
Disastrous policies
Mr. Guha also came down heavily on the Cheetah relocation project, terming it “not only a disaster, but a colossal financial scandal.” He questioned the logic of importing cheetahs when the same capital could have been utilised to protect the endangered asiatic lions that are native to the country.
Noting that the origins of environmental problems that India faces today, including air pollution, death of rivers, depletion of ground water and contamination of soil, did not lie in climate change, but are a resuly of faulty, short-sighted and badly conceived economic policies, he said when climate change exacerbates them the burden is borne disproportionately by the poor and vulnerable.
Published – November 15, 2025 10:23 pm IST
