Ramesh Agarwal Gets Green Nobel

It is often said that development and environment are two sides of the same kind, so where ever you see the modern kind of development it poses threat to environment. With the result, whole of the seasonal cycle is badly effected. In summer suddenly you feel slice of winter, or winters are prolonged crossing border of Spring. Any body who points finger on mighty people playing with environment is often murdered, threatened, terrorised or tormented. So when I came to know Ramesh Agarwal has received prestigious Goldman Prize which is often called Green Nobel, I felt good. The award recognises and honours heroic grassroots environmentalists around the world. The award is constituted by Goldman Environment Foundation of San Francisco.

Now who is Ramesh Agarwal ? He runs a small Internet Cafe in Raipur, capital of Chattisgarh. He founded Jan Chetna , a grassroots movement to protect people and environment from the rampant industrialisation . He started organising  local villagers in the State for Environmental Violation by Jindal Steel. and filed his Right to Information on their behalf.

However, Agarwal paid a very happy price for his social activism. On May 28  2012 morning, some 40 policemen stormed into his residence in the industrial town of Raigarh and took away Agarwal  on a complaint filed by the Jindal Group. The company has a steel plant in Raigarh and is building a 2,400 MW thermal plant at Tamnar.

Agrawal was arrested under Sections 501, 502, 503, 504 and 505 and 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that deals with defamation and obscene acts.It was alleged that the Jindal Group had been gunning for Ramesh Agarwal  for years for his undeterred campaign on environmental pollution in Raigarh. In 2011, the ministry of environment and forests cancelled the terms of reference to the company's Tamnar project on the basis of a complaint letter sent by Ramesh Agarwal.

The story of Agrawal's arrest and subsequent torture by police authorities is received  global attention.

 Ramesh Agrawal  was targeted for their work to defend the human rights of local communities. Social activists urged the authorities to drop all charges against them and immediately release them.

Shackling someone who is ill to a hospital bed is (an) inherently cruel and inhuman punishment that should never have been used on a detainee arrested for peaceful activism

 After feeling the heat from civil liberty groups, Chief Minister Raman Singh tried to defend and rejected the charges that the state is hostile to activists.

"Every citizen has the right to air his or her opinion in a peaceful manner and the Chhattisgarh government respects activists and has all regard for them," at that time said Raman Singh, who leads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. He also tried to defend further, and said the government has nothing to do with the issue of Agrawal and the police acted only on the written complaint of the local industry. But when asked about his reaction to Agrawal's chaining incident, the chief minister said "it's wrong; police should follow the norms".

The opposition has been swift in its offensive against the government.

After receiving award, the position may slightly changed.

The Foundation  states that starting in 2008, Ramesh Agarwal organised residents to voice their opposition and filed numerous petitions highlighting Jindal Steel's failure to hold mandatory public meetings and obtain environmental clearance. He ultimately succeeded in shutting down Jindal Steel's proposed coal mine. Agrawal should be given credit to be watchdog for rural communities who did not have access to Internet.