ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS: POSITIONING 'AAREY' AS A REFLECTION

Reduction of green cover in mega cities is evident throughout the world and across the country. Mumbai is one such city experiencing rapid loss of green cover. The city’s green cover has been reduced to less than 13% owing to loss of land to various ‘developmental’ projects. The loss of green cover is often justified under ‘creative destruction’. The destruction should be seen at the backdrop of consequences of climate change faced by the city like seawater intrusion, urban heat island, flash floods and so on. There has been increasing awareness about climate change and deforestation in younger population compared to the earlier generations. The same has been reflected through the environmental movement ‘Save Aarey’ recently. It was observed that India’s most important economic centre is taking down the city’s last remaining green spaces too. The 13000 hectares Aarey colony forest which is habitat to tribal villages and several animal species has been facing the threat of getting destroyed. The Mumbai civic body has approved the proposal of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation to cut down over 2700 trees from Aarey colony in order to build a carshed for the metro. There has been a huge outcry to save the forest. The entire issue has been politicised with the entry of various political fronts. The research was undertaken to understand what is the reaction of younger population to the politics of Aarey and what are the preferences of younger generation regarding environmental conservation. The research also attempts at capturing the dilemma of development vs. conservation. Primary data has been collected to substantiate the research findings. The research finally attempts in positioning the case of ‘Aarey’ in current environmental politics in the city of Mumba