If
persons aboard knew India or Bengal some 2500 years ago, or 2000 years ago or
1000 or 500 years ago they knew it is a country of affluence, Muslin, silk and
cotton clothes and fantastic food, with spices of course. So, if some
governments some 2500 years after Buddha decide to make India again the textile
hub of the world, then they will do historical justice, no doubt. But the point
is – how: in the grand old English way?
In
this column obviously we shall not contemplate on the political, diplomatic,
military aspects but rather we shall be focusing on the human-nature
interaction and its products. After all, all that we produce including the
things using which we produce like machines, energy, raw materials etcetera all
comes from Nature; and humans, who are products of nature, work on nature, by
nature (tools are half nature half human product) to produce things. At a
certain point of history of humans, they thought ‘we are at a war, at a
struggle, with nature’ and tried to dominate nature in all possible ways. In a
grand scale and in world scale it started with the Industrial revolution –
steam engines, coal, steel and machinery, and ultimately some things of common
human consumption – textiles. In came Lancashire, with Manchester, Birmingham
... and also Leeds, Sheffield, and of course, London.
 |
| Manchester 20 Pound Paper Money, Courtesy http://britishmeuseum.org |
But we may
recall Tagore’s childhood memoirs of travelling in Britain where he could fancy
using hand washed water as ink! Or we may recollect Hard Times by Charles
Dickens, with its Coke Town where the atmosphere is smoke-filled. Of course the
coffers of the entrepreneurs and government were brimming. (Their promissory
paper notes were gaining huge acceptance, becoming currency.) On the other
side, on the smoggy filthy roads of England poor children flocked with brooms
to clean the road for gentlemen (a the-then PUNCH cartoon is reproduced here). While
Dickens portrayed the situation by harrowing tales, Engels described the
condition of life or the workingmen in England; and before some years, Keats
was writing “To one who has been long in city pent” or Blake was scribing:
 |
| 1856 Punch Cartoon, courtesy: Universal Dickens |
“When my mother died I was very young,
And
my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry “‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’”
So your chimneys I sweep & in
soot I sleep”.
Not just poverty in monetary sense, what disturbed the young genius minds of
those times was also the appalling living condition, as if humans were like
caged animals in the stifling and tarnished confine.
We
may think that we are not that poor now, our workmen and we all do not live in
such a dreadful condition. But textile industry is still not environmentally
benign. Let us see just 3 news snippets from last year (2014) and 3 more from
this year (2015).
1.
Mar 13, 2014, Down
to Earth, “The National Green Tribunal (NGT), on March 5,
ordered suspension of work in the textile dyeing and printing units in Pali
district which were operating without the necessary approval from the Rajasthan
Pollution Control Board (RPCB).”
2.
2014KANPUR: “The district administration
and the pollution department of Farrukhabad have issued directives to shut the
textile dyeing units operating in residential areas and those polluting the
Ganga.”
3.
2014Sanganer: From dyeing to dying,
JAIPUR: Sanganer assembly constituency with 13 wards in Jaipur Municipal
Corporation (JMC) has one of the highest levels of water pollution in the city.
January 15, 2015, The Hindu, “Tirupur
textile park will worsen pollution’’ – The Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum
(VCWF) has opposed the move of the Central government to set up a textile park
in Tamil Nadu, particularly in Tirupur on the grounds that the cluster would
aggravate the already serious problem of pollution caused by the dyeing units
in Tirupur.
 |
| Flowing Filth, Erode, Picture courtesy M. Govarthan |
5.
PATNA: National Green Tribunal (NGT)
has threatened to shut down the industrial units causing pollution ...M/s
Budhia Textile, located in Bhagalpur ... which was running without the consent ...
has been closed.
6.
Feb 17, 2015 Press Trust of India, Erode (TN): Power supply was
disconnected to two textile printing factories here today after they were
allegedly found discharging untreated effluent into drain, Tamil Nadu PCB
officials said.
Are
not these pretty alarming? But what is the governmental response? It is
frightening! Two more ‘news’ clips:
1.
Feb 18, 2015: The Economic Times
(Delhi), DEBATABLE DECISION – Now, Delhi SMEs can produce sans Pollution
Check...
2.
Jan 21, 2015: DNA, One-window approval
process, 20-40% subsidy for setting up textile mills, easier pollution
norms, reduced power tariff and all facilities nearby to convert
"fibre to fashion"– these goodies are the part of the new proposed
textile policy of Maharashtra...
So,
what do we get? Where are we heading to!
Any
person with a minimum acquaintance with Textile industry knows that the
principal pollutant process is Dyeing. But it is not the only environmentally
risky thing in itself. Of course dyes have lot of hazardous chemicals including
heavy metals like chromium (in hexavalent form, which is very toxic), zinc,
copper, manganese and even, in cases, traces of deadly cadmium.
 |
| Gap-Calvin-Klein-and-Levi-s-Responsible-for-Toxic-Textile-Town-in-China-2, Greenpeace |
But
there are many other textile processes besides dyeing which also lead to water
pollution if not taken care of – for example sizing process, desizing process,
rayon and polyester manufacturing etcetera. And these processes contribute to
highly oxygen demanding wastes in effluent water. Dye leftovers, washings,
oxygen-demanding wastes, organics, caustic ... water-bodies near textile mills
are vulnerable to attacks from these.
If we do not consider all these and get swayed
by development & growth mania we must question ourselves: What a world we
are bequeathing for our children and grandchildren!
Published in Business Economics, March 1, 2015
Published in Business Economics, March 1, 2015
