In Memoriam: Anil Agarwal’s Extraordinary Legacy to India’s Environmental Movement
Posted by Karim Ahmed on May 3rd, 2007
Five years and four months ago, after a long bout with cancer, Anil Agarwal passed away on January 2, 2002 at the age of 54. Even though he died at a relatively early age, Anil left behind him an extraordinary legacy in building India’s environmental movement. In its obituary, the British scientific journal, Nature, noted that “… Anil Agarwal . . . was no ordinary science journalist. A passionate and articulate campaigner for environmental justice, embracing issues ranging from water quality in rural India to the need for global controls on carbon emissions to limit climate change, Agarwal won respect from friends and enemies alike.”
Trained as an engineer, having graduated from one of India’s most prestigious academic institutions - Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur - Anil strongly believed in bridging the gap between the scientific and policy making communities. As the Nature’s obituary stated: “Agarwal spearheaded the creation of a new form of activism. It was based on a commitment to sound scientific knowledge, combined with the idea that worries about the natural environment, and its destruction by the products of modern technologies, is not just a luxury of the industrialized world, but a major concern to the poor of developing countries too.”
Last week, the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organization that Anil founded in the early 1980s, announced the publication of a three-volume set of his extensive writings on the state of India’s environment. To obtain copies of these published volumes, see CSE link /
In connection to this landmark publication event, we asked Sunita Narain, the current Director of CSE to write a brief tribute to Anil, her colleague and close friend of many years:
Anil Agarwal: His Environmental Legacy
by Sunita Narain
Anil Agarwal was a leading environmental advocate, journalist and analyst who played a key role in creating public consciousness about environmental and developmental issues in India. His was a unique brand of environmentalism – one which put people before trees and tigers and one in which there was a place for deep scientific analysis of nature, of human interventions on nature. His ideas on the relationship between environment and development, environment and poverty, the need to empower the local people were pioneering and laid the basis for what is now called sustainable development.
Anil Agarwal was firmly convinced that poor countries must shun the pathways to economic development founded in the West, as this is an extremely toxic and costly model. He advocated the idea of leapfrog models for poor countries to move into the forefront of environmental management. He went on to demonstrate this through his campaign for clean air in the city of New Delhi, where he put on course the switch from a highly polluting diesel-run public transport system to one based on clean natural gas that brought about a visible improvement in New Delhi’s air quality.
He was always a strong advocate for justice and equity in global environmental governance. His book, Global Warming in an Unequal World, had a major impact on the debate on climate change and one result was that equity was embedded as a benchmark for all actions in the climate change convention.
Anil Agarwal has written or edited numerous books and articles on the challenges of sustainable development. He received several national and international awards for his work. He educated a whole nation, from many of its top political leaders to its numerous rural activists, about the importance of sustainable development. He created the Centre for Science and Environment to carry out studies on environment and devlopment and to influence public policy. The journal New Scientist said of CSE, “… for passion combined with forensic rigour nothing touches the work of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, inspired by its founder and director Anil Agarwal”.
In another obituary written by Amita Baviskar for Frontline, a magazine published by HINDU, one of India’s major newspapers, Anil Agarwal is remembered as a towering figure on the Indian environmental policy making scene:
The staggering breadth and depth of Agarwal’s concerns were demonstrated first in The State of India’s Environment: A Citizens’ Report. Published in 1982 by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the non-governmental organisation (NGO) that Agarwal founded and directed along with Sunita Narain, this monumental document presented, for the first time, an overview of India’s ecological problems. After a decade of rising environmental awareness in the West, the Indian media had begun to cover environmental issues sporadically. However, the dominant perspective was elitist, focussing on protecting wildlife from the exploding population of the poor and their livestock.
In this context, Agarwal’s report was an eye-opener. No mere compendium of environmental ills, its detailed examination of ecological degradation, especially the burden borne by women who have to deal with the decline of the biomass-based rural economy, offered a powerful perspective for understanding the relationship between environment and development. This lucid and readable account was a cooperative effort that involved voluntary organisations and individuals across the country. Widely read, it was translated into Hindi, Kannada and other languages. The Report gave voice to a nascent ‘red and green’ environmental consciousness within the country, creating links between ecology and social justice.
Anil Agarwal’s perspective was further clarified in The Second Citizens’ Report of 1985, which concluded with his essay on ‘The Politics of the Environment’, essential reading for anyone interested in the environment. After documenting the state of India’s forests, rivers, cities and industries, Agarwal argued here for holistic management of land and water resources in the country. The report analysed the potential roles of the government and voluntary agencies and of legislation in bringing about change.
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Like many Indian environmentalists, he did not trust political parties or trade unions as agents of collective struggle, but preferred to pin his hopes on NGOs which he believed could pressure the state into action. The shift in Agarwal’s political activism towards closer collaboration with the state probably began during Rajiv Gandhi’s prime ministership, during which period he often briefed the Cabinet and senior bureaucrats on environment and development. It was probably then that he was persuaded that winning over key politicians would be an effective strategy towards influencing environmental decision-making.
In estimating Anil’s lasting legacy, many cite the creation of the CSE and those who continue to work under its institutional framework as his greatest achievement. Ashutosh Bhardwaj in a more recent tribute (in December 2005) reminds us of his legacy in the following words: (see link: )
His biggest contribution . . . was establishing CSE, which he wanted to be a kind of hybrid between Greenpeace & World Resource Institute, a laboratory to pursue his ideas. From where he launched his campaigns, water management, air pollution, industrial pollution to name few. He was ably assisted by his colleague commandants, whom he hand picked & trained.
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However, he knew that with growing cancer in his body, he may not continue for long & a vacuum may set in institution after him. Like a true leader, he then promoted his second line of lieutenants & initiated decentralization of CSE. He formed separate units & put people trained under him on top. Here he surpassed his ideal Mahatma Gandhi. In an interview, he said, “I have tried to live by Gandhiji’s principles, but these are very tough things to live by. I may have traveled a short distance down the path he paved, but I have a long way to go.” Little did he know that he would soon not only cover this distance but go few steps beyond as well.
That was an evening which would be Anil’s last visit to CSE, before he went to Dehradun for treatment, where he passed away. Occasion was of a function to celebrate Anil’s birthday. He was not well & sat quietly. Chandra Bhushan went to him, “Anil you must be proud to see that institution functions well without you.” Before replying Anil remained silent for few moments, “Biggest failure of Gandhi was that he did not create any institution to propagate his values. Congress is orphan without him. Gandhian values died because Gandhi did not create any institution.”
Unlike Gandhiji, Anil established CSE.