Comm: "Anil Agarwal is an environmentalist from India.
"Nowadays, he's most interested in corruption."

Anil Agarwal: "I became interested in the subject of Environment even as a student, when I was reading a very famous book written by Swedish economist, by the name of Guner Myrdal. His book was called Asian Drama, had a chapter on corruption. And one of the startling points that Myrdal made was that everybody in India and South Asia talks about corruption all the time. But nobody does any research on it. Nobody tries to understand why this corruption takes place. Even though the newspapers are always full about the corrupts in the society, unless we understand why there is corruption, you will not be able to build a movement against it."

Comm: "The government knows how to control 1000 million Indians and 3.2 million square kilometeres of territory. It's easy. Make files. Pile them up.

"A forest can disappear in this jungle. A river can go missing.

"Nature is the biggest property of the state."

Anil Agarwal: "One can make money by plundering nature itself. By killing elephants, by killing rhinos, by killing tigers, by felling a large number of trees and smuggling them across borders and to other places. You can equally make money by activities, which are actually aimed to manage the environment. In a society, where corruption becomes a common thing, wherever there is a lot of construction to be done, in other words, where there is hardware to be bought or made, there will always be a lot of corruption."

Flood control (or how to make embankments so that they are made again and again)

"This is the river Kosi.

"It flows from Nepal into Bihar in eastern India, making floods happen.

"A violent river, continuously changes its course. But it has been forced to flow between embankments. British engineers had studied the Kosi. They decided that the river could not be confined by man-made walls. But Indian politicians had other ideas: kilometres of wall, or nothing.

"People today talk about nothing but floods. Specially the one in 1984."

Ramdeo Yadav (Social Worker): "There was a lot of noise. One could hear it from a distance. It was night. And the people started yelling and shouting: save, save. There was water all around. Five to ten kilometres on both sides, north and south, people's cries could be heard, looking for help. All of the their properties were washed off. All we tried to do was to save as many people's lives as possible. All of their belongings: money, jewellery, cattle, household items, everything got washed away. We just picked them up from the water and put them on the part of the embankment that was still in place."

Comm: "Between embankments, old and new, floods have become more violent. More devastating.

"This was a thriving village. That was a busy market. Gone under.

"Embankments are a bad idea. So why make them year after year?"

Dinesh Yadav (Member of Parliament for Bihar): "Obviously, there is corruption. Otherwise, the amount of money they have spent to build and repair all the embankments would have been sufficient for making permanent concrete embankment all along the river. Here people say: You have nothing to do, go, get some contracts for the embankment. You'll become rich."

Comm: "The cruel joke is that people survive by jumping from one mound to another.

"Parvati Devi had a happy farming family. But her land, and then her life, got drowned.

"Today her sons travel 1400 km, to the western state of Punjab, working someone else's land.

"In the last 34 years, 193 million dollars have been spent to make and maintain 8500 kilometres of embankments, so that there are no floods. Yet the flood-prone area has gone up by 156%.

"The people know what has to be done."

Hatim Kalan (Resident, N5 Embankment): "When there was no embankment, the river used to rise. But it used to rise half a meter. It used to then recede after 2-3 days. We never had any problem with our agriculture. And the water used to get spread over a large area. Nobody used to get any trouble. But after limiting the river with embankments, in stead of half a meter, we have two meters of water."

Comm: "When the purpose of flood-control is not to control floods, people suffer.

"Those who make decisions, refuse to change. Once again, the monsoon is round the corner."

Sandalwood Smuggling (or how to trigger extinction of a tree in a bureaucratic manner)

Comm: "Ah! sandalwood carvings. Look so good. This is what the India tourists love. Mmmm, what a fragrance. This exotica stinks. Meet Veerappan, India's biggest sandalwood smuggler. He is an icon. Newspapers call him the Robin hoodlum of India.

"Sandalwood smuggling? It is a cops-and-robbers drama. In this drama, Veerappan is never caught.

"But thousands of little Veerappans make a run for it, like actors in a popular Indian film.

Sandalwood smuggling is a daily drama in this part of India.

"About 100 tonnes of seized sandalwood are piled up in this forest yard in Mysore in Karnataka, a fraction of the amount smuggled away.

"Indian sandalwood is being smuggled out of existence.

"Meanwhile, there's a federal comedy going on.

"Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are India's sandalwood states. If a sandalwood tree sprouts in your backyard, you can't do anything with it. By law, it is state property."

Srinivasan (Forest Officer): "Relax the procedure for procuring sandalwood from the farmers or any other stakeholders. Now the rules are so rigid that once a tree is there, one has to declare it. It takes more than a year to get the share of sale. That has to be simplified. If he gets his money within 2-3 months, he give the tree to the forest department. Otherwise, he will always go the smuggler."

Comm: "So people smuggle. Pack the trees off to Kerala, the neighbouring state, where rules are different. There, little distilleries make sandalwood oil, an export item that fetches pots of money.

"People keep taking chances, even though one could end up, like this 18-year old, in Mangalore jail.

"He got caught the first time he tried.

"Veerappan started with ivory, then moved on to sandalwood. Now there isn't enough wood to sustain a big player like him. So he has kidnapped a popular film star. As ransom, he has demanded amnesty.

"The drama continues.

"Everyday, a little more of the fragrance vanishes."

The Rio Tax (or how to line your pocket after the 1992 Rio Earth summit)

Comm: "The Rajaji National Park is near Dehradun in the foothills of the Himalaya. It is the summer home of the Gujjars, a nomadic community of buffalo herders.

"Muslim and vegetarian. Sell milk and milk products.

"Gujjars have roamed this forest for centuries. But now it is in a National Park.

"And by wildlife law, people can't live in a park. So every summer the Gujjars come ready to haggle and bargain."

Mai (A Gujjar): "We have been staying in the forest for a long time. When our people came from the hills, we had to bribe the foresters with milk, butter and cash. They had set up rates of offerings and we had to pay accordingly. In 1992, they told us that all the countries of the world got together to save the forest, and the forests will be closed down for human habitation. If you want to stay in the forest now, you will have to pay a Rio tax, double what we used to pay. Since then, the double offering, Rio is stuck with us."

Comm: "The long arm of global governance has reached into the Himalayan foothills.

"First there is the forest that has to be eaten up. Ah, lots of money.

"Then there is the eaten-up forest that has to be regenerated. Very good, even more money!"

N C Saxena (Secretary, Planning Commission, Govt. of India): "In afforestation, like in any other public works, Government sanctions money for planting saplings. A certain formula would evolve, that is, for afforesting one hectare of degraded forest, you require ten thousand Rupees. Actual expenditure may be much less. And the difference would be pocketed. On the other hand, there is grand corruption. Grand corruption takes place at the level of policy."

Comm: "Development policies reach only those who have connections, all over the world."

Anil Agarwal: "Given a chance, whether you have a dictatorial society, or a democratic one, politicians would be always prepared to loot the treasury. There are two ways of looting the treasury. One is the unofficial loot, which is where people get money to line their own pockets and the other is the official loot. This official loot usually takes the form of cultivating the vote banks, by giving subsidies, by giving tax rebates, by not even allowing taxes to take place in certain things, and so on and so forth. Often this can have a very negative impact on the environment."

Comm: "Policies are city-centred. Life is bright for the urban elite. For the rest, this life is an impossible aspiration. The only way is to bend the rules."

Diesel Mania (or how to subsidise rich man's expensive diesel travel with cheap fuel)

Comm: "Meet a successful man."

Successful man (driving his car): "Hi. I make films. Well, business is good. Booming pretty much.

"I have survived. I love cars. And the good thing is today, a lot of choices are available. There is Toyota, Honda, Opel, Mitsubishi, and many other. But where do you drive these cars? There is no place on the road. Jam-packed."

Comm: "600,000 cars in Delhi, capital of India.

"Neglect public transport. Go for a car."

Successful man (driving his car): "Today I feel like leaving the city. There is so much of pollution."

Comm: "Delhi's air is full of particulate matter, the tiniest and most dangerous pollutant. Particulates come from diesel, from thousands of cars running on diesel engines.

"Diesel is cheaper in India than petrol. Government levies no tax on it. Automobile companies have used this to their advantage. Luxury diesel cars are a rage in Delhi."

Successful man (driving his car): "Well, I drive a diesel car. Powerful and better. I must thank the Government for keeping the diesel price low."

The Crusader (or how to annoy corrupt politician/official with devotional songs)

Comm: "Is anybody interested in cleaning the mess? Meet Baburao Hazare, better known as Anna Hazare. He wears homespun clothes, the Gandhi cap; looks the complete Indian politician.

"But Anna Hazare loves to fight corrupt politicians and government officials.
AHe's been a social reformer for the last 20 years."

Comm: Anna Hazare (Social reformer): "I started with village development and achieved good results. But, over a period I realised that the percolation of corruption throughout the entire society has a major ill effect on development. Even twelve cents out of a dollar do not reach the village. I thought: we are all talking about development, development, development and development, and on the other hand this percolation is also increasing. What will be the output of the development? I went about looking for the proofs of corruption. There is corruption in all programmes aimed at poverty alleviation, there is corruption in all programmes aimed at environmental regeneration."

Comm: "Anna's village is called Ralegan Siddhi, in the western state of Maharashtra. It used to be drought-prone and poor. Water conservation and watershed development brought about the transformation.

"Today, most state governments in India have come around to accept this method.

"Anna's anti-corruption campaign, too, has caught the imagination."

Anna Hazare (Social reformer): "Our activists started a prayer committee. They would sit in front of the residence of a corrupt official and sing devotional songs. Nothing else! Neighbours would also join in. They would say, my god, they are singing devotional songs in front of his house, he must be a corrupt person! The man would get branded in his society. He would get scared. His son would be teased in the school by classmates, they are singing devotional songs in front of your house, your father must be a corrupt person. The son would come back and complain to his parents. There would be pressure from inside as well."

Comm: "People send him hundreds of petitions. They know politicians are scared of him. But it is a long haul."

Anna Hazare (Social reformer): "If you want the ultimate result, you need your right to recall. Democracy has offered us the right to choose our representatives. We should also get our right to recall our representatives. In its absence, corruption has gone up. The elected representative feels safe for 5 years. Who can touch me for 5 years? Do, whatever you want to do. If I have the power to recall, I would bring him back in 2 months. He would have some pressure. This corrupt people are investing their loot in election, to get into power. Then power gives them more money. This circle of power and money must be stopped."

Comm: "To dig out corruption, we need to dig deeper."

Anil Agarwal: "The laws have been framed in such a way that there is no social consensus, no participation of the people. Therefore, everybody wants to bypass the law in every possible way. For example, if anybody wants to plant a tree on Government land today, it is an illegal act. And a lot of the environment, unfortunately belongs to the government. Rivers, mountains, forests, groundwater reserves, the air. A lot of these things belong to the government. And therefore, it is the laws of the government that apply to them. If there is no respect for the government law, then neither the polluter, nor the destroyer, nor the protector, nobody would respect the law."

N C Saxena (Secretary, Planning Commission, Govt. of India): "That would require a lot of change in attitude of government servants. But despite the fact that it is very much emphasised from the planning commission or the government of India, on the whole, people's participation has remained an ideology withoiut any methodology. The roadmap to."

Comm: "Could we go back to the Kosi, please? The house has not yet been made.

"Once again, the monsoon is round the corner."