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Technologists warn against overuse of resources

Special Correspondent

"Imbalances in any part of the world could create problems for the rest of the areas as well"

JAIPUR: Technologists have warned against overuse of resources pointing out that imbalances in any part of the world could create problems for the rest of the areas as well. For India environment continued to be a low priority area and only effective regulation would provide the subject with its due importance, they noted.

" India is at the 101th place in the Environment Performance Index of 146 countries as per the data released by the Yale University Centre for Environmental Law and Policy. Even in other countries, the concern for environment is secondary," said Jayant M. Modak, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, speaking at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, over the weekend.

Prof. Modak was speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of a three-day national conference on environmental conservation. "Only when there is an effective regulation, the environment gets its due importance. But one who neglects the environment, disregards his own existence," he said. "All resources are interconnected. Any disruption in the web can create problems to the entire web."

Prof. Modak attributed the neglect of the environment by the corporate sector to lack of knowledge, especially by those in the top echelons. "The answer does not lie in the domain of science alone, it is related with Economics, Sociology, Psychology and Humanities as a whole," he pointed out.

Listing the technologies for environment conservation, Prof. Modak said that there were several barriers in the implementation of the clean energy technology. The biotechnology solutions needed to compete in economic terms, he noted.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. L. K. Maheshwari, Vice-Chancellor of BITS, Pilani, said that the environment conservation was primarily a thinking process and anyone could help in this activity provided he had the right attitude.

Prof Maheshwari called for low cost technologies for waste disposal and environment conservation.

Prof K. E. Raman, Deputy Director of BITS, mentioned that the Institute adopted many environment conservation practices including solar heaters, waste water reuse technologies, disposal of waste and rainwater harvesting.

B. V. Babu, the organising secretary, said the conference aimed at sharing knowledge in terms of techniques and practices in mitigating and monitoring environmental pollution. About 160 papers are being discussed in the conference.

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