Book Review: Ecology and Equity by Guha and Gadgil

Ecology and Equity deals with the natural resource conflicts and the question of equity in the use of resources in India. It is divided into two parts, the first part tries to give an account of the different facets of natural resource conflicts. Many issues had being dealt, like that,  who are the people using the natural resources  more affluently, who are paying the costs of overuse, and the different environmental ideologies prevalent in India.

Where as, in the second part of book the viable solutions form the author point of view had been described. The authors of this book had critically examined the varied issues and on its basis synthesized a solution for overcoming the conflicts. The book also dealt with the ideologies, which the government should keep in mind and the different management plans for the management and conservation of the forest resources. This book also through light on the booming population problem and its legitimate solution.

Overall, this book is a pleasant reading. The language used up by the author is lucid and beautiful. Different accounts had been given to support the arguments, which makes it more authentic and enjoyable, at the same time it create awareness in the readers on the different burning environmental issues of contemporary India. But I would also like to put that, the one thing which I found given less importance in this book. Today’s half of the world’s population lives in cities and also a large part of Indian population also resides in urban agglomeration, but the book had not taken proper account of the environmental issues in the urban context.

At last I would state that, this is an insightful book, and anybody who wants to understand the ecological  and environmental issues of India, then this is a must go book. It is a pleasurable experience to go through it.