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Interview with Neelakantan Flipbook PDF
Interview with Neelakantan
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Interview - Tessy Thomas
Interview with CR
Neelakandan,
Environmentalist, Social activist, Politician and Writer.
By PGR Nair We have to obey rules of the nature which are somewhat enshrined as natural environmental laws. Our situation in Kerala is alarming due to our own approach towards development. I am not seeing corruption as an isolated phenomenon. It is having roots in our governing system, which is not at all transparent even after passing RTI Act in 2005.
CR Neelakantan is an outstanding environmental activist, writer and past Kerala state convener of Aam Aadmi Party. He frequently appears on many media channels for panel discussions on current affairs. After his initial schooling at St. Antony’s High School , Murkanad and Pre Degree at Christ College Irinjalakuda , he joined B Sc(Engg) Electrical Br in TEC in 1974.During his third semester he was kept under illegal custody for a week by the Crime Branch of Kerala Police in connection for some books he had bought from a bookstall. This incident and subsequent conviction to fight against emergency prompted him to join politics and worked with CPM during his student years. He started his career in BARC training School as Scientific Officer trainee and became Bhabha Award winner for getting highest rank among the group. But due to political intervention by the Union of India he was terminated from there based on certain IB reports that he had worked for leftist organizations during student days. After a short stint with Tata group, he joined Keltron Controls Aroor. In 1992 he availed a facility offered to the employees of PSU to work abroad and worked with Bechtel USA in Europe and Middle east for five years. He came back in1997 and joined Keltron and retired from there in 2015 as DGM.
Can you tell us to extent your early involvement in politics during college days shaped your life and thoughts? My political involvement during college days was the base for my social and political activity till date. I got the courage to face any sort of resistance during that period. Also my habit of hardworking and multi tasking were developed during my college days. After the college I started working in BARC where I was totally committed to academic and research works. I could succeed there only because of my campus experiences.
After retirement, he is aggressively involved in many Environment and Development issues in Kerala like Silent Valley, Plachimada (against Coca Cola factory},Enron ( proposed at Kannur), Express Highway, Smart City, Various Hydel Projects like Athirappally), Mineral Sand Mining and many other small and large destructive Development projects. Also involved and supported struggles against displacements like Moolampilly for ICTT Vallarpadom. Supporting struggles by the marginalized communities like dalits and adivasis (eg. Chengara and Muthanga etc.). CR is the recipient of Oorja Kerala Award for the best article in a year on the Power situation in Kerala instituted by KSEB Officers Association (2000), Evurath Krishnan Nair Award for the Social Activist of the year (2003), Mukundan C Menon Award 2010 , Sujanapal Award (2012), AV Abdul Rahman Haji award( 2014), P.K.Deevar Award (2015) and Ankanam Awar Thrissur (2019) His published works include Paristhithiyum Agolavalkkaranavum, Prkruthiyute Nilavilikal, Lavlin Rekahkalilute, Keralaththinte Paarisththika Rashtreeyam, Haritha Varthamaanangal
You started your career with Bhabha Atomic energy. What are the lessons you learnt there? Is nuclear energy a cost effective and sustainable option for India? When I joined in BARC I was naïve to think that Nuclear energy will solve all our problems. But after in depth study and watching the experiences of Nuclear plants all over that world, I concluded that Nuclear Energy is not at all a clean, sustainable and economically viable option. This power does great damage to future generations in the form of waste which will sustain for many millenniums. The
money planned to be spent for a normally operating plant for generations, if calculated, will show its economic disadvantage. In case of an accident, it will be catastrophic. Even advanced countries have stopped installing new generators after 1980s. You worked quite a long duration in Keltron as Dy. General Manager. Though Keltron has been a pioneering company in Electronics field, it never flourished to become a leader later. What stymied its growth? Keltron was really a great attempt by a genius like KPP Nambiar. Kerala cannot accommodate large industries due to its geography, topography and demography. We have educated manpower at much cheaper rate than unskilled manpower. Electronic industry requires little space which is a major concern in Kerala. Based on these we had promoted Electronic industry. Keltron was the premier institution under a state govt in India. We could do wonders in the beginning. But of late many issues like the import policies of the central Govts, political interventions of the State Govt, self-destructive decisions etc. Keltron got destroyed over a period of time. Any attempts to save it was torpedoed by the vested interests. How did you get interested in environmental issues? Were there any provocative incidents? I had wide reading habits right from student days. During college days we had the discussion regarding Silent Valley HEP. Reading articles by Sugathakumaari, NV Krishna waarier etc in Mathrubhumi weekly and association with KSSP had inculcated ecological wisdom in me. Persons like John C Jacob etc had influenced me. Later, seeing the realities all over the world I am convinced that human society cannot sustain if we cannot protect the environment As an active environmentalist, what are the areas of major concerns in Kerala today?
Kerala is Gods Own country with its natural conditions. We have western Ghats which is assuring sufficient rain and controlling the hot wind from the east which makes us almost air conditioned. We have large number of rivers assuring supply of water everywhere for humans and nature. We have a long coastal area providing us cheap and nutritious food. But we should understand that this bountifulness is delicate also. Any slight imbalance will make it disastrous. It was seen in last two years in the form of floods and landslides. We lost about properties costing Rs. 40000 crores in just one year. So we should be careful in playing with nature. Especially activities in Western Ghats and coastal area to be closely monitored. We have to obey rules of the nature which are somewhat enshrined as natural environmental laws. Our situation in Kerala is alarming due to our own approach towards development. Water management, Soil conservation, etc are immediate concerns along with scientific management of solid and liquid wastes. In sectors such as sewage control, drainage cleaning, river cleaning projects and waste disposal, will the advent of private companies help? Private partnership issue cannot be considered on a principle basis but can be on pragmatic basis. Private property is allowed in our country. So private capital is always a possibility. But where and how it is to be used, how they are governed, do we have a monitoring system, how corruption and nepotism in our society makes it disaster, how the downtrodden in our society is going to be protected from the competitive interests of the market etc are some of the prominent concerns. There are many questions to be answered. We have good and bad experiences of private sector involvements. But when it comes in service sectors like waste management, water supply etc we should be very vigilant. You were the state convenor of Aam Aadmi Party. What were the drivers for you to join AAP? What are its strengths and weaknesses
as per your assessment? I was out of party politics from 2007 due to my experiences with the left parties in which I had worked for 30 years. Even when AAP was formed I was not ready even for joining. I had supported it in many ways including my interventions in media. I thought it will be different from other parties. Their delivery systems in Delhi had shown that if corruption is controlled, we can have an efficient governance. Their concept of Swaraj, decentralization in decision-making is the major plank to which I was attracted to the most. Their major failure was in the decentralization itself. All the power in the party is concentrated in one person. However good he may be, it is not possible to understand it in a country like India with such a diverse character. It is going to fail. Hence it had failed outside Delhi where the reality is totally different from Delhi. You have been associated with many environmental movements such as related to Coco Coa factory in Plachimada, waste disposal issues in Lalur , Silent Valley and most recently vocalizing against Athirapally power project. Could you share motives behind disregard of environmental concerns in approvals or proposals of such projects? In our system a project is not formed from the people but from the higher ups. Hence in many cases the considerations will not be realistic. There may be hidden agenda behind such decisions like corruption etc. Also the economic wisdom may overrule social and ecological wisdom. One good example is the urban solid waste management projects. We had very bad experiences from centralized ones from many places like Lalur, Vilappilshalaetc. It was unscientific solution not to take care of the realistic conditions like nature and quantity of our wastes, climatic conditions ( more than 9 months we have rains), high population densities even in village areas, level of groundwater etc to name a few. In all cases protests from local communities had increased and authorities
could not go ahead and they were all closed down. Still we are thinking of such projects not because of our ignorance but greed for a section in our ruling class. They are not worried of its failure. They are getting their part from even a failed project. You played also leading role in fighting corruption in all sectors in our society. How can we make a proactive crusade against this debilitating menace? What changes governance would you advocate? I am not seeing corruption as an isolated phenomenon. It is having roots in our governing system, which is not at all transparent even after passing RTI Act in 2005. So real transparency is the most important precondition for eradicating corruption. Unfortunately, none of the political parties are favoring a transparent governance staring from local body level. Similarly, our law for Prevention of Corruption Act is getting diluted day by day. In Kerala itself for last 70 years different parties and fronts are ruling. Against every government serious corruptions charges were raised. In the last seven decades only one political leader in Kerala was punished for corruption that also very nominal. Why is it happening? The governing system is not perfect and people are not aware of the real situation. Judiciary has been in the limelight for awarding judgments that question semblance of Justice. Do you feel a need to reform judicial system and overhaul the functioning of Courts and at all levels to enhance efficiency, maintain integrity and impartiality? In Indian constitution, independent judiciary is one of its basic structures. But its failures have affected the other pillars of democracy viz. legislature and executive. In most of the case judiciary is biased against the deprived classes. They cannot even reach to it. Caste, religion, Wealth etc are affecting their decisions. Appointment of judges is a major point. The Supreme Court rejected the
National Judicial Appointment Commission proposed by the parliament. The legal system should be transparent, logical, and accessible and deliver justice.
by the circumstances. If you ask personally, I have interest to write on some deep subjects like mathematics. But that is not happening now.
As a writer, what are the areas of your interest? Are you currently working on anything for publication?
Who have been your Role models in life and what merits them as your models?
I do not claim myself as a writer. All my writings are part of my activism only. Hence my writings are not decided by my interest but
Actually the concept of role model is not a stagnant one. In the childhood period I was attracted by personalities like Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russel,