After working in India and abroad as a journalist, in 1980 Anil Agarwal registered the Center of Science and Environment in Delhi as a non-profit organization. His motive was to interpret what was happening in the field of science and technology in the woeld so that
Appropriate choices for development in developing country could be made. He felt there was an important role for science journalists India who need to go out to people to learn of the
Impacts of science and science and technology scientists are often rapidly producing new
Theories and aiding in development of new and often complex technology. But only a few
scientists attempt to assess the assess the impact of these technologies. The major media cannot do this job because they job because they are time-bound, interested more in what
is currently happening. They may reflect existing khowledge, but they do create it.
Another of Agarwal’s motives was to conduct quasi- academic research, a cross between the rigors of academic study and the time bound pressures of journalism. So CSE started a feature
service to newspapers in several languages. People were sent out to find what was happening to, say, various power plants and then bring back their reports. The CSE tried to get the support of grassroots workers and regional activists (whose input had almost never been sought). Some of these unique hidden reports were sold to mainstream papers; a few of them stirred public dialogue. However, a major problem was the lack of high journalistic skill.
High caliber journalists already occupied good positions in established newspapers, where they often held on by the lure of a career, the credit of a byline or simply by virtue of their status.
In 1981 Agarwal, with Kannanof KSSP, attended a meeting in Penang, Malaysia. There they both learned of the book The state of Malaysia’s Environment. They decided they would try to bring out a similar report for India. On their return flight, they chalked out issues and regions to be included in the Indian report. Six months late, after gathering enough information, the Center published a national report on India’s State of Environment. It came out in 1982, and achieved a remarkable success. People appreciated the fact that it was not produced by any governmental sector, and for the first time, showed what was actually happening to the environment and the people in India. It showed the relationships between poverty, development, and environment, and their connections to the lives of poor women. This unique report, prepared by citizens’ voluntary efforts and funded by participatory contributions from many parts of India, demonstrated that ordinary people can have insights, and if they are asked and given a chance, they can suggest plausible alternatives. This book came out of existing environmental concerns in the country, and consequently increased them.
The second State of Environment Report (although planned initially to be brought out annually) appeared only in 1985. The first report was mostly an assembly of what was already available in Indian literature. In the secondreport CSE wanted to portray the rapid development of on-going concerns, I.e., to write on issues as they were happening, and to fill in the gaps of the first report. This included, for example, the issue of firewood in urban areas, for which one needs to look into rural-urban trade, the wood retailing stalls, the railway stations in Delhi, and the origins of the wood in Madhya Pradesh. The same things were true with the issue of grazing land that was found to be linked to the problems of forests and crop land. To obtain this timely information and to fill in gaps, help was sought from journalists and academics. Because any members of these groups became involved in the Bhopal disaster,
the book was delayed and came out only in June 1985. The preparation of the third report was carried out between 1985 and 1990 to take up several issues in more depth, such as the green revolution and the Ganga Action Plan. But the third report never came out. Its chapters may be printed in future as separate reports These two reports were totally funded by advance sales of the book, and they were prepared by voluntary efforts. These reports for the first time give a detailed picture of the state of India’s environment at the national level, and provided updated
information on what pollution, soil loss, reduction in pasture land, depletion of firewood and the rest mean to the livers of ordinary people. The reports are the result of contributions of many activists and writers.