Eco Refugee and Popular Literature: A
Case Study
Nandini Dan,
Ph.D. Research Scholar,
Sanskaram University
Haryana, India.
Abstract: Betwixt June 13 and 17, 2013, the state of
Uttarakhand had acquired an unexpected amount of downpour. This directed the
melting of the Chorabari Glacier and the outburst of the Mandakini River. The
inundation affected broad parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and western
Nepal. The hefty amount of precipitation caused enormous flashfloods and
avalanches ensuing the death of citizens and sightseers as well as huge
destruction to property. Allegedly the worst hit was the Kedarnath valley
popular for the eighth century shrine devoted to lord shiva. The flood left
behind an expiration expense of five thousand. Ecologist Chandra Prakash Kala
notes in a report that “the approximate cost of damaged bridges $825 million
and loss to state tourism worth $195 million.” Artfully winding this 2013
catastrophe with the story of two inter-faith lovers Mandakini aka Mukku(Sara
Ali Khan), a Hindu cleric’s daughter and Mansoor (Sushant Singh Rajput), a
Muslim human porter – Abhishek Kapoor’s “Kedarnath” , is a touching depiction
of mortal greed and mismanagement that inflicted chaos on the holy town in
2013. Gripping upon their shoulders, the accountability of arousing “the
ecological concerns” of the audiences a few new age film-makers have greatly
added to the genre of eco-cinema through movies such as “Kedarnath” which
hoists concerns towards human negotiation that has led to a forceful shift in
temperature. Unlike dominant Bollywood cinema, this treasure locates nature at
the interior of their fiction to highlight the human desperation and natural
disasters. Through a detailed evaluation of the aforementioned perspectives
this paper focuses to highlights, how intricately braiding fiction and facts
closely, the director, disintegrates from the categorical divisions of “the critical”
and “the commercial” and weave multidisciplinary narratives like eco criticism
and eco- refugees, that are amusing as well as conscience raising, thus
enhancing range and potentiality of more such narratives.
Keywords: climate change, Bollywood, films,
eco-criticism, eco refugee etc.
The phrase “climate refugees” or
“eco- refugees” was primarily devised to delineate the large – scale migration
and transnational huge influx of clans that were heavily disturbed by such
weather related issues.
In April, the
united nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) recorded data displaying
the amount of tribes replaced by the climate change disasters since 2010 has
jumped up to 21.5 million, referring to that besides unexpected disasters,
environmental denigration is a convoluted cause of bread and water scarcity as
well as adversities in accessing natural resources.
Sea level rise
is an additional warning. Over the past 30 years, the amount of individuals
functioning in coastal areas at inflated perils has grown from 160 million to
260 million; most of them are from backward countries and little island
nations. For instance, in Bangladesh it is estimated that 17% of the province
will be inundated by the surge in sea level by 2050 and 20 million nationals
settling there will be deprived of their accommodations.
The Ecosystem
Threat Register unleashed in September 2018, by the Institute of Economics and
Peace (IEP), an Australian international foundation indicates that at least 1.2
billion persons could be evicted by such impendences by 2050. In these
circumstances the multinational reaction to the issue has begun to develop.
Global warming is
one of the most current issues of climate modification. This phrase specially
refers to the elevation in globe’s average temperature as a consequence of
increasing green- house gases. Greenhouse gases cage heat in the environment
and are set free when fossil fuels are ignited. Fossil fuels which comprises
coal, oil and natural gas, are used to produce electricity, power vehicles,
warm houses, and generate electricity and manufacture a variation of goods.
Commonly, affluent industrialized countries generates the most green – house
gases emissions, but experience the littlest effects of climate modifications, whereas the meagre
income developing countries generates the smallest emissions but are at the
most at danger. Cities with lower emissions happens to be in the geological
areas that make them more available to climate change issues, such as barren
lands, desserts and low lying islands. They also have lesser assets accessible
to get ready for environmental crises and fund reformation attempts. Arid
regions like horn of Africa, and dwarf islands such as Maldives are already
bearing the effects of climate change while causing moderately lesser
emissions. For instance, Salopek, experienced pastoral communities in the rift
valley of Ethiopia, who had been steered to desperation, by precipitation
patterns that have become incalculable.
Revolting
climate also follows to droughts and desertification, delineated as the
transition of agronomic lands to deserts. When drought occurs, the lead soil,
grows so debased that it can no longer bear agronomy. Denizens cannot cultivate
enough stuff to provide food for themselves, leading to unrestricted
starvation.
Eco- literature
incorporates a complete range of literary works such as prose, poetry and
criticisms which emphasize on ecological problems. Eco-literature delineates different
notions for calling out the acute ecological concerns of our day, ranging from works
that emphasizes the complicated interactions between the people and eco systems
to dystopian writings that envisions the destruction of the world by the
dismantling of the habitat.
Even though
eco-literature is a comparatively new genre,
it dates back to the origins of writings of the 18th and 19th
century nature writers and philosophists. Henry David Thoreau is considered one
of the pioneering writers of environmental literature and philosophy. His
thoughts are based on the values of simplicity, self- sufficiency and
environmental euphony. He also critiqued rampant industrialization and the
broadening gap between the population and the mother earth. Walden is also
observed as a classic in American nature writing. John Muir, a Scottish
American naturalist, was another notable persona from this era. His passionate
and poetic portrayal of nature had an impeccable impact on the readers and
future activists.
The 20th
century conservationism emerged as more of a social and political movement,
which in turn produced a more activist form of literature. For instance Rachel Carson’s
“silent springs” commanded a milestone in the evolution of eco literature.
Carson’s enquiry into the adverse consequences of pesticides, on symbiosis and
mortal health was a revolutionary work that not only increased awareness about
the perils of industrial contamination but also accentuated the connection
between human and the environmental safety. Silent spring became an impetus for
the contemporary environmental crusade and delineated the potential of
literature to scintillate a social difference.
The
environmental acts of 1960’s and 70’s which incorporated the formation of the
earth day and environmental legislation like clean air act and the endangered
species act further powered the development of eco-literature. Writers like
Edward abbey interrogate the effects of consumerism, urban expansion and
industrialization.
Popular
literature such as cinemas and movies always functions as instruments of
awareness. Indian cinema, especially the Bollywood movie is shifting it’s
models from candy floss romances to a more practical one and to socio-
political and environmental awareness. The new generation film makers are
showcasing sensitive and current issues on the big screen to gather public
awareness.
Betwixt June 13
and 17, 2013, the state of Uttarakhand had acquired an unexpected amount of
downpour. This directed the melting of the Chorabari Glacier and the outburst
of the Mandakini River. The inundation affected broad parts of Uttarakhand,
Himachal Pradesh and western Nepal. The hefty amount of precipitation caused
enormous flashfloods and avalanches ensuing the death of citizens and
sightseers as well as huge destruction to property. Allegedly the worst hit was
the Kedarnath valley popular for the eighth century shrine devoted to lord Shiva.
The flood left behind an expiration expense of five thousand. Ecologist Chandra
Prakash kala notes in a report that “the approximate cost of damaged bridges
$825 million and loss to state tourism worth $195 million.”
Artfully winding
this 2013 catastrophe with the story of two inter-faith lovers Mandakini aka
Mukku (Sara Ali Khan),a Hindu cleric’s daughter and Mansoor (Sushant Singh
Rajput),a Muslim human porter – Abhishek Kapoor’s “Kedarnath” ,is a touching
depiction of mortal greed and mismanagement that inflicted chaos on the holy
town in 2013. Gripping upon their shoulders, the accountability of arousing
“the ecological concerns” of the audiences a few new age film-makers have
greatly added to the genre of eco-cinema through movies such as “Kedarnath”
which hoists concerns towards human negotiation that has led to a forceful
shift in temperature. Unlike dominant Bollywood cinema, this treasure locates
nature at the interior of their fiction to highlight the human desperation and
natural disasters.
In the time of
the month of June, Uttarakhand gathered a large amount of precipitation. It
prompted the melting of chorabari glacier. The glacier is located near to the
kedarnaath temple. One of the glacier’s two noses is the source of Mandakini
River. The melting of the glacier resulting in the eruption of the Mandakini
River. Floods affected in the large parts of the states of Uttarakhand.
Kedarnath was the most devastated. The rapid unfreezing of the snow from the Kedarnath
Mountain resulted in an enormous damage. It flooded the Chorabari Lake.
Cloudbursts,
landslides and snowfall were some of the natural causes of the flood. But the
nature can’t always be blamed. The humans are also responsible for this hefty
destruction. People have encroached these glacio- fluvial regions in such a way
that these areas are incapable of holding the high discharge from the glaciers.
In the last few decades people have started settling in the peril zone, but
constructions should not be allowed in the peril zone. The river bed should not
be infringed, so that it can hold the maximum discharge of the water. deforestation,
construction in the landslide zone, lessen the rock strength. Had there not
been all these things the loss of life and property have been saved.
Appropriate planning should be made so that the people can be kept away from
the hazard zone. A hazard zone map should be prepared since people living in
those areas have no information about the hazard zones. None of the
environmental laws are enforced in the environmentally brittle areas and the
expansion is going relentlessly.
A total number
of 427 dams are to be constructed on the rivers. Amidst these there are nearly constructed
or proposed on the Ganga, to generate some 10,000 mw of power. This framework
has simulated 80% of the Bhagirathi and 60% of the Alakananda.
The amount of cars, jeeps and taxis
has increased in the state, which are the most comfortable means of transport
for tourism in the state has increased to a number of 40,000 in the year 2012-
13. The higher the increase in tourism , the higher the incidences of
landslides.
The location of Kedarnath lies in a highly
geologically sensitive area. The Delhi Haridwar ridge lies on the indo-
Australian plate which is sluggishly moving towards the north and is creating
utmost pressure on Uttarakhand in the Himalayan range.
The whole Kedarnath
zone is prone to excessive precipitation. The heavy water that gushed down from
the Kedarnath and Rambara regions carried a hefty slit load that was inclusive
of heavy rock boulders which washed off everything that came it’s way.
Additionally, the extreme amount of water created exaggerated erosion
throughout the area which led to colossal landslides.
Warnings given
by the Indian meterological department was unheeded by the Uttarakhand state
government. The first warning was issued on June 13, 2013 and then on June 16
and 17 of heavy torrential rainfall which was unheeded by the state government.
The locals had
built houses on the streams of the river. The heavy flood washed off all these
constructions. The government and the locals both are to be questioned for the
poor housing designs, cheap materials used, and wrong housing development
techniques. Other factors like waste disposal, plastic bottles, and polythene
bags contaminating the river water shaped the magnitude of this disaster.
Acceleration in
populace upon the whole of Kedarnath and Uttarakhand has magnified this
disaster. The average population density in the state of Uttarakhand has
increased to a large extent.
The beheading of
trees and bushes for the erection of roadways and other infrastructure has
caused land degradation which dismantled the entire area and exposed it to
landslides and floods.
In the Mandakini
River hundreds of extincted mules are disposed of. Apart from polluting the
water bodies, this also blocks the course of the rivers. The carcasses of the
animals are sometimes abandoned on the vicinity of the divine shrines which
just not only lead to disgusting smell but also contaminate the godly habitat.
Uttarakhand
became a second abode for the travellers residing near the Delhi- NCR region.
The upswing of travellers and pilgrims led to the construction of innumerable
hotels, motels, lodges, restaurants etc. So pulling huge number of national and
international travellers did add to the fate of the 2013 disaster.
Erections of
roads, bridges and other structures in landslip prone regions, vertical areas
and inappropriate places have led to this tragedy more. River surfaces were
impulsively mined for sand, leading to piling of the construction debris, land
geometry and water bodies changed their course. Building of hydro- electric
dams in these susceptible areas also led to environmental degradation.70 huge dams
were built in Uttarakhand region and 780 fragmentary dams were constructed,
which led more to the tragedy. The sewerage systems were also defective. Fresh
structures were constructed on obsolete and decrepit dams, which acted as a
barricade towards rainwater. Eventually there was a dearth of education and
consciousness of multiple issues, with respect to conserving the environment
and of negotiating with the disaster.
The movie “Kedarnath”
starts with an elderly woman fuming over his grandson because he arranged a
muslim porter, Mansoor (played by Sushant Singh Rajput) for her, suggesting
that the Muslim porter communities are shadowed. The pundit communities want to
erect hotels for visitors where the Muslim refugees live in Uttarakhand, and
the director has beautifully picturised how the Muslim communities want to come
against this move of the Hindus. When a match of Indian cricket goes on,
Mansoor went to a shop where all the Hindu clerics sees the match in the
television but he sits with his back towards the TV because he not allowed to
see the match as he is a mohammaden, but the heroine of the film, Mukku, a Hindu
priest’s daughter, Mukku (played by Sara Ali Khan) helps him verbally to
understand the match. Though Mansoor is a Muslim, but he inwardly supports India
in the cricket match. The elderly pundit communities are even in state of shock
when Kullu, a Hindu hotel owner thinks of making more hotels and lodges
disturbing the valley’s ecology. The heroine of the movie also takes of the
advertisement boards of the lodges stating that it is diminishing the valley’s
view and greenery. Both the hero and the heroine want to clean all the trashes
of the mountains so that its natural beauty can be restored. There is even a
debate between kullu, the hindi budding businessman who only thinks of business
and wants to expand all the Hindu hotels and lodges illegally and Mansoor that
the valley won’t be able to sustain such illegal developments. Kullu sides him
because he is a Muslim and saying that he should not interfere in the matters
of Hindus. Mukku and Mansoor fall in love but they are threatened by their
families because of different religions and the in equal relation of the
colonized porter communities and the host pundit communities. The relationship
of Mukku and Mansoor takes heavy toll. The pundit communities threaten the
Pithoos of uprooting the whole Pithoo clan. The porter community faces a lack
of autonomy in their host country (Kedarnath) and is made felt powerless by the
powerful Hindu communities. We can say that the porter community here is the
acute refugees who are forced to leave their homeland on a moment’s notice.
Their journeys are unsure and focus on simply surviving the disaster, whereas
anticipatory refugees can sense dangers early and they have an orderly
departure before the actual crisis occurs. We can also consider the porters
communities here as new refugees who are culturally, ethnically and racially
different from their host communities and are also likely to lack any kind of
support in their country of resettlement. Since Mansoor is considered a refugee
(because firstly he belongs from the porter community and secondly he is Muslim
porter)by the pundit communities ,he is beaten severely by the Hindu pundit communities
so much so that he loses his consciousness and has to be taken home in the same
way he carries other porters to Kedarnaath. What a sigh a porter himself has to
be carried back home by other porters. Mukku’s father even makes at take a dip
in the holy waters of Ganges to purify her sins after she stays a night with
Mansoor, the Muslim porter. Mukkus’s sister even approves of their match
telling her mother to stand in support of her. The more the families
disapproves of Mukku’s and Mansoor’s match, the
more the weather starts to deteriorate suggesting of an impending
catastrophe. The pundit community evenannounces that they will dislocate all
the Pithoos if they do not agree on their terms and conditions. Mukku even
tries to commit suicide after she is forcefully married to Kullu. Finally Mansoor
leaves his home with his mother. As the lovers are separated the Chorabari
glacier broke leading to floods. The flood destroys a Hindu deity sitting on
his dhyana suggesting the nature’s wrath against the Hindu majority. And
finally it is Mansoor, who saves Mukku’s family from the impending doom by
sacrificing himself, suggesting the doom of the refugee porter community. in
this movie, the place Kedarnnath could also be termed as a dystopic location
where every character went their own transformation. The pundit community
realised that it was injustice to remove the Pithoo community from their place
of dwelling for further developments which will bring catastrophe. The nature
realised the perils of the displaced porter community and became one with them
and brought catastrophe to the colonial pundit community. We could even see the
hero of the film, Mansoor even at the end of the film sacrifices himself to
save his friend from the impending doom. In the aircraft provided by the
government to save the families in Kedarnath, there was only one seat for a person
to be rescued and we see Mansoor sacrificing himself for his Hindu friend. It
was also Mansoor who rescued the Mukku’s family (Hindu family). It suggests
that from years the pundit families thrived on the immense hardwork of the
minority porter communities and yet they disagreed to give the porter
communities any recognition. The hero of the novel Mansoor being a muslim is
imagined as demoralized, dependent, inactive, subjective, aestheticized,
unambiguous and safe from ambivalence and he being doubly marginalized as he is
a Muslim. Mansoor always wanted to be like his father, who was also a porter
and died an untimely death. He still listens to the television and does not
watch it as his father promised him to come back and they will see the cricket
match together before he died. In his father’s remembrance he still listens to
the radio. After Mansoor dies, Mukku also does the same thing. She listens to
the radio in his remembrance and smiles as she dedicates her favourite song to
him.
Said in his
essay “reflections of exile” quoted:
To think of the
exile informing this literature as beneficially humanistic is to banalize
mutilations, the losses it inflicts on those who suffer them, the muteness with
which it responds to any attempt to understand it as “good for us”. Is it not true
that the views of exile in literature and moreover in religion, obscure what is
truly horrendous, that exile is irremediably secular and unbearably historical;
that it is produced by human beings for other human beings; and that like
death, without death’s ultimate mercy, it has torn millions of people from the
nourishment of tradition, family and geography? (174)
It is worth
mentioning the term “eco- refugee” does not have any official acknowledgement.
The international organizations also have not given this term any official
footing. The 1951 refugee convention puts a category of very distinctly
elaborated reasons that can be the cause of someone’s dislocation. Unfortunately
environmental problems are not one of them. Therefore the term” eco refugees” doesn’t
mean that they have the equal rights as other refugees. For the same reasons
there is also an uncertainty about the estimated numbers of environmental
refugees. It is estimated to be 200
million by the year 2050.
The choice and
the location of the eco- refugees may also vary. Some move to a nearby city or
other region in the country. Some move to other countries or abroad. Generally
most of the migration is internal and some external. In spite of the
complication of the eco- refugee term, here is a working definition for an eco-
refugee, “ the forced displacement of a person whose home region has become
uninhabitable due to severe environmental events resulting in long term
displacement.”
Eco refugees may
have been drived off the land they used to inhabit from epochs. They include
cultivators, shepherds, fisherman and other tribes for whom the soil is crucial
for sustenance. these refugees migrate to suburbs where they frequently inhabit
jam packed camps, casual encampments and other spots that have inadequate
infrastructure to fulfill the needs of the population inhabiting there. A rapid
inrush of immigrants can generate or aggravate tension between the host
communities and displaced persons. This is why climate environmental alteration
is regarded as a threat multiplier. The difficulties that crops up often worsen
existing problems such as war, resource scarcity and political strife. For
instance, the drought in Burkinafaso in 2022 and 2023 made the armed conflict
there worse; the violence was maximum in areas facing the most terrible
climatic conditions.
The number of
eco refugees has increased more because of the attacks like Syrian conflicts
and Israel’s attack on Gaza. And it announces that there is a sense of urgency
to create more number of safe and sanitized homes for the displaced persons.
Wars in Syria,
Afghanistan and beyond has displaced millions of people who are in living in
temporary camps. These camps are often short of sanitation, security and space,
inhabitation here is filthy and dingy. Fortunately, one Jordian-Canadian
architect offers for a solution – eco refugee shelters.
The refugee towns
that she suggests consist of structures from an aptly folded intertwined
material that can broaden to create private paddocks as well as having their
own personal stock of water and electricity.
This is feasible
via a solar powered skin that soaks up sunlight which is latterly converted
into useful electric power in a battery stored under the tent. Canopies are
provided with water repository tank which ferries sufficient water from
precipitation to allow inhabitants a fast shower. Water accelerates to the
storage tank via a thermo siphoning system and a sewage system makes sure that
the tent is not inundated.
Varied climactic
conditions have been taken into account, and the roofs can open up in the
summer permitting the breeze to oxygenate the place, and they can close up
during the winters with solar energy stored for heat through the roof panels.
There are also
inner repository pockets to permit cantonment residents to put their possessions
somewhere guarded and secure. The honeycomb like arrangements folds up when not
in use to permit for easy transportation to wherever the canopies are moved.
The wars of
Syria, Lybia, Palestine, Afghanistan and Pakistan rewrote a new genre in the
domain of refugee literature. They delineates that refugees are the face of
environmental denigration, forced war and world politics. Their displacement
has also led to literary creativity. Here refugee literature acts as face of
defiance and strength in the face of colonial power, vandalism and plunder.
Refugee
literature does not only consist of themes of environmental displacement and
the battle between colonial and colonized but it is also a literature which
reaches beyond nostalgia and trauma. The refugee traumas consist of multiple
social and political restraints that are etched on the memories of the
refugees.
Works cited
<https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/2013-kedarnath-flood-disaster-how-a-cloudburst-killed-6000-people-9-years-ago>.Web.30March.2025
<https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/environmental-refugee/>Web.30March.2025
Kedarnath.
Directed by Abhishek Kapoor, performances by Sushant Singh Rajput and sara Ali
khan, Rspv movies,2018.
<https://eluxemagazine.com/living/home/displaced-with-dignity-eco-refugee-shelters/>.Web.30March.2025
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449855.2018.1555206>.Web.30March.2025
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226050999_A_Theoretical_Understanding_of_Refugee_Trauma>.Web.30March.2025