cse has come up with a primer on anil agarwal writings. it is called AA Reader - Anil Agarwal Reader.

anil agarwal (1947-2002) was a pioneer and shall we call, the father of india's environmental movement. he pioneered several ideas/concepts/solutions/etc that even now - 5 years after his death - are far ahead of our times.

this takes the cake. if ever we wonder why we want polluting factories to task is because of precise 'drinking water' that anil agarwal had.

Turned out that they were specimens of the “drinking water” available to the villagers of Bichhri, Rajasthan, who had lost their only source of potable water when a firm manufacturing H-acid moved into the vicinity. It was typical of Agarwal to display those bottles as an irrefutable argument for why polluters must pay.

2 of my favourites quotes of the legend are

"The environment is not just pretty trees and tigers… threatened plants and ecosystems. It is literally the entity on which we all subsist, and on which entire agricultural and industrial development depends." "It is time we demand environmental security, just like we demand economic security".

"It is time we demanded environmental security, just like we demand economic security".

(anil agarwal: 1947 - 2002, founder of cse, leader and pioneer of india's environmental movement)