DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY (2020) UNIVERSITY OF DELHI Vipul Singh MA Semester II: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY, 1500-2000 Course Requirements: Attendance and class participation in the form of ONE Assignment, ONE Presentation and ONE Class Test (10+10+10 = 30 marks); 70 marks for Semester Exam. Assignment would be from topics discussed in... Continue Reading →
Climate Crisis and the Making of Early Modern Monuments
Idea of initiating big projects is relevant even in today’s time when the country is facing economic slowdown. The construction of highways, railway networks, metro line projects, and the monuments could work as magic for the tottering economy.
Photo by Vipul Singh
Climate Crisis and the Making of Early Modern Monuments
Vipul Singh / Speakinghistory / November 2019 / 5 minutes (1040 words)
ABSTRACT: When variation in rainfall and intensity of droughts became very high in the seventeenth century Shahjahan used state’s treasury for grand projects to give employment to suffering cultivators during drought years so that they survive and come back to plantation again when life would return to normal.
India has witnessed many monsoon failures, delayed monsoon, unseasonal rains, and torrential rains in formerly drier regions in recent few years. There are also occurrences of deluge in riverine landscapes and flood in cities due to heavy downpour. These unpredictable weather events have been linked to global warming and resultant climate change by the climate scientists. India is not the only country where climatic crisis is being experienced. It is happening in different parts of the world.
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Climate Crisis and the Making of Early Modern Monuments
When variation in rainfall and intensity of droughts became very high in the seventeenth century Shahjahan used state’s treasury for grand projects to give employment to suffering cultivators during drought years so that they survive and come back to plantation again when life would return to normal.
Water History and the Anthropocene
Water History and the Anthropocene Vipul Singh / Speakinghistory / November 2019 / 1236 words (5 minutes) BOOK REVIEW Jeremy J. Schmidt, Water: Abundance, Scarcity and Security in the Age of Humanity (New Delhi: Sage, 2018), pages 308. Droughts have become recurrent now a days all around the world, and climate scientists look at these... Continue Reading →
What role does a story play in environmental history?
I am starting a series of "Nature Stories" of the past from different parts of the world that would be published every fortnight on my blog http://www.speakinghistory.wordpress.com. A story or narrative is essential to our understanding of environmental history, and to figure out the human place in nature. An environmental historian is basically a storyteller.... Continue Reading →
Polluted Delhi: Why Government Needs a Policy around Beneficiary-pays Principle?
In a city such as Delhi, where there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor, poverty is glaring, and so is income inequality, a long-term policy of pollution control should be worked out. It should be based on beneficiary-pays principle. Taxpayers could be asked to pay extra environment conservation cess from the... Continue Reading →
Neo-Nationalism and Twenty Nineteen Elections
Nationalism is based on the premise that loyalty and devotion to the country are supreme and it surpasses the individual or group interests. It is one of the most powerful tools to keep people united specially in a country like India that has linguistically and culturally multiple religious and social groups. The early twentieth-century national... Continue Reading →
My Trip to Gangotri: Expanding Forest up the Hills Hint towards Climate Change
While climbing up the Gangotri hill I was surprised to see the size of the trees getting smaller and thinner, and they looked younger from the diameter of the trunks. It is an indicator of climate change. Earlier the very cold temperature did not allow any tree to grow, but over the last two decades... Continue Reading →
मेरी गंगोत्री यात्रा: गंगोत्री पर जलवायु परिवर्तन का असर
मेरी गंगोत्री यात्रा- गंगोत्री पर जलवायु परिवर्तन का असर गंगोत्री पहाड़ के ऊपर चढ़ते हुए मुझे यह देखकर आश्चर्य हुआ कि ज्यों ज्यों मैं ऊपर जा रहा था पेड़ों के आकार छोटे होते जा रहे थे और तने के व्यास से वे युवा लग रहे थे। यह वातावरणीय बदलाव का सूचक है। संभवतः पूर्व में... Continue Reading →
क्या बिना पर्यावरण को नुकसान पहुंचाए आधुनिक जीवन संभव है ?
क्या बिना पर्यावरण को नुकसान पहुंचाए आधुनिक जीवन संभव है ? पर्यावरण की हानि को रोकने के लिए साधू बनने की जरूरत नहीं है ; क्योंकि इसका अर्थ होगा अपने आप को मानव मानने से पूर्णतया अस्वीकार करना।
