The Story of Pluto: A Historical Account of the Marginal Peoples Adjacent to the East Kolkata Wetlands/ অথ প্লুটো কথা : পূর্ব কলকাতা জলাভূমি সংলগ্ন প্রান্তজনেদের ঐতিহাসিক আলেখ্য

Abstract

Environmental history has emerged as a highly relevant topic in recent historical studies. At the heart of which is the study of the history of people related to the environment. We will focus on one of the two perspectives on history: ‘History from Above’ and ‘History from Below’. The study of environmental history also begins from the perspective of ‘History from Below’. Because the people of the lower classes are always closely involved with the environment. One notable example of this relationship between people and in the environment is the East Kolkata Wetlands, an area spanning 125 square kilometres in the eastern part of Kolkata with 260 fish ponds. This wetland is absorbing the cities clods like Neelkantha Shiva. In fact there is no separate sewage system in Kolkata. Everyday 910 million litres of liquid waste from the city ends up in this wetland. The local people of East Calcutta wetlands here use natural methods to purify the wastewater with their creative knowledge. As a result, they annually produce 20,000 tons of fish, 150 tons of vegetables, 16,000 metric tons of rice by using this purified water. Not only in productivity, but also absorbs about 60% of the city’s carbon. Most of which is given to the city dwellers. The clean air, the fish, the vegetables and the fragrance of the beads, this wetlands give back to the city dwellers everything that is good, everything that is pleasant. The local people are the ones who churn out nectar by churning the mechanical clods of the city. The people adjacent to the wetlands have saved the environment of Kolkata city by using their creative traditional knowledge, and have developed a metabolic relationship between Kolkata and its surrounding environment. In the words of environmentalist Ghosh which is well known as ‘Living Creatively with Nature’. But this people remain marginalized to the main stream of society. The resident of the East Kolkata Wetlands are treated as ‘peripheral’ or ‘other’ by the mainstream city dwellers. This situation replace a type of ‘Cognitive Apartheid’ or ‘knowledge-based discrimination’, as described by environmentalist Dhrubajyoti Ghosh. This term highlights the exclusion of this people’s traditional knowledge and practices from the main stream recognition and value systems. According to Marxist theory, when wealth is concentrated from villages to cities, cities become powerful in all aspects, and as a result, marginal areas remain marginal. This evident in the perception of the wetland community by urban dwellers, who often see them as ‘backword’ or less significant. Despite this margin these people continue to perform essential environmental function, creating a ‘living creatively with nature’ model that sustains both their livelihoods and the cities ecological health. This discussion shedding light on marginalisation, livelihoods, creativity and the relationship between people and environment of East Kolkata Wetlands.