'State of the World Report' in Kannada

By Alladi Jayasri

BANGALORE, JAN. 12. State of the World Report, the flagship publication of the Worldwatch Institute, has for the first time been translated into Kannada, and the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Prof. B.K. Chandrashekhar, will release both the versions here on Saturday.

The Worldwatch Institute has been publishing these reports for the last 18 years. These reports are well-researched by the institute's team members who bring an interdisciplinary perspective to the data from around the world, providing information on how to build a sustainable society. These reports take a fresh look at the most difficult challenge the world faces: how to build an environmentally sustainable economy before we do permanent damage to the natural systems that support our global civilization.

It also brings out a bi-monthly magazine, Worldwatch, and each one is a veritable collector's issue. Over the years, the magazine and reports covering wide-ranging issues from the environment angle, have examined how the coming of computers to California have wiped out its orange and peaches orchards, predicted a future where petrol will be the alternative fuel, while solar energy and electricity will power vehicles.

And, unlike other environment-watching institutions and individuals, Worldwatch has stolidly ploughed a lonely furrow in refusing to be the proverbial predictor of doom. Reports on the world's hunger and warnings of water wars invariably offer solutions and suggestions, which if heeded, would make, for instance, India's burgeoning population a very small problem indeed.

State of the World 2001 is slated for release at Washington on Saturday. It was originally intended to be released in three languages in the U.S., the U.K. and India (English version) and in Japan and Korea.

Till now, India imported the book at a hefty $15, and thanks to low import numbers and the price, it was available to only a few people and institutions. Since the last 2 years, the Chennai- based Earthworm Books has been publishing SOW for South Asia region as a low price edition.

Considering the importance of the book and the value of information it contains, the Nagarika Seva Trust (NST), a voluntary agency, has decided to publish it in Kannada. Mr. H.C. Sharatchandra, environmentalist, led the translation team, and the book has been translated into Kannada, printed and made ready for release in three weeks.

This is the first time that State of the World is being brought out in an Indian language, and its release will coincide with the English version in Washington D.C.

The NST is a development organisation which has been active on various issues of rural development since 1976. The year 2001 marks the 25th year of its active life in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka. Its Environment Support Group Project is situated in Bangalore and functions as a support system for NGOs, community groups and movements on environmental issues with research, training and advocacy.

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