Amid the debate over alleged rise in intolerance in the country, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar here on Saturday said there should be intolerance against rising pollution and injustice.
"Misplaced tolerance and misplaced intolerance is dangerous for any society," he said, while noting that the issue was highlighted so much in India that it found its way into the American press.
"Recently the issue of intolerance in India was raised so much that even 'New York Times' and 'Washington Post' wrote about it. I say we need intolerance in India against rising pollution, injustice, adharma (irreligious practices) and ashuchita (impurity)," the spiritual leader said.
He was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day seminar on 'Global Warming and Climate Change: A Way Out,' organised in the run-up to the `Simhastha' (Kumbh) festival to be held in Ujjain in May 2016. The founder of the Art of living Foundation said the right proportion of tolerance and intolerance is missing in the country.
"People throw waste and garbage in the Ganga river and pollute farmland by using chemicals. All this despite the fact that our age-old traditions speak about conservation of earth and its resources," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan emphasised on conserving nature and avoiding over- exploitation of its resources to ensure ecological balance. He said in May a mega seminar on climate change will be organised and it will be inaugurated by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The concluding session of the event will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that human beings' greed is responsible for environmental imbalance. He said that society should ponder over environmental balance and conservation and get associated with it. Ways to give respect to nature must be revived.
He said that awareness towards environment problems like climate change and global warming already exists in India. The country has the tradition to worship nature and respect rivers as mothers. Trees, plants, animals and birds are given respect. He said that only the approach and view-point towards environment has to be changed.
Chouhan stated that the conclusions of this symposium in the context of Simhastha-2016 would be released as 'Simhastha Declaration' on May, 12, 13 and 14, 2016 during Simhastha at Ujjain. This would be a message of India for the entire world.