UNIT 2 HUMAN ENVIRONMENT - A

SPEECH
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Reading Comprehension: ‘Human Environment’ a Speech by Indira
Gandhi
2.2 Vocabulary: Similar Words used in Different Contexts
2.3 Grammar and Usage: Concord of Number and Person-II
2.4 Listening: Conversation between Friends
2.5 Writing: An Essay
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Answers

2.0 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit you should be able to:
 read speeches on matters of current interest with understanding;
 distinguish between pairs of words with related meanings;
 use concord of number and person correctly;
 write paragraphs forming part of a short essay with the help of a given
outline;
 listen to a conversation and answer questions on it.

2.1 READING COMPREHENSION: ‘HUMAN

ENVIRONMENT’ A SPEECH BY
INDIRA GANDHI
Study Guide
Think critically, think deep, think hard. No matter what you are studying, the
habit of thinking things through is vital. Force yourself to ask questions before
you begin, while you are studying and when you have finished. The main questions
are: WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE, HOW and WHO.
Read the passage and answer all the comprehension questions that follow it. You
should then check your answers with those given by us at the end of the unit.

One cannot be truly human and civilized unless one looks upon not only all
fellow-men but all creation with the eyes of a friend. Throughout India,
edicts carved on rocks and iron pillars are reminders that 22 centuries ago
Emperor Ashoka defined a king’s duty as not merely to protect citizens and
punish wrong-doers but also to preserve animal life and forest trees. Ashoka
was the first and perhaps the only monarch until very recently, to forbid the
killing of a large number of species of animals for sport or food. He went
further, regretting the carnage of his military conquests and enjoining upon
his successors to find “their only pleasure in the peace that comes through
righteousness.”
Along with the rest of mankind, we in India in spite of Ashoka have been
guilty of wanton disregard for the sources of our sustenance. We share your
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The Environment
concern at the rapid deterioration of flora and fauna. Some of our own wild
life has been wiped out, miles of forests with beautiful old trees, mute
witnesses of history, have been destroyed. Even though our industrial
development is in its infancy, and at its most difficult stage, we are taking
various steps to deal with incipient environmental imbalances; the more so
because of our concern for the human being-a species which is also imperiled.
In poverty he is threatened by malnutrition and disease, in weakness by
war, in richness by the pollution brought about by his own prosperity.
On the one hand, the rich look askance at our continuing poverty; on the
other, they warn us against their own methods. We do not wish to impoverish
the environment any further and yet we cannot for a moment forget the
grim poverty of large numbers of people. Are not poverty and need the
greatest polluters? For instance, unless we are in a position to provide
employment and purchasing power for the daily necessities of the tribal
people and those who live in or around jungles, we cannot prevent them
from combing the forest for food and livelihood, from poaching and from
despoiling the vegetation. When they themselves feel deprived, how can
we urge the preservation of animals? How can we speak to those who live
in villages or slums about keeping the oceans, the rivers and air clean when
their own lives are contaminated at the source? The environment cannot be
improved in conditions of poverty. Nor can poverty be eradicated without
the use of science and technology.
Must there be conflict between technology and a truly better world or
between enlightenment of the spirit and a higher standard of living?
Foreigners sometimes ask what to us seems a very strange question, whether
progress in India would not mean a diminishing of her spirituality or her
values. Is spiritual quality so superficial as to be dependent upon the lack of
material comfort? As a country we are not more or less spiritual than any
other but traditionally our people have respected the spirit of detachment
and renunciation.
The Government of India is one of the few which has an officially sponsored
programme of family planning and this is making some progress. We believe
that planned families will make for a healthier and more conscious population
but we know also that no programme of population control can be effective
without education and without a visible rise in the standard of living. Our
own programmes have succeeded in the urban or semi-urban areas. To the
very poor, every child is an earner and a helper. We are experimenting with
new approaches and the family planning programme is being combined
with those of maternity and child welfare, nutrition and development in
general.
It is an over-simplification to blame all the world’s problems on increasing
population. Countries with about a small fraction of the world population
consume the bulk of the world’s production of minerals, fossil fuels and so
on. Thus, we see that when it comes to the depletion of natural resources
and environmental pollution the increase of one inhabitant in an affluent
country, at his level of living, is equivalent to an increase of many Asians,
Africans or Latin Americans at their current material levels of living.
[From Indira Gandhi’s address at the United Nations Conference in 1972]

Comprehension Questions
Check Your Progress 1
1. What is the main idea of the speech? Circle some of the points that were
16 raised in the speech from the list given below.
 King Ashoka, poverty, preservation of environment, population, Latin Human Environment –
A Speech
America, edicts, problems, Indian world view, Western world view, solutions
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2. How does Indira Gandhi establish India’s long history of peaceful
co-existence?
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3. The environment around us has been destroyed. What are the three
examples given?
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4. It is not only the environment but human beings also who are in danger.

i) What dangers face them when they are poor?

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ii) What dangers face them when they are politically weak?
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iii) What dangers face them when they are rich?
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5. Mention the ways in which the poor are compelled to spoil the environment.
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6. How can poverty be removed?
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7. What have Indians down the ages respected?
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8. When can a programme of population control be successful?
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9. Why do some poor people want large families?
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10. Natural resources are being depleted.
i) How are the developed countries responsible for this?
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ii) How are the developing countries responsible for this?
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The Environment
2.2 VOCABULARY: SIMILAR WORDS USED IN
DIFFERENT CONTEXTS
Check Your Progress 2
Fill in the blanks with suitable words out of those given in brackets.
i. a) Children in this orphanage are happy because they are well …… ………
b) Many trees in the jungles are now ………………… by the Forest
Department. (preserved, looked after)
ii. a) We are …………………to speak loudly in the library.
b) Smoking in cinema halls is ……………… (prohibited, forbidden)
iii. a) Many trees in the forests have been …………………
b) Standards of morality have been……… (destroyed, deteriorated)
iv. a) We …………………reading stories.
b) It is a ……………… walking in the hills. (pleasure, enjoy)
v. a) They spent a lot of money on their daughter’s wedding, so their bank
balance has now been …………………
b) Mr. Lal has been unemployed for four years now. He and his family are
quite ………………… (impoverished, depleted)
Check Your Progress 3
Use the following words in sentences. Use a dictionary, if necessary.
empty, vacant
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environment, neighbourhood
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employment, job
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clean, pure
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2.3 GRAMMAR AND USAGE: CONCORD OF

NUMBER AND PERSON-II
In this section you will learn how verbs in the present tense agree with their
subjects in number and person.
Look at these examples from the reading passage in Section 2.1.
Subject Verb
Paragraph 1 one looks
Paragraph 2 we share
Paragraph 3 they warn
they feel
Paragraph 4 foreigners ask
Paragraph 5 we believe
we know
Paragraph 6 countries consume
we see
18 it comes
You will find more examples in the following extract from a newspaper. The Human Environment –
A Speech
verbs are printed in bold type. Notice how they agree with their subjects in number.
Almost every full moon night, the officials in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
take part in a curious ritual. The tribesmen watch from a safe distance as
the officials approach the island in a boat carrying gifts for them. The
islanders come forward hesitantly only after the officials have dumped the
coconuts brought for them onto the beach and begin sailing away from
their small island. On some nights the tribals even muster enough courage
to swim up to a few feet away from the boat.
The Lieutenant Governor maintains that they do not want to interfere with
the way of life of the tribals. The islands rely heavily on the mainland for
most goods. (from The Times of India)

In verbs that have regular forms the third person singular of the present simple
tense is formed by the addition of –s or –es (for example looks, comes, maintains,
relies, passes, mixes, reaches, pushes). The simple form is used in all other cases.
Examples:
1. Government officials give the islanders coconuts as gifts. The Lieutenant
governor gives the islanders food and medicines.
I like reading stories.
We
You
All of us
Most children
2. 3rd person singular subject verb with-s
My Friend Suresh likes reading poems.
The doctor
He
She
No one
One of my friends

Check Your Progress 4

1. Fill in the blanks with the correct present tense forms of the verbs given
below:
(say, show, come, be, change, need, try, want, spend, speak)
i) Animal lovers …………….. to find a shelter for injured animals.
ii) There ………..a number of good schools in this city.
iii) What we………..is a sound philosophy of education.
iv) You …………..advised not to be too generous with your time.
v) He …………..no English.
vi) He………….more time in India than anywhere else in the world.
vii) Faith, they……………., can move mountains.
viii) They………….here to satisfy their curiosity.
ix) He………………to come here as a guest.
x) My watch ……………the date as well as the time. The date
……………automatically at midnight. 19
The Environment 2. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words in the present tense.
Our country ……….rich in indigenous plants, trees and wildlife, called flora
and fauna. We …….. many natural resources. However, we ………… in
danger of losing these resources if we ………….not look after them properly.
Everyone ……………to be involved in finding ways to protect and manage
India’s natural resources. Think about a list of small things you can do to
protect your environment. Think of ways in which technology, for example
……… help to protect our environment.

2.4 LISTENING: CONVERSATION BETWEEN

FRIENDS
Listen to this discussion between two friends. Listen to it again to answer the
following questions. It will help to read the questions before you listen to the
discussion.
Anil: Hi Susan! Long time, no see. Where have you been? Didn’t see you in
class yesterday.
Susan: Yes, just got back this morning. Had taken a group of school kids to a
village near Saharanpur.
Anil: You! To a village near Saharanpur? With kids? Can’t believe it! You’ve
changed so much! Why to a village? What’s there in a village to see?
Susan: When will you grow up, Anil? You talk like a child; you aren’t aware of
the great things happening in the development sector.
Anil: You mean NGOs and things like that?
Susan: Yes, I took a school trip to DISHA. It’s an NGO working in Saharanpur
for over two decades. I went as a facilitator to make the exposure to rural
life a good experience for the urban children.
Anil: Did the children like it? No ACs, no toilets!
Susan: You haven’t a clue how the rural scene is changing! Technology and
education has had a positive impact. Farmers there are also into organic
farming. Harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers are not used. And
the educated village youth are involved in all these projects.
Anil: I think technology, social commitment and good planning is reducing
the rural and urban divide. Good show! How did you get involved in
all this?
Susan: That’s a long story. I once went for a talk on ….
Check Your Progress 5
1. Say whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F) or Not Given
(NG):-
i) Susan has been coming to college regularly.
ii) Anil went to Saharanpur.
iii) Susan loves children.
iv) Susan is a part-time teacher at a school.
v) All the school children loved the trip.
vi) Educated village youth work in cities.
20 vii) Technology and education have had a positive impact on village life.
2. In her speech Indira Gandhi discusses the close relationship between Human Environment –
A Speech
technology, education and environment. Pick two examples of this from the
conversation you have just heard.
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2.5 WRITING: AN ESSAY

Check Your Progress 6
Complete this essay on ‘Trees are our best friends’ by writing Paragraph 3 and 4
with the help of the outline given.
1. Trees are useful to human beings in three important ways: they provide
them with wood and other products; they give them shade; and they help
to prevent droughts and floods.
2. Unfortunately human beings have not realized that the last of these services
is the most important. In their eagerness to make quick money, they have cut
down trees in large numbers, only to find that with them they have lost the
best friend they had.
3. Two thousand years ago  a powerful country cut down trees  to build
warships  conquered  a large empire  but without trees the soil became
hard  poor  country faced flood and starvation.
4. Governments realize importance of trees  difficult to persuade the poor
person  wood to cook  make charcoal  people too careless to plant new
trees  essential to educate people  otherwise forests will disappear.
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The Environment
2.6 LET US SUM UP
In this unit we have given you practice in
 understanding an extract from Indira Gandhi’s speech on ‘Human
Environment’,
 distinguishing between pairs of words that have related meanings and using
them in appropriate contexts,
 concord of number and person,
 writing paragraphs of an essay with the help of a given outline, and
 listening to a conversation.

2.7 ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
1. Preservation of environment  problems and solutions.
2. Refers to King Ashoka and his edicts. Kings duty to protect all creation.
3. i) Some of the wild animals have been destroyed completely,
ii) Some of the forests have also been destroyed, and
iii) Industrial development has upset the balance in our environment.
4. i) They face the danger of poor nutrition and disease.
ii) They face the danger of war.
iii) They face the danger of an impure environment.
5. When the poor people living around the jungles cannot get employment and
cannot afford their basic necessities, they have to search for food in the forests,
kill animals there, and cut down trees and plants.
6. By the use of science and technology.
7. Detachment and renunciation.
8. When we spread education and raise the standard of living of the people.
9 They think every child is an earner and a helper.
10. i) The developed countries consume most of the world’s production of
minerals and fossil fuels.
ii) In developing countries people are so poor and their lives are so
contaminated that they cannot think of keeping the air, the rivers, and
the oceans clean.
Check Your Progress 2
i. a ) looked after iv. a) enjoy
b ) preserved b) pleasure
ii. a ) prohibited v. a ) depleted
b) forbidden b ) impoverished
iii. a) destroyed
b) deteriorated
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Check Your Progress 3 Human Environment –
A Speech
Sample answer
This water bottle is empty. I must fill it again.
The post of Principal at this college has been vacant for some time.
A man’s character is influenced by his environment.
There are some very friendly people in our neighbourhood.
A large number of educated people in India cannot get suitable employment.
If you do not like your present job, try to find another one.
To avoid disease, we should keep our environment clean.
The air in our cities is not pure because of the number of vehicles plying.

Check Your Progress 4

1. i- try, ii- are, iii- need, iv- are, v- speaks, vi- spends, vii- say,
viii- are/come, ix- wants, x- shows, changes
2. Our country is rich in indigenous plants, trees and wildlife, called flora and
fauna. We have many natural resources. However, we are in danger of losing
these resources if we do not look after them properly. Everyone needs to be
involved in finding ways to protect and manage India’s natural resources.
Think about a list of small things you can do to protect your environment.
Think of ways in which technology, for example, can help to protect our
environment.
Check Your Progress 5
1. i) F, ii) F, iii) F, iv) F, v) NG, vi) F, vii) T
2. i) Educated village youth work in all development projects.
ii) Farmers have turned to organic farming.
Check Your Progress 6
Do it yourself.

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