Money matters

Upon her request, when she was terminally ill, I installed as part of my wife Norma’s tombstone, a granite stone with the following inscription: “ A ‘green’ message from the grave: ‘Only after the last tree has been cut down; Only after the last river has been poisoned; Only after the last fish has been caught; Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.”

I write this in the context of the Rs 5 crore the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has very foolishly imposed on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Rs 15 crore or more extravaganza — an amount which could wipe out the agricultural debt of farmers in this country who are on the verge of committing suicide. If you have enough money to pay a penalty, you can go ahead and “rape” mother nature is a criminal and disastrously dangerous message for the NGT to send out. C. Antony Louis Mumbai