Mumbai Literature Festival: Ranjit Hoskote calls for public role in climate decisions

Poet Ranjit Hoskote called for “a participatory politics” around environmental decisions at a Mumbai Literature Festival panel, saying individual action cannot match the scale of ecological destruction.

At *Before the Bow Breaks*, part of Mumbai Literature Festival, Hoskote questioned development policies that favour commercial extraction over ecological sustainability. He criticised policies that treat forests as revenue-producing plantations, and said wetlands and deserts are habitats rather than wastelands.

Hoskote also discussed proposed dams in Arunachal Pradesh and described the Himalayas as the world’s “third pole”, under pressure. He read from *Catapult* and *Departures*, works that explore vulnerability, vanishing habitats and environmental damage.

Writer Bela discussed *Gyangirin*, which compares a limestone quarry to a gangrenous wound. Playwright Amulya spoke about *Remember, Remember*, inspired by an island of butterflies submerged after dam construction. The panel brought quarrying, dam-related habitat loss and public participation into the discussion.