Governance Today February 2016 by Governance Today

Getting public transport right p.32

Lacking skill p.40

FEBRUARY 2016 VOL. - 02 ISSUE - 05 `60 RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662 ISSN 2455-0426 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-02-2016 Date of Posting 07-02-2016

Rebuild Indian Urban Transport

Editor-in-Chief Ajit Sinha Editor Anand Mishra Senior Copy Editor Ramesh K Raja Correspondents Lekshmi Parameswaran, Praveen Raman Ritika Bisht, Sagarika Ranjan Guest Writers & Contributors Shobhna Jha, Sonali Patnaik, Siddhartha Upadhyay Graphic Designer Girdhar Chandra Fuloria Web Architect Farhan Khan CORPORATE OFFICE Strategy Head Ajay Kumar VP Sales Gautam Navin gautam@governancetoday.co.in I 07840086704 Siddharth Verma siddharth@governancetoday.co.in I 9990091298 VP Strategic Alliance & Branding Salil Dhar salil@governancetoday.co.in I 7840086708 SALES & MARKETING (CORP) Anupam Gupta, Shubham Gupta, Anjana Yadav, Vaishali Gupta sales@governancetoday.co.in I 0120-4234008 GOVERNMENT ALLIANCE Stuti Bhushan I 09999371606 Vaibhav Jaiswal I 07840086705 ADVERTISEMENT Abhijeet Srivastava I 09990098572 Karamjeet Singh I 09990098732 ACCOUNTS EXECUTIVE Yogesh Chikara FOR SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT Manoj Kr. Singh I 9582523671 subscription@governancetoday.co.in ADVISORY BOARD Terry Culver Associate Dean, SIPA, University of Columbia Vinit Goenka National Co-Convener, IT Cell, BJP Amod Kanth General Secretary Prayas JAC Society Pratap Mohanty Former Dy Educational Advisor, MHRD, GOI Ranjit Walia Managing Counsel Walia & Co. Published By Ajit Kumar Sinha 713, 3BA - Tower No. - 4, River Heights, Raj Nagar Extn - Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh-201003 Printed & Published by Ajit Kumar Sinha on behalf of Odyssey Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Rama Offset Printers A-43, Sector - 10, Noida, UP - 201301 Editor-In-Chief: Ajit Kumar Sinha @ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, and mechanical, including photocopy, or any other information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission.

4 I February 2016

14 Bihar: A decade of progress

THE RECENT electoral victory of Nitish Kumar, third in a row, has underscored the growth and governance style pursued by him over last decade. When he assumed office in 2005, the state was suffering from a negative image, low growth and broad despondency. However, over the last decade, the tide has changed and the most important indication of this growth has been the high economic growth rate clocked by the state during this period. The state recorded a growth rate of nearly 18 per cent at current price during 201414. In 2004-05, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was Rs 77,781.16 crore, which increased in 2014-15 to Rs 402,282 crore. The image of the state has also undergone a tremendous uplift. Bihar’s economic growth has been strong under Nitish Kumar’s tenure as Chief Minister. Further, its performance in agriculture was second only to Madhya Pradesh. Also, on most socio-economic indicators, post 2005, the performance of the state is not only better than its own performance in the previous decade, but also than that of comparable states or the national average. And in this developmental paradigm, as an ASSOCHAM study released in 2013 showed, public investment has played the most important role, acting as stimulus to growth. www.governancetoday.co.in

TO ENSURE COMPETITION ULBS WILL BE RANKED ON DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF URBAN GOVERNANCE Amrit Lal Meena Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar

15 19 24 32 35

PROMOTING CYCLING NEXT ON OUR AGENDA TO ENSURE LESSER POLLUTION Gopal Rai Transport Minister, Delhi

THE CHALLENGE OF URBANIZING BIHAR INCENTIVIZING INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT REBUILDING INDIAN URBAN TRANSPORT GETTING PUBLIC TRANSPORT RIGHT KINETIC INTRODUCES ELECTRIC AUTO, KINETIC SAFAR

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO HOP ON ALTERNATIVE FUELS BANDWAGON?

LACKING SKILL

44 GETTING PRIVATE SECTOR TO DEVELOP

SKILL 50 58 47

TECH COLLABORATIONS WILL CONTINUE TO BE A DRIVING FORCE IN INDO-US RELATIONSHIP Richard Rossow Senior Fellow, CSIS

www.governancetoday.co.in

A NEGLECTED CASE LOST CHILDHOOD LUNG CANCER INCREASING ALARMINGLY IN INDIA JUSTICE LODHA’S REPORT: CRICKET IS THE ULTIMATE WINNER IS FREE ALWAYS DESIRABLE?

February 2016 I 5

Getting public transport right p.32

Lacking skill p.40

Pragmatic and futuristic p.46

Bihar: At critical juncture p.52

FEBRUARY 2016 VOL. - 02 ISSUE - 05 `60 RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662 ISSN 2455-0426 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-02-2016 Date of Posting 07-02-2016 JANUARY 2016 VOL. - 02 ISSUE - 04 `60 RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662 ISSN 2455-0426 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-01-2016 Date of Posting 07-01-2016

Giriraj Singh MoS, MSMEs

“Our basic motto is to make India more competitive” P. 17

MSMEs:

PUSHING THE AGENDA Bihar: A decade of progress

Editorial

Bihar shows the way THE STATE of Bihar has made tremendous progress over last decade. The state which was known mostly for wrong reasons, has started to make positive buzz at all economic conferences. The growth rate of the state since 2005 has been very strong, which has made Bihar among the fastest growing states in the country. Last fiscal the state grew at a scorching 17 per cent at current price. Two main aspects of the states progress over last ten years have been the primacy of public investment and the improvement of governance. First, when many other states are making great efforts to push private investment, Bihar has made public investment primary growth vehicles. Second, the improvement in governance is displayed in improving social indicators, including reducing poverty rate. But the state still has a lot to do to alleviate widespread poverty. The urbanization is also a challenge for the state. Further, urban transportation needs to be improved. Those who live in Delhi NCR very often spend two hours getting to work in morning and returning home again in evening. That means they roughly spend a half of their office hours just to get to the place of work. Funny as it may sound, it has multiple implications for commuters and for country. People not only waste their precious hours on road, they inhale poisonous air all this while, lose on time what could have been put to productive work and finally, lose on the productivity at office and home. For country, it all translates into lost working hours, unhealthy society and billions of rupees in wasted oil in traffic jams. Urban India cuts a sorry figure when it comes to mobility. Indian cities are also burgeoning. More cities are coming into existence and existing ones are bursting at seams as people are migrating from rural areas to urban centers to search for jobs. That obviously puts enormous burden on the transportation infrastructure. As pressure on public transport increases, increasing number of people switch to personalized modes most notably two wheelers and cars. This in turn is congests roads. Needless to say, Indian cities need huge increase in transport infrastructure in terms of road, bus fleets and suburban rails etc. But that in itself is not enough. Transport systems need to get more sophisticated. Higher end technologies need to be adopted to increase the efficiency of transport modes. Further, technology can allow higher predictability and better integration between different modes. Reforms are also need at institutional level, so that a single body managed all modes of transport in a city. Most important aspect of having a better managed urban transport is to have an intelligent urban planning that reduces mobility needs. Finally, transport planning needs to put non motorized transportation, i.e. walking and cycling public on top and provide them with facilities that could encourage motorcycle and cars users to switch to walking or cycling for short travels. Unless the state can fix city planning and transport planning, it cannot offer a good quality of life to its urban citizens, which is their due right. Best regards

Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief

www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 7

THUS THEY SPOKE I am for stable governance and predictable taxation system. The government is taking various steps to ensure this stability. This government is known for stable and predictable tax regime.

Narendra Modi Prime Minister

I have not kept any portfolios with myself. I am standing like a wall between my ministers and the central government. And, I won’t let my ministers be troubled by the Centre. I’ll take care of it all by myself.

Arvind Kejriwal Chief Minister, Delhi

Modi government’s decision to impose President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh reflects travesty of Constitutional mandate, subjugation of federalism and trampling of democracy.

Randeep Singh Surjewala Congress leader

When you sing the ‘Jana Gana Mana’, your head is always held high, but when you sing it (standing) in the centre of the ground, then... seena chauda ho jata hai (chest swells with pride).

Sachin Tendulkar Former cricketer

Pakistan has an opportunity to show that it is serious about delegitimising, disrupting and dismantling terrorist networks. In the region and around the world, there must be zero tolerance for safe havens and terrorists must be brought to justice.

Barack Obama President, US

I don’t know how to thank you all for every ounce of all your love and support for #Airlift, feeling extremely humbled.

8 I February 2016

Akshay Kumar Actor, Bollywood

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GOVERNANCE WATCH

PM unveils Start-up India plan PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi unveiled a series of initiatives recently to support the country’s start-ups, including three years of tax and compliance breaks aimed at cutting onerous government regulations and red tape. The PM also reiterated plans to set up a Rs 10,000 crore start-up fund, which was first announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the interim budget of 2014-15. Modi also said start-ups would benefit from cheaper and faster patent applications, a capital gains waiver if the money is reinvested in a similar venture, as well as easier exit for failed projects. While the announcements will likely help improve the environment for start-ups in India, it wasn’t immediately clear how measures such as three-year tax breaks could help small-bore, innovative ventures that struggle for years to break even.

Kerala first state to achieve 100% primary education KERALA HAS become the first state in the country to attain 100 per cent primary education. To this effect, a declaration was made by Vice President Hamid Ansari at a special ceremony organised at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala recently. The success of Kerala in achieving total primary education can be attributed to various initiatives undertaken by the Kerala Literacy Mission in the last two decades. Especially, the Athulyam Scheme, which was implemented in two stages, played a significant role in addressing the educational needs of illiterate adults. The second stage of the scheme, namely Mission 676, targeted those between ages 15 and 50 who, for one reason or the other, dropped out of the formal education process. Prior to the Athulyam Scheme, the fourth standard equivalency programme was started in 2000 in association with local bodies.

‘Bad bank’ likely in India to engross NPAs THE FINANCE ministry is mulling setting up of a ‘bad bank’ — one that will absorb non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector lenders. The issue was discussed at a pre-budget meeting between finance minister Arun Jaitley and top economists recently. The NPA level, currently over 6% of banks’ total advances, has become a cause for concern. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to be closely monitoring the situation himself. Once NPAs — loans that do not yield returns — are segregated and transferred into a new “bank”, lenders can resume normal business functioning and start lending again instead of focussing on management of bad assets. The ‘bad bank’ can either hold the bad assets until borrowers start repaying or look at selling those stressed assets to investors. www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 9

GOVERNANCE WATCH

Sikkim first organic state in the country PRIME MINISTER Modi recently declared Sikkim as the first organic state in the country, saying it will soon become the forerunner of organic farming not only in India but around the world. The PM also handed over the Organic Certificate to Chief Minister Pawan Chamling in Gangtok. “Sikkim has paved its way into history and has set an example to the entire world that nature needs care and protection,” he told the National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare at Chintan Bhawan in Gangtok. With a population of around six lakhs, Sikkim is also known as the ‘land of flowers’. Sikkim is a landlocked state nestled in Himalayas with no train or commercial flight connectivity till date. But Sikkim managed to succeed in its mission overcoming all the obstacles.

Andhra retail policy to create 20,000 jobs by 2020 THE ANDHRA Pradesh government has introduced ‘Retail Trade Policy – 2016’, with the aim to invite Rs 5000 crore investments in the sector and create 20,000 job opportunities by 2020. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said, “Andhra Pradesh has a huge potential to become one of the leading destinations for retail trade. The retail trade is a key driver for socio-economic development in the state and will continue to be a significant employment generator.” The state contributes about eight per cent India’s total retail market of 13 million stores. There are 1.04 million retail stores which include organized and unorganized retail. The organized sector comprises 83,000 stores in the state and by 2017 1,66,000 retail stores are expected to open in the state.

Postal department to install 1,000 ATMs by March this year THE DEPARTMENT of Posts (DoP) has planned to open 1,000 ATMs by March this year, with the aim to bring all 25,000 departmental post offices under CBS (core banking system). The CBS will enable customers to operate their accounts, and avail banking services from any post office on CBS network, regardless of where they maintain their account. According to DoP officials, it has already rolled out core CBS in 12,441 post offices along with 300 ATMs. DoP has 25,000 departmental post offices and 1,30,000 rural post offices across the country. Regarding rural post offices, the official said all 130,000 post offices would be provided with solar powered, biometric hand-held devices by March 2017. Supply to these devices to about 20,000 rural branch post offices shall be completed by March 31 this year. To promote financial inclusion, the DoP is also going to set up payment bank by March 2017. 10 I February 2016

www.governancetoday.co.in

GOVERNANCE WATCH

Maharashtra to hire retired officers, employees for special tasks THE MAHARASHTRA government will soon engage retired government officers and employees for specific tasks on the honorary contractual basis. In a statement issued recently, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government shall prepare a region-wise list of such retired officers and employees. “The retired officers and employees appointed under the policy will get a maximum honorarium amount of Rs 40,000 and the age limit for appointment will be 70 years,” he said. At present, there is a freeze on recruitment in some government departments and hence if the services of retired expert officers and employees are utilised, then it will bring improvement in the overall functioning. He said the selection to the panels shall be made on the applications received from the candidates.

PM declassifies 100 secret Netaji files PM NARENDRA Modi released recently the first set of 100 declassified files pertaining to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the National Archives of India in New Delhi in the presence of members of the Bose family. The government plans to release in the public domain 25 declassified files each month. The release of the first set coincides with the 119th birth anniversary of the eminent freedom fighter and comes months before West Bengal goes to the polls. The files do not seem to throw up any new evidence suggesting the freedom fighter survived the plane crash in Taihoku, now in Taiwan, on August 18, 1945. A cabinet note of February 6, 1995, said that while the government accepted the plane crash theory on Bose’s death, it wasn’t advisable to bring back his ashes from Japan.

Panel to review security of defence establishments soon IN WAKE of the recent terror attack on the Pathankot airbase that exposed lack of proper perimeter security and electronic surveillance, the government is setting up a top-level committee to review security measures at defence bases and installations around the country. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar recently said orders have been issued to all commanding officers of different bases to undertake a thorough security assessment and fix loopholes through regular security audits. All commanding officers of different bases have been directed to “make an assessment of every threat and take immediate measures to ensure that any weakness is blocked”. Stating that the committee’s security review will not impede the ongoing NIA probe into the Pathankot attack, Parrikar said, “Let them complete (NIA) their investigation and we will do our analysis.” www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 11

GOVERNANCE WATCH

150 industries shut along Ganga for not installing OCEMS THE UNION government has issued closure orders to 150 grossly polluting industrial units for not installing Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring System (OCEMS) along river Ganga. Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that of the 764 polluting industries, 514 have already installed the monitoring system while 94 are in the process. He added that the industrial pollution has significantly come down in the river due to the installation of the monitoring system and added that the problem of black liquor discharge and spent wash into the river has also been largely controlled. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had formulated an action plan for abatement of industrial pollution in Ganga covering five key industrial sectors - sugar, paper and pulp, distillery, textile and tannery.

35% of government jobs to be reserved for women in Bihar KEEPING ONE of his seven poll promises, the Nitish Kumar cabinet in Bihar cleared a proposal to reserve 35 per cent of all government jobs for women. As of now, government job reservations include 16 per cent for scheduled castes, one per cent for scheduled tribes, 18 per cent for extremely backward classes, 12 per cent for other backward classes and three per cent for women, making a total of 50 per cent of all government jobs. The new reservation for women will now take up 35 per cent of vacant posts in the remaining 50 per cent of general category government jobs. That is to say, if there are 100 posts available in the general category, 35 will be kept aside for women. Before the assembly elections, Chief Minister Kumar had reserved 35 per cent of posts in the police constabulary for women, as well as 50 per cent in panchayats and local civic bodies.

CRWC working towards all-round development CRWC HAS committed to conserve spoilage of water by way of construction of water harvesting tanks at all terminals, stated Manoj Kumar Sharma, Public Relation Officer, CRWC. Besides, more than 1000 trees have been planted at all the terminals of CRWC on pan India basis to avoid air pollution which is a burning problem. In addition to above activities, CRWC is constructing Sulabh Souchalaya under Social Corporate responsibility, lot of other activities with the help of renowned NGOs for upliftment of downtrodden sector of society. Indeed CRWC is involved in all the activities announced by Prime Minister of India. It is encouraging that all such activities will bring changes in social life and there will be all round development of poor masses. 12 I February 2016

www.governancetoday.co.in

GLOBAL WATCH

130 Pak nukes aimed to deter India EXPRESSING CONCERN that Islamabad’s “full spectrum deterrence” doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbors, a latest US Congressional report has reported that as many as 110-130 Pakistani nukes are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) report written by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin, Islamabad is deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles. The 28-page report says that Islamabad’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called “full spectrum deterrence” have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal. According to the report, while Pakistan has taken a number of important initiatives, such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security cooperation programs, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some fear radical takeover or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistan’s nuclear complex.

US setting up base in Syria

IF SYRIAN military and security sources are to be believed, the US is setting up an airbase in northeast Syria. Work is underway to expand an airfield in Rmeilan, in Hasakeh province. A security source in northeast Syria said American special forces and advisors are using the Rmeilan airport as a base, from where helicopters are taking off towards the fronts. Source said nearly American experts, alongside forces from the anti-IS Kurdish People’s Protection Units had widened the landing strip and refurbished some infrastructure. The airbase will be used for helicopters and cargo planes. However, the Pentagon did not confirm the reports. It is worth noting that at the end of October, US President Barack Obama had authorized the deployment of up to 50 special operations troops to Syria to advise local ground forces battling IS. The US is supporting a KurdishArab alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces against IS in northern Syria, providing it with air cover as part of a broad coalition battling IS.

Taiwan elects first female president

TSAI ING-WEN, a US- and U.K.-trained lawyer, and leader of the Beijing-skeptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has been elected the first female President of Taiwan. The technocrat turned politician, won nearly 56 per cent of the vote in an election that ended eight years of Nationalist KMT Party rule which saw economy slow and inequality rise. Tsai has pledged to revitalize the sluggish economy of this de facto nation of 23 million by diversifying trade with South, Southeast and East Asia, which goes against the KMT’s policy of greater integration with China, the world’s second biggest economy. Concerns over the economy consistently ranked highest with voters throughout campaigning. Growth was just 1% last year, barely more the year before, with youth unemployment high, wages stagnant and the cost of living soaring. Taiwan has maintained a healthy democratic set up much against the mainland China which has been in communist grip ever since the establishment of Peoples republic of China. China has maintained that it won’t allow Taiwan to become an independent nation. www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 13

STATE IN FOCUS

Bihar: A decade of progress

The comprehensive policies of government have led to inclusive growth of Bihar

Anand Mishra THE RECENT electoral victory of Nitish Kumar, third in a row, has underscored the growth and governance style pursued by him over last decade. When he assumed office in 2005, the state was suffering from a negative image, low growth and broad despondency. However, over the last decade, the tide has changed and the most important indication of this growth has been the high economic growth rate clocked by the state during this period. The state recorded a growth rate of nearly 18 per cent at current price during 2014-14. In 2004-05, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was Rs 77,781.16 crore, which increased in 2014-15 to Rs 402,282 crore. The image of the state has also undergone a tremendous uplift. Biharâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic growth has been strong under Nitish Kumarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tenure as Chief Minister. Further, its performance in agriculture was second only to Madhya Pradesh. Also, on most socio-economic indicators, post 2005, the performance of the state is not only better than its own performance in the previous decade, but also 14 I February 2016

than that of comparable states or the national average. And in this developmental paradigm, as an ASSOCHAM study released in 2013 showed, public investment has played the most important role, acting as stimulus to growth. The data shows that the state grew at a high compounded annual growth rate of 10.6 per cent 200506 to 2014-15, among the highest in the country and higher than comparable states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This was achieved with agriculture growing at a compounded rate of 5.7 per cent, implying that secondary and tertiary sectors, including services have performed exceedingly well over the last decade. The state also recorded a healthy 8.1 per cent average annual growth rate in industrial jobs, much higher than all India average growth rate of 5.2 per cent. Nothing symbolizes the development of the state than the high quality roads that now criss-cross the state. In ten years till 2015, the state government constructed 66,508 km major and rural roads. Over 5,000 bridges were also constructed during this period. On power front, almost all

villages of the state are now getting electricity supply of over 12 hours a day, underscoring the improved power availability scenario. Per capita consumption of electricity in the state increased from 70 kWh in 2005 to 203 kWh in 2015. The improvement in governance is also visible from the fact that the leakages from the public distribution system came down from 75-90 per cent during early 2000s to less than 25 per cent today. Experts have cited strong political will and institutional strengthening for improvement in service delivery. What has set the developmental pattern of Bihar apart from other states is the focus on inclusiveness and on ensuring that the benefits of government schemes reach the ground. This approach has led to improvement in all social indicators. The state has reduced poverty at a rapid clip and so has the infant mortality rates. On education front, more children are today staying at school. In 2005, 12 per cent children were out of school which has now come down to 1.72 per cent. Improved healthcare coverage is visible in immunization which now stands at nearly 80 per cent which was less than 20 per cent when Nitish Kumar assumed office. Today, more girls are in school than ever in the history of the state. But challenges are still galore for the new government. Even though growth has been sterling to say the least, it has come at a low base, which means the government has to do a lot to pull up the income of an average citizen of the state. Bihar still is at third spot in percentage of people below poverty line. The industry is still not contributing enough to the state GDP and the unemployment is high. All this means the government needs to redouble on pursuing the reform agenda. Clearly the Nitish Kumar led government has its task cut out.

www.governancetoday.co.in

STATE IN FOCUS

The challenge of urbanizing Bihar

With economic growth at high clip, the state needs to work on city planning

There is immense potential for urbanization along newly built state highways

Sagarika Ranjan OVER LAST ten years, Bihar has been among the star performers on many developmental indices, including growth rates. The state developed substantial road network and increased its per capita income in these years which was facilitated by the high investment in basic infrastructure. However, the state has been trailing the urban development graph when compared with the other states of the country. The state often finds its place in the headlines for wrong reasons, including low level of urbanization. As per the figures of the 2011 census, Bihar ranks second least urbanized state among the 35 states and Union Territories put together. The percentage of urban population to the total population www.governancetoday.co.in

of the state stands at as low as 11.3 per cent. Needless to say, the state needs to put in gargantuan efforts to develop urban centres which could facilitate economic growth and offer rising quality of life to its inhabitants. In times when cities are looking forward to developing into smart cities and town, Bihar is gasping to have the basics of urbanization. So what is pulling it down? Is it the real fact or ambiguities in the survey processes that are making it look worse? Of course this is debatable but there is a lot more to it than figures. A report â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Issues on Urban Development in Biharâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Amitabh Kundu, suggests that the state is showing high income growth but it has not been converted into a rapid reduction in poverty, which as per experts is the root cause of

the low levels of urbanization in the predominantly agricultural state. Weak Economic Base is mainly underpinning low urbanization in Bihar. Infrastructure deficit is a continuous constraint in urban sprawl. Population growth and mass influx into urban habitations have been developing stress over the existing infrastructure and services; consequently affecting the quality of life of the urban inhabitants. A resident of Bihar for decades and environmentalist with the UNDP, Deepak Kumar, explains that there are two major factors that have contributed to the non-realization of the goal of urbanization. Firstly, it is unplanned township and secondly, mismanagement in the urban governance. This apart, the state has February 2016 I 15

Patna has grown rapidly over last couple of decades

been failing to attain an efficient and equitable financial allocation for urban infrastructure. A government employee in the Urban Development department on the condition of anonymity explains how any project faces difficulties pre and post execution. “There are a number of social issues that affect decision making during planning. Any development 16 I February 2016

plan has to first get sanction from a number of departments. If that is through then there are hurdles like encroachments, compensation for the displaced, stirs over demands of some or the other groups, delay which in turn culminates into additional cost, then additional sanction requests followed by further delay and the story drags on. If lucky it completes, if unlucky

then gets abandoned,” says Kumar. Migration is another issue that contributes to the sluggish growth. “There has still been a rampant scale of inter-state mass migration due to lack of feasibility in encouraging the secondary and tertiary sectors, particularly industry and construction,” says Kumar. The issues of Urban www.governancetoday.co.in

Development in Bihar points out that even though there is a low level and low pace of urbanization, the state already has a strong evident historical industrial corridor from Bhagalpur to Rohtas. Lack of correlation of the urbanization pattern and urban growth shows that the growth pattern isn’t linked with the existing urban growth. The low rate of urbanization in the www.governancetoday.co.in

central and northern Bihar is mainly attributed to the fact that there has still been large dependence on primary sector and low growth registered therein. According to the Kundu report it is a matter of concern that the number of urban centres in the state is very low in relation to its population and area even in comparison with other less

developed states in the country. Surprisingly, the number of these centres has gone down from 135 in 1991 to 130 in 2001, which has not been noted in case of any other state. Furthermore, of the 130 urban centres, only five are Census towns while the others are statutory towns – these have been declared as towns by the state government. The Census towns thus constitute less than four percent of the urban centres in the states, compared to the national figure of 26 per cent. The urbanization figures all over and across reports paints a sorry picture.The biggest road block is that Bihar needs a progressive urban development policy for rapid urbanization which is not the case. Kumar explains that a progressive urban development policy will propel the process, of setting up urbanized areas, as the polar engine of growth. Another hindrance is the impediments of urban governance. There is an urgent need to mitigate these impediments that could attract stakeholders and investors for generating opportunities of employment through sectorial diversification. A very interesting view, certainly not good for the state’s growth, comes up while talking to people on why is it that development or urbanization is not happening at the desired pace. Around 10 people interested in contributing to the state’s growth failed to do so because of the tedious and lengthy processes involved if someone wanted to offer any help, donation or grants for the development of the state. Kumar points out that there is a need for the government to facilitate better environment for the growth of manufacturing and construction businesses in the state. Then there are legislative challenges that keep the state from urbanizing. Bihar Municipal Act 2007 didn’t consider relevance of services like administration, health, education, finance, trade and transport for the process of notifying new statuary towns. The February 2016 I 17

Cities like Muzaffarpur offer huge scope for planned growth

Act itself ignores the increasing built-up area, role of agglomeration (Agglomeration economies are the benefits that come when firms and people locate near one another together in cities and industrial clusters), and out growth in the process of notification of new statuary towns. There is a need to eliminate legislative infringement as a policy intervention for better sustainable urban governance. The Government needs to liberalize the legislation to facilitate conducive and safe environment for investment in real estate and manufacturing sector. This will felicitate exploration of the employment opportunities in such a way that the dependence on primary sector would decline to a certain extent whereas the share of construction and manufacturing sector in offering employment would increase. Consequently the interstate migration would slow down. It is extremely significant that despite low level and low pace of urbanization in the state, a strong urban industrial corridor has come up on the route connecting Delhi and the cities of Uttar Pradesh with north Bengal. This can be attributed to trading route from 18 I February 2016

north east India strengthened by the Delhi-Jalpaiguri railway line. The industrial growth of Bihar had a setback after the division of the state but there are indications that the growth is picking up in many of the southern districts that can be attributed to resource support primarily in terms of coal and electricity from the state of Jharkhand. The north Bihar has a large number of districts that have less than seven percent population living in urban centres. Unfortunately, not many of them exhibit rapid urbanization largely over the past two decades, due to their weak economic base. The low rate of urbanization in most of the districts in the central and northern region of Bihar can be attributed to their dependence on primary sector and a low rate of growth recorded therein. Most of the indicators do show worrying figures but at the same time there is a silver lining. During the last decade, even though Bihar projected a moderate shift in the trend of urbanization it has recorded rapid economic development. Several policies of the government like Housing for All by 2022 and Swachh Bharat Mission that focus

on urbanization have given much needed initiation for development especially for states like Bihar. Several cities and towns of Bihar have been included in the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The scheme, launched in 2015, by the government of India focuses on establishing infrastructure that would ensure adequate robust sewerage networks and water supplies essential for urban transformation. A large number of small cities have been included in the program, including Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Biharsharif, Darbhanga, Purnia, Arrah, Begusarai, Katihar, Munger, Chapra, DinapurNizamat, Saharsa, Hajipur, Sasaram, Dehri, Siwan, Bettiah, Motihari, Bagaha, Kishanganj, Jamalpur, Jehanabad, Buxar and Aurangabad. This apart three cities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Muzaffarpur, Biharsharif and Bhagalpur have listed under the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;to be smart cities.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Experts believe that Smart Cities and AMRUT would pace up the momentum of expanding urbanization in Bihar. In context of urbanization efforts, the 2031 Master Plan for Patna has highlighted some important guiding principles which show the direction for future urban planning process. The focus on concepts like multiple nuclei based urban planning, rural urban continuum and transit oriented development are the futuristic and long term approach which will go a long way in defining the urbanization effort of the state. Other states also need to follow these principles in their own urbanization drive. At the end of the day, urbanization is interplay of economic development, city planning and public service delivery. Bihar needs to work on all these areas in order for efficient and sustainable urbanization to take place. The economic growth of the state has been strong over last decade; now is the time to work on more direct and complex issues of urban planning.

www.governancetoday.co.in

STATE IN FOCUS

Incentivizing industrial investment

A map of financial inclusion, lucrative offers and excellent growth option, where is the loophole?

IOCL refinery at Barauni has been the symbol of industrial development of Bihar

Sagarika Ranjan IT WAS until the number of offices remained in 50s and application in 100s, he kept forwarding, receiving and signing applications and then he gave up. This is a tale of a resident of Araria, a small district of Bihar, who gave into the tedious process of donation. A state-lover, he wanted to bring about a revolution in his area by donating a part of his land to the government for setting up solar panels. Keeping his identity, he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The process of even giving the land is so lengthy that one keeps visiting one office from another, one officer to another. Some want to know the cause while some wait for months for their bossesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; permission.â&#x20AC;? A district failed to have a fullfledged solar panel power of its www.governancetoday.co.in

own just because of the tedious investment process. A number of investors across Bihar complain of non-curiosity of the officials in inviting business. Bihar Industrial Incentive Policy-2011 mentions about the various incentives that have been provided to investors in the state. These include 100 per cent exemption from Stamp Duty and Registration Fees during the preproduction phase, Capital Subsidy for industrial units, inclusion of Entry- Tax in the re-imbursement of 80 per cent of VAT, incentive also to existing units for Captive Power Generation / Diesel Generating sets and subsidy on non-conventional sources of energy production, re-imbursement of expenses incurred on project reports, technical know-how fees, Quality Certification, Electricity Duty etc.

However, at the same time there are as many as 36 types of industries that are not eligible for incentives. Another very big reason for low investment in the state is that there is lack of awareness regarding what and what not can an individual contribute as a citizen. Officials of both public and private sector banks say that they receive several applications from people demanding loan for those industries that have been provided full or partial subsidy by the government itself. The Economic Survey report by the Government of Bihar states that economic growth rate in Bihar has surpassed the national growth rate and has been sustained during the last several years. Significant increases in social sector spending had led to improvement in the quality of life, as reflected by most February 2016 I 19

socio-economic indicators. The poverty scenario has also been improving, especially in the rural areas. With the implementation of Industrial Incentive Policy- 2011, it is expected that the development of the State will get a boost and it will result in rapid industrial development with enhanced employment generation. The industries of Bihar would be able to play a positive role in the overall development of all the citizens of Bihar. The economic survey also indicates towards positive infrastructural development. It states that the policy focus in the state has been on investment in infrastructure development. Such investment has increased manifold in recent years, with increased private sector participation. The special emphasis has been laid, during the 12th Plan Period, on the development of quality infrastructure. For development of infrastructure, problems like delays in according approvals, land acquisition, and environmental clearance need to be addressed speedily. Besides, the time overruns in the implementation of the projects must be avoided. Equally important is their proper maintenance, in the absence of which their utility and life expectancy are reduced. This apart, in order to attract investment the government has resolved to provide the basics of development to facilitate industries and other businesses to establish and flourish in the state. The state government has resolved to connect the capital city of Patna to the remotest areas in the state, so that people can reach the capital within a maximum of six hours from any place. In recent years, the state government has been making endeavours to achieve this goal and, as a result, a network of roads and bridges has come up at a large scale. It has also adopted a Bihar Road Resource Protection Policy, 2013 to ensure better maintenance of roads. However, the state still 20 I February 2016

continues to remain far behind the all-India average in terms of road length per lakh of population. In 2012-13, Bihar reported only 175 kms of road length per lakh of population, as against 388 for allIndia. However, in terms of road length per 100 sq kms, Bihar with 193 kms of road length remained ahead of all-India average of 143 kms. The government has also

growth and investment in Bihar from project report to pre-production and post production stage. Some of these incentives are as follows:

Stamp Duty and Registration Fees The state has provided 100 per cent exemption from Stamp Duty / Registration Fees being levied on Lease/ Sale / Transfer

Agro based industry has a huge potential in the state

enlisted a range of incentives for the investors, right from preproduction process to postproduction processes. Incentives to be provided to industrial units of the state to speed up industrial

of Industrial Land/Shed as also there outside the jurisdiction of Industrial Area Development Authority for new Micro, Small, Medium (MSME) and Large sector industries. www.governancetoday.co.in

This exemption from Stamp Duty and Registration Fees facility will be granted only for the first time and will not be applicable in subsequent stages of Lease / Sale / Transfer. This incentive will be available to new units only. Those existing Industrial Units which have undertaken expansion or diversification thereby leading to an increase of 50 per cent in their production capacity, will also

is purchased, the above Stamp Duty and Registration Fees will be reimbursed by the department to such units at the post production stage. Besides these, incentives have been provided to industrial units after commencement of commercial production under the New Industrial Incentive Policy. Some of these are as follows:

Post-Production Incentives Under the present policy, incentives like Project Report Incentive, Incentives on land / shed, financial assistance for acquiring Technical KnowHow, Capital Subsidy etc. will be available. The upper limit for such reimbursement will be Rs. 600 lacs (Six hundred lacs). This will be excluding the subsidy on Captive Power Generation / Diesel Generating set.

Project Report Incentive Re-imbursement of 50% of the cost, subject to a maximum of Rs. two lacs, incurred in the project report preparation by the industrial units will be made. Provided that, the project report is prepared by the consultancy firms recognized by the Industry Department. If the project report has been prepared for Carbon Credit and the unit gets Carbon Credit, 50% of the consultancy charges, subject to a maximum of Rs. 15 lacs, will be reimbursed.

Incentives on Land/ Shed

be entitled for the above incentive, only on to the extent of additional land required for Expansion. Further, if, for any reason, the above incentive is not availed by the unit and the land www.governancetoday.co.in

The following incentives / subsidy will be available to all eligible units for the investment on land/shed located in the Industrial Area Development Authority/ Export Promotion Industrial Park/ Food Park/ Agri Export Zone and also investment on Land/Shed allotted in Industrial Area/ Park developed on Government land or on private land.

There are hordes of other incentives and schemes to invite investment in Bihar still the development figures choose to sink or remain strictly around the low. The reason being that there are so many criteria for setting up a business unit and all are mandatory. Of these, one or the other goes missing and the file is not forwarded despite revision, correction and added provisions. Red tapism is what investors complain of in most of the cases. Another factor that acts as an agent to contain growth of investment is image of Bihar as a crime infested state. This reputation takes away much of the investment despite the eon work done by the government over last decade or so. Often business fraternity say that they put a lot at stake and one untoward event can finish their businesses in no time. This scares them away. Looking broadly at the whole scenario and experiences of the businessmen, thinking of investing or those who have already invested in Bihar, the state needs to regulate and tighten law and order; bring flexibility in the terms and conditions laid down for passage of any project and most importantly expedite the approval processes of the projects. Incentives, not only in monetary terms but in kind, are the key to fetch investment into the state. All developmental parameters in the surveys of 2011 have indicated towards an upward trend for the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth but this can only be possible if the authorities concerned comply to the simplification of the processes and make them userfriendly as a tedious tread is as bad as no tread at all. The state has locational advantage of being close to natural resources of Jharkhand and has huge potential for agri based industries. The potential for tourism is also sky high. In this environment, there is no reason why the state cannot get investment with proper policy implementation.

February 2016 I 21

INTERVIEW

TO ENSURE COMPETITION ULBS WILL BE RANKED ON DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF URBAN GOVERNANCE AFTER A high decibel political battle, development discourse is back in Bihar government. The new government has refocused on the work to provide basic amenities and public services to the people. In conversation with ‘Governance Today,’ Amrit Lal Meena, Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar, talks about various urban development works in the state.

What are the key programs before the department presently?

Amrit Lal Meena Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar 22 I February 2016

The first and foremost task of the department is to facilitate the functioning of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) by providing them the resources, adequate, continuous capital, manpower and IT support. To ensure that the municipal bodies perform their functions effectively, adequate resource support is being provided. One of the major works of the ULBs is to ensure cleanliness and proper sanitation in the urban areas. To ensure door-to-door collection, transportation and processing of the solid waste management, the state government has initiated ‘Swachhta Incentive Programme.’ Through this programme, Rs. 100 is provided to each household through ULBs, who has taken up these activities. I am happy to notice that out of 3,180 municipal bodies in the state, 900 wards have already started the programme. Other ULBs are also in the process to start it. During the last few months, there is massive mechanization www.governancetoday.co.in

for the effective management of the solid waste. The ULBs have started procuring land for landfills sites and which could be developed from waste to compost plants. In Patna, waste to energy plant is also being developed. So our focus is that the sanitation status should be improved in the ULBs. For this monetary support and strict monitoring is also put in place. With a view to ensure healthy competition among the ULBs, the state government has also conceived Mukhyamantri Adarsh Nagar Nikay Protsahan Yojana. Through this scheme, the ULBs will be ranked on eight different aspects of urban governance. The best performer city corporation will get Rs. 5 crore as financial incentive above the normal allocation. Next two best performers will be given Rs 3 crore each and two smaller nagar panchayats will be given Rs. 1 crore each. The parameter of this scheme has been worked out in such a manner that all the aspects of the governance which includes, sanitation, drinking water, street lights. The weightage has also been given to the public perception as to how people feel about the delivery of the public services. So a composite index has been developed. An independent body will look after this ranking. I am hopeful this will go a long way in terms of improving the urban governance scenario.

What plans has the government formulated to provide financial assistance to the urban development schemes? With a view to augment urban infrastructure, there has to be a proper resource support to the ULBs. These ULBs collect their own resource though various taxes. We are monitoring that ULBs are using their resources in the best possible way. There are ULBs in the state who www.governancetoday.co.in

The requirement in terms of infrastructure is huge that may not be reasonably generated by the ULBs themselves, so the budgetary support has to come from various agencies, both state and centre have surplus amount and their strength is improving year by year. The requirement in terms of infrastructure is huge that may not be reasonably generated by the ULBs themselves, so the budgetary support has to come from various agencies, both state and centre. There are grants from the fourteenth finance commission, which via state government goes to ULBs. This year Rs 250 crore has been transferred to the various ULBs. Similarly, there are grants from the state finance commission. The fifth finance commission is awaited and after the state government finance can also flow to the ULBs. There is also a programme called Mukhyamantri Nagar Vikas Yojana that is working in this direction.

A few satellite cities are coming up in Bihar. How will they be a challenge for the state government? Satellite cities are welcome developments. With the present model, I think we will be able to provide them all the basic amenities and public services they require.

What has been done so far for ‘Smart City’ initiative? Three cities have been selected for the ‘Smart City’ programme; these are Muzaffarpur, Biharsharif and Bhagalpur. The government of India had asked all the states to submit the detailed project report. We have submitted the DPR for the three cities. Now, all hundred

cities across country are up for competition for the second round. Let us see the result.

Is Patna Metro a commercially viable project? I don’t think there is any scope on the discussion on the viability of the Patna Metro project because the consultant appointed by the state government has already looked at the feasibility of the project; thereafter they came out with the final detailed project report. After they found the project viable, the report is awaited for the government approval. After that it will be sent to the central government. It seems to be a quite viable project.

Sustainable housing for EWS is a challenge. What is being done in this regard? It is truly a challenge particularly in a state like Bihar that has a high population density. We have started taking up many projects for it under housing for all component. One project is coming up in Patna and certain other projects are also being developed. There are individuals who posses land and we are encouraging them to become part of the EWS housing for all scheme.

Urban transport is another area of concern. What is state doing for it? As many as 140 buses have been procured under the JNNURM scheme and I think it will be a game changer for urban transport scenario.

February 2016 I 23

COVER STORY

Rebuilding Indian urban transport

24 I February 2016

www.governancetoday.co.in

Anand Mishra URBANIZATION IS the most common and prevalent demographic phenomenon of last two hundred years, globally. Cities have emerged with amazing speed in all parts of the world and have largely tracked the economic growth. So, first it was Europe, followed by North America and East Asia, and finally South East Asia and China, which saw emergence of large cities over last couple of decades. India also has seen rise of cities over last couple of decades when large number of people migrated from rural areas to cities and towns which offered better employment opportunities and possibly better life. According to a McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, there are 28 Indian mid level cities including Bangalore, Pune, Surat, Vizag and Kochi that would contribute to maximum wealth generation in coming decades. Currently, there are 42 Indian cities with million plus population and at least three clusters of ten million plus population, namely Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The urban population in India has increased significantly from 62 million in 1951 to 285 million in 2001 and is estimated to grow to around 540 million by the year 2021. In terms of percentage of total population, the urban population has gone up from 17 per cent in 1951 to 29 per cent in 2001 and by 2050, more than half of India will be living in cities. Another report from the MGI, released four years ago, revealed that 49 urban clusters in India contributed 70 per cent to the GDP and that 77 per cent of air traffic and 59 per cent of port capacity were concentrated in 21 high growthâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;high affluence clusters. As for the rate of urbanization, by 2025, eight of twelve very high and high performing states will be on average 55 per cent urbanized. All this shows that the country is going to be increasingly urbanized in years to come opportunities flock to cities. And without any question, mobility is the key to realize the economic potential and efficiency of cities and well-being of urban inhabitants. In short, India needs a massive urban transportation revolution to enable so many people to move fast and safely to achieve a high growth.

Overburdened and crumbling The sustainable development of Indian cities to a large extent will depends upon their physical, social and institutional infrastructure. Of the three, physical infrastructure, and www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 25

transportation will play a huge role in maximizing the potential of the other two. As such, an efficient transportation system, which reduces effort, money and time to reach destination will be a crucial requisite of a thriving city. However, urban transportation in India is today a blend of overburdened and inefficient public transport, haphazard and unplanned private mobility and complete neglect for non mechanized transportation. Delay, congestion, accidents, and air and noise pollution are the most manifest dimension of contemporary urban transport of the country. India ranks among the worst on road safety records and among highest in fuel wasted at red lights and congestions in the world. The transport planning on the other hand is inefficient at best and incompetent at worst. Further, the planning priorities are misplaced and have hardly taken care of the future rise in demand, the result of which is that by the time plans are executed, they are already outdated and infrastructure created, overburdened. With rising urban population, the level of urban travel demand in India has increased substantially over the years. The urbanization records show that the population size of an urban area is roughly doubling in about two decades. Secondly, the mobility rate, that is, the average number of trips per person per day in urban India. The mobility rate in urban India has been continuously increasing. The average number of trips per person per day in Delhi, for example, had increased from 0.49 during 1969 to 1.10 during 2007. The per capita trip rates for Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai were 1.05 and 1.12 respectively in 2007. According to Govt. of India forecasts, largest cities like Mumbai and Delhi could see trip rates go up to 2 by 2031. This point towards increasing load on transportation system, which would accentuate in coming years. Another aspect of increasing load on transport system is the increase in trip length. As 26 I February 2016

cities expand, people move to peripheries resulting in rise in trip lengths. RITES data shows that for larger cities of population in excess of 8 million, average trip length increased from 8.32 Km to 11.9 Km between 1994 and 2007. the data shows that larger cities are showing greater increase in the trip lengths, implying that larger cities are having more pressure on existing transportation infrastructure. By 2031, the average trip length in megacities will be around 14.8 Km. In this demand rise scenario, if we look at the urban transport in the country, most cities suffer from inadequate infrastructure. Public transport systems, especially bus systems have not been able to keep pace with the increases in demand. What is more disturbing is that not more than couple dozen

PER CAPITA TRIP RATE BASED ON CITY SIZE City population (Lakh)

RITES 1994

WES 2007

0.77-0.89

0.76

10-20

0.89-1.10

0.98-1.25

1.20-1.35

1.30-1.50

5-10

20-40

40-80 > 80

0.57-1.00 1.10-1.20

1.25-1.40

0.81-1.02 1.20-1.29 1.41-1.67

Source: Traffic & Transportation Policies and Strategies in Urban Areas in India, GOI 2008

cities in the country have public bus services. The suburban rail system which is an excellent mode for bringing people from suburbs to central business districts, exists in only Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, with Delhi Metro, with just two lines connecting Delhi with Noida and Gurgaon, only partially qualifying as a suburban rail. Even those rails system that exist, are highly overburdened. Ironically, despite rising population and therefore demand, most city bus utilities have been making losses indicating inefficiency and poor fleet planning. This overburdening has on

its part, encouraged people to move to personalized transport and intermediate public transport (mostly privately owned mini busses and auto rickshaws). The data shows that motorization in the country has greatly outstripped growth in urban population. In metro cities, automobile ownership has been growing at 15â&#x20AC;&#x201C;20 per cent per annum. And a large part of this has been the shift towards two wheelers. According to a research, post-1980, the use of motorcycle became an important part of the Indian metropolitan cities. Two wheelers also contribute to lionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s share in motorized vehicles, especially in medium sized cities. During 2009, in Nagpur, Varanasi, Surat, Coimbatore, Bhopal, Kanpur, Vadodara and Lucknow, more than 80 per cent of the vehicles sold were two wheelers. The share in large cities is slightly less, but the trend is unmistakable there too. Majority of young people in 20-35 age group prefer to ride a two wheeler to work in urban India, primarily to avoid public transport. In larger cities, the situation is complicated by the rise in car ownership which has increasingly become the dominant mode of transport among upper middle class and affluent class travelers. This trend towards personalized vehicles is a direct outcome of crumbled public transport. This shift to personal vehicles has resulted in resulted in massive load on the road infrastructure which is manifested in huge traffic jams and congestions. Most tier-one and tier-two cities have traffic jams in rush office hours today because of excessive pressure on skeletal road networks. In Kolkata, the average speed during peak hours in busy office areas fall to less than 8 km per hour. Some stretches in Delhi and Mumbai have routine traffic snarls stretching up to kilometers. The problem is aggravated by faulty and inefficient traffic management and poorly trained traffic managers whose number is also hopelessly lower than what is needed. Another major problem of urban transport is that of lack of www.governancetoday.co.in

AVERAGE TRIP LENGTH INCREASES WITH CITY SIZES

Source: GOI data 2008

complementarity of transportation modes. What it essentially means to say is that even if certain mode of transport is available, the support or secondary transportation mode for bringing people to the high capacity mode is absent. The case of Delhi Metro is a good example. While metro routes reach many areas, the work of carrying people from neighboring as well as far flung areas is done mostly by private buses and three wheelers which are highly inefficient, time consuming and most importantly too overcrowded, forcing people to depend on personal vehicles. The problem was identified and a fleet of feeder buses were put in place but its service has proved hopelessly inadequate. Same is the case for Mono rail system in Mumbai. Finally, there is massive disconnect between urban transport planning and reality. Even though majority of people either walk or cycle to their work place, and second most used mode of transport is non motorized vehicles, most emphasis in all transport planning has been on widening of road and not on beefing up public and private commercial transportation system. This skewness has also played a role in encouraging people to take up to two wheelers and cars, facilitated in turn by cheap loans led affordability. Government has also not thought in terms of containing the number of cars on roads by innovative planning such as congestion taxes, license rationing and punitive parking fees www.governancetoday.co.in

which have all been successful in different parts of the world.

Cleaning the mobility mess Broadly, three major facets of urban transportation emerge from the above. First, the cities are increasing in number and existing cities are expanding beyond their natural capacities. Second, the public transport has crumbled under pressure and is not large or good enough to cater to the needs of fast rate of urbanization and increasing burden of population in existing cities. Third, because of the above two factors, there is a major push towards personalized vehicles which has congested city roads in a big way. The transport policy therefore needs to work on supply side and well as demand

side to solve these problems. The central government issued the National Urban Transport Policy in 2006 with specific policy objectives of achieving safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable transportation. To address problems of road congestion and associated air pollution, the NUTP proposed four strategies primarily focusing on increasing efficiency of road space by favoring public transport, using traffic management instruments to improve traffic performance, restraining growth of private vehicular traffic and technological improvements in vehicles and fuels to reduce vehicle emissions. Since transportation is a state subject, it recognized the central governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role was confined to supporting the states with the necessary financial support and technical expertise. However, NUTP has been criticized as being too general in nature and for not delving in detail on crucial issues such as land use transport integration on the ground and specific policies that can address the same. At operational level, perhaps the most crucial requirement is to massively increase bus transportation infrastructure. Two immediate actions points in this regard are increasing the number of cities under city bus program and substantially increasing the

PUBLIC TRANSPORT SLATED FOR STEEP FALL IN BIG CITIES

Source: Traffic & Transportation Policies and Strategies in Urban Areas in India, GOI 2008 February 2016 I 27

Cities like Ahmedabad and Pune are running BRTs smoothly

fleet size of bus services where they are currently plying. These will go a long way in increasing the coverage, speed and schedule reliability of bus services. Even though the Delhi government has just demolished the BRT which was the dedicated bus corridor, the utility of such bus priority plans and bus only lanes cannot be overemphasized. Many European countries have put these in best use. Even in India, Amhedabad and Pune are running highly efficient and successful BRTS. Second aspect of improving bus systems is to improve the financial viability of bus utilities. Most of bus utilities in India are operationally highly inefficient with number of staff per bus far exceeding that of private bus services. This is even when competition has been allowed in cities like Kolkata and Delhi. This indicates poor accountability 28 I February 2016

system and lack of modernization in bus utilities. These are issues that need immediate attention. Third aspect of improving urban transport is to have an integrated approach towards transportation needs of Indian cities. Today half a zone cities in the country are at different stages of setting up metro network. While metro is a highly desirable and novel transportation mode with low direct carbon footprint, what needs to be realized is that it is a very costly means to address transportation needs. Presently, per kilometer cost of building an elevated metro is Rs 175-200 crores whereas the same for underground metro is Rs 275-300 crores. Compared to this, a six lane highway standard road costs just about Rs 15 crores per kilometer. In this comparative cost scenario, it is paramount that the route kilometers of metro

be carefully planned with clear knowledge that metro is not suitable for all cities and definitely not cost effective in any city. To maximize their impact, metro routes needs to be effectively fed into by other modes, namely buses and private transport modes and IPTs, including eco friendly e-rickshaws. However, in this regard, the institutional arrangement is a hindrance. For smoother transport management, the various modes of public transport including intermediate public transport have to work in tandem. But presently, different agencies, independent of each other, are operating different services in Indian cities. For example, in Delhi, metro rail is operated by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, sub-urban rail service by Northern Railway, bus transport service by Delhi Transport Corporation, and taxi and www.governancetoday.co.in

auto-rickshaw by private operators, with no coordination among each other. As such, a coordinating and planning authority is required that can plan for the optimal modal mix and coordinate between all modes. Such an authority can work with the state transport ministry to also chalk out the policies regarding control of private vehicles plying on city roads though different means. Even today, a large number of people in Indian cities walk or cycle to work. Surprisingly, beyond lip service, no policy has given more logical though to this segment. Resultantly Indian roads are extremely punishing towards this segment. Except for a few lanes for show off, no Indian city has functional lanes or corridors for cyclists or pedestrians. Transport policy must encourage the need for developing green modes like bicycles, cycle rickshaws,

pedestrians, etc. If these non motorized modes are promoted and accommodated in the overall road planning, a substantial fraction of two wheelers will switch to cycling because majority of two wheelers are having less than six kilometers to travel to work. It will also reduce pollution level. But enforcing this will require strict implementation of traffic rules, which is largely lax today.

Making transport smart By leveraging technology under ICT, imaging and geospatial technologies, it is possible to optimize existing infrastructure to achieve maximum traffic throughput and minimize traffic congestion. Technology can be employed to play an important role by predicting demand and supply data to feed into transportation planning and

help in improving reliability of public transportation network besides providing information on arrivals/departures as well as route information to travelers. Also, multi modal fare integration and intelligent traffic management can help citizens to use multiple modal options without hassle of purchasing different tickets, thus aiding efficient traffic flow. GPS-based advanced vehicle tracking solutions can enhance the operations of public transportation and ridership many times. These solutions offer real-time GPS tracking from mobile devices thus increasing the reliability of public transportation. This can help in periodic traffic forecast, and journey planning through real-time data based mobile applications, which is in use today in some European countries. Further, public transport surveillance for different modes

Metro and monorail, while being efficient, are very costly transport options

www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 29

including buses, mass transit railway and trains help in increasing predictability of public transport as well as achieve higher integration. Technology can also be leveraged to make traffic lights smart which sense traffic condition to tune traffic lights which enable smooth flow of traffic. Such systems make use of strategically located CCTV cameras and are working in London and many American cities for long time. A big part of controlling traffic during rush hours at crucial choke points is to deter vehicles from using such routes feeding into such choke points. To achieve this, cars can be installed with GPS based ID chips that can be read by sensors

development planning. As such, the efficiency of cities greatly depends on the efficiency of transport systems. However, Indian cities have not been planned with keeping transportation needs in mind, as overburdened transport infrastructure underscore. Transport in this context has been a victim of neglect, confusion and dysfunctional institutional arrangement. But transport planning cannot be framed on a standalone basis. The cities themselves need to be planned to keep traveling requirement at lowest level. Promoting regional economies and compact townships is the need of the hour which can reduces the need for long-distance travel. Such

as well. It is important to realize that transport is a basic need of people and with increasing urbanization, this need will increase and become more diverse. India is heading irreversibly towards greater and mode denser urbanization which means it has to put in place transport systems that not only cater to existing population, but are also scalable enough to take much higher loads. Unfortunately, planners have not been able to address either the supply side of transport infrastructure or the demand side of transportation, in terms of number of people using the transport systems in cities. The massive rise of personalized

CCTV and GPS based technologies can solve congestion problem besides enhancing public transportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efficiency

and the data can be used to levy road user charges. Road user charges are direct charges levied for the use of certain designated routes at certain time. These charges help to reduce peak hour travel and the associated traffic congestion, pollution and road accidents. Since transport is one of the prime determinants of quality of life, urban transportation is the most crucial component of urban 30 I February 2016

townships can have residential settlements in close proximity to commercial areas with the provision of shopping, services and recreational facilities close to where people live, so that the trip distance is kept at a minimum level. Such townships also reduce need for ownership of personalized vehicles. With reduced traffic, public transport can mostly take the long route traveling need. This will reduce accidents and pollution

vehicles is the direct outcome of failed public transport system. But we have reached a stage where choked transport infrastructure has started to negatively impact economic growth and physical well being of citizens. It must not be allowed to go unaddressed if we have to offer our citizens a decent quality of life. anand@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW

PROMOTING CYCLING NEXT ON OUR AGENDA TO ENSURE LESSER POLLUTION Even though the odd-even formula for cars plying on Delhi roads concluded successfully recently, it is in the hands of people to make use of public transport a regular practice for the sake of clean and green Delhi which is said to be one of the most polluted cities on the planet. Ramesh Kumar Raja had a conversation with Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai during a bus ride with him when the scheme was on, to know his side of story about the government’s initiative to curb pollution. Edited excerpts:

How do you rate the experiment of odd-even cars in Delhi? It was altogether a successful exercise. The people of Delhi wholeheartedly supported the scheme. It had a positive impact on pollution levels and traffic volume of the city. While it drastically brought down the levels of PM 2.5, the odd-even scheme also resulted in decongestion of roads that reduced travel time for many people. It also had a social impact when people started following others, such as the concept of carpooling came into practice. Remarkably, it also helped reduce the number of road accidents.

The Delhi High Court’s decision to not interfere with your government’s notification on the oddeven formula was like icing on the cake. How do you view it? www.governancetoday.co.in

regard and will come up with a fool proof plan next time. By the way, it was important to make the first phase successful, so that people would obey it when it is reintroduced.

Delhi roads are not designed to encourage bicycle ride, which could reduce pollution. What is your opinion on the same?

Gopal Rai Transport Minister, Delhi The decision was definitely in the interest of citizens of Delhi. The court perfectly observed it was a policy decision taken based on expert knowledge to curb air pollution. I hope the sufficient data collected from the 15 days of odd-even exercise will be of great help in taking further steps after reviewing them. We will take the suggestion of experts on how to implement it in the long run.

The way people cooperated in this exercise, can we assume odd-even is going to be a regular practice? After reviewing the data, whenever the need arises the odd-even scheme will definitely be imposed in order to bring down the pollution level. The government is very positive in this

Promoting cycling is the next on our agenda towards ensuring lesser pollution. Our government is committed to utilize the money collected as fines for violating the car-rationing rules for creating lanes for cyclists and give subsidies on purchase of cycles to buyers. We are also planning to re-design the pavements, build tracks and stands to promote the cycling environment in the city.

What is your endeavour at community level? At community levels, we are committed to improve the last mile connectivity. We also encourage people towards plantation and doing away with burning of waste in their vicinity. As a part of our exercise to curb pollution at local level, I must appeal to people to use bicycles every day for their short travel needs, such as purchasing household items like milk, instead of using bikes in their colonies. They can easily ride them in their colonies where the possibilities of road accidents are less. February 2016 I 31

COVER STORY

Getting public transport right India can ill afford personalized vehicle based transportation infrastructure

Most cities have inadequate bus fleet resulting in overcrowded buses

Lekshmi Parmeswaran IN INDIA’S metropolitan cities, commuting is nothing less than an ordeal. For those taking public transport, the miseries they have to face on a daily basis is untold. The consequences that such inefficiency in the system can have on people’s lives do not bode well with the country’s vision of holistic development. With the population increasing at an ever faster rate and with pollution levels showing no signs of dipping down, the time has come to think of smart transport solutions. At the core of it should be public transportation system which is in dire need of reforms. 32 I February 2016

Even in a city like Delhi which takes pride in having an efficient public transport system, the unfortunate truth is that it is woefully inadequate to cater to the needs of population. In such a scenario, the plights of other cities which lack even the basic infrastructure need no special mention. Inefficiency has come to be associated with every mode of public transport in the country.

A look at the challenges The transportation sector is crippled with myriad issues. The first among the long set of concerns is the issue of frequency. The long hours that people have to

wait at the bus stops discourage a substantial number of people from opting for buses or local trains for their daily commuting. The time lag between the services also brings with it the issue of overcrowding. “For me every morning, half the battle of getting to workplace is won if I am able to get in a bus. Even when I reach well before time, the buses which are stuffed beyond capacity would make it impossible for me to board it. Because of this I often end up taking private rickshaws which are ten times more expensive than the buses”, says Jeyah Gomati, a primary school teacher in Chennai. This situation is not unique to her but is a constant reality for www.governancetoday.co.in

thousands braving the city lives. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of the population uses various means of public transport for their daily travel. So it is ironical that it is the issue of connectivity that the system has not been able to address so far. Most of the bus stops and metro stations are located so far away that people are forced to use either three wheelers or two wheelers to reach the stations. For those living in satellite towns, the only reliable means they have are the private run modes of transport. These are vehicles which do not adhere to any of the safety

part of a national scheme. They could not meet the objective of luring more commuters due to their unpredictable timing and the constant traffic woes. All these have given rise to an increase in personal transport in cities which are now considered to be well above the optimal range.

What can be done? The increasing congestion seen on Indian roads and the high pollution levels that has brought a sense of urgency to rethink the way public transportation sector

pathways should be created and a system should be put in place where people can borrow cycles from one point and return it at a different point. The government should subsidize e-rickshaws and install charging points along the roadways to make it a viable mode of transport. The electric vehicles that are currently available in the Indian market are highly priced and beyond the reach of a normal cycle rickshaw owner. This issue can be successfully addressed only if the government invests more in R&D activities and more innovations take place.

A novel concept in form of DMRC feeder buses is in totters

standards and travelling in them is a constant risk. Though the Delhi Metrorail Corporation tried to ease this situation by introducing feeder buses, it has not been a successful venture if one looks at the picture in totality. Many of the services were discontinued and those in operation are highly unreliable. The travelers are made to wait till the buses get filled which eats up the precious time of those in the morning and evening rush. The same is true with the low floor buses which were introduced in major cities of the country as www.governancetoday.co.in

is managed in the country. Time is running out fast for both the authorities and the public to bring the situation under control. The odd-even scheme implemented in Delhi on a pilot basis is definitely a step in the right direction to solve both the pollution and congestion issues. People will be encouraged to take public transport only if it becomes hassle free. The easiest way is to increase the frequency of buses and metros so that they are not overcrowded and the waiting period for the passengers gets reduced. For short distances, cycle

The introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Ahmadabad and Pune is something that can be emulated by all the other cities. Efforts should be made to make it more organized and the passengers should be able to access the bus timing with the help of their mobiles. A separate lane for the buses will also reduce the traffic congestion on the roads. Introducing women only buses are also a measure that the government and the private sector can look at to attract those who shy away from taking public transport due to safety concerns. The government can take a February 2016 I 33

cue from Singapore and introduce highway tax to encourage people to take public transport while on long trips. Considering that India accounts for 6 per cent of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s road deaths, it is of utmost importance to take a step that would reduce the number of light motor vehicles on the national highways which are often witness to instances of reckless driving. Abolishing the annual Motor Vehicle Tax and the Passenger Tax levied on public transport will be a good measure in bringing down the fairs for the common man.

Government can encourage the use of bio-fuels. Systematic and concerted efforts should be made to enable the state run vehicles to switch to cleaner fuels. It is also important to issue periodic fitness certificates to the buses to prevent them from posing a grave threat to the environment. Noise pollution is yet another aspect that needs to be considered before allowing the vehicles to ply on road. Giving the drivers training on how to handle the vehicle economically will go a long way in increasing the fuel efficiency of the vehicles.

A single transit card which can be used for all modes of transportation is a solution that should be considered to ease the travel of passengers. For this, necessary infrastructure should be put in place and training should be given to the drivers and conductors to avoid any misuse of the system. An integrated public transport system where people are given the choice between different modes will considerably help in easing the travel time. Along with this, the government can levy parking fees and congestion tax to discourage

Pune has been running an efficient BRT system

That said, the suggestion made by Supreme Court in applying differential pricing for the services offered in the case of Delhi metro should be viewed with seriousness. For the owners of luxury cars, public transport that matches up to needs their can prove to be a good enough incentive for them to make an intelligent choice. Along with this, the government can also provide tax breaks and other financial benefits to encourage people to resort to smart transport solutions. Since diesel particles are the single biggest pollutants, the 34 I February 2016

In the long term, developing areas further away from a business district and interlinking them with efficient transport system would prove to a lasting solution. It would greatly bring down the pollution burden on cities and enhance the quality of life as people will not be concentrated at one particular point. In addition to this, it should be made mandatory for offices having more than 50 employees to ensure pick up and drop facility to the metro stations and bus stops. This will not only reduce the number of cars on road but will also free the parking spaces.

people from using their private vehicles on a regular basis. In this day and age of technology, it is innovations that will bring about lasting solutions to correct all that is wrong with the Indian public transportation sector. The government should partner with private stakeholders to bring in the much needed technological know-how. If technology is employed at every stage of the transport chain, what will emerge is a system known for its efficient functioning. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

GREEN TECH

Kinetic introduces electric auto, Kinetic Safar Pune based Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions Limited, a venture of Kinetic group specialized in Green transport solutions has introduced its indigenously designed battery operated e-Auto named ‘Kinetic Safar’. ‘Kinetic Safar’ is positioned as an eco- friendly social innovation to promote pollution free yet affordable public transport in the country. Safar is designed to ensure reduction in carbon footprint with zero emission and sound and provide a cost effective solution for last mile connectivity as well as shared public transport in cities across India. Kinetic Safar, a pioneering effort by Kinetic Green, has been approved by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and meets all government safety norms as per Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR). Safar boasts of unique safety and performance features including an all steel body for durability and ruggedness, dual headlamp for night vision, powerful brakes for safety, dash board with battery charge indicator and speedometer. In line with CMVR guidelines, Safar has maximum speed of 25 Km per hour and can carry four passengers plus the driver comfortably. “Kinetic Green’s launch of e-Three Wheeler ‘Kinetic Safar’ is a sincere effort to provide pollution free yet affordable mode of public transport in the country. It is yet another social innovation from the makers of legendary products like Kinetic Luna, worlds most affordable two wheeler, and Kinetic Honda, which gave wings to women. Our e auto, Safar, is a ground up development to bring advanced green transport technology at an affordable price of merely Rs. 1.28 lakhs! The buyer of Safar is expected to recover his www.governancetoday.co.in

Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Founder and CEO of Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions during the launch

investment in 8-9 months and the riders enjoy an affordable ride at Rs.10 per ride. I am confident that Safar will revolutionize last mile transport and create employment for lakhs of unemployed youth or poor. We are pleased to contribute in Government of India’s initiative of reduction of pollution, improve health of our citizens and offer smart transport solutions.” said Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Founder and CEO of Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions while launching the e-three wheeler in Delhi. The company also announced that it has bagged India’s largest ever institutional order for electric vehicles from UP Government. This order won on the basis of competitive bidding is for providing 27,000 Kinetic Safar vehicles amounting to Rs. 400 Crores of which delivery to be completed within 12 months. This e Rickshaw Yojana of Government of Uttar Pradesh is a social welfare

initiative aimed at providing free e Rickshaws to the existing manual rickshaw pullers in the state in order to provide them a more dignified means of livelihood and towards poverty reduction. The Company has successfully completed delivery of the first 300 units of Kinetic Safar to UP Government and plans to enhance deliveries to 3,000 units per month. Future innovations and product plans of Kinetic Green include Safar Cargo, an e-cart for low cost and green urban load distribution aimed at home deliveries and e-commerce. Company also intends to commercialize a high speed e-auto for large cities called Soleckshaw (a model developed by Group company Kinetic engineering, under NMITLI program of CSIR), and develop e autos with Lithium ion batteries to include rapid charging and battery swapping.

February 2016 I 35

COVER STORY

What would it take to hop on alternative fuels bandwagon?

Bio fuel is the most promising development in alternative fuel technologies

Shobhna Jha POLLUTION IS undoubtedly one of the most pressing problems today. Even the new year which normally commences with the wishes of ‘Happy New Year’ has begun with the debate on the oddeven formula initiated by the Delhi Government. While everyone is agreeing that the pollution levels should come down to acceptable levels, if not zero-- the puzzling aspect is that nobody knows how to achieve it exactly, especially for a remarkably dynamic country as India. At least there is no agreement on what is to be done due to lack of information or institutional barriers at times. Arguably, major sources of air pollution with increasing times have been the conventional fuels, 36 I February 2016

especially diesel, which is the primary fuel for commercial vehicles and has increasingly been taking petrol’s share in personal vehicles too. The problem is compounded by the fact that it is used as the fuel for power back up as well, thanks to erratic power supply in urban India. It is no hidden fact that India’s energy demands have ever been on the increasing side over the years. Currently, India stands at fourth rank globally in annual energy consumption after China, USA and Russia. And everything seems justified given India’s large demographic pressure and unending resource demands. But the disturbing fact is that there is a huge and larger dependence on conventional fuels only, which exists as limited stock in nature. Moreover, with dwindling supplies,

petroleum prices would soar higher in coming times. It is worth mentioning the peak oil concept here, which emerged through M. King Hubberts’ theory worldwide. It suggests that rate of extraction of petroleum cannot continue forever and after a certain maximum extraction stage (‘the peak point’) it will eventually decline. Hence, even if mitigation efforts like fuel conservation, in line with the peak oil concept are followed, it may be useful only for extending the use of petroleum but not in reducing its consumption. In this regard, alternative fuels or non-conventional/ advanced fuels can solve the problems caused by conventional fuels. Alternative fuels not only produce lesser pollution but most importantly they are renewable or www.governancetoday.co.in

“Look outside, see the trees Watch the flowers in the breeze Things won’t be like this in a year or two If polluting is all we do Seize the night Seize the day Things won’t always be this way.” Josie Greveling at least quasi-renewable unlike conventional fuels. For a naturally gifted country like India in the sense of having such huge reserves of natural resources- like the potential for wind and solar energy, not utilizing them till full potential and capacity is like leaving an essential asset unexplored. Given India’s huge population, finite conventional fuels and unending demands, it’s high time for India to develop its own alternative fuels’ story. Apart from concern of pollution, water stress, other factors to opt for developing alternative fuels in India are- ever increasing energy demand in the automobile sector; unsustainable extraction of fossil fuels; lack of clear regulations and conformity among countries for emission norms; and the alarming oil import bills, enough to fixate the macroeconomic focus only on solving fiscal deficits’ problem than focussing on environmental concerns.

is being followed since 2010, and it is believed that Indian Government is directly planning to skip Euro-V (i.e. BS-V) and switch to Euro-VI straight, by 2020. Some of the major alternative fuels which are currently being thought in India are- ethanol (Oil companies in India has already commenced supplying Ethanol blended fuel); Natural Gas; Hydrogen; Propane; Bio-diesel; Methanol; P-series fuel. Admittedly, with the BJP government in power since 2014, the steps taken in the needed direction deserve an appreciative note. The push given to clean energy through the “Saffron (solar) revolution” and remarkable targets such as, to increase solar energy capacity from current 2.5 Giga watt (GW) to over 100 GW by 2022 and wind energy from 26 GW to 50GW by 2030, are

surely positive signal for alternative fuels’ development. One cannot comment upon the attainability of these targets at present, but at least the fact that clean, renewable energy development is high on Indian government’s agenda is quite reassuring for the upcoming generations.

Challenges with alternative fuels Atleast 70 per cent of India’s electricity generation capacity is from fossil fuels. As per the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s projections through the World Economic Outlook 2015, Coal would continue to dominate India’s energy mix till 2040 if no major policies are formulated against coal; India’s oil demand would rise by 6.0 million barrels (mb) per day to 9.8 mb /day in 2040 and oil import dependence would reach from 78 per cent today to about 90 per cent by 2040, pushing the production or supply of oil way behind it’s demand. Some of the major challenges faced while developing and working with alternative fuels areinordinately high initial or capital cost, lack of information and awareness about the potential and the techniques of using renewable and alternative fuels technologies, market failure in the form of inadequate valuation of public

Present scenario As many might imagine the case, India’s thinking for alternative fuels is not something new. It has been proactive in suggesting for alternative fuels off late. But the question is, why are we still not leaving our over dependence on conventional fuels even after all the awareness? At present, Indian government is following the Bharat stage (BS) emission standards for pollution control and regulation which are based on European norms and standards. At present, BS-IV stage www.governancetoday.co.in

CNG has been a successful experiment for vehicular fuel in India February 2016 I 37

benefits of alternative fuels and market barriers like lack of access to capital. These challenges are felt especially in developing countries like India. Finally, India’s alternative fuels development trajectory seems to face the ‘chicken and egg problem’ hurdle too. Who should be blamed is not clear. While the private sector is found as less investing in this arena due to expensive investments involved and uncertainty of profitability and positive returns, the common people also do not have huge demand for alternative fuels, for instance, a hydrogen fuel car, in the first place, and naturally so, because of very high price differential over conventional fuel car. With not much demand, there is no ‘popularity’, in the form of enough aggregate demand to have hydrogen fuel stations. Hence, how can we expect the private sector to invest in alternative fuels without any long run or higher security in investments?

towards Euro-V and Euro-VI norms, given due consideration to be given to the costs in the process. Within that shift, low-cost finance and access to cheap zero (and low) emission technologies has to be continuously explored by the Indian government; industries which directly and indirectly invest in clean energy technologies, must be incentivized. Finally, to reach a bandwagontype usage stage of alternative fuels in any country, surely it can’t be attained as a ‘one-time’ stunt. It has to be gradual transformation from conventional to alternative fuels’ usage. There must be a confidence in the process and this confidence has to emerge from awareness among people about

Boulding, a well-acclaimed economist has recently argued on ideology of conservationists versus technologists: conservationists would always lament over the sad plight of scarce resources which will inevitably get depleted a day and human beings, with their unending demands, can never solve the resource crisis problem. But the technologists would take this crisis as an ‘opportunity’ value man’s potential as “jackpot” if the necessary plan, technology and determination are present. Fortunately, in India’s case, the challenge itself is the gateway to solve the present problems ranging from pollution to energy crisis. It’s not the case that nothing has been done towards using alternative

positives in using alternative fuels, knowledge about global warming, pollution causes and harmful effects to be known across people whether in urban or rural communities. For instance, the fact that walking, public transport, car pooling are some of the best methods to combat the issue of pollution due to vehicular movements should be publicized as much as possible. India’s situation with alternative fuels is akin to what Kenneth

fuels. But the challenges must be gradually fully met. In the end, it is really the mindset and the behaviour of each one of us that will define whether we can successfully hop on the alternative fuel bandwagon. The importance of the need to reduce the dependence on conventional fuels for treading the path of sustainable development for India has to move from paper to action.

What would it take to make the switch? The most important thing needed to successfully have alternative fuels in India is undoubtedly the availability of a proven efficient alternative fuel technology. This is where India should explore as much as possible; get assistance from the developed countries too and by efficiency, it is important to meet both technical and productive efficiency, in terms of minimization of the huge costs involved in alternative fuels. Secondly, industries must resolve to ‘go-green’ with using agricultural waste (also called “agro waste”) as alternative fuels. Agro wastes have indeed emerged as successful initiatives worldwide for industries which adopted them. Government must also step forward proactively as- providing funds to the corporations for stimulating markets for alternative fuels, to solve market failure problems. Thirdly, there is an eminent need for periodical cost benefit analysis to be able to move 38 I February 2016

www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 39

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Lacking skill How Indian manufacturing sector is suffering from non-availability of skilled labor Ramesh Kumar Raja MANUFACTURING PMI in India decreased to 49.10 in December from 50.30 in November of 2015. It is the first contraction since October 2013. Yet hope abounds. India’s manufacturing sector could touch US$ 1 trillion by 2025. There is potential for the sector to account for 25-30 per cent of the country’s GDP from 16 per cent currently. So what is stopping India from being a world-class manufacturing player is the non-availability of skilled labor? Each and everyone associated with the manufacturing sector would readily agree that finding skilled labor and capital are the biggest challenges of the industry. We are struggling to find people who are skilled and mechanically proficient. So how does one acquire, train and retain non-existent talent? The Economic Survey 2014-15 stated that as per the Labor Bureau Report 2014, the present skilled workforce in India is only 2 per cent, which is much lower when compared to other developing nations and that the number of persons aged 15 years or above, who have received or be receiving skills, is merely 6.8 per cent. Getting skilled labor in the country has been a topic of many a discussions. In fact, for the first time in the history of Indian planning, the 11th Five Year Plan document (Planning Commission, 2008) introduced a chapter on skill challenges facing the nation, but suggestion of remedial measures have not been at the forefront. Dearth of formal vocational education, lack of quality workforce, high school dropouts, inadequate skill training capacity and negative perception towards skilling are the major causes of poor skill levels of India’s workforce. 40 I February 2016

Indian manufacturing sector requires a large number of skilled and semi skilled labor

But every problem has a solution and there are a few steps that will have a long-term effect on the availability of skilled labor in the Indian manufacturing sector. National Manufacturing Policy 2011 has set a target of creating 100 million jobs by 2022. While jobs might be created, we need to look at following solutions to get the right skilled people to take those jobs.

Introduction of vocational courses in the education system Given the scale of the challenge posed by the quick economic growth and the Increasing segment of working age demographic, the first aspect of skill challenge is that the overall education level of India’s labor force in the age group 15-59 remains tremendously beneath mark. Youth across the length and breadth of the country still prefer to enroll in traditional educational and technical degrees, even if it is doesn’t equip them with relevant skills and renders

them unemployable. If one has nothing better to do then they resort to vocational education for acquiring a skill. However, it is not that our education system is at fault but like everything else, it also needs additions. We need to include vocational courses to produce masons, welders, fork lift operators of sound quality that the manufacturing sector of the country needs. We need to seamlessly intertwine vocational training with school and college curriculum.

Make it a career choice Nobody wants to become a carpenter, an electrician or a plumber in this country even though we cannot do without their essential services. Carpenters, electricians and plumbers get paid amply per hour of their service and are considered certified technicians and expensive options abroad. But the lack of interest in these professions in India is because, unlike the west, there is no dignity of labor here. In fact, our society does not appreciate the role of skilled labor and someone working www.governancetoday.co.in

in a factory is largely viewed as much inferior from someone working in a consultancy firm. Even people engaged in such professions want their children to grow up and do something ‘better’ in India. Doctors, engineers and management professionals are still the much sought after career choices. We need to tell students early on in life that learning an industry specific skill is a boon and not a bane. We should run a program similar to Germany’s apprentice and trade education track that cultivates students.

Refresh curriculum Often training institutes have outdated course materials which really doesn’t benefit anyone especially the students. Illequipped, outdated and theoretical curricula are more of a disservice

(NSQF), hopefully quality of skilled people will improve.

Put a stop to ‘Brain Drain’ A very pertinent problem is the migration of skilled labor to other countries especially in nursing and construction for better employment prospects. For example, the construction boom in the Middle East and better opportunities in Europe and the United States of America for nurses have caused much of the brain drain. Resources spent on training individuals seem a waste if they don’t find the right growth incubator in their own country. While the reverse brain drain has taken place to some extent, it has taken place in high skill segment. The Government and corporates must leave no stone

the talent, which the government is looking into through higher and vocational education programs like the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, Technical Education Quality Improvement Program, and the National Skill Qualification Framework. As mentioned earlier, a dedicated Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been created under the Ministry of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports to accord focused attention in this area is also big step in this regard.

Partnership The need to skill people cannot be the prerogative of the government alone and there has to be greater private sector engagement and constructive participation. For an all–round growth development in skilled labor, combined initiatives by manufacturers, policy-makers and people will forge the way ahead. We need to unanimously decide on the type of trained workforce we need and the minimum standards that would be expected.

Conducive work environment

There is massive need for skilling the unskilled and semi skilled labor force

to students who are still termed as non-skilled despite studying to acquire skills.

Enhance skilled labors’ quality In follow-up to the previous point, we have failed to set the specific standards and competencies required for various job roles. There is no set measure or evaluation system to assess the skill. As a result, many a times, even skilled people fall short of expertise required for a particular job. However, with the National Skill Qualification Framework www.governancetoday.co.in

unturned to ensure reverse talent flow for arresting brain drain with a sense of urgency. For example, even President Obama has praised companies that are bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States from abroad at a White House conference. He was clear that he did not want the next generation of manufacturing jobs taking root in countries like China or Germany. President Obama said. “I want them taking root in places like Michigan and Ohio and Virginia and North Carolina.” Make in India initiative of Central Government can retard brain drain in its tracks. But it needs to follow up with skilling

We need to breathe a lease of new life in manufacturing and it can be done by making skill training appealing to youth and ensuring general education and vocational education do not function in isolation. As entrepreneurs, we also need to provide a conducive environment with benefits to our work-force. India needs a significant quantity of good quality skilled force to revitalize the manufacturing sector. Skill gaps are constraining Indian manufacturing, and unless closing these gaps becomes a national priority, growth of manufacturing sector will continue to suffer. In short, whether as an industry or as a nation, we cannot develop without skills. Period. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 41

INTERVIEW

INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM IS MARKS/GRADES BASED, NOT KNOWLEDGE BASED AS INDIA embarks on a massive program to become a manufacturing powerhouse, it is necessary that the large numbers of people who join workforce are adequately skilled. Skilling the workforce is a big task as the country does not have a strong vocational training program in school and college curricula. Because government cannot train all job seekers, it is paramount that private sector be tapped into skilling the manpower in the country. HCL TalentCare is one of those few private sector initiatives that are making such a contribution to this national endeavor. In an interaction with Ramesh Kumar Raja of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Governance Today,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Vijay Iyer, Chief Business Officer, HCL TalentCare threw light on the initiative. Edited excerpts:

Could you share with us the background of the HCL TalentCare initiative? How did the idea come about? Several studies indicate that a large proportion (upward of 75 per cent) of new college graduates do not possess the skills required to be readily employable in roles for which they seek to be hired. Industry addresses these gaps through large investments in training, internships, shadow assignments, bench strength and other methods to make new hires job-ready and productive. An additional complexity is high levels of attrition in the entry-level (0-3 year experience) workforce, leading to expensive and repetitive cycle of hiring, training, 42 I February 2016

Vijay Iyer Chief Business Officer, HCL TalentCare staffing and replacement for the same role. With an aim to address these challenges, we established HCL TalentCare. We have already placed a significant number of

students and are further looking at training 20,000 graduates in next three years to make them employable for different industry verticals. Our approach to implementing www.governancetoday.co.in

our business proposition involves providing end-to-end solutions across the value chain – (I) Sourcing; (ii) Skilling; (iii) Staffing; (iv) Sustaining while most others players would operate in individual pockets.

What are the core elements of this initiative? Essentially, HCL TalentCare has created a unique business model by offering “talent-ondemand” to enterprise clients and a “career launch pad” to graduates. This involves providing end-to-end solutions across the value chain by sourcing, skilling and staffing students. We are hereby offering value propositions to both the corporates and the students. For the students, we are offering an assured job once they clear the course. Once they are deployed into the client’s organization, we start managing the professional development of these employees during this period of staffing and improve their capabilities so that at the end of the deployment, they are able to take up higher order roles within the client organization directly. We offer the enterprise client with replacement, scale up/ scale down options and assist in managing bench, attrition, growth and quality. Not only do we make these students job-ready but also deliver phenomenal value to corporates. We deliver future-proof employees who are ‘productive on arrival’ and deliver much more value to the business. The target sectors identified are: IT Services, Banking, Insurance and Healthcare. We have seen that there is a huge skill gap in these sectors and that is why we are looking to address the challenges in these sectors to start with. HCL TalentCare screens students through Jobability Quotient Test and develops a large pool of talent for specific entry-level roles in industry www.governancetoday.co.in

through a paid, 6-12 month, residential training program which addresses critical skills – professional, technical, domain, behavioral, language, and communication. Our Signature Learning Experience is designed to increase a student’s Jobability Quotient and transform him or her into a capable and confident professional with relevant skills and certifications.

Does HCL as an employer get adequate number of rightly skilled employees? If not, which are the areas in which you find them most lacking? HCL TalentCare is a separate business entity and we place students in multiple IT companies. For HCL, I am not the right person to comment.

What according to you is the bigger problem in India, unemployment or unemployability? Both unemployment and unemployability are problems that co-exist. There are about 1.5 million engineering graduates every year and there are not enough jobs in the market for all of these students. When there are more people and fewer jobs, it is definitely a social challenge. Having said that, a significant percentage of students who graduate are not job-ready. We have to work together with the academia and industry to understand where the skill gap is and how we can lessen this.

What are your future plans as far as skill enhancement is concerned? What are the new areas you are working on? Skill India clearly looks at

driving skill development initiatives across the country. We are looking to partner with various government initiatives. We are an NSDC partner and are also in talks with several state governments to see if we can align our work with their skill development initiatives. Our goal is to skill 20,000 people in the next three years. Right now, our primary focus is IT and BFSI, and soon we are going to get into healthcare. We will also expand our portfolio by launching a new course on SMAC (social, mobility, analytics and cloud) soon.

How do you think private sector can contribute to the Skill India campaign of the government of India? The basic premise of the skill development mission is to provide job-ready human resource to industry. For this the industry too needs to come forward and contribute towards this mission by offering skill development courses and training centres as part of their CSR or through a business model.

What changes do you think are required so that students graduating out of schools and colleges are equipped with adequate skills to get desired jobs? Our Indian education system believes in memorization of studies. It is marks/grades based, not knowledge based. So, when a student graduates, he has a degree certificate but no aptitude/attitude to contribute to the present industries. To get desired jobs, the education system should ensure practical and hands-on sessions in the industry for the students. This will give the students an understanding of what it takes to handle pressure and deliver results at the same time. February 2016 I 43

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Getting private sector to develop skill The government should incentivize the private sector to train workers in order to take advantage of the demographic dividend

India will not be able to capitalize on its manpower if measures are not taken to skill its population

Lekshmi Parmeswaran PERHAPS THE biggest of all anomalies lies in the Indian labour market. The country which is known for its excellent quality of labour is also the country with almost 90 per cent of its workforce falling under the unskilled or semiskilled category. This is of particular concern when viewed against the job opportunities that the economic growth has opened up. The present scenario would essentially mean that a substantial portion of the *UN Population Division Report, 2015

44 I February 2016

workforce that gets added every year would remain unemployable. The demographic dividend which the country is expected to witness by the year 2030* when 68 per cent of its population will be in the working age group, might in all probability become its greatest of all curses, if appropriate steps are not taken immediately. India will see a situation where due to economic and technological advancements, the requirement for manpower will be at an all time high but the lack of skilled labour

will push the country back in the developmental race. With a little more than a decade left for India to face this challenge upfront, the need is almost immediate to formulate new strategies and implement them.

Skewed approach So how did a country that is making the world stand up and take note of its achievements in different spheres fail to empower its working class. The answer to www.governancetoday.co.in

this can be understood only if one understands the complexities of the Indian demographic set up in which majority of population lives in rural areas with very poor educational infrastructure. The phenomenon of urbanization also brought with it the migration wave. People who were till then rural agricultural labourers saw in cities an opportunity to find work on a regular basis. Most of them having had no background in any formal education migrated to cities only to find that they were unemployable in industries that were technology driven. The situation was further aggravated by a developmental plan that excluded the casual workforce. The government offered skill development initiatives through 17 of its ministries to enhance the employability of the population. But the stress on secondary education as minimum qualification for enrolling in the programs meant that it did not serve the purpose for which it was initially conceived. In fact it became a medium for the systematic exclusion of informal sector workers from the ambit of development. In a country where illiteracy is still rampant and where in spite of having the right to education as a fundamental right, the state has not been able to control the dropout rates, nor has it been able to provide enough earning skills to students who stick to school. In fact, education as a fundamental right seems to have been put in place without understanding the ground realities. Merely enacting a law is not people worthy of getting an employment and earning a decent livelihood. In addition to this, the government run vocational training centres do not have the capacity to accommodate all the existing unskilled laborers in the work force even if they function to their optimum level. Another fact which has been overlooked is the long duration of the vocational courses. The casual workers dependent solely on daily wages can ill afford to attend courses that run for a span of six months. Without any remuneration www.governancetoday.co.in

involved, it is a difficult task to make them see the benefits of acquiring a new skill. The policy mismatch between the central and state governments has contributed in no small measure to the majority of Indian workforce remaining unskilled and unemployable. Since vocational training falls on the concurrent list, policies are often formulated without taking the area specific demand and supply chain into consideration. Also there is no effective mechanism in place to monitor the implementation of the policies at the grass root level where it is most needed.

Engaging the private sector

to train the workers. But this is not enough to encourage entire private sector to follow suit. The existence of the Minimum Wages Act and the Industrial Disputes Act which has put restrictions on the downsizing of workforce make the companies hesitant to invest in training. Even though casual workers fall in the unregulated sector, the fear of the authorities using the legal provisions to arm twist the private companies have always loomed large. The government on its part has chosen to ignore these concerns and have not made an attempt to address the issue of skill deficit by involving all the stakeholders. According to a study released by the National Skill

Companies should also be encouraged to pay stipend to the workers enrolled in the vocational courses so that they can sustain themselves throughout the duration of the course. The government instead of increasing the number of training institutes should use that money to support the companies taking the effort to train the workforce. With the International Monetary Fund predicting the Indian economy to grow by 7.3 per cent in the current financial year, the role of private sector assumes importance. The companies in this sector are more attuned to technological innovations and have a clear understanding of the growth of labor market. They are also the most affected due to the dearth of skilled labour in the country. They are often faced with the tough choice of the project getting stalled or to incur heavy expenditure in bringing skilled labour from outside. Some of the companies like Reliance and Larsen & Turbo have tried to reverse this situation by starting their own skill training units

Development Corporation, the top five employment generators in the coming years will be: infrastructure, informal sector, automobile, building and construction industries and textile and clothing. It is very evident from the list that the country will be in need of masons, electricians, plumbers and the like in large numbers. Only the involvement of private sector can help in upgrading the skill of the workforce. But for this to happen, it is necessary for the government to encourage the companies by providing financial incentives. Dr Meenakshi Nayar, founder president of Etasha Society, a non-profit organization providing February 2016 I 45

vocational training elaborates further, “The need to significantly increase support for skill development is unquestionable. Since the Corporate Sector values tax breaks the most, a valued incentive would be to allow the expenditure on skill development to be treated as an expense and therefore be tax deductible”. Companies should also be encouraged to pay stipend to the workers enrolled in the vocational courses so that they can sustain themselves throughout

to show the money that they spend on training as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This is a winwin situation for both corporate and workers, and will encourage more companies to invest in skill enhancement of workers. India can emulate models from Germany and China towards achieving this objective. Germany allows students to opt for vocational training after nine years of compulsory education. As Right to Education has become a reality

Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) which will provide financial rewards to the candidates who successfully complete the program and the Recognition of Prior Learning’ (RPL) which is aimed at certifying the workers from the informal sector on the skills they already possess. This program can yield positive results only if the private sector which is well aware of the present day needs is roped in. There is also a need to revamp the RPL scheme where the beneficiaries are given a chance to learn the

There is a need for the government and the private sector to work together for the economy to grow

the duration of the course. The government instead of increasing the number of training institutes should use that money to support the companies taking the effort to train the workforce. This way the companies will be able to take in even those who can’t be employed in their facilities. The goal should be not just to train enough number of people required to complete a particular project but to enlarge the overall skilled workforce of the nation. The government can also make laws that will allow companies 46 I February 2016

in India, this approach will help in encouraging people from weaker sections to enroll their children in schools. The lessons that India can learn from China is to organize its informal workforce. Beijing has taken the first steps in registering all the migrant labourers. For India which has a high rate of intrastate and inter-state migration, this might prove to be a crucial step in identifying the sectors which require skill upgradation. The government’s skill development initiatives rests on two major pillars; the Pradhan Mantri

latest developments in the fields of their expertise. An economy will grow only if both the government and the private enterprises work in tandem. The government should recognize the technical know-how of the private sector and formulate policies taking the macro-economic factors into consideration. The end goal should be to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend to the maximum extent possible and make the country grow at a faster rate. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW

TECH COLLABORATIONS WILL CONTINUE TO BE A DRIVING FORCE IN INDO-US RELATIONSHIP LAST FEW years have been transformational for bilateral relations between India and the US. Bilateral relations between the two countries have moved deeper in crucial areas of defense cooperation and high end technologies, and both democracies are now also finding greater aligning of interests in Asian geopolitical theater. However, there are challenges too that prevent full realization of the potential of bilateral relations in economic arena. To get a broader perspective of the IndoUS relationship and how it has evolved in recent past, Anand Mishra, Editor and Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, spoke to Richard Rossow, who is a leading expert in IndiaUS relations. Rossow is a senior fellow and holds the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC. In this role he helps frame and shape policies to promote greater business and economic engagement between the two countries. He joined CSIS in 2014, after having spent over one a half decade working in a variety of capacities to strengthen the partnership between the United States and India. From 19982008, Rossow also served as deputy director of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), the world’s leading advocacy group on behalf of strengthening economic ties between the United States and India. Edited excerpts:

How do you assess the growth of relation between India and www.governancetoday.co.in

Richard Rossow Senior Fellow, CSIS

the US during current Indian government? Ambassador Richard Verma talked about “strategic plus partnership.” How do you see the momentum going forward? In the last twelve months we have seen tremendous progress

on the strategic side. We have successfully renewed our defense framework agreement, moved forward in co-producing defense equipment under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) program, and, most significantly, released a “Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region” that establishes clear, shared principles for Asian security. Even our cooperation in Nepal after the February 2016 I 47

devastating earthquake showed our ability to operate together in real-life scenarios is stronger. However, our economic relationship remains stuck in first gear. India’s liberalization process under Prime Minister Modi has been solid, though unspectacular. The United States has increased fees on visas, harming India’s vibrant technology services agreement. We are still on opposite sides of talks in multilateral forums like the World Trade Organization (WTO). And we are no closer than we were eight years ago to signing a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). The numbers tell a bit better story. Foreign direct investment jumped more than 30 percent last year, and our bilateral goods trade increased modestly—about 2 percent—in 2015.

CSIS has recently started a scorecard for governments’ performance. Could you elaborate on it? How do you rate Modi government’s performance till now? I tend to rate the Modi government’s performance higher than most, barring those with a direct affiliation with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Certainly from a foreign firms’ point of view, he has moved quickly to increase foreign equity limitations in dozens of sectors. Some of his biggest reforms have not attracted a great deal of attention, such as delicensing most defense industry, opening the coal sector, holding transparent auctions, removing the last sectors “protected” by the small scale industry reservation list, and taking the effort to develop an “apples to apples” review of the business environment of India’s states—a necessary precursor to truly foment competition. The work done by the Finance Ministry on cross-border taxation is also very 48 I February 2016

good, such as closing the door on the application of the Minimum Alternative Tax to portfolio investors, stopping the launch of new cross-border tax cases using the retrospective principle, and, most recently, shifting how tax assessors’ performance is appraised from a quantitative approach to a more qualitative approach. But much of this work is sector-specific, or so arcane that it is not well-understood by the general public. However, there are deeper structural issues that remain on an uncertain trajectory. From an investor’s viewpoint, it is still difficult to get reliable electricity, clean water, sanitation connections, and transportation issues. The Ministry of Power’s program to bail out failing electricity boards is crucial, yet the Ministry lacks credible tools to enforce good power sector governance in the states. Passing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will provide a powerful shot of confidence, yet its status remains uncertain. This year the BJP would like to conduct a new round of oil and gas exploration licensing, but crucial reforms in licensing and pricing are important to attract bidders — particularly with depressed global prices.

There has been a launch of US India Innovation Forum led by you. Please let us know more details about it and how you feel it can be useful for SMEs and start-ups? Innovators and entrepreneurs are important drivers of any economy. Yet in India, startups sometimes feel left behind, with far more attention paid to helping India’s international conglomerates grow. At the same time, there are great innovators in the U.S. that are coming up with world-changing ideas; we need to explore how such innovations can be quickly

applied in India to improve peoples’ lives, whether it is in the area of clean water, financial inclusion, expanding education opportunities, bridging the digital divide, or other critical areas. So my challenge and opportunity in running the Innovation Forum is two-fold: Finding great innovators, wherever they are, and convincing policymakers to knock down any barriers that limit the application of these great innovations.

You have also launched States Weekly Update. What are the important trends you are seeing as far as governance and economic performance is concerned? Which states in your opinion are doing well? This is a relatively new product, dating only since October 2015. Before that, there really was not any group in the world that was effectively tracking what is really happening in India’s states to change their business environment. So far, in this short sample period, the results are not terribly surprising. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat seem to be moving the fastest among the ten states we cover. Some of the good work done by these states is absolutely unappreciated by the global business community, and I hope to provide a platform to highlight such actions. For example, Andhra Pradesh has extended the life of government land leases from 33 years to 99 years. Uttar Pradesh amended its land laws to allow Dalits with small holdings to sell their land to non-Dalits, increasing the market for property sales. Maharashtra now allows mid-size plots of land to be divided and sold. Maharashtra also amended its Factories Act to allow women to work at night. There are not “miracle cures,” but these are all stepping stones to make the business environment easier. www.governancetoday.co.in

The difficulty with our States work-stream is separating the “signal” from the “noise.” Every chief minister in India announces every week that his or her state has single-window clearance, is setting up industrial parks, has 100 per cent reliable electricity, etc.— yet there can be a wide chasm between these pronouncements and the on-theground reality.

India is out of TransPacific Partnership. How do you see it impacting the economic relation between the two countries? I think the harms will be moderate, but real. Investors, particularly in manufacturing, tend to look at value chains. Fewer products are created entirely of pieces derived from one country. Countries that bind themselves together and lower customs duties while developing common import and export rules are more likely to be chosen by major firms to be a part of this value chain. So India will likely miss out on a few investments it otherwise would have attracted. There are other multilateral deals underway beyond TPP. These include the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), and the expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA-2). So while being outside the ambit of TPP may not be a big deal in the near-term, we can hopefully find some common ground for India to comfortably look to sign up for this network of deals that will shape future trade flows worldwide.

India is one of the few countries doing good economically. What are your expectations from next budget? First, I think the budget is vastly overrated as a policymaking www.governancetoday.co.in

tool. People’s expectations for what the budget can do are a memory of the heyday in the 1990’s, when every budget speech was peppered with reform ideas that had never been publicly uttered, and every budget would remove domestic protections and open India to new products and services from around the world, and lower costs for many items that had been out of reach for the middle class. But now, the budget is about making tweaks to the system. Spending a bit more here, changing a few tax rates there. The most “interesting” propositions in budgets in recent years have tended to be big changes that chilled the business environment. This includes the Fringe Benefit Tax, the amendments to the Income Tax Act that allowed retrospective application of domestic tax law in overriding treaty provisions, and similar changes. So overall, my expectations are modest. The speech will include a re-affirmation of the government’s intention to move ahead with certain reforms, such as GST and the new bankruptcy law. They will try to further rein in the deficit. Perhaps some reductions in customs duties on capital goods, intermediate goods, and other items that will help strengthen the Make in India and Smart Cities campaigns.

What is the progress on areas like Nuclear Cooperation, Patent Laws & Climate Change? These have been areas of difference of opinion between the two countries. Progress on these key topics has been mixed, and is certainly colored by differing perceptions of “progress.” In many ways, we are on different sides of the global debate over patents and climate change. On patents, our pharmaceutical industries are

large, and based on opposite models- novel innovation versus low cost production. There is not much space for middle ground between these models, and so our interpretation over regulation in this area will continue to cause consternation. Similarly on climate change, while the Modi government is very interested in renewables, the coal reforms initiated in the last year are more likely to increase availability and decrease costs for this fuel type. And with state electricity board finances in shambles due to political interference with pricing, they are under tremendous cost pressure. If coal is cheapest, coal will continue to be deployed. The International Energy Agency, in its recent “India Energy Outlook,” estimates that India will create half of all new coal power capacity between now and 2040. Nuclear cooperation is in a different place. The governments are trying, within the boundaries of India’s nuclear liability law, to find a way to placate suppliers to help jump-start nuclear power development. Whether the current solution, establishing an insurance pool, will suffice, is not yet clear. However, there are indications that a few global nuclear suppliers are hopeful this will result in a workable solution.

How do you see the progress on technology collaboration between two countries? Technology collaboration is one of our strongest ties. India’s dynamic technology services firms like TCS, HCL, Wipro, and Infosys continue to help design and revamp technologies for American firms. But there are new horizons that are barely tapped, such as cooperation in strategic sectors like defense. I feel that, based on our history in this area, technology collaborations will continue to be an exciting, driving force in our relationship.

February 2016 I 49

POLICY

A neglected case Imperative for the government to address issues of heavy minerals industry Ramesh Kumar Raja CALL IT a pathetic instance for India from economic point of view that even though it has nearly 35 per cent of heavy minerals’ deposits in the world, the country contributes merely four per cent of global production. Adding to the woes, the heavy minerals mining (HMM) industry constitutes only two per cent of the entire mining done in India. These minerals, often referred to be ‘strategic minerals’, are used for critical applications in diverse industries – electronics, ceramics, paints, paper, pigments, plastics, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, defense, etc. They are of utmost importance to the Indian economy considering their applications everywhere. The HMM industry comprises mainly of ilmenite, zircon, rutile, garnet, sillimanite and leucoxene extracted from beach mineral sands found in tailings along the 7,500 kilometres Indian coastline. These minerals also include ones with high specific gravity, such as titanium and rare earths found only in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Unlike other major minerals that are fully exhausted after mining, heavy mineral sands are replenishable due to constant winds and beach deposits; only 20 per cent is recovered as minerals, while the balance 80 per cent sand is backfilled into the mined area. Although it is an emerging area in India, the state-owned PSU Indian Rare Earths Ltd accounts for most of the output. 50 I February 2016

Tamil Nadu-based VV Mineral, Kerala government-owned KMML and Trimex Sands happen to be other major players in the sector. Except monazite, all minerals are mined together from the sand. Mining of monazite, however, is not open to the private sector due to its strategic importance of being the primary source of radio active thorium, which is an integral part of India’s three-stage nuclear power programme. Hence, the industry is strictly regulated by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). As for utility, garnet is widely

used as an abrasive in oil producing companies for corrosion control. Ilmenite and rutile are titanium feedstock used mainly for producing Tio2 pigment and small quantities in production of welding electrodes. Zircon is used in ceramic tiles as an opacifier and in refractory for insulation. And so on. In India, the major focus is on mining iron ore, coal, bauxite, etc. India imports most of its requirements as far as heavy minerals are concerned, which depletes forex reserves. Although India possesses the world’s largest www.governancetoday.co.in

Heavy minerals mining and extraction is a highly complex mining and chemical process

reserves of ‘heavy mineral sands’ [~ 25- 28%], yet its exploitation is dismally low {~5- 6%}. USA, Australia and South Africa having only about 11-12% reserves each, have >25% share in the exploitation of the beach mineral sands. Though this industry is a century old one, private sector was allowed entry only three decades back. It is nascent as there is little awareness about this industry and its immense potential to the Indian economy. According to V Subramanian, director of VV Mineral, India’s www.governancetoday.co.in

largest manufacturer and exporter of garnet and ilmenite, a number of policy bottlenecks is responsible for lethargic growth of the sector. “Eighteen agencies are involved in granting permission for mining and processing applications out of which seven are from the state concerned and 11 are from the central government. There are 30 conditions laid down by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) while clearing mining projects, some of which are so impracticable. The CRZ (coastal regulation zone) requirements are

also not in favour of beach mineral industry. For example, processing units cannot be set in the coastal areas coming under the CRZ. This leads to putting up plants far away from the mining areas which increases the transportation expenses as the remnant sand has to be brought back to the mining site for refilling. Export licenses are issued for only one year and renewal is a cumbersome process. 10 per cent export duty on Ilmenite makes the Indian industry very uncompetitive in international market. No other country has February 2016 I 51

Many heavy minerals are among the most neglected product categories in India

imposed export duty on ilmenite,” Subramanian enumerates. Lack of port infrastructure, sufficient power and natural gas are the other factors responsible for the poor outcome from the industry. “Most of the mineral operations are in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. We don’t have port that’s deeper than 11–13 meters. This makes us ship in small ships, making the freight more expensive. While scarcity of adequate electricity makes our own captive generation using diesel generators very expensive (almost thrice the cost of grid power), dearth of natural gas forces us to use diesel or furnace oil, which makes us competitive against Chinese Tio2 manufacturers. Cheap imports of pigments from China is another issue affecting the

domestic industry,” Subramanian says. As discussed, there is abundance of opportunities in this sector. The industry could yield nearly Rs 30,000 crore in annual turnover to the exchequer if exploited sustainably. Worldwide, mining is akin to oxygen for the manufacturing industry. Without mining, manufacturing would soon collapse like a pack of loose cards. S Vaikundarajan, chairman and MD of VV Mineral says, “To boost India’s GDP and make inclusive growth a reality, mining needs to grow in a big way and hurdles cleared in the mineral supply of industry. Although the situation has improved now after the entry of private players, challenges remain in the form of lack of infrastructure, export duty and problems in

As a matter of fact, India imports most of its heavy minerals requirements. The country first exports these minerals to China at lower prices and then purchases them back at 10 times the price in value-added form. This, consequently, leads to a heavy annual outgo of foreign exchange reserves. In its place, if the government made a positive policy structure and a facilitating environment, the domestic firms would be encouraged to set up value-addition facilities in India itself. 52 I February 2016

obtaining mining leases. But given a slight attention from the government, we can easily surpass countries like Australia and South Africa and contribute more than 50 per cent of the world’s production.” The next few years is going to be instrumental for this sector, especially in wake of Centre’s ‘Make in India’ program. The industry, if driven positively with policy incentives, can be the most promising sector. There is very little awareness about the heavy minerals in the minds of discerning public, but given the diverse applications of rare earths in sectors such as electronics, aerospace, defence, etc., it is going to raise the bar for countries like Japan which can’t do without these strategic minerals. From cars and clothes to cell-phones and computers, from soap and pens to medicines, toothpaste and other daily items, heavy minerals are present in some form or the other during the manufacturing process. With the government having announced ambitious targets in power, infrastructure, housing and manufacturing, it needs to be noted that heavy minerals are crucial for the nation’s infrastructure, housing, development and manufacturing sectors. Multiple curbs and constraints in the production, processing and exports of heavy minerals will only make it more difficult to tap these resources to meet the national agenda. In the current scenario, zircon demand in India is close to 130,000 tonnes, and India produces only 50,000 tonnes and rest is being imported. TiO2 pigment for instance, Indian demand currently is about 300,000 tonnes and only 60,000 tonnes is being produced in India and rest is being imported mainly from China and other developed countries. As for rutile, Indian demand is around 40,000 tonnes and only 18,000 tonnes is produced in India. Only ilmenite is being exported as infrastructure and a policy doesn’t support the value addition of ilmenite. Globally also, demand for these minerals are going strong and Indian www.governancetoday.co.in

manufacturers are hardly playing any role other than garnet. As a matter of fact, India imports most of its heavy minerals requirements. The country first exports these minerals to China at lower prices and then purchases them back at 10 times the price in value-added form. This, consequently, leads to a heavy annual outgo of foreign exchange reserves. In its place, if the government made a positive policy structure and a facilitating environment, the domestic firms would be encouraged to set up

this industry, we might end up depending on other countries for strategic minerals.” Experts have lots of hope from the current regime led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a new lease of life to the HMM sector. They seek a single window clearance for the mining industry as it takes a total number of 28 ministries and departments at state and central government levels, leading to a total gestation time of more than 2800 days (nearly eight years) severely impacting the industry.

monazite mining by private entities must be revoked, permitting them to process monazite mined from their own facilities. Although it has been a long time demand of the Mining Engineers’ Association of India, processing may only be allowed under the watch and provisions of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the AERB, thereby any fears of misuse could be allayed. If the processes are fast tracked and necessary clearances are given to private miners, better development can be achieved in lesser amount of time.

Space and defense are among the major consumers of heavy minerals

value-addition facilities in India itself. Subramanian says, “Our domestic market is very young and has a tremendous potential. Current Indian consumption of pigment is only 1.5kg / person, whereas developed countries typically used 4kg / person. The same trend applies for other minerals like zircon and rutile as well. Irony is 300 mining applications are pending all over India in this industry. If something is not done by the government to motivate www.governancetoday.co.in

The Beach Minerals Producers Association calls for export incentives from the government to make India competitive with global counterparts. Restrictive import policy is another demand i.e., anti-dumping duty on TiO2, rutile and zircon should be done away with. Besides, there should be simplification in process of MoEF as well as CRZ clearances for heavy minerals mining or fix a particular time frame for granting the approval. Furthermore, the ban on

To protect and promote national interest, it is therefore imperative that the government creates a positive policy framework that facilitates smooth operations and higher output in the heavy minerals industry. The sector will then be in a position to contribute its mite in ensuring the government’s manifesto promises of nationwide infrastructure development, affordable housing and 24x7 power for all are fulfilled. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 53

INTERVIEW

AS THE WORLD INCREASINGLY BECOMES FLAT, RELATIONSHIPS WILL BE LIFEBLOOD OF COMMERCE

Michael Margolis CEO and Founder, Get Storied BUSINESS STORYTELLING has emerged as a great tool for organizational training and motivation exercise. Michael Margolis is among the topmost business storyteller in the world and his venture Get Storied has some of the best and most respected organizations as clients. In an interaction with Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, ‘Governance Today,’ Michael talks about his story, his passions and what he finds amazing about India. Edited excerpts:

Could you tell us your story and how you founded Get Storied? Who are your top clients 54 I February 2016

and what do you do for them? My work as a business storyteller began in 2002, long before it’s fast rise as a current trend. I’m trained as a cultural anthropologist, so I’ve always been fascinated with people, communications, and meaningmaking process of life – and business. In my first career, I was a social entrepreneur in the NGO sector, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation at the age of 23. Within a couple years, as many startups do, it all fell apart. When the dust settled, I was drawn to business storytelling. Specifically - innovation, and why some ideas stick, yet most are lost in translation. Truthfully, what

also brought me to this work was my own insecurities and social awkwardness growing up as an ex-pat geek in both Switzerland and Los Angeles. I’ve always been good with words and big ideas, yet paradoxically would find myself tongue tied and twisted when faced with a skeptical audience. So my work with storytelling is deeply personal. Today, our clients include many leading enterprises: Google, TATA, Deloitte, SAP, Bloomberg, NASA, and Greenpeace to name a few. We deliver corporate training programs on storytelling -- related to innovation adoption, business transformation, and brand marketing. Sometimes we’re teaching engineer managers how gain buy-in support for large change initiatives. Other times, we’re coaching enterprise sales managers on the art of B2B storytelling. Increasingly, we spend a lot of time with entrepreneurs helping them hone their pitch and better use data in storytelling. In addition to the corporate sector, we have public programs for entrepreneurs and trusted advisors who want to harness the power of storytelling in their work and message. This includes online courses, a membership platform, and a conference for the field of business storytelling. We also have a free 5-part email course that serves as an introduction - www.getstoried. com/redpill

Where does India fit into your storytelling? Has India had any influence on you? Since the age of 19, I’ve www.governancetoday.co.in

been a humble student of yoga. Almost 20 years now. And while I’ve studied many forms of Asana practice, my deeper relationship is with the Vedas, and yogic philosophy such as Kashmir Shaivanism, the Pashupati path, and Swami Kripalvananda. I’ve been in India now for almost two months, starting with 25 days of Ayurvedic Pancha Karma in Kerala. Then in January, I launched my #StoryWorldTour in India, with public storytelling seminars in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. I’ll also be back in India at the end of June 2016 for another few weeks of teaching across the same three cities. I’ll also be in North America, Australia, and Europe throughout the rest of the year. India is a great teacher. Western business culture tends to compartmentalize the human spirit. Whereas in India, there is more appreciation for the sacred, emotional, and social impact dimensions of life, even in the board room. Of course, this is a big generalization. Though many of the business executives and entrepreneurs I have met in India, in large part, hold this wider view. It’s no surprise that best-selling author and mythologist Devdutt Pattaniak has struck such a chord, bringing forward the classic tales of India into a modern business context. There is a sincerity here in India, a heart-centered approach to life that lends itself to the 21st century. As the world increasingly becomes flat, and we are more interconnected, relationships will continue to be the lifeblood of commerce. And storytelling has always been about the relationship between things.

How has Chocolate influenced your storytelling? Well, in fairness, chocolate is really just a passion hobby. Or perhaps more accurately, an obsession. I grew up in Switzerland as a child, and my www.governancetoday.co.in

father worked for Nestle for many years, so I like to joke that chocolate is my birthright. In my adult years, I began to collect chocolate the way some people collect wine, and for years now I host epic chocolate tasting parties around the world. How does all of this relate to the storytelling? I call it the Chocolate Secret. Not a week goes by where I don’t receive an email, a tweet, or facebook message from a “stranger” who uses chocolate as the icebreaker. You could say chocolate has become a signature calling card for me. A tragedy, right? But in seriousness, we should all consider having something personal we love become what we’re known for. It could be how you look: like Steve Jobs dress uniform of black shirt and blue jeans, or your love for the NY Jets like social media personality Gary Vaynerchuck. Pick something, and make it your Chocolate Secret.

“The resume is dead. The bio is the King”. What do you mean by this? Google is the new background check. How many times do you Google someone before a business meeting? In the U.S., 75% of HR departments Google their candidates as part of the job selection process. Many people think that they’re hired based on their credentials. Yet, a thousand if not a million others have the exact same credentials on their resumes. Truth is, you’re hired for your story. Whether that story happens to be that the boss is friends with your uncle, or the story is that you’d make the perfect match in the organization, based on your personality, skills, and ideas. Because of the Internet, the story matchmaking process begins, long before you ever meet in person. The professional bio is where the story begins. And people experience your story online often long before they connect with you face to face. The place to start is your

LinkedIn profile, followed by the About page of your blog if you have one, Twitter, Facebook, etc... And it’s why we created The New About Me, one of our best-selling online courses to teach people how to write a professional bio using storytelling principles. We also offer a complimentary 60-minute webinar on the topic for those interested www.getstoried.com/storywebinar

What are your comments of the new startup initiative launched by Prime Minister Modi? This is a huge historical moment for the entrepreneurial culture of India. Indians pay great attention to their elders and leaders. So an endorsement at the highest levels of government, in support of entrepreneurship will go a long way towards inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur is a difficult and often lonely journey. Your family and friends don’t often understand your vision and the sacrifices required. Prime Minister Modi’s initiative now makes entrepreneurship a fully recognized patriotic act. Not only will this benefit the economy and society, it will also empower ordinary citizens to aspire for more in their lives. To look beyond the birth circumstances of their life, and find opportunities to create something where a need is unmet. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. A powerful force of self-empowerment. No matter who you are, and where you’re from, you can create something that matters for others. Entrepreneurship is the ultimate exercise in storytelling. You see something others don’t see. Your job is to figure out a way to communicate what you see, in a way that others get it, and meaningfully benefit from what you offer. The stories we tell make the world. So make sure you have a story to tell.

February 2016 I 55

INTERVIEW

ENTERPRISES NEED INTERCONNECTED SECURITY THAT SHARES INTELLIGENCE ACROSS LAYERS AS WORLD moves online for most day to day transactions including shopping, entertainment, financial transaction etc., security of data assumes paramount importance. With greater transactions moving on to the digital platform, rogue elements have taken to Internet for robbing people of not just money, but also individual data. Trend Micro provides online security and data protection services, which is a key element of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Internet infrastructure. To discuss more about the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s services and products, Ritika Bisht of Governance Today spoke to Nilesh Jain, Country Manager, Trend Micro, India. Edited excerpts:

TrendMicro is known for providing smart protection with innovative security technology that aligns with the evolving ecosystem. Can you provide a brief about your security solutions?

Nilesh Jain Country Manager, Trend Micro, India 56 I February 2016

Trend Micro has a myriad of security solutions catering to both Personal and Business devices. It is a leader in the enterprise space & has B2B solutions divided into three major categories viz. Cloud and Data Center security: Secure the virtual and cloud environments without performance compromises Custom Defense: Detect, www.governancetoday.co.in

analyze, adapt and respond to targeted attacks before damage is done Complete user protection: Secure all users’ activity – any application, any device, anywhere Trend Micro has perfectly tailored services for large companies with complex requirements and for smaller companies with limited IT resources. It also has various support services like Managed services, Cloud services, ISP and Telco services and many more. Extending its offerings for the enterprises, Trend Micro also offers Enterprise Security Software giving proactive cyber security enabling users to fight back with custom defense. It offers Deep Security Platform that provides centralized protection for physical, virtual, and cloud servers, as well as for virtual desktops. Available as software or as a service, this platform provides enterprises with security optimized for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and VMware virtual environments. Furthermore it has proactive cyber security for a custom defense, which rapidly detects, analyzes, and responds to targeted attacks on the network. It can help stop targeted email attacks, and detect advanced malware with custom sandbox analysis before damage is done. Trend Micro’s Deep Discovery— Advanced Threat Protection Platform is one of the best services on offer today. It uniquely detects and identifies evasive threats in real time, then provides in-depth analysis and actionable intelligence.

Can you provide a brief about your cloud data and data center security solutions? Trend Micro offers one of the most comprehensive Cloud and Data Center security solutions. It enables companies to secure critical data and applications www.governancetoday.co.in

across cloud and virtualized environments with effective protection that maximizes their operational and economic benefits. The Trend Micro Cloud and Data Center Security solution protects applications and data and prevents business disruptions, while helping meet regulatory compliance. Whether an organization is focused on securing physical virtual, cloud, or hybrid environments, Trend Micro provides the advanced server security one needs with its highly acclaimed Deep Security platform.

Smart Protection Network is one of the leading technology solutions of Trend Micro. Can you elaborate on this technology? In this tech savvy generation

Trend Micro has two products viz, Smart Protection Complete and Smart Protection EndPoints. Smart Protection Complete is an interconnected suite of security that delivers the best protection at multiple layers using the broadest range of anti-malware techniques available. Companies can evolve their protection along with their business using flexible on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment models making changes on the fly without the hassles of new licenses. Business owners can manage users across multiple threat vectors with a complete view of security. On the other hand Smart Protection EndPoints is a highperformance endpoint security suite that protects virtual and physical desktops against today’s evolving threat landscape using the broadest range of anti-malware techniques available. Multiple

Companies can evolve their protection along with their business using flexible on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment models where BYOD is trending, users today access corporate resources in the office, at home, on the road, or anywhere in between. Such policies are being implemented by organizations to add to the employees’ availability and efficiency by allowing them to work from their personal device, any network or application. This makes it increasingly challenging to protect them irrespective of what they are doing or how they are doing it. In situations like this, enterprises need smarter security that goes wherever the users go. Enterprises need interconnected security that shares intelligence across security layers so they can consolidate their view of user activity across all threat vectors. They need security that seamlessly moves from on-premises to cloud without impacting licensing or commercial agreements. Countering such situations,

layers of threat and data security protect users and corporate information across all devices and applications. Additionally, the companies can also get the same cloud flexibility and user-centric management benefits of Smart Protection Complete.

Can you name any government departments where Trend Micro is deploying its security solutions? With the announcement of the Smart City campaign by the Indian Government, the requirement to secure the entire Smart City landscape will be indispensable. Trend Micro is all set to invest in the security infrastructure of the project depending on how it progresses. February 2016 I 57

SOCIAL EVIL

Lost childhood

Thousands of children lose their childhood working in cotton fields why labor costs are low in India and thus one of the reasons for cotton industry boom could be a hidden segment of persons engaged in the cotton sector of which we do not have a count at all- children.

Engagement of children in the cotton sector

Children lose precious school time working in fields

Sonali Patnaik THE COTTON Corporation of India Ltd., which is a Government of India undertaking states that India accounts for 18 per cent of the world cotton production second to China and that it has the largest area under cotton production (12.2 million hectares); however yields are as low as 6.05 million metric tons which is 18 per cent of the yield in the world. Raw cotton production is the source of sustenance for many farmers at the grassroots spread across 10 States and 3 zones: North (Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan), Central (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) and South Zone (Andhra Pradesh including Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Orissa). It is generally believed that improvement in the cotton yield is because of the launch of the Cotton Technology Mission in the year 2000, commercialization of BT seeds sometime around 2002, better farm management practices and developing high yielding varieties of seeds. The Indian Cotton Advisory Committee projects that by 2025 58 I February 2016

the consumption of cotton by India will exceed that of China (projected India consumtion-8.3 MT while that of China-7.5 MT). The expected rise in cotton consumption in India may be attributed to two factorslocally available raw material, international demand for Indian cotton textiles and low labour costs. Low labor cost is where the concern around children and the cotton connect comes from. Cotton is often called “White Gold.” However, just like where gold or diamonds are excavated, the area from where cotton comes also houses a lot of poverty. It also houses children who have lost their childhood. A child according to Indian labour laws is below the age of 14 years and cannot be employed in a hazardous industry, while according to other laws of the country it is anyone who has not completed 18 years in line with the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Article 1. Then comes the question where in the entire cycle from raw cotton production to exports do children feature and why are we concerned about them. It wouldn’t be premature to indicate that one of the reasons

Let’s take a closer look at how at all cotton is produced. Cotton seeds are sown mostly mechanically followed by use of fertilizers and weeding. It is during weeding that generally children in the age group of 15-18 years are involved along with their parents and paid on the basis of area that they have cleaned. After this, cotton fields are irrigated and sprayed with pesticides and insecticides but there is no involvement of children here. Then comes time for cotton picking and poor families along with their children (all age groups) come to a farmer’s cotton farm to pick cotton (mostly between October to December). It is during this period that children are most affected. They are pulled out of school by their parents to pick cotton along with them for almost three months if the family is extremely poor and on weekends and after school hours if the family is slightly better off. For those children who work as cotton pickers for the entire three months the work hours is the same as that of adults- 8 hours. These children pick almost the same quantity/ weight of cotton as adults with their small nimble fingers. The work is unhealthy as children get scratched and infected because of pests such as whiteflies and the use of pesticides and insecticides. It also impacts their long term prospects as the break from school builds into disconnect between the child and studies after which they either drop out or lag behind in class. When a child is supposed to play www.governancetoday.co.in

and has rights to basic education, food and good health, he is forced to pick cotton and earn a living to support his family. Children being sensitive to the needs of the family and exposed to abject poverty, drop out of schools and work as cotton pickers in the cotton season and as agriculture labour in other seasons (like harvesting wheat or transplanting paddy saplings or weeding fields). In the end, they lose out on their childhood and future. The next stage of course is to store the cotton and bring it to a cotton yard for selling to industries and purchasing agents from where cotton goes to cotton industries that produce cotton bales and ginning industries for producing yarn and textile industries for production of cotton based products. Till it

reaches the cotton industries there is no involvement of children. However, the scene is different when it reaches these industries. We do find children especially in the age group of 15 to 18 years engaged here as well as small children who are deprived from attending schools. Adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years because of poverty look for work and are engaged as apprentices in cotton industries that convert raw cotton to cotton bales; engaged in ginning factories for converting cotton bales to yarnmostly spinning and in cotton based product manufacturing industries such as textile production or towel production etc. The process of converting raw cotton to cotton bales is mechanized and adolescents are involved in

POLICY INTERVENTION NEEDED At a policy level there is a need to redefine labour laws. If children in the age group of 15-18 years can be engaged in the cotton manufacturing process then there should be clear instructions for having proper contracts and salaries with insurance and health benefits for them as well as scope to pursue studies along with work There is a need to count the numbers of children engaged in cotton picking and manufacturing and strategies to either bring them back to school and strengthen their livelihoods be worked out as applicable There is a need for studying the health impact of engaging children and adolescents in cotton picking and manufacturing and adequate health safety measures and disease prevention measures need to be in place There is a need to engage with the local community and families, schools and teachers and the panchayat to ensure that children go to school and not labour in fields Corporate Social Responsibility of cotton producing factories ginning and textile mills should not be limited to philanthropic and random health camps or distribution of pesticides for farmers. In line with Clause 135 and Schedule VII of the New Companies Act cotton industries and associations should focus on skill development, education and health of children and adolescents engaged in cotton picking and cotton industries of cotton producing States. There is also a need for NGOs and Foundation to engage at the grassroots and at all levels to bring a better tomorrow for these children www.governancetoday.co.in

running these machines. The only requirement here is physical fitness. However, the process spews out tremendous quantity of tiny cotton bits that get into the nasal passage, impact breathing and cause chest pain so these adolescents cover their nose and mouth and hair with cloth but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not very effective. Often children working here get infection because of this. In ginning factories adolescents join as apprentices and have no formal contracts, here again breathing cotton bits while converting cotton bales to yarn becomes a health issue. The same is the case with textile industries. Adolescents work in these factories in the non-agriculture season mostly as they are engaged in cotton picking during the cotton season. In the cotton districts which harbor both cotton producers and cotton product manufacturers there is neither any count of children engaged nor any security. Thus in a silent manner, childhood is lost in the cotton picking districts of the cotton belts of India. Children are engaged in this sector by adults because they need financial support for the family. Farmers and industries gain at the expense of these children as they get labor at low cost. The need of the hour therefore is to work at a policy level as well as at the grassroots for the wellbeing of children engaged in the cotton sector. There is an immediate need for redefinition of labor laws. But even more than that, there is need for studying and addressing health issues of those children who are involved in this work because of poverty. Finally, concerted effort is needed to pull children out of this unhealthy work and to send them back to school, which would require taking care of their basic financial needs otherwise they will again have to go back to work, in order to feed themselves and family. No child deserves that stark a choice.

The writer is Director, Arupa Mission Research Foundation, Gurgaon

February 2016 I 59

HEALTH

Lung cancer increasing alarmingly in India Besides discouraging smoking – active as well as passive, greater alertness and awareness is required to diagnose the disease in time

Ramesh Kumar Raja LUNG CANCER is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths across the world, characterized by low survival rates and aggressive malignancies. While the disease was considered uncommon in India till the last decade, its numbers have risen alarmingly in recent years, with a large number of nonsmokers also falling prey to the deadly disease. Dr Chanchal Goswami, chief coordinator, Oncology Services, Medica Superspeciality Hospital, Kolkata, says it is highly important to educate people about the disease, the need to minimize risk factors and ensure early seeking of medical attention in case of symptoms like persistent cough accompanied by weight loss and fever. “The past few years have 60 I February 2016

witnessed a spike in numbers of lung cancer patients in India. The incidence has risen at an alarming rate of up to 15 per cent over the past decade. While there is no clear evidence of the exact cause of this rise, we take into account high prevalence of smoking aided by factors such as increasing environmental pollution and increasing exposure to chemical substances as the plausible causes,” says Dr Goswami. Another trend characteristic to India is the disease’s prevalence in relatively younger men and women as compared to western countries. While the average age of lung cancer patients in the west is the mid 60s, in India this is much lower. In fact, a lot of patients are being diagnosed in their early 50s. “Unfortunately, late diagnosis remains a norm rather than exception in India where people

often hesitate to visit doctors. The disease is also marked by low survival rates, unlike other cancers whose survival rates have increased in recent years due to better treatment modalities,” adds Dr Goswami. Of equal pertinence is the steady increase in numbers of nonsmokers falling prey to lung cancer, once considered an exclusive ailment of smoke addicts. A large share of non-smoking patients are women who might have had exposure to second hand smoke all their lives at home or even no exposure at all in some cases. “This does not mean that smoking is any less harmful. While 90 per cent of the risk for lung cancer is attributable to exposure to smoke – both direct and passive – other factors do seem to play an increasing role too. These include exposure to carcinogens like www.governancetoday.co.in

HOW TO MINIMIZE RISK Say no to smoking Survival rates of lung cancer patients remain low in India as also across the world. Most lung cancers in India are aggressive and progress fast. In such circumstances, minimizing risk remains the main option. And quitting smoke – all kinds of smoke be it cigarette, hookah or cigars -- is the primary risk reducing method.

Reduce exposure to polluted air Wear masks on the roads to minimize inhaling of dangerous chemicals and particulate material. Also, select low pollution phases of the day such as early morning for activities like walking and exercising outdoor.

Keep alert for symptoms Early diagnosis can go a long way in saving or prolonging life of patients. Symptoms such as shortness of breath accompanied by fever, cough, bronchitis or hoarseness of voice should never be ignored. In India these symptoms are often mistaken and treated for tuberculosis. This calls for greater alertness and awareness. arsenic, pesticides, asbestos and harmful particulate material floating in the smoky and deadly air of our highly polluted cities,” opines Dr Goswami. Smoking doesn’t just harm the smoker himself. It harms the environment around him, causing many people to inhale the dangerous fumes emanating from his cigarette butt. At the same time, long-term smoking may also cause some kind of genetic mutation that can be inherited by the next generation, making the person highly susceptible to lung cancer. So, while you as a smoker may be lucky and not suffer from lung cancer, your child may inherit the mutated smokers’ gene from you and may go on to suffer from the deadly disease even while being a non-smoker himself/ herself. Ban on public smoking, and pictorial warnings have been the right measures initiated in recent years in India. More steps are www.governancetoday.co.in

needed to nail home the point among youngsters that smoking is ‘Not Cool’. Unfortunately, even as mass campaigns are being initiated against cigarette smoking, the repackaging and revival of the hookah culture among urban Indians is a worrying trend. The mushrooming of hookah parlors and bars across our urban landscape neutralizes all successes made against the cigarette. There is also a note of concern for increasing number of young urban woman taking to smoking. Apart from taking radical steps to reduce prevalence of smoking – cigarettes, cigars as well as hookahs, steps also need to be taken to improve diagnosis and early intervention. Due to rampant prevalence of tuberculosis in India, cases of lung cancer often get mistaken for tuberculosis and even treated for the same in initial days. Most lung cancer cases are detected in late

stages by the time it is too late for treatment and cure. “With symptoms such as fever, cough, weight loss and anorexia common to both tuberculosis and lung cancer, it is equally important for both patients and medical practitioners to stay alert to other indicators such as age of patient, history of smoking, or hoarseness in the voice. These indicators can point to the possibility of lung cancer early and ensure timely treatment,” informs Dr Goswami. It is incumbent upon us to take care of our health and do all that we can to keep diseases at bay. We not only need to be firm in our resolve to say NO to habits like smoking, but also be alert to avoid passive smoking and sedentary lifestyles that can give rise to lung cancer. Finally, regular checkups and swift response cannot be overemphasized. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 61

CRICKET

Justice Lodha’s report: Cricket is the ultimate winner All good, no bad, nothing ugly

F t po

Ajit Chandila

g n i x i

Sreesanth

Ankeet Chavan

Spot fixing in IPL severely marred the image of the competition

Siddhartha Upadhyay THE LAST few years have been a great time for sports in the country. Many games have got the needed boost and many promising sportspersons seem to be getting their dues – in terms of both support and recognition. And at the beginning of this year, while my team and I were busy scaling up our grassroots football initiative, 62 I February 2016

a most interesting development happened to the country’s biggest sport. Justice RM Lodha had filed his long-awaited report suggesting reforms for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Being a sports enthusiast and a lover of the game that has played a significant role in putting India on the sporting nations’ map, I read the report thoroughly and tried to make sense of each recommendation.

Firstly, I appreciate the way Justice Lodha and his team of eminent legal minds have understood Indian cricket to the core and for coming out with an expansive list of sweeping changes regarding how cricket should be run in the country. Seeing the great deal of thought that has gone into the report, one just cannot undermine the gravity of what is in it. Reading through the opinions coming forth, I am www.governancetoday.co.in

actually enjoying the enthusiasm and reactions (appreciation and criticism in equal measure) that the report has created amongst cricket’s stakeholders. At the end of it all, cricket, I believe, will be the ultimate winner – and the fans, viewers, and spectators of cricket the ultimate beneficiaries. Considering that Justice Lodha wrote a nearly 75,000 words report, just an article will not be enough to discuss each aspect of the same, and do justice to the hard work that has gone in. I will focus on what I believe is the main thrust of it and which for sure will be welcomed by those who want cricket to continue to grow in the country. Before proceeding, though, I have to point out that the Lodha Commission would not have been

corruption charges were levelled against several powerful people (I may avoid names as they have been all over in the media) and the committee appointed by the BCCI gave them clean chits after a dodgy investigation. The outrage that followed made it easier for the judiciary to intervene in the working of the BCCI, and then came this report. It is not that the report is actually saying that everything is wrong about the BCCI; it has, in fact, acknowledged all the right things that the body does. It appreciates the support to smaller centres that received funds to build stadiums; the IPL provided opportunities to many; A-level tours were revived; there was a clampdown on bad actions; and domestic cricket including

report. Seen thus, the threat from the report is not to cricket or to the BCCI but to individual ambitions. One of the most sweeping recommendations of the Lodha report is restricting advertisement breaks during broadcast of tests and ODIs in India to the drinks, lunch and tea intervals. This is one element that will perhaps resonate most with cricket fans. This effectively will mean no ad breaks at the end of overs and fans will able to watch the real activity between change of overs—when was the last time you realised that bowling happens from both ends of the pitch? The Lodha report is fairly firm and has recommended that “all existing contracts for international test and one-day matches be revised and new ones ensure that

Both Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were banned from IPL

needed if the BCCI had itself addressed several fundamental issues of authority and governance. If you have been following cricket, you would agree that almost all cricket stakeholders have been subtly pleading in their own way to streamline the governance issues at the BCCI and to keep a tab on practices that were holding back the ‘inclusive’ growth of cricket. The judiciary has been watching it for quite some time and I believe the tipping point came when major www.governancetoday.co.in

grassroots development was better than ever before. Interestingly, the report also acknowledges that retired cricketers are now being taken care of. However, the need to dominate, the nasty power play, and the dissent and disagreements over commercial dealings of large stakes went beyond control and demanded intervention. Therefore, it is the functioning of the BCCI and its state associations that is one of the issues at the heart of the Lodha

only breaks taken by both teams for drinks, lunch and tea will permit the broadcast to be interrupted with advertisements, as is the practice internationally. Also, the entire space of the screen during the broadcast will be dedicated to the display of the game, save for a small sponsor logo or sign.” Interestingly, the report has underlined how commercialisation has overtaken the enjoyment of cricket – for example, regardless of the fact that a wicket has fallen, February 2016 I 63

a century has been hit, or some other momentous event has taken place, full liberty is granted to maximise the broadcaster’s income by cutting away to a commercial, thereby robbing sport of its most attractive attribute, ‘emotion’. Almost all the recommendations in the report seem to have originated from the commission’s belief that viewers of the game should not miss out on the enjoyment and their passion for the game should not be used as a source of income generation for broadcasters. The report says that fans’ viewing experience should

not be interrupted in international games. To offset the commercial impact of this recommendation, the committee has exempted the IPL, from which the BCCI makes the bulk of its revenues, hoping that the recommendation does not leave a large financial dent on the BCCI.

Points to watch Cricket is quite used to controversies. It happened when one-days were introduced. It happened when Duckworth-Lewis was adopted, and it happened

THE JUSTICE RM LODHA PANEL ON IPL SPOT FIXING HAS MADE SEVERAL PATH BREAKING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CLEANING UP INDIAN CRICKET. MAJOR AMONG THESE ARE AS FOLLOWS: BCCI be brought under RTI Act Betting be legalized One person one post recommended. Also no proxy voting of individuals No BCCI office-bearer can have more than two consecutive terms. No BCCI office-bearer can be Minister or government servant In no case President will hold post for more than 2 years A steering committee recommended to be headed by former Home Secy G K Pillai with Mohinder Amarnath, Diana Eduljee and Anil Kumble Panel recommends separate governing bodies for the IPL and BCCI The committee recommended relegation of Railways, Services and Universities as Associate members. They also lose voting rights 64 I February 2016

when T20 started. However, in the long run, all of these have been learnings that have helped cricket to evolve and become better. So, with these recommendations, controversy has started again. Some broadcasters have started to cry foul as they think advertisements will not get much eyeballs during the lunch or tea intervals as viewers tune out. The larger problem to be addressed here is the ripple effect that the financial implications may have. For example, we have a substantial cricket infrastructure in the country because the BCCI has been able to fund all that easily. However, if the earning capacities of the BBCI are compromised, their capacity to invest in cricket at the grassroots may come down. Hence, I am hoping that the recommendations are accepted considering both aspects – the interest of the viewers as well as the development of the game at the grassroots. Also, it is understood that the report has not been submitted to BCCI, but is an official document that has been tabled in front of the Supreme Court, which had appointed this committee. Whether the BCCI wants to accept or not accept its recommendations is a matter that can only be debated in the Supreme Court. The last I heard was that BCCI had said that their legal committee would study the report and suggest its set of recommendations to the BCCI. Only after that would the board members – all associations and stakeholders – be able to take a call. Until then, let us all enjoy the ongoing developments – wait and watch for cricket to take yet another leap. The writer is the Founder and Secretary General, STAIRS. STAIRS is a New Delhi based NGO which promotes sports among children of economically weaker sections of society and provides training in various sports to such children.

www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 65

INTERVIEW

IT ENABLED TOOLS BEST FOR KEEPING A CHECK ON TRAFFIC VIOLATORS

Kailash Chandra Sahoo Joint Secretary, Commerce & Transport Department, Government of Odisha IMPROVING PUBLIC transportation system, curbing vehicular pollution and ensuring safety of passengers have always been top priorities for every state government. Ritika Bisht and Shubham Gupta, Governance Today talk to Kailash Chandra Sahoo, Joint Secretary, Commerce & Transport Department, Government of Odisha, to know about the overall 66 I February 2016

transportation eco-system in Odisha. Edited Excerpts:

The public transport is hardly able to match the rise in demand due to increase in population. How is the Odisha government planning to address this situation?

The urban population of Bhubaneswar is increasing exponentially which has culminated in traffic congestion and road fatalities. There is an urgent need for strengthening public transportation and utilizing information and communication technology to reduce travel time and distance of all commuters and provide better transportation. As the economic growth and financial condition of the people in general are becoming better, people want quick and timely transport service along with comfortable journey. This has resulted in procuring personalized motor vehicles because public transport system in the state is neither quick nor timely, nor comfortable. As a result, innumerable motor cycles and cars are on roads resulting in overcrowding which does not exhibit a positive sign for environment and road safety. Hence, our state government has started popularizing rapid transit transport system and encouraging people of non-coastal districts through Biju Gaon Gadi Yojana by operating small and medium buses which not only provide connectivity from Gram Panchayats to districts and sub-divisional headquarters but also enhance mobility of rural public for their economic and integral growth. Simultaneously, road transport system under JNNURM scheme is operational in six districts. Government is not only in the process of introducing more buses but also expand the scheme to neighboring districts for promoting public transport system. Bus stands are being modernized and renovated www.governancetoday.co.in

through PPP mode providing different basic amenities to the passengers. To ensure safety and security of passengers, the Government is taking measures to make mandatory the provision of installation of close circuit cameras and GPS in all buses. Simultaneously, we are also taking important measures for improving road engineering and road planning.

Smart mobility has been named as one of the essential features for the ambitious smart city project. What plan and policies for smart transportation will your department implement for this purpose? Bhubaneswar, the capital city, has been incorporated in the smart city projects which would result in implementation of new steps for smart mobility. Government of Odisha is going to procure more buses under JNNURM Scheme. Bus bays and bus stops in the city are being developed for safety and convenience of the passengers. Government has also finalized a plan to impose green tax on old vehicles and buses. Further, each road is being provided now with designated foot path, cycle path with well marked zebra crossing. All efforts are being taken to provide an efficient public transport system in the city so that both car users and motorcyclists will find travelling in city buses easier. For smart transportation, Government is focusing on using various information and communication technology to encourage green mode transport, Integrated Transport System, multi modal transport with a vision and road map for implementing a rapid mass transportation system.

A shift to electric mobility is essential to www.governancetoday.co.in

counter depletion and increase in costs of fossil fuels, and to minimize negative impact of transportation on the environment. How will you move ahead in this direction? Government is actively considering encouraging battery operated vehicles which can cater to shuttle trips in and around the city. Battery operated motor bikes with low capacity are also encouraged as need of registration is not required as per the CMV Rules, 1989. This will not only reduce dependence on fossil fuels but also prevent environmental degradation. The growing importance of e-transportation is felt in the State and our e-rickshaw policy is going to be approved by Government very shortly.

Intelligent traffic management, integrated multi-modal transport, hybrid and electric vehicles, city traffic surveillance, vehicle tracking system are just few of the elements of smart mobility. Technology would be at forefront while enabling these solutions. How is your department planning to introduce these elements for commuters? Our Department is focusing on establishment of more and more pollution testing centres in the State. At the first instance, all the vehicle dealers and filling stations are being tagged for the purpose, which will definitely go a long way in curbing vehicular

pollution. In addition to this, Odisha is one of the selected states to be given grants to a tune of Rs. 17 crore by MoRTH (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways), Government of India for implementation of modernized vehicular fitness certification centre. Further, two more centres have been proposed by the state government to Government of India which is waiting for approval. Besides this, the police officers have been delegated power to detect vehicles without PUCC. Further, the Government has taken effective measures for installation of CCTV cameras for city traffic surveillance. Simultaneously, Government will mandate the provision of installation of close circuit cameras and GPS in all buses for safety of passengers and vehicle tracking.

What according to you would be the biggest challenge while working on introducing smart mobility? Enforcement is an indispensable part of traffic safety management. It is widely accepted that IT enabled tools are practically best solutions for keeping a check on traffic violators. Implementation of smart mobility through introduction of mobile apps for reservation of seats in buses and identification the location of buses etc. will enhance the efficiency of public transport system. This will go a long way in creation of a robust public transport system which will also ensure road safety. But there are certain challenges in introduction of smart mobility. Foremost of these is the lack of awareness/ IT knowledge among the public. Secondly, the system for monitoring and surveillance of various IT enabled projects is still not very strong. Third, improper planning of road infrastructure inhibits the introduction of smart solutions. February 2016 I 67

NET NEUTRALITY

Is free always desirable?

Free Basics of Facebook ignites heated debate on net neutrality.

Anand Mishra OVER LAST month or so, a storm has been gathering momentum over the issue of net neutrality in India, which has assumed greater urgency with stalled launch of Free Basics, the new offering of Facebook, which the company claims will immensely benefit a large number of people by giving them free access to Internet in a limited manner. While on one the company says Free Basics is a boon to poor people who canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get online for cost reasons, the consensus among internet experts, academicians and policy makers is evolving around the view point that Free Basics is against net neutrality, can distort level playing field on Internet and is detrimental to users and the country in long run. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has held up its release in India as it mulls over the crucial issue of whether the product violates the net neutrality, the claims of the company that it does not, notwithstanding. Free Basics is the rebranded Internet.org, the program that 68 I February 2016

was launched by Facebook in partnership with local telecoms firms in the developing world. Through the program, Facebook offers free internet access to the users of the telecom service providers with whom it has tied up. However, through the program, users are unable to surf the entire Internet; they can access only Facebook, Facebookowned WhatsApp, and some other websites and services. According to the company, over the last year, it has rolled out the program to more than couple dozen countries, including the US, through more than 35 operators with 15 million people using it already. But it is not about numbers of subscribers or countries in which Free Basics has been rolled out and is operating. Experts in India have expressed deep concern about the ability and intent of Facebook to distort Internet with Free Basics. Most of them feel that the program goes against net neutrality and this opinion has forced TRAI to hold the program even as it studies the opinions sought from public on the issue of net neutrality.

Broadly, as per the concept of net neutrality, Internet has to be network neutral, which means regardless of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the telecom ppaler, user should be able to serf Internet without any discrimination to any particular website. The ISPs or telecom operators cannot give a competitive advantage to any particular website or application. The Free Basics, according to experts, violates this basic rule. It not only allows a very limited number of websites, its submission guidelines also forbid JavaScript, video, large images, and Flash. Further, since it does not permit secure connections using HTTPS, it can read all data passing through the platform. Also Facebookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own sites like Facebook and WhatsApp exclusive for users in their respective segments. The Facebook has countered the allegation by saying that it is ready to allow competitors like Google+ (Plus) and Twitter on Free Basics, and allow third party audits, but that has hardly placated experts. According to Pavan Duggal, a leading expert on cyber www.governancetoday.co.in

law, it does not change the basic character of the program which is discriminatory in nature. “Merely getting third party audit done does not solve the problem that the program is intrinsically designed to exploit data,” says Duggal. Experts have also questioned two significant claims of Facebook, namely the ability of Internet to pull people out of poverty, and that the program serves no commercial interest of the company. As per experts, only a very small percentage of people under poverty line or rural population understand

country like ours which aspires to become a software powerhouse, cannot afford to have programs that prohibit application and websites which Free Basics and such other programs can. It inhibits competition and thus IT development. Secondly, because they allow only limited websites, subscribers get only a partial and potentially distorted exposure to Internet which is dangerous, because it can open possibility of opinion building by service providers. Thus, offerings such as Free Basics or Airtel Zero can

policymakers. There are service providers and telecom players who have taken alternative route to offering limited Internet free of cost. Grameenphone of Bangladesh is perhaps the best example. It gives users free data after they watch an advertisement. In India, Aircel is giving full internet access for free at 64 kbps download speed for some initial period of telecom service. Gigato offered data for free for surfing some sites. Orange in Africa offered some free Internet on buying a handset.

Mark Zuckerberg has defended Free Basics as a tool to empower people

English which is the basic Internet language. In this situation, how much can Free Basics help in eliminating poverty is questionable. Secondly, it is debatable whether Free Basics does not serve any commercial interest. As Duggal says, “Now is the age of data driven economy and under the garb of free Internet, they (Faecbook) want to have access to data of huge number of Indians.” Then there are issues related to the impact of discriminatory Internet offerings. First of all, a www.governancetoday.co.in

develop what Duggal terms digital islands in which people are held hostage and exposed to only part of Internet. According to Amba Kak of Oxford Internet Institute, less experienced, low income groups prefer access to an open and unrestricted Internet, and are willing to use complete Internet for lesser time compared to some Internet for long time. In other words, they would prefer to compromise on time instead of content. This has message for service providers and

India is a huge and still largely unexplored market. Further, it has weak data protection laws. In this environment, government has to be very cautious in allowing services that can result in data theft or distort Internet which has today become most powerful source of information. Hopefully TRAI will ensure that programs like Free Basics do not violate net neutrality for which India anyway does not have a dedicated law. anand@governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 69

INTERVIEW

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE LUNCH

Pavan Duggal, Consultant, Cyberlaw and Cybercrime

70 I February 2016

www.governancetoday.co.in

THE ISSUE of net neutrality has again acquired centre stage with Free Basics and the debate it has generated. To understand the various aspects of Free Basics and whether it actually impinges on net neutrality, Anand Mishra, Editor, Governance Today, spoke to Pavan Duggal, who is one of Asia’s foremost experts in the area of cyber laws and cyber security and is widely recognized as one of the top ten cyber lawyers in the world. He has been on the panel of consultants to UNCTAD and UNESCAP on Cyberlaw and Cybercrime respectively. Besides, he has been a member of the ICANN Nominating Committee representing the Asia Pacific region. Edited excerpts

How do you see free basics as an initiative to offer free internet? Many people say it is against the basic tenet of net neutrality. TRAI has put it on hold. First and foremost, Free Basics is not the same thing as free Internet. When you talk of free Internet access, it, as a concept, means free and complete access to entire Internet. What Free Basics is offering is only a limited access on a free basis to a limited number of websites. It is not open for all websites; it offers free access to certain websites and if you go outside those websites, you are charged on a discriminatory basis. Secondly, while Free Basics has been presented as a noble objective and helps to bring large number of people onto the Internet bandwagon, it has a problem in that it is effectively making competition impossible. If you offer something for free, you are eliminating competition because there cannot be anything below free. To that extent, lot of service providers feel that such free programs could become anti www.governancetoday.co.in

competition and can tantamount to restrictive trade practices. The argument of Facebook that some access is better than no access, has its own ramifications. But the way Free Basics has been touted as free access to Internet is not right. Many people believe that it is free access to entire Internet, which it is not. In it, you are getting access only to Facebook and certain sister websites on a free basis; you go to any other website, you will be charged. It is in a sense, not just discriminatory; it is giving a distorted picture of Internet to those people who have not yet come on internet platform yet. If they come online through this program, they would only consider Facebook and its sister websites to be the Internet. So, there are some intrinsic issues with the program and that’s why TRAI has said, let us examine whether it violates net neutrality. According to the net neutrality, the network has to be neutral. It also means that everybody should have equal access to Internet and should be able to use it in any manner they deem fit, including the right to choose the website. In Free Basics, this freedom and the right has been given a bypass. That effectively is like creating digital islands on Internet which will be acting in silos, and not in conjunction with each other. And subscribers to these services are captives. To that extent, it is akin to digital collonialization. You are creating digital colonies without people even knowing about it and deciding on whether they want to be part of it. As such, nuances of the program need to be discussed. However, people are sending petitions to TRAI in support of Facebook without realizing what they are doing. They only read first couple of lines, sign by ticking “I accept” and move on to using Facebook. They are not given the choice to say which part of the list of

conditions they agree or disagree with. They cannot even determine whether what Facebook is saying is correct or not. Finally, even if they read, majority cannot understand.

What is the major problem area with free basics that people are so against about? I see some basic problems in Free Basics program in India. First of all, you should read its terms and conditions. The terms say that Facebook is interested in your data, and can use it. If any sane person reads the conditions, he will not use Facebook. People need to realize that there is no such thing as free lunch. If something is being offered as free to you, in all probability, you are the product. In this case, subscribers of Free Basics are the product. Actually, there is nothing philanthropic about it. Facebook is interested in having access to the free data of the people who are currently not on Internet which they can use for evaluation, projection of for any other purpose they deem fit. Facebook is basically a data driven company. So, people should jump on to the program only after understanding pros and cons of the same. In fact, such programs can impact India’s sovereignty and integrity at a later stage because huge number of Indians who are not online now, will become captive to the Free Basics program. And that entire data will be monitored by Facebook. People will have a much distorted view of what Internet is, and they will be given only that data which Facebook will want to. To that extent, even the fundamental right to life could be impacted and it is government’s responsibility to ensure that the right to life as provided under Article 21 of constitution is protected. It needs to protect them from exploitation by service providers. February 2016 I 71

TRAI had asked for responses on the issue from public. What is happening of that end? What TRAI is basically trying to do here is to ascertain what should be India’s position on the issue of net neutrality. Under the TRAI Act, it can give recommendation to the government. It has come out with some consultation papers, and opened them for public comment. It is now collating these comments and after studying those comments, would make recommendation to the government. The problem is that India does not have a documented stand or policy on net neutrality. The Information Technology Act 2000, which governs the Internet, is completely silent on it. So, the noise is that India should have its own dedicated law on net neutrality. TRAI came up with a document earlier, which created lot of protest. The government said we will take all opinions and viewpoints into account; the central Information and Communication Minister has said by and large we are for net neutrality. In this light, the TRAI has said let us see whether Free Basics program violates net neutrality or not. And till that time, let it be temporarily put on hold, which is the right and logical thing to do.

Facebook has said it is open to the idea of including other rival social networks like Twitter or Google + on Free Basics, and for a third-party audit done for the platform. Can that make it net neutral? But it does not change the fundamental nature of Free Basics, which is that it offers free access to Facebook and a limited 72 I February 2016

number of other websites. What also does not change is the fact that the data of individuals can be monetized by Facebook. Third, you are basically demolishing peoples’ right to choice. So merely getting third party audit done does not solve the problem that the program is intrinsically designed to exploit data. The question is whether the government is going to bite the bullet; will it allow the data of Indians to be mortgaged? I think the reason that the Free Basic program is targeted to India is that India does not have a dedicated law on data protection. We don’t have a law on privacy either. So, there is nothing to protect the data of the people. I would compare this program to an elephant which has one set of teeth for showing and another set of teeth for eating. I can understand if you allow free access to everything on Internet, which will be a different ballgame altogether. But the Free Basics program is not offering that.

The basic thrust of Facebook is that some free Internet is better than having no Internet at all and Free Basics offers some Internet for free. How do you react to that? The question is whether you want to be free or be in a golden cage. This is a choice you have to make. After reading the conditions of the program, I am absolutely clear that the person who has not been on Internet cannot understand the nuances of the program. And if you cannot understand what you are signing on, you can mortgage you freedom away. So, would you want to be in a pre-1947 digital era? My suggestion is let us not fall to small temptations. India is the biggest democracy in the world; it is the second biggest e-commerce market. It is also the second

largest Facebook user base. Facebook should therefore have far more respect for India and not treat it with such disdain that instead of not having anything, we would give you something for free. I would have liked them to mention specific terms and conditions. But this program is governed by Facebook terms and conditions which anyway says your data is not yours, it is mine. Everything you put on it can be monetized, used, transferred, shared or even sold. Now is the age of data driven economy and under the garb of free Internet, they want to have access to data of huge number of Indians. But those people who don’t understand the nuances of the program, should not be allowed to be exploited by service providers.

If we brush out the initiative of Facebook and just talk about the idea of offering free access to complete Internet, may be to students, can government do it? It is technically possible even? Well, it is certainly technically possible, and government should try it. It will of course require resources. India has been trying to fight poverty. It has not been completely successful, but it is still trying. Similarly, they should keep trying to offer free Internet access to all without discriminating on basis of websites. That is a sovereign function of government. In any case, constitution provides for the fundamental right to life and facilities that are necessary for it. Today you cannot have a dignified life without free access to Internet. So, if you allow such discriminatory programs that give a concocted view of the Internet, it could in future challenge the government.

www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW

GIFT IS A ONE OF ITS KIND FINANCIAL HUB WITH SMART City project planning underway in different parts of the country, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) has already set the standards for other cities as it aspires to offer global firms a world-class infrastructure and facilities. To know its current and future development plans Ritika Bisht and Shubham Gupta of Governance Today, talked to Shishir Rai, Assistant Vice President, GIFT City. Edited Excerpts:

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd. has been named as one of the most ambitious project in the country with regards to infrastructure. Could you elaborate about GIFT? GIFT is being developed as a global financial hub, a first of its kind urban development in India, designed to be at or above par with the other financial centres in the world. The vision for Gujarat International Finance Tec-City was laid out by Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. GIFT City is spread over an area of 886 acres, out of which 261 acres is dedicated for multi-services SEZ, and being developed as India first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). GIFT City is a green field SMART City with mixed use development with predominant commercial use. To support the commercial and other economic uses, a residential area is also proposed with all the required www.governancetoday.co.in

Shishir Rai, Assistant Vice President, GIFT City infrastructure, utilities and allied facilities. The proposed development in GIFT City is planned to create a dynamic urban environment.

The country has not been able to realize its vast potential in financial services. How can GIFT cater to this challenge and successfully attract top talent?

The last decade has seen unprecedented growth in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial services sector. It employs over 3 million people, constitutes about 5 per cent of the GDP and has an estimated market capitalization of over US$ 200 billion. As India experiences continued economic growth, the financial sector would generate about 10-11 million jobs and a GDP contribution of US$ 350 to 400 billion by 2020. Majority of Indians in financial sector operate from overseas. February 2016 I 73

Given the opportunity people from other centres would like to come back to India. Besides global infrastructure, there will also be high quality of life in terms of residential buildings, schools, hospitals, clubs - it is all within the walk-to-work concept. GIFT aspires to cater to India’s large financial services potential by offering global firms a worldclass infrastructure and facilities.

From infrastructure perspective, how is GIFT planning to establish an efficient water supply and sewerage system? Development plan incorporates the Infrastructure Plan of GIFT with technological innovation and integrated planning approaches. A judicious combination with the latest technology and global best practices in infrastructure service delivery are planned. GIFT draws water from Narmada main canal at southern side of the GIFT site. Water shall be pumped out from the existing intake point through pipe line up to GIFT to meet its requirements. The design vision for water infrastructure is to provide potable quality water in all taps in the city. The water supply system is planned to provide water on demand. GIFT aims towards being “Water Neutral”. The water from the canal stored along with the buffer stock in the water reservoir (Samruddhi Sarovar) would be conveyed to the water treatment plant for treatment and further distribution. The wastewater system will consist of collection, treatment, and reuse of wastewater for GIFT requirement. Wastewater will be collected and conveyed to the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). The treated water would be used for Flushing, Landscaping and for District Cooling Plant, enabling GIFT to be a “Zero Discharge Zone”.

In the smart city 74 I February 2016

paradigm, intelligent urbanization including smart and green buildings cannot be ignored? How are you moving forward with this plan? GIFT is being developed as a smart and sustainable city based on sustainable development practices. The Development plan of GIFT promotes the ideas of sustainability and ecology and provides balance between natural and built environment. GIFT is a compact urban development having more open space and encourages walkable communities. Development plan of GIFT optimizes the integration of greenery to provide environmental balance and caters to visual relief. GIFT is planned considering the Next Class Development having specially designed GDCR and Design Guidelines including Green Building Guidelines specifying the Green Certification required for all the buildings within GIFT City. All building development work in GIFT is being envisaged in line of green buildings norms to minimize the impact of built environment. IGBC and GIFTCL have inked a memorandum of co-operation (MoC) to showcase GIFT City as a Model Green City.

Can you elaborate your plans on integrated urban transport system for GIFT city? The vision for transportation which shall be the lifeline of GIFT is achieved through an Integrated Urban Linkage System. The external transportation system includes grid of six arterial roads (Connecting to various areas of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar), Metro Rail Transport System (MRTS) to GIFT and Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) to GIFT. The development in GIFT is planned on the Concept of

ToD which creates vibrant, liveable business district. The development is compact, walkable from metro stations. Metro stations are connected with building with elevated AC walkways. GIFT transport system is a comprehensive and holistic plan with combination of both - supply and demand side measures. GIFT transport system is developed considering land use, energy efficiency, emissions characteristics, traffic management, human behavior, economics, governance, health, safety, ITS, etc. GIFT City transport system is thus integrated and sustainable.

Obviously, GIFT city is a massive project. What kind of challenges have you faced while undertaking it? Many challenges have come in the way of development of GIFT City. Convincing the financial institutions to set-up their offices has been a challenge. To overcome this, GIFT City has been developed with state-ofart infrastructure and an urban environment matching international standards. Global companies are increasingly getting convinced to set up their new centres or shift their operations. There are many stake holders involved in the development of GIFT and meeting the aspirations of stakeholders to make a focussed objective and bringing all stakeholders on a common platform is a major challenge. The unique institutional arrangement is serving GIFT to resolve the issues and progress at faster pace. Implementation of enormous project like GIFT City always faces huge challenges; however, with right spirit and positive approach, we at GIFT are determined to make this project a success and set example for other smart cities to follow.

www.governancetoday.co.in

February 2016 I 75

76 I February 2016