Governance Today November 2015

RNI No: UPENG/2014/62662

ISSN 2455-0426

`60 PRNO.UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date Of Publishing 04-11-2015 Date of Posting 07-11-2015 www.governancetoday.co.in

NOVEMBER 2015

Vol. - 02

Issue - 02

Reimagining Indian cities

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 Kriti Nagrath, Raj Bhushan, Dr. Uday Salunkhe Graphic Designer Girdhar Chandra Fuloria, Sarvesh Dixit 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) Manoj Padaliya, Anupam Gupta, Shubham Gupta, Anjana Yadav, Vaishali Gupta, Sangeeta Mavi sales@governancetoday.co.in I 0120-4234008 Government Alliance Vaibhav Jaiswal I 07840086705 Advertisement Abhijeet Srivastava I 09990098572 Stuti Bhushan I 09999371606 Karamjeet Singh I 09990098732 HR & Admin Aarti Tiwari Accounts Executive Yogesh Chikara FOR SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT 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 November 2015

Reimagining Indian cities It is half past eight in the morning and as Jai takes the elevator to parking floor in the basement of his 20 plus story apartment building in Gurgaon, he silently prays for easy traffic on Gurgaon Delhi toll road, which he takes to reach his office in Connaught Place CBD (central business district) in central Delhi. The power goes off, but thanks to power back up for which he has to shell out four times the normal electricity tariffs, the elevator starts again after a couple of minutes. Once on the road, he first negotiates the potholes ridden road outside of his apartment, which is reduced to half of its legal width thanks to encroachment, then passes through the stretch where construction of another high rise is going on and the dust can put the infamous Dubai storm to shame.

And then comes the biggest nightmare of all, the traffic jam at the toll road, which runs in kilometers and after all of that, if he manages to stay sane, the road on the Raisina hill is blocked for VIP movement. By the time he reaches office, he is an hour late and needs another half to regain composure to work on his assignment. Jai is only a sample of what millions go through across all major cities in India. Even as big cities are crumbling under pressure of population, pollution and unplanned development, the country stands at a crossroads on which route to take for making urban India livable again. www.governancetoday.co.in

we are tapping companies

42 24

Debashis Sen, IAS Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, Govt. of West Bengal

Govt should try to increase the ease of doing business

42 36

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Making cities smarter

21

Technology will be the key

26

For only the Smart may survive

28

Rethinking urban migration

30

Running out fast

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39

Aapo Polho The Ambassador of Finland to India

49 51 53

Shovana Narayan Classical Dancer

72

Bonded to work ‘NJAC unconstitutional’ First nurturer, now victims ‘E’ for English-medium enrolment

55

On the margins

60

Risks of overselling the trend The war of packages

62

Leveraging technology for smarter governance

68 70 74

www.governancetoday.co.in

The Indian start-up engine is roaring full throttle

46

Performing arts, first window to a nation

The mission that failed

Pesticides on plate Conquering hearts Book Review: An interesting chronicle of Bihar politics

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Editorial

Improving lives, technologically Technology is a great enabler. It allows people to do things that were unimaginable just a decade back and affords freedom to think out of the box solutions to problems that were considered unsolvable earlier. Advancements in technology has also allowed policymakers to exploit them in country, city and town planning so as to improve lives of vast majority of people.

India has been a laggard to realize the potential of new tools of technology in governance. However, this late entry also means that we have a lot of successful examples to emulate and many unsuccessful ones to avoid in terms of models of planning and governance. The central and the various state governments have now embarked on an ambitious drive to simplify, streamline and augment governance and public service delivery by using information and communication technology (ICT).

Besides these, a number of allied technologies such as GPS, satellite navigation, high speed advanced scanning, internet of things, cloud computing and fiber optics have developed to the level where citizens can have latest information on demand, on their handheld devices, from computers to tabs and smartphones. Not only that, they open the scope for citizens’ participation in policy making process. This has been successfully done in various parts of the world and is soon going to be a reality in India as well. The government of Uttar Pradesh is an example which has taken numerous steps in improving the public service delivery by exploiting technology. Resultantly, the entire government machinery stands at a stage which could revolutionize way people interact with the government and avail government services across spectrum, from land records to government orders. Many other states are at different stages to apply high end technologies in governance.

Technology has also made improving the urban landscape in a radical manner. As has been shown by various cities around the world, it is not just possible to apply technology to solve pressing problems of urban life such as transportation and energy, but also enhance the quality of life tremendously by efficient economic planning, population management and accurate forecasting of utility requirements decades in advance. Cities like London are planning for transportation needs for three decades now. Singapore is taking steps to transform a smart city to a smart country where a complete set of information is available to all citizens at all time. Such planning is unimaginable without highly sophisticated computing and forecasting analytical tools.

The good thing about technology is that it does not differentiates and is available to all, rich and poor alike, across the globe. In that, it is a great leveler. So, if New York can allow free Wi-Fi internet through unused phone booths, so can the city of Patna which has made free Wi-Fi on a popular city road.

However, the entire exercise of converting a city into a smart city should follow after the basic necessities of citizens are fulfilled. Most of our cities are clogged, overburdened, garbage filled, crime infested landscapes spewing venomous pollutants. In this situation, perhaps the first step has to be providing citizens safety, easy commute on road and affordable housing rather than offering free Wi-Fi internet and money transfer on phone. While these no doubt improve ease of life, these needs come after the more basic requirements of life are fulfilled. On balance, a judicious blend of pragmatism and futuristic dream is needed to make urban India livable again.

Best regards

Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief

www.governancetoday.co.in

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thus they spoke This is a world of free nations and awakened aspirations. Our institutions cannot be representative of our world, if they do not give voice to Africa, with more than a quarter of UN members, or the world’s largest democracy with one-sixth of humanity. India and Africa must speak in one voice.

Narendra Modi Prime Minister

BJP government is moving away from democratic ideals. It is creating a serious threat for our democracy by imposing its ideology on the people.

Communal tension is being created.It is trying to weaken the foundation of social harmony. It is not just sad but also shameful.

Sonia Gandhi President, Congress This nation has never had a prime minister who made religion their identity.

So I am horrified when I see Modi publicly asking for votes on the basis of caste and religion. I feel like the sacred and glorious past of the nation are being tampered.

Nitish Kumar Chief Minister, Bihar

I am happy that you all have started this movement. The issue of non-NET fellowships is just a starting point, it is slowly transforming into a struggle against the exclusive, elitist and mechanical character of Indian higher education upheld by UGC and MHRD. Yogendra Yadav Former UGC member

If he (Dhoni) continues till next world cup, he can leave behind a good team.

And if he retires... you can imagine, even now when Dhoni is there, people have to think about who should bat at 5th, 6th and 7th position.

Virender Sehwag Former cricketer

Those people have an agenda and that’s why they are doing what they are doing… They should be a part of celebrating cinema, should celebrate awards that they have got it because lots of people have put faith in them.

Anupam Kher Actor

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www.governancetoday.co.in

governance watch

Guidelines on foster care finalized The government recently finalized the guidelines for foster care in the country which will allow children without parental care to be placed with unrelated family members on a temporary basis. The model guidelines have been developed through a consultative process involving representatives from states and Union Territories, non-governmental organisations, civil society, academicians, experts and organisations working on alternative care.As per the guidelines introduced by the Women and Child Development Ministry, children staying in child care institutions and those in the age group of 6-18 years, whose parents are unable to take care of them due to reasons such as mental illness, poverty or imprisonment will be placed in foster care. Children in the age group 0-6 years will be encouraged for adoption.The guidelines hold it as responsibility of the foster parents to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter.

Aadhaar compulsory to register new business The government has made it compulsory for any budding entrepreneur to submit his/herAadhaar number in order to register a new business. With this move, aspiring startups can’t even ‘fill’ a new online form for registering new enterprises introduced last month unless the Aadhaar credentials of their promoters (sought in the first column of the form) are validated online. The experts, however, take this move as violation of the Supreme Court order. According to Pavan Duggal, an eminent lawyer, “The Supreme Court has been crystal clear on the Aadhaar number being voluntary for now. So, this would be a violation of the apex court’s order and could be a fit case for contempt of court. This would also infringe on citizens’ right to equality, as it would discriminate against people who don’t have Aadhaar numbers yet.”Some state governments had already voiced apprehensions about the need to ask only for entrepreneur’s Aadhaar number.

Telcos to compensate consumers for call drops The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has ordered telecom operators to compensate consumers by one rupee for call drops with effect from January 1, 2016.According to a statement issued by TRAI, the compensation will be limited to three dropped calls in a day.TRAI stated that a telecom operator should send a message through SMS or USSD to the calling customer within four hours of the occurrence of call drop and the details of amount credited in his account. In case of postpaid customers, the details of the credit should be provided in the next bill. The telecom regulator said that it will keep a close watch on the implementation of the mandate as well as the measures being initiated by service providers to minimize the call drop menace and then undertake a review after six months.The regulator is of the opinion that the mandated regime would provide relief to the customers from the problem of call drops to some extent. www.governancetoday.co.in

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Court asks Railways to adopt crowd management techniques The Bombay High Court has asked the Central and Western Railway authorities to adopt crowd management techniques for smooth ride for suburban railway passengers, especially elderly commuters.The court had taken suo moto cognizance of a letter written by a senior citizen, A B Thakkar, in 2009 and converted it into a PIL. Thakkar contended that entering a jam-packed train during peak hours was a nightmarish experience for the elderly.“Consider introducing an ‘all standing’ boggie in suburban trains to accommodate the crowd… at least do it on a pilot project to check the results,” a bench of JusticesNareshPatil and S B Shukhre said.The bench also suggested to consider having double decker suburban trains to help crowd management during peak hours.The judges further asked the state to consider appointing a private agency to carry out a survey to analyze the movement of passengers.

One in 13 world cancer patients an Indian A recent study by the National Cancer Institute, a unit of US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), has revealed that every 13th new cancer patient in the world is an Indian. India has around 1.8 million people suffering from cancer, with patients of breast, cervical and oral cancers topping the list.

The NCI had organized a two-day international workshop for scientific journalism, aimed at media professionals, in association with Public Health Foundation of India and Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology (ICPO).PreethaRajaraman, programme director, NCI (South Asia), said, “India has a strong media network and the aim is to train journalists so that they can convey accurate messages to the public about its prevention and treatment.”Experts observed that there is an immediate need of skilled manpower and many more cancer treatment centres.

There are only 412 medical colleges in the country.

€2bn French loan for smart city projects France has begun assisting India in a smart city project for sustainable development by providing two billion Euro loan to the country. According to Francois Richier, French envoy to India, this project has begun in Puducherry with Nagpur and Chandigarh being next in the line.Richier said the French development agency, AFD, has already joined hands with these state administrations even though the official list of cities to be developed under the smart city project would be announced early next year.AFD will provide technological support in the areas of water, sanitation, transport and waste management in these cities, he said.The other areas of support will include energy efficiency, solar energy, heritage preservation, communication and technology, and security and city lighting.He said that even if the cities fail to find space in the official list, they will continue the work.

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www.governancetoday.co.in

Andhra to ensure basic infrastructure in 31 cities The government of Andhra Pradesh has planned to provide basic infrastructure facilities to 31 cities and towns with an estimated cost of over Rs 28, 756 crore. This plan has been undertaken as a part of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.According to a statement released by the Urban Development Ministry, “For the current financial year (2015-16), the state has sought approval of the Union Urban Development Ministry for its State Level Annual Action Plan (SAAP).”The state’s SAAP is based on city level plans formulated after assessing the gaps in basic infrastructure and investments to be made to meet the norms prescribed for urban areas.The statement added, extent of coverage of urban households with water supply connections in AMRUT cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh ranged from 7.50 per cent in Tenali to 78.80 per cent in Rajahmundry.

UK to provide $50mn for skilling projects in India With the aim to push forward skilling initiative in India, the United Kingdom is investing 50 million pounds in the country over the period of five years. This investment will launch the third phase of the UK India Education and Research Initiative next year with the support of the British Council.The skilling initiatives will cover science and technology, human resource development, the foreign and Commonwealth office and more. The British Council is also aligning itself with Digital India as well as the Skill India Mission. PM Narendra Modi’s Make in India and Skill India have opened up opportunities for further collaborations, said Rob Lynes, the British Council’s India director. The council has worked with 12 state governments to train over one lakh master trainers who wouldtrain teachers across India over the past six years.This year, over 4,000 students applied for the Generation UK programme to India which extends to graduate-level students as well.

37 consulting companies to design smart city plans Thirty-seven consulting firms have been announced that will prepare action plans for 88 cities which have been named under Smart City program. The selected companies will prepare smart city proposals under the supervision of urban local bodies and state governments based on review of previous plans and interventions undertaken.CRISIL, KPMG, McKinsey and Mott MacDonald are some of the top names among the 37 firms that would be responsible for designing the action plans.While KPMG will prepare the action plan for New Delhi Municipal Council area to be developed as a smart city, McKinsey will prepare for Pune.Foreign companies or their Indian associates are working in connection with the preparation of smart city plans for most of the cities.CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Limited in association with Pri Move Infrastructure Development Consultants Private Ltd and Probity Soft Private Limited has bagged the contract for six cities. www.governancetoday.co.in

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$2.25 bn German support for clean energy collaboration German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent visit to India ended on a high note, as both the countries took a giant step towards clean energy collaboration by Berlin extending a lump sum assistance of USD 2.25 billion. The creation of longterm ‘Climate and Renewable Alliance’ would be for developing a clean energy corridor and solar projects, ahead of the Paris climate change meet in December.The announcement of German support for India’s clean energy projects was made following wide-ranging discussions between PM Modi and Chancellor Merkel at their third Inter Governmental Consultations.“Energy cooperation is very much in the foreground, particularly exploring and developing rural areas is very much on our agenda,” said the German Chancellor.Merkel and her ministers signed 18 deals with the Modi government, including on renewable energy and fast-tracking approvals for German companies to operate in India.

Waste-to-energy plants for Swachh Bharat Mission Six waste-to-energy plants with installed capacity of about 74 MW will be commissioned next yearincluding two in the national capital,in a significant move towards generating power from garbage under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Said a senior Urban Development Ministry official, “We have launched the waste-to-wealth scheme for which steps have been taken for commissioning of these waste-to-energy plants to produce a total 73.6 MW power.”A waste-to-energy plant will be installed at Ghazipur to produce 12 MW power by processing 2,000 tonnes waste per day, and another plant will be commissioned at NarelaBawana to generate 24 MW power from waste.There will be two waste-to-energy plants producing 11 MW each in Jabalpur and Hyderabad, and a 12.6 MW plant at Nalgonda in Telangana, and 3 MW plant in Chennai. There is also a proposal to provide market development assistance.

Awareness to promote sustainable vehicle use To enhance sustainable vehicle use, International Zinc Association (IZA), in a joint initiative with Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai and Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), a subsidiary of Vedanta Ltd recently organized an interactive session in New Delhito raise awareness of the benefits of galvanized steel.“India loses around five per cent of GDP each ear in corrosion losses. As a sustainable organization, we believe that corrosion mitigation will lead to sustainable vehicles and infrastructure for the future generations and at the same time bring down GDP loss to the economy,” said Vikas Sharma, COO (Smelters), Hindustan Zinc Ltd.Galvanized steel primarily has two distinct benefits—first, it protects the steel from corrosive attack acting as a continuous and lasting shield between steel and the atmosphere.

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global watch

China does away with one child policy Stung by the rapid rise of old population and a fall in working age population, China has decided that it would drop its one child policy, after nearly three and a half decades. The policy was widely considered as the most intrusive decision of the Chinese Communist Party in peoples’ lives. The announcement was made at the close of a key party meeting focused on financial reforms and maintaining growth between 2016 and 2020. After the reversal of the policy, all Chinese couples will be allowed to have two children.The policy is a major liberalization of the country’s family planning restrictions, already eased in late 2013 when Beijing said it would allow more families to have two children when the parents met certain conditions. The issue was brought in focus once again when for the first time in decades the working age population fell in 2012, stoking fears that China could become the first country in the world to get old before it gets rich.

US sends warships near Chinese claimed islands In the most clear indication that the US was not accepting Chinese sovereignty over South China Sea islands, the US sent its warship within the 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands which China claims. According to a US official, the operation put the ship within an area that would be considered Chinese sovereign territory if the U.S. recognized the man-made islands as being Chinese territory. The matter invited criticism from Beijing which reportedly summoned the US ambassador to express its displeasure. The move was followed by high-level talks in which the U.S. and Chinese navies agreed to maintain dialogue and follow protocols to avoid clashes.In little more than 18 months, China has reclaimed more than 2000 acres at three main locations in the Spratly Islands such asSubi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs.The South China Sea is the subject of numerous rival and often messy territorial claims.

‘North Korea could be planning another nuclear test’ According to a South Korean report, North Korea is digging a new tunnel at its nuclear test site, perhaps to conduct more nuclear tests. The news came just two days before the leaders of the South, Japan and China met in Seoulwhere reigning in the North’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is likely to be discussed. As per Yonhap news agency which quoted an unnamed government source,the site is on North Korea’s east coast where three previous nuclear tests were conducted, and there’s an active movement of workers and vehicles working on a new tunnel. North Korea is known to be working on its nuclear program but a fourth test has not been anticipated by experts.

The impoverished country, which has been under various UN sanctions for long, has conducted three nuclear tests, the last in 2013, drawing international condemnation including from China, its sole friend. It has also used its nuclear program as bargaining ship for international aid for a long time. www.governancetoday.co.in

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cover story

Reimagining Indian cities As thousands pour into cities in search of better lives, it is necessary to radically change the way in which we manage our urban landscape

Urbanization is the most visible and common demographic phenomenon in the world and has accentuated over time

Anand Mishra It is half past eight in the morning and as Jai takes the elevator to parking floor in the basement of his 20 plus story apartment building in Gurgaon, he silently prays for easy traffic on Gurgaon Delhi toll road, which he takes to reach his office in Connaught Place CBD (central business district) in central Delhi. The power goes off, but thanks to power back up for which he has to shell out four times the normal electricity tariffs, the elevator starts again after a couple of minutes. Once on the road, he first negotiates the potholes ridden road outside of his apartment, which is reduced to half of its legal width thanks to encroachment, then passes through 14 I November 2015

the stretch where construction of another high rise is going on and the dust can put the infamous Dubai storm to shame.

And then comes the biggest nightmare of all, the traffic jam at the toll road, which runs in kilometers and after all of that, if he manages to stay sane, the road on the Raisina hill is blocked for VIP movement. By the time he reaches office, he is an hour late and needs another half to regain composure to work on his assignment. Jai is only a sample of what millions go through across all major cities in India. Even as big cities are crumbling under pressure of population, pollution and unplanned development, the country stands at a crossroads on which route to take for making urban India livable again.

Urbanization is the most visible and common demographic phenomenon in the world over the last half century and the trend has only accentuated with time. As wealth and power shifts to global East and South, dominated by emerging countries, the transformation of geography and demography in the emerging has been unprecedented.

According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), between 2010 -2025, GDP of top 600 cities of the world would rise by over USD 30 trillion, or 65 per cent of the global growth. Out of these, the 440 cities in the emerging world will account for about half of expected global GDP growth during this period. There are 28 Indian middleweight cities in this group of 440 www.governancetoday.co.in

cities, including Bangalore, Pune, and Kochi. India is also home to megacities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

Another report from the MGI, released in 2012, 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 growth– high affluence clusters. By 2025, 79 metropolitan districts spread across 4.27 lakh km will provide same economic opportunity as eight high performing states spread across 7.94 lakh km.

Not just that, 49 urban clusters will make 77 per cent of incremental GDP, whereas 21 high growth-high affluence clusters will house 44 per cent of India’s consuming class households. As for the rate of urbanization, eight of twelve very high and high performing states will be on average 55 percent urbanized. The country as a whole will be about 38 per cent urbanized by 2025 as against 31 per cent in 2011.

If there is one conclusion that can be drawn from this data, it is the undeniable fact that the wheel of growth and prosperity will increasingly be centered in and around cities and urban clusters consisting of cities. Big cities benefit from the agglomeration effect as talent from all around flocks to cities and contributes to the creation of a more productive economic ecosystem.

Research shows that in India, an average urban job is about twice as productive as an average rural job in manufacturing, for services the figure is about 1.7.

When a city crosses 35 percent urbanization level, its average per capita GDP increases significantly. Logically, therefore, the planning and development of vibrant, thriving cities must be high on any government’s agenda. However, as any middle class inhabitant of any of the cities in the country would vouch for, the city does not enhance the quality of life;in fact, it deteriorates the same.

Even at a 30 odd percent level of urbanization, India is nowhere at a stage where city life is sought after or offers a decent quality of life. While there are 42 cities with million plus population and at least three clusters of ten million plus population, there is none which has been able to either provide basic infrastructure to the existing population, or has any credible plan to manage physical and www.governancetoday.co.in

Urban india growing

Change in urban demography Urban Rural

economic growth of the city over the next three to five decades.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) 2015 rankings,

released in August this year, New Delhi was the highest ranking of the six South Asian cities in global 140; and ranked at 110 in the index. Mumbai ranked November 2015 I

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Mumbai, a mega city, struggles for providing enough water to its citizens.

115. The ranking measures cities’ performance on over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories that include stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Another study of EIU ranked Delhi and Mumbai at 42 and 44 respectively out of fifty on cities on safety rankings. Needless to say, big Indian cities are not providing a decent or safe life to its citizens.

But the rankings are hardly required to drive down the point. Indian cities are known for their pollution, congestion, crumbling infrastructure, poor public service and generally pathetic quality of life. Some of the major problems of Indian cities include overcrowding and congestion, slums and squatter settlements, broken physical infrastructure reflected in poor roads,poor public transport, poor electricity & water supply, and inefficient waste management. Besides these, very high pollution level and extremely poor institutional framework to deliver public goods and services including police are also big trouble areas.

There were 49 million plus urban agglomerations in the country in 2010. However, if the economic and infrastructural capacity is analyzed, each of these is over-burdened up to double of their capacity. In most cities, the economic base is incapable of dealing 16 I November 2015

with the problems created by their excessive size. Massive immigration from rural areas as well as from small towns into bigger cities has occurred consistently adding to the size of cities which spills over in peripheral towns such as NOIDA and Gurgaon in Delhi or Navi Mumbai in Mumbai; and within cities, takes the shape of slums.

Because employment opportunities have increasingly shifted to urban centers, people from the countryside have flocked to the cities. According to the census of 2011, the growth in population in the Mega Cities (with one crore plus population) was quite high,even after slowing down. For example, Greater Mumbai, which had witnessed 30.47 per cent growth in population during 19912001, recorded 12.05 per cent growth during 2001-2011. Similarly, Delhi recorded a growth of 26.69 per cent in 2001-2011 period, down from 52.24 per cent in 1991-2001 decade. While the migration is pervasive in all sections, the same in educated category is higher. It is estimated that about half of all educated urban unemployed are concentrated in four metropolitan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai).

Overcrowding leads to a chronic problem of housing shortage in urban areas. This problem is more acute in those urban areas where there is a large influx of unemployed or underemployed

immigrants who have no place to live in when they enter cities/towns from the surrounding areas. This explains the development of slums in Delhi and Mumbai. The housing shortage is all pervasive though. Nearly 40 per cent married couples in the country do not have an independent room to themselves and as many as 35 per cent urban families live in one-room houses.

Such massive overcrowding had led to severe shortages of basic facilities.

Against 150 liters of basic requirement, per capita daily water availability is just above 100 liters in Indian cities.

The availability of park and open space per capita is less than one third of the basic necessity and share of public transportation about half of the requirement. Just 70 per cent of the waste is collected in Indian cities and not more than 30 per cent of the sewage is treated.

United Nations research shows that the situation is going to deteriorate a lot by 2030 on all parameters, from water and transport to housing availability.

A World Bank report named “Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia: Managing Spatial Transformation for Prosperity and Livability� released earlier this year painted a gloomy picture of cities in South Asia. The report lamented that the region which could gain from urbanization by fostering productivity through the agglomeration www.governancetoday.co.in

of both people and enterprises in its towns and cities, suffered from the inadequate provision of infrastructure and basic urban services. It further noted that congestion can be mitigated if investments in infrastructure and basic services keep pace with demand as more people and firms congregate in urban areas.

However, investment in infrastructure in India is quite low from global standard. For example, India’s per capita annual capital spending is just USD17 which is 14 percent of China’s USD116 and 4 percent of United Kingdom’s USD391. Needless to say, the country has not invested enough to make its cities livable.Mckinsey estimates show that the country would need to invest USD1.2 trillion, which amounts to over Rs 75 lakh crores in its cities by 2030. That would require a four- fold increase in urban infrastructure spending as percentage of the GDP, which currently stands at just 0.5 per cent. And this to just create the infrastructure; we are not even talking about operating expenses yet. Housing and transportation would require the largest chunk of such investment.

Investment is certainly the prickliest part of India’s urban and city rejuvenation project. Where would such humongous sum of money come from?

Globally, governments have devised mechanisms to ensure cities have reliable access to funds, internally generated and externally supported. Government support, which is always larger bulk, is contingent on achieving pre-defined service outcomes for citizens. Nowadays, many countries allow monetize land assets. China allowed its cities to do the same besides retain a 25 percent share of value-added taxes. It also allows big projects to create special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) and access debt market. While the SPV concept has been making rounds in India for a long time, no project has actually taken off.

Public private partnership (PPP) models also exist through which cities can internally generate money. For example, Mumbai has planned over Rs one lakh crore investment through PPPsbesidesleveraging land sales in the BandraKurla area. This shows a positive development, but lack of procedural and legal clarity holds many such projects www.governancetoday.co.in

Open green spaces are fast shrinking

and plans. The basic idea is to make cities as self-reliant as possible in terms of revenue and capex generation. In this regard, the recommendation of the 13th Finance Commission to allow cities to retain about one fifth of GST, is worth pondering. Small cities, however, need assured government funding, which should logically be an amount per capita rather than a fixed amount. Monetizing of land, debt raised from market and tax retention are perhaps best ways to ensure sufficient capex for cities. On the other hand, usage charges and property taxes can form the basis of operating expenses of cities.

But arranging for financing is subsequent to putting in place an effective plan. Urban and metropolitan planning is virtually a non-existent creature in India. Barely a few cities, or states have a long termurban planning.

Those that exist, hardly have any sectoral plans for housing, transportation or energy usage. To make matters worse, the implementation track record of all governments in carrying out large infrastructure projects has been appalling. Cost and time overruns make projects obsolete by the time they kick in,which results in cities playing catch up game rather than proactively driving development. Obviously this cannot work.

Cities need to put in place realistic 20, 30 and 50 year plans at the metropolitan level, including economic

planning,which can be numerically broken into practical municipal plans that include sectoral plans for important areas like housing, transportation and energy use. The city of London, for example, plans for peak traffic for two decades in advance. China lays out long term redevelopment plans for its nonused and run down areas. Singapore allows interest-rate subsidies to make Housing Development Board houses affordable for its citizens. Such planning requires investment in developing capabilities in urban planning on the one hand and keeping urban planning out of the ambit of popular politics on the other.

While actual planning is central to development of futuristic, thriving cities, the institutional arrangement to deliver public services are equally important if not more. The World Bank, in its report mentioned that most local urban bodies in South Asiasuffered from unclear institutional roles andlimited functional and revenue assignments, leavingthem with uncertainauthority and limited power to makedecisions for most service delivery obligations. This is precisely why it is important to ensurethat local bodies have clear mandates on service delivery, enough resources to work and water tight accountability. Having mayors directly elected by citizens also helps as it forces them to be answerableto voters.Further, it is necessary to reduce the number of civic organizations and have a strictly November 2015 I

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WHAT MAKES A CITY GREAT Sound economic base Attracting talented people and investors High job growth

Sustainable business environment Sound physical infrastructure Favorable tax regime

High standard physical infrastructure Round the clock power supply, efficient water supply Well-developed transportation infrastructure to ensure less than half hour of average commute to work place Efficient public transport system Complete waste collection and more than 90 per cent sewage and solid waste treatment

Developed public service delivery Affordable housing for poor residents Highly developed and cost efficient public health system Efficient civic bodies Fast grievance redressal system Sound law and order machinery

Developed life support system High standard academic institutions Good recreational facilities in form of art, culture, music, food etc.

Sufficient green space for parks and playgrounds Sustainable and large green belt for carbon control

The rise of indian cities Between 2010 -2025, GDP of top 600 cities of world would rise by over USD 30 trillion 77 per cent of incremental GDP of the country to be accounted by just 49 clusters by 2025 59 crore people will be living in cities by 2030 Over 9 crore urban middle class households by 2030 USD 1.2 trillion or nearly Rs 80 lakh crore required for development of cities over little over next 15 years

18 I November 2015

defined reporting and accountability structure that could allow pinpointing of officials directly responsible for any delays or mishandling of work. We have seen the turf wars between various civic departments in Delhi, which should act as lessons on how not to govern cities.

Cities are not static entities; they need to constantly evolve to support expanding and altering populations and their rising expectations. As such, they need to be planned with enough slack so as not to run out of space and infrastructure capacity in the medium term.To deliver the benefits of city life and commercial ecosystem while minimizing the hazards of rapid growth, cities need to have professional planning, and capable and accountable governance.

Big, thriving cities, from New York to Tokyo, have all got a few things in common. They all have a sustainable business model which allows people to come and thrive in these cities. New great cities of Asia, like Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney have all planned excellent sectoral policies for public transportation, affordable housing, and environment. All have a sound power supply, adequate clean water supply, modern public healthcare delivery infrastructure and efficient waste disposal mechanisms. Moreover, all great cities invest a lot to provide an environment in which healthy social life can thrive. Every city has a unique character. The challenge is to retain that uniqueness without compromising on the lifestyle that technology affords.

There are countries that anticipate the problem and act beforehand and then there are countriesthat act after problems emerge, thus always stuck in the catch up mode. India has so far remained mired in the latter group. It cannot afford to be so any longer. We are already tottering on the verge of having the most polluted, unlivable cities in the world. Without adequate actions right now, Indian cities would be absolutely life threatening, with extreme health and security hazard. But people will keep flocking to cities and urban centers for earning a livelihood.It is cruel to push a large number of people to an unhealthy life that is urban India, especially cities. anand@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

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Making cities smarter

It is important to do reality check on the existing urban structure and ongoing social issues before embarking on bigger things Ramesh Kumar Raja With the skyrocketing population and growing urbanisation, India needs to discover smarter ways to manage intricacies, reduce expenses, increase competency, and improve the quality of urban life. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pursuit to build 100 smart cities, which is said to be the most go-getting project launched for the development of the country, is anunwaveringexertion to upgrade the landscape of Indian cities and make them liveable again.

The project has drawn substantial backing and all-embracing interest from various countries and international organizations who are interested in discovering investment and shared opportunities with India. The government on its own has set aside Rs 48,000 crore for this purpose. Under the government’s 100 smart cities program, each selected city will receive a central assistance of Rs 100 crore annually for five years driving economic growth and taking progress forward.

The task of building 100 smart cities proposes to promote adoption of smart technology based solutions for efficient use of available assets, resources and infrastructure to enhance quality of urban life and provide a clean and sustainable environment. There will be a special emphasis on participation of citizens in prioritising and planning urban interventions. The program will be implemented through area-based approach that includes retrofitting, redevelopment, pan-city initiatives and development of new cities.The stress will be on core infrastructure services such as adequate clean water supply, sanitation and sold waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, affordable housing, power supply, robust IT connectivity, governance, particularly e-governance and citizen participation.

The government has already got www.governancetoday.co.in

Converting old cities like Varanasi to smart cities would be challenging

assurances from developed countries such as Germany, Japan, France, the US, the UK and Canada on helping the program with their experience and technology. Here, the technology helps maximize utilization of resources by leveraging data collected from sensors, controls, and real time data analytics.

Smart energy management, for instance, can be used to improve key segments like buildings, which consume 40 per cent of all energy in India, as well as utilities, healthcare, governance, transportation and education.

If theindustry body NASSCOM is to believe, the government’s smart cities program can create business opportunities to the tune of $30-40 billion for the IT sector over the next 5-10 years. The IT industry association has also prepared a report on the role of information and communications technology (ICT) in the smart cities programme.The association has built a framework to highlight the role of ICT in developing smart cities, and categorize ways and means to make relevant ICT interventions that will enable sustainable and transparent management of future smart cities.

Even as public sector infrastructure

financing companies are not too keen to support the projects financially, corporate giants have come forward for the mission. Tech giant IBM has chosen Surat, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam among 16 global locations for its smart cities program to help them address challenges like waste management and citizen services. Cisco, another tech giant, has prepared the ICT master plan for four smart cities which was proposed under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project. As part of the project, Cisco is preparing plans for Shendra Industrial Park in Maharashtra, Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat, ManesarBawal Investment Region in Haryana and Khushkhera Bhiwadi Neemrana Investment Region in Rajasthan. According to PurushottamKaushik, managing director, sales, growth verticals, Cisco India & SAARC, “The objective is to merge physical planning with digital planning so as to ensure integrated control and governance. Cisco Smart City in Bangalore is a showcase of how the government can offer governance and essential services to citizens digitally, build broadband highways, enable digital inclusion and deliver information November 2015 I

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Large scale migration into cities have led to mushrooming of slums

for all.”

Even though the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is working round the clockfor the mission and think tanks, corporate and various ministries are putting their heads together to make this initiative a success, the entire country waits to see this dream become a reality, yet no one is quite sure of what these cities might look like, or who they’re for. The question is how close are we to see smart cities? How is this plan different from earlier attempts at providing better urban infrastructure or at creating new townships which have not been able to deal with the issue of liveability satisfactorily? Even successful special economic zones have had to contend with the issue of lack of social infrastructure, which usually means access to avenues of education, health, arts, sports, and so on. There are several definitions of a smart city but the Modi government’s impression of one usefully incorporates institutional infrastructure (governance), physical infrastructure, as also social infrastructure.A concept note from the urban development ministry explains that they will have smart (intelligent) physical, social, institutional and economic infrastructure, guaranteeing their residents employment opportunities and a very high quality of life, comparable with any developed European city.

There are numerous challenges and these challenges, in fact, start now.

Creating a smart city isn’t just about creating the physical infrastructure — roads, clean water, power, transport and 20 I November 2015

so on, things that India finds difficult to deliver to its citizens nearly seven decades after Independence. It is hoped that public private partnerships (PPP) will deliver but the mechanism seems to need a lot of modifications in order to work, a fact acknowledged in the last Budget.

The big challenge will be to create selfsustaining cities, which create jobs, use resources wisely and also train people.

This also means more autonomy for these cities. Whether that can happen is a debateable question depending heavily on the maturity of the Indian political system.

Since technology is at the core of smart cities, accommodating those who are technologically illiterate will be a tiresomejob. Applications therefore, via technology literacy, need to be aligned to ensure that people of all educational and linguistic backgrounds are able to leverage the benefits of technology for social and economic progress.

It may be noted that the pattern of smart city comes from mid-scale European cities, and they’re meant to make existing infrastructure work in a more integrated way, whether it’s waste, habitation or transport connectivity.

But urban India still struggles with the absence of networks, asmerely 16 per cent of Indian cities have underground sewage drainage systems. No technology can make the system work better if basic services don’t exist. Even so if the government does succeed in building these superior cities, but does nothing to alleviate poverty and poor services in the surrounding areas, it could well lead

to a politically instable situation. These visible forms of structural inequalities produce social mistrust and even violence.

According to SaiBalakrishnan, an urban scholar at Rutgers University, who studies land conflicts and urbanisation in India, every new smart city signals yet another “temporary breakaway, each of them setting in place a new social order that will not be easy to reverse, and that takes urban planning dangerously away from the public domain.” A hundred smart cities could seed a thousand shadow cities, seething with hatred and rage.

Even as the smart city programme progresses, it is important to do reality check on the existing urban structure and ongoing social issues which has remained unsolved from decades. As far as urban problems are concerned, Indian megacities are known as overly crowded tiny space.

According to Census of India 2011, population density of city like Delhi has increased from 9,294 in 2001 to 9,340 in 2011. Migrations from rural areas to urban have resulted in the growth of slums and unauthorized colonies in and around bigger cities. Census of India reports an estimated growth of 104 million in slum populationby 2017 from 65 million in 2013. With older transportation and waste management system, India ranks in WHO’s list as ‘top most polluted countries’ in the world.

Mega cities like Mumbai and Delhi have 31.8 per cent and 30.5 per cent of their respective populations which are impacted by the pollution. Constant rise in crime against women has entitled our country as ‘fourth most dangerous country for women’ in the world. In such a scenario, the society calls for some practical moves and achievable goals that could make India smarter and citizens’ lives better.

As a matter of fact, the concept of smart city sometimes sound like hypertrophic castles in the sky, especially in a country like India where more than 300 million people live without electricity, and twice as many don’t have access to toilets. It’s like a city which is two steps ahead of the citizens’ requirements. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

cover story

Technology will be the key

The first step is to integrate the services that a common man can use

Songdo in South Korea is a fine example of how new smart cities should develop

Praveen Raman The human species’ use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. With the invention of wheel in the Neolithic age, one important conclusion that can be drawn is the man has tried to build and invent new things as per his needs.

Going a step further, the mankind has also tried to change and alter the surroundings so that a set of services can be ensured.These set of services can be brought on a platform so as to make it available to a common man,just like smart city.

In a layman’s words, the picture of a smart city contains a wish list of infrastructure and services that describes his or her level of aspiration.

To provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, we will need technology to ensure an urban ecosystem, which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive developmentinstitutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. This has to be a long term goal and cities need to work towards developing such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of ‘smartness’. Talking of today, we can easily identify the areas where the maximum use of technology www.governancetoday.co.in

is taking place,for example, mobile communications, bank transactions, transportationetc. Starting from an adequate water supply, assured electricity supply to affordable housing, good governance, especially e-Governance will be required to promote economic growth and improve quality of life of the people and these would be the cornerstone of smart cities to tomorrow.

Dimensions of smartness

We already have many modalities which can be converted into smart feature.

For example, let us take the system of traffic management we have in place. A smart traffic control system would gather real-time data from roads and manage traffic lights based on traffic volume. A central command monitoring data could help reduce congestion, and clear roads for emergency services. Similarly, a smart power or water grid would use sensors to monitor usage throughout a city. Using this information, the system could appropriately distribute electricity during peak and off-peak hours, and detect any leakages. A city with smart governance would use technology to provide services to residents in a transparent manner.

For instance, a resident of a smart city would be able to take a picture of a pile of waste on the street, send it to the city

government via email or social media, which would then be forwarded to appropriate authorities.

Fortunately, there are existing models which can help us to understand the working of a smart city. Last year, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and Microsoft India announced their partnership to transform Surat into a smart city. SMC has been one of the early technology and e-Governance adopters and the city has selected Microsoft as its partner of choice for process automation and citizen services. With help from Microsoft and its partner ecosystem, the city administration is evaluating technology infrastructure to meet the changing needs of its citizens.

There have been multiple instances of leveraging existing infrastructure and solutions to upgrade to smart solutions.

In India too there are a few elements of smart solutions being adoptedfor urban service delivery. Select examples:

Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) in Ahmedabad

BRTS in Ahmedabad, operated by Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, initiated its operations in 2009. Investments in Phase 1, intending to cover a third of November 2015 I

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tHE bASKET

Source: Deloitte

Ahmedabad’s population of around 3 million people, was around INR 500 crores. Currently, BRTS with 12 operating bus routes covering 126 bus stops, has an Integrated Transportation Management System,including a number of smart solutions like Advanced Vehicle Tracking System, Fleet Management System, Automatic Fare Collection System, Passenger Information System and Vehicle Scheduling & Dispatching mechanism.

SCADA for Water Management in Pimpri, Chinchwad

The SCADA system for water management implemented in 2011with an investment of around INR 13 crores, enabled real time water auditing, monitoring and control for the entire city spread over 171 sq. kms with a water supply of around 450 ML per day.

The system provides city engineers data pertaining to the electrical efficiency, flow, pressure, level, valve operation, filter operations on a real time basis at various points of the water supply value chain (raw water pumping station, water treatment plant, pure water pumping station and Elevated Service Reservoirs) and enable controlling/ managing the same. The SCADA based reporting system allows the ULB insight into the flow, level, pressure & efficiency along with insights into possible issues 22 I November 2015

on a day to day basis. Use of historical data and set benchmarks for various supply parameters with the suggested corrective measures allows formulation of corrective strategies to achieve water quality across primary and secondary distribution targets.

Technologies galore

While it is too early to discuss the models on which smart city technologies will operate, there is no doubt that it will be a challenge for all stakeholders.

The smart cities are safe cities that offer citizen centric services because without it economic and social growth cannot happen. This will require a technical knowhow through a monitoring and keeping of information can take place.

While the technology must fit the local matrix, it should be user friendly too.

The present modalities, like GPS, mobile apps networking,areavailable, but it will be a challenge to convert these existing platforms suitable for smart cities. Most importantly, we have citizens who use mobile phones, so the smart technology has to be as seamless and as easy to use.

After all, if a mobile device and be used to track a taxi, why it cannot be used for tracking traffic.

The first step to integrate the services that can be used by variety of service providers is by integrating information.Towards this objective, an integrated smart cityframework comprising of the following key

enablers- SMART GOVERNANCE, SMART LIVING, SMART PEOPLE, SMART MOBILITY, SMART ENVIRONMENT and SMART ECONOMY (Refer the graph) may be followed to facilitate implementation.

The framework essentially serves two purposes.

First, for existing cities aspiring to incorporate smart features, the dimensions of the framework can be further expanded through metrics which will enable assessment of the level of preparedness and priority areas of intervention for these cities. Second, for new cities, the same framework with its associated dimensions and derived metrics can be used to plan, develop and operate infrastructure and other services.

In India, for example, the model can be applied to various cities leveraging existing data from various secondary sources like, Census of India publications, Service Level Benchmarks published by MoUD, NSSO data, City Development Plans, etc. Globally, various cities have developed to achieve various stages of “smartness” while many cities are still in the process of implementing smart functionalities within their operations. Cities like New York, London, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, and Vienna have incorporated smart functionalities in their administrative operation and service delivery mechanism. There have also been instances when entirely new cities have been planned and developed as smart cities. For example, Songdo in South Korea, built on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land, and Tianjin Eco City in China, built on around 7,400 acres and located 40 km from Tianjin city centre and 150 km from Beijing city centre are example of how cities should be planned and developed.

Cities are only as smart as they function. The idea of developing smart cities is to make cities’ work smartly, in interacting with citizens and roll out services that maximizes output with least effort on citizens’ side. Technologies in computing, telecom, engineering or any other field serve this very basic purpose and this should not be lost on any policymaker. praveen@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

How the world does it

cover story

Different cities have treaded unique paths in becoming ‘smart’ Lekshmi Parameswaran When it comes to building smart cities, India has the last mover advantage.

Many cities around the world have incorporated cutting edge technologies in computing, telecom and engineering arena in delivering fast, efficient services to citizens. While no single city can be termed smart in every sense, each smart city has tried to find out what is the most important aspect of smartness that is required to make life easier for its citizens and has gone about adopting it.

The first city that needs to be mentioned here is Barcelona, a city which has constantly forged ahead in the parameters by which smart cities are judged by. Judged as the smartest city in the world, its bus transit system is unparalleled in terms of frequency and efficiency. The buses use clean energy and the bus shelters are enabled with interactive systems to let the travelers have easy access to the routes. Another interesting aspect is the concept of ‘bicing’ which allows the users to borrow bicycles through the means of a card. The city is also a model for waste management and disposal withsensors attachedtrash bins and automated waste collection system.

Adopting high end technologies is a big aspect of building a smart city.

Helsinki is an example of how best to exploit information technology in city management. It has achieved total coverage of residential and commercial buildings with smart meters, and 70 per cent of its commercial buildings leverage automation systems to enhance efficiency. The city has also implemented a smart grid throughout the city. On e-governance, the city leads the world with respect to transparent and open data. It has more than 1,200 open data sets and 108 applications to leverage their open data program.

The next best example of a smart city is Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. It stands out for its sustainability and overall ecofriendliness. The city is constructed in such a manner that there is shade for most part of the day which substantially www.governancetoday.co.in

An artist’s impression of Masdar City

reduces energy consumption. The provision for treatment of waste water is another aspect that can be replicated in the Indian context. Together, these two measures will be able to sustain the additional flow of population in area.

The policing strategies of Santa Cruz California, will help reduce the crime rates in smart cities. India is in dire need of a pro-active police force and the surveillance strategies employed by Santa Cruz can prove to be a great help in filtering out the miscreants if used ethically.

There are also some unique examples of how cities are pursuing smartness.

Some cities are looking at out of the box technological solutions for improving the quality of life for their citizens, whereas others look for other means.

The examples worth quoting in the first category are Singapore and New York.

Singapore is putting in place Smart

Singapore strategy wherein it is rolling out smart boxes containing sensors and connected via fiber optic cables which will sense the city and deliver real-time information to cities and citizens. New York on the other hand, has put in place the pilot through which free WiFi internet and allied services could be provided from unused public phone booths.

On non-technical parameter, a great example is that of Brisbane which has focused heavily on the quality of life for its citizens. The city has one of the lowestGini Index scores of the major cities in the world indicating an equal society. It also sharing economy with an active bikesharing and carsharing program besides encouraging private sector participation in promoting sustainable development. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in

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interview

we are tapping companies will it take to help cities in deploying solutions for modern urban infrastructure?

The government of West Bengal has taken proactive steps to insurehousing for all in urban areas of the state. In an interaction with Manoj Padaliya of ‘Governance Today,’ Debashis Sen, Principal Secretary - Urban Development Department of the West Bengal sheds light on the approach of the state towards smart city project.

98 smart cities have been named, including 6 from West Bengal. What according to you should be the approach towards affordable housing?

Affordable Housing is a key component of urban development component and government must interfere positively to create space for the lower income group (LIG) people andeconomically weaker sections of society (EWS). In West Bengal, the new township policy mandates that 25 per cent of the dwelling units created in new townships must be for the EWS. In the Smart City framework of Central Government, convergence with other schemes including Housing-for-All is the key. However, what we in West Bengal are targeting in the smart city framework of GoI is to have more than one pan-city solutions so that all sections of the township get a benefit.

What are the major drivers of urbanization?

There is a long list as to why people migrate to cities. Prof Edward Glasser, an urban economist, in his book “Triumph of the City” elaborates that besides the three Es (Education, Employment and Entertainment), networking opportunities make cities great. The world just became urban in 2008 and so will India and its States within two decades or so.

ICT is the prime tool for establishing a strong 24 I November 2015

Debashis Sen, IAS Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, Govt. of West Bengal

base for building a smart city. How are you working with ICT players?

In West Bengal, we are collaborating with NASSCOM and also with various Chambers of Commerce including American Chamber of Commerce in India (AmCham India), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and others.

New Town Kolkata have signed anMoU with Future Cities Catapult, a UK government funded organization, who have held workshops and are bringing in concepts and possibilities specific to New Town on a pro bono basis. A number of other organizations are also in touch with us. Most importantly, we are tapping in ICT organizations operating from the smart cities so that there is deeper insight and are themselves stakeholders.

Is your department collaborating with any corporates? Could you name and elaborate?

Each of the smart cities of West Bengal have engaged consultants from the list prepared by the Ministry of Urban Development. They are helping each city to make their Smart City Plans. No collaboration with any corporates has been made at this stage.

According to you what

In the new township policy of the Government of West Bengal, all new greenfield towns must have an economic focus, a theme. Six such theme cities on government land are just launched.

Examples of themes include, Education, Health, Senior Citizen Living, Sports, Industry and Culture.

This is based on our belief that towns with an economic focus function better.

And a city that is financially sound can mop up resources more efficiently to create modern infrastructure, either by the PPP route or by improved revenue earnings.

Green building devices, smart home devices, smart living solutions, building efficiency systems are just some of the primary elements for smart urban housing. How will your department move ahead in providing all these necessities?

We wish to move forward through a mix of regulatory, citizen and private sector based participation. Municipal rules already encourage green buildings by giving extra 10 per cent FAR. For large buildings, solar rooftop installations are mandatory. With rainwater harvesting, tax incentives are available.

Citizens are being involved to adopt sustainable practices such as in solid waste management and clean cities.

Private sector is being approached for win-win solutions such as free Wi Fi in public spaces and roads in exchange of laying rights of optical fibre on road flanks, mobile apps to help the senior citizens call in help and generally creating an atmosphere that will be smart and commercially viable.

www.governancetoday.co.in

govt must have capacity How can we educate government machinery so that they are able to deliver better services?

In an interview to Ritika Bisht of ‘Governance Today’, TV Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education, emphasizes the need to develop smaller towns with greater economic activities to share the burden of big cities.

How India can develop a smart city framework?

In my view a smart city is about initiatives that are directed to improve the quality of life for all citizens. It is also about improving economic activity and bringing sustainability.

To successfully enable different components of smart city we need technology. The most important component of a smart city is the mobility which constitutes a very large part of a smart city initiative. For this we need a massive and efficient public transportation structure. We need to build road infrastructure, metros, network of buses. All this has to come together in a way that maintains the mobility even during the peak hours.

Smart city would require smart traffic management systems that can monitor factors like traffic speed and density.

Public safety is another aspect in a smart city. A crime management system has to be put in place. Video camera with face recognition software is a must to identify criminals. We need to have good database to identify pattern of activities. Thus, safety aspect has to be looked into from policing point of view.

The third aspect is keeping the city clean; solid waste management,clean water and waste water treatment. For clean air, we need to monitor pollution levels and use alternative energy to reduce pollution.

Sustainability and environmental impact are other important elements which improve the quality of life.

Sustainability also implies that jobs are created for the talent pool available.

To make this project a success, city governments need the capacity, mechanism, and ERP systems.

What about the migration www.governancetoday.co.in

T.V. Mohandas Pai Chairman, Manipal Global Education

challenge?

We need to create 100-200 clusters of small towns with greater economic activity to avoid over burden on cities like New Delhi and Mumbai. We cannot stop people from migrating to these cities as shifting to bigger city like New Delhi means increasing job opportunity which is absent in their small town.

There is only a particular segment of people who are enjoying a comfortable lifestyle. With New Delhi increasingly becoming magnet for job opportunities, a large number of people from all across the country have settled on the outskirts of the city. This is not an ideal model as city has become far too crowded than it can sustain. Delhi lacks governance and that is why the city has become the ideal example of mismanagement.

What according to you should be the structure of local governance in smart cities?

Set the governance and have modeled laws that call for a full-time elected mayor for five years with adequate financial support and power to take decisions. Cities need a council elected by people;a bureaucracy headed by commissioner and the commissioner should be appointed on merit, it should not be an IAS officer as they cannot have right over every post. Government must advertise and get the best person, whether he is from public or private enterprise, to do the service.

Our government does not have the capacity and capability for this kind of activity. Very few people in the government can ascertain what it takes to survive in this century and provide quality services to citizens. They don’t have technical as well as planning capacity. We have degraded the cities, paved way for corruption and controlled people. As a result of this, many public contracts are given to mafias and no government work can be done without bribery.

Failure of government has resulted in the rise of mafias who have taken and manipulated the contracts and used funds for their purpose instead of using it for public service. Governance has to be expanded and people from outside the system should be hired to work with the city government.

What do you think about smart villages?

A village is a difficult place to build a good infrastructure and thus we require huge investment which means tremendous increase in per capita investment. It is not economically viable to put huge investment in the village.

Access to drinking water, electricity, health and construction of roads and toilets are basic necessities in village and we need to first focus on providing these to the rural population.

How would citizens react to advanced urban technology?

Citizens would appreciate new things that enhance the quality of life.

They would welcome less commute time, non-polluted environment, and clean drinking water. People would favor advanced technology that can provide all these.

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cover story

For only the smart may survive It is a smart way to conserve natural resources, energy efficiency, waste management, low carbon and environmental management Sagarika Ranjan Development and the art of developing has brought the Homo sapiens to a juncture where pressure thinking has become inevitable.First it was how to build a civilization, then how to progress and sadly now it is how to save and preserve this man-made world of apparently the most intelligent beings ever born.

There are several coinages that indicate that we are slipping down into the drains of extinction. Of late scientists have confirmed that we are heading towards the sixth extinction of the lives on Earth. We are like a big pressure cooker today. The pressure has reached its zenith and what we are all thinking is to somehow get that safety valve to keep the cooker from bursting.So, what can we do? To this the answer were ‘sustainable development’, ‘Go green’, find an earth-like planet and for India, it isbuilding smart cities.

The goal of the Smart Cities Mission of the Ministry of Urban Development is to promote cities that support a standard infrastructure and an application of smart solutions for inclusive development as well as uplifting the quality of life of the urban inhabitants by creating a healthy and sustainable environment. Smart solutions will enable the cities to act as the “Engines of Growth”. Cities that are planned, built and serviced as sustainable and smart will be more networked, automated, and connected with high quality services.

Standardization, automation, intelligent interconnected system of services, transportation, Information Technologies, Energy Efficiency, Bionic controls, and simulation, robotics, renewal energy, solar mapping, stereolithography and Nano-technology are some of the essential components of smart cities.

Kumar Deepak, Environmentalists 26 I November 2015

with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), gives an insight into the “Smat cities Mission”. He chooses to call these as the strategic Components of Smart Cities Mission.

Some of the essential components that explain the plans of the smart city mission include several features that have crucial environmental connections.

Some of them are: City Improvement/Retrofitting: Transformation of an existing built up area into a smart, more efficient andlivable city. It needs an area more than 500 acres that will be identified in consultation with the citizens.

City Renewal/Redevelopment: Replacement of the dilapidated built of environment and creation of a new layout with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density. It envisages an area of more than 50 acres which is to be identified by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in consultation with the citizens.

City Extension/Greenfield Development: Smart solutions in a vacant area more than 250 acres, using innovative planning, financing and implementation tools (Land Pooling/ Land reconstitution) with provisions for affordable housing, especially for the poor and to meet the needs of the expanding population.

Pan-city Development: This envisages application of smart solutions to the existing infrastructure by using technology, information and data to make the infrastructure services better.

Applying smart solutions in the transport sector (Intelligent Traffic Management System) and reducing average commute time or cost to citizens will have positive effects on productivity and quality of life of citizens. Waste water recycling, smart metering, better water management in the city would fulfill the surplus water availability.

“Smart cities Mission is the

manifestation of a new paradigm and a symbiosis of ecology and human function,” says Kumar Deepak.

Talking on some of the Smart Ecological Solutions to Climate Resilience Smart Cities, he further explains that Smart Cities are pathways towards ecologically sustainable development.

“Recently India in her submission of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement, included the ambitious smart city project as an important policy measure to reduce carbon reduction from 33 per cent to 35 per cent till 2030,” said Kumar Deepak.

India’s contributions for a formidable climate change agreement this year in Paris say that 100 smart cities are planned with the objective to develop new generation cities, which will provide core infrastructure and a decent quality of life to its citizens by building a clean and sustainable environment.

Smart solutions like recycling and reuse of waste, use of renewable, protection of sensitive natural environment will be incorporated to make these cities climate resilient.

It is a smart way to conserve natural resources, energy efficiency, waste management, low carbon, public transit and environmental management. Smart Ecological solutions comprise of a smart climate resilient solutions, smart energy solutions, smart solid waste management, smart and green neighborhood, andsmart logistics solution.

Smart cities should have a climate resilient construction so that resilience to the impact of climate change can be achieved at a certain level. Restoring water-bodies, wetlands, aquifers, waterfalls, ponds, coastal mangroves, rivers etc. shall create a major natural carbon sink system. In the water sector, www.governancetoday.co.in

The Green Factors Smart Energy Smart meters, Smart Buildings Renewable Energy Grids Electric vehicles Energy Conservation & Monitoring Bionic Controls

Public Utilities

non-invasive techniques & advanced analytics by managing the pressure in the network at pumps & valves, reducing energy consumption

Smart Mobility Smart Cards Smart signals andtraffic controls, variable signage, mobile enabled real time maps/routes, way finding

Smart water & sewerage networks with minimum losses ICT enabled traffic control Smart metering, payment Smart & Green Buildings Waste Management Integrated Environment Climate streets Measures Identifying leaks using Smart Building

this would include rainwater harvesting, recharging of waste water, identifying multiple sources of water supply, recharge of aquifers, promoting water conservation and so on. This would enable the city to cope with the water shortages that are likely to result from climate change. Green areas such as parks and forests promote biodiversity and act as carbon sink besides providing open spaces.

Smart energy solutions help in developing a climate resilient city. The power demand is rising in the city exponentially, generation of which emits one-fourth carbon footprints. The energy system needs to be smart and sustainable to reduce the power demand.

Smart city should provide better investment to upgrade the capabilities of the grid and to enable consumers to take more centralized role in managing their energy use via smart meters, connected appliances and web portals.

Utilities need to install technologies to improve the efficiency of the grid and www.governancetoday.co.in

develop new capabilities for integrating renewal energy to the grid. By integrating energy from renewable sources like solar and wind onto the grid, overall impact on the environment can be curtailed to a climate resilient settlement and cities can be more self-sufficient in energy.

Solid waste management is based on ICT solutions based on SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. This system includes ICT controlled three bins for trash, recyclable items and compost.

As per the provisions of SCADA the collection charges drop as trash drops.

“Smart logistics will help in developing intelligent transport solutions. Smart and efficient public transport system would help in reducing of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) and other contaminants in the air. It would help us to restrict carbon emission and ultimately lead to solution to save our environment,” explains Kumar Deepak.

Smart and Green Neighborhood and

Environment Management Technology & Innovation Centre

Ecological Pathways Conservation & restoration of wetlands & other water ecosystem Smart Water Management Design Green Belt to develop a Natural Carbon Sink System Efficient& smart Air, water, land & noise pollution abatement & control

Buildings can save 30 per cent energy, reduce carbon emissions, provide higher efficiency and comfort with lesser energy consumption.

The cities and buildings have not only to be comfortable, green and efficient, but also intelligent and integrated based on Leadership in Energy and Environment Designs (LEEDS).

Super-insulated windows quadruple the thermal performance of double panes and can be made from the glass in existing windows. A sensor controlled photo-voltaic cell and smart glass technology save on air-conditioning and high energy cost.

The ideas are smart; they are solutions to the humanity dwindling towards extinction. Smart cities are not an idea but the need of the hour.

However,the success of this solely depends on contribution. A new slogan “Each one, save some” will be the deciding factor in the race with time. edit@governancetoday.co.in

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cover story

Rethinking urban migration Unfortunately the concept of smart cities might become an avenue to strengthen the sharp demarcation that exists between different class

The government must ensure that the residents as well as migrants have decent quality of life

Lekshmi Parameswaran The 100 smart cities project envisioned by the present government is touted as a game changer for urban India. The most basic definition of a smart city is that of a place which employs the use of Information and Communication Technology to give its residents a hassle free life. It is expected to stand on the four pillars of infrastructure, sustainability, healthcare and education with a citizen-centric approach forming its core. A project that is so wide in scope is expected to bring with it a plethora of opportunities for both the rural and urban population. Migration then becomes a natural consequence of such development and the fact that a sudden influx of population can disturb the very structure of a society is often not taken seriously.

The current rate of urbanization in India is estimated to be 32% with the figures expected to go up by 50% in 2050. A majority of this will be rural to urban migrants who relocate in the hope of escaping their miseries to find a decent livelihood. Unfortunately the concept of 28 I November 2015

smart cities as envisaged in the Indian context becomes an avenue to strengthen the sharp demarcation that exists between different classes. While making the cities smarter, it excludes the class of population that has not managed to find a footing in the city. The multiple factors that are involved in a problem like this complicate matters even further for those at the helm of policy making.

How feasible?

Why is a well-conceived project like Smart City that speaks of bringing in world class technology still fraught with challenges? What are the factors that the policy makers have overlooked and because of which the speculations are rife about this project?

For a country like India which has not been able to meet the primary needs of the population, the immediate matter that needs to be addressed is the building of basic infrastructure. The one question that needs serious debate is whether the cities which are planned as brownfield investments be able to take the strain of fresh construction. Most of the shortlisted cities do not have the

infrastructure in place even to support the existing settlements.

The second important issue is to ensure that resources are equitably distributed so that the residents as well as migrants can be assured of a decent quality of life. A fortified city is sure to put added pressure on the resources. The energy consumption is bound to increase which in the long run can significantly contribute to climate change. The migrant laborers, when faced with a dearth of resources,can resort to using highly polluting sources of energy which will go against the very idea of making a city smart.

The next concern is the matter of waste disposal. Can a city that is only meant to sustain not more than a specific number of people be able to keep up the high standards of hygiene?India has seen the sprouting of a number of illegal settlements in and around its cities. All these are places with no proper latrines or water supply and are often seen as the breeding ground for diseases.

That puts the focus on the aspect of healthcare. With the smart cities expected to focus on sate of the art facilities, how www.governancetoday.co.in

exactly will it be able to accommodate migrantsremains a question that needs to be prodded over with all seriousness.

Since healthcare is a state subject, the onus should be on the state governments to ensure that what is created is not a society where one section of the population has access to the most modern facilities whereas the less fortunate section struggles even for first aid.

There should also be debates regarding the legal status of these migrants. In a city which talks of smart surveillance, there should be a mechanism in place to stop the harassment of people who might not hold a smart identity card. The predictive policing that is considered to be one of the most important advantages of a smart city might also turn out to be its bane.

The migrants hailing from different cultural backgrounds in all probability will be looked upon with suspicion by the smart city residents which would be a further cause of resentment for both classes.

Lack of a well laid out institutional infrastructure is yet another cause of concern. There is still no clarity on how the services will be delivered and how accessible it will be for the poor.

There has been no talks of making the public distribution system smarter and of identifying able people who can be assigned responsibilities of supervising the whole system.

Is it still workable?

So is the whole idea of smart city doomed from the beginning or are the above challenges a far too pessimistic approach to take? Smart city is still a viable concept if adequate precautions are taken to address the issues. It is necessary for a country like India to move ahead with the times and make a mark as a developmental hub.

There should be a feasibility study undertaken that would look at the building of a smart cities from a wider perspective that would include the migrants too. If the services are to reach the people efficiently, there should be a section of population working for it. From labourers to engineers, smart cities need them all to cater to its various needs. These cities should be able to accommodate those who are absolutely needed in carrying forward www.governancetoday.co.in

The level of urbanisation in India is expected to increase to 50 per cent in 2050

the developmental process. It should be the developer’s imperative to make arrangements where the issues like shelter, sanitation are well taken care of.

The solution would be to create a peripheral area so that the overall concept of smart city would remain intact. Here, in addition to providing the basic needs of the population, efforts should be made to give its residents a legal identity. That way it would reduce the number of migrants coming in and address the problem of underemployment which has become a very common feature of the Indian cities. Here again, this shouldn’t become a reason for unplanned land acquisition.

An effective network of the government, corporate entities, local bodies and the residents should be involved in charting out the course of the smart city.

Another way to ease out the population pressure is by putting the focus on mass transportation system.

“The one policy level change that can be brought about is to create cheap and affordable transportation so that more

and more people will choose to commute from their homes to their workplace”, says DrS.Chandrasekhar, Associate Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.

A grievance redressal system is of utmost importance if the ultimate goal is that of inclusiveness. Citizens should be able to get solutions from a single window and that should also address the problems of migrant workers.

India has always been a country that has provided equal opportunities for everyone to excel. So smart cities can never be a standalone concept, it has to involve all the stakeholders to make it mutually inclusive. What is needed is an Indianization of the whole idea so that it can address the peculiar realities of the Indian society. While borrowing technologies from the west, it need to be seen by the policymakers that every effort is made to make the cities people friendly and habitable. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in

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Resource efficiency

Running out fast Massive action needed to prevent shortage of resources in near term

Globally, we are already operating over 50 per cent of our bio-capacity

Kriti Nagrath The construction sector is increasingly driven by growing urbanization, rising incomes and increasing population. The sector is expected to grow by over 70 per cent since 2011–12 to reach Rs 13,590 billion by 2016–17. Between 1997 and 2007, material consumption grew by over one billion tonnes. In 2007, construction was the second largest sector with regard to material consumption, accounting for around 20 per cent of all material demand, as per School for E-Education Research & Innovation (SERI).

The maxim for growth since the 20th century has been ‘MORE’, thus bringing emphasis on increasing efficiency by deriving more from what is on hand; exploring how far we can 30 I November 2015

stretch available time, cost, effort. This thrust for ‘MORE’ drove the Industrial Age and is the soul of the current Information Age. Realizing how far we have exhausted our existing resources – globally we are already operating at over 50 per cent of our bio capacity - Resource Efficiency has earned a spotlight in global sustainability dialogues.

Worldwide, the human ecological footprint is 2.7 global hectares per capita (gha/cap) compared to a worldwide biocapacity of only 1.8 gha/ cap, according to National Footprint Accounts. This overshoot or biocapacity deficit means that we are already using 1.5 times the resources that are available to us. This can be exemplified through the jump in global material use from 35 billion tonnes in 1980 to nearly 68 billion tonnes in 2009 (SERI, 2012).For

India, this overshoot stands at 1.8 times the 0.5 gha/cap biocapacity with the 0.9 gha/cap ecological footprint as of 2010.

Estimates of India’s future material demand under different scenarios, range from 17 billion tonnes to 47 billion tonnes.

With the year on year increase in the biocapacity deficit, the imprudence of continuing in a business as usual (BAU) mannercannot be over emphasized. We are, as is often quoted, already ‘living on the capital of the planet rather than its income’. If we continue operating BAU, it is estimated that by 2030, we will need resources equivalent of two planets to sustain ourselves (WWF’s Living Planet Report 2012).

The challenges of such resource consumption and its impacts are incessantly increasing due to a growing www.governancetoday.co.in

population, estimated to be over 9 billion by 2050, with a burgeoning middle class, rapid urbanization and expansion of the production and service sector.This translates into an urgent call to decouple our economic growth from resource use, reduce ecological footprints and promote greater sustainability for individuals, businesses and countries.

UNEP’s International Resource Panel (IRP) defines resources as natural resources used by economies such as abiotic materials (fossil fuels, metals and minerals), biomass, water and land.

Higher extraction and consumption of natural resources brings in global and regional environmental problems, such as climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and pollution. It also leads to higher extraction costs as resources get harder to reach, thus translating into increased resource costs often making businesses financially unsustainable.

Resource efficiency is using less resource inputs to achieve the same or improved output; expounding the relationship between a valuable outcome and input of natural resources required to achieve it. It indicates the effectiveness with which resources are used by individuals, companies, sectors and economies. Resource efficiency can be achieved by increasing productivity or reducing intensity. Total resource productivity is calculated as Gross Domestic Product/ Total Material Requirement. Resource intensity, the inverse of resource productivity, depicts the amount of natural resources used to produce a certain amount of value or physical output.

Thus, resource efficiency is a way to deliver more with fewer resources thus minimizing environmental impacts. It increases value through more productive, sustainable use of resources, while adopting a life cycle approach. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development estimates that by 2050 we will need a 4 to 10 fold increase in resource efficiency, with significant improvements needed already by 2020.

The potential to use resources more efficiently is vast, once we identify hot spots and priority areas for change. In the Indian context also, construction, industry (especially manufacturing and power generation) and agriculture are energy and resource intensive sectors. www.governancetoday.co.in

why Flyash?

How Policy Tools Promote Resource Efficiency in Construction Fly ash is a waste stream from thermal power plants. As a secondary material, it has successfully been mainstreamed in cement and brick production replacing scarce primary raw materials.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has issued production and performance standards for fly ash bricks and Portland Pozzolana cement (PPC). The use of these materials earns green building credits in the national green building certification program – GRIHA (voluntary). Inclusion in the Central and State Schedule of Rates and a mention in tender documents ensure that it can be procured preferentially.

There is a ban on red bricks 100 km around power plants where fly ash is readily available, thus promoting fly ash products.

Capital subsidies are offered to new brick entrepreneurs in many states to eliminate the liquidity barrier. Workshops and awareness drives organized for users and entrepreneurs have helped disseminate the benefits of the technology.

Due to these efforts, fly ash bricks now occupy close to 10 per cent of the market while PPP occupies 75 per cent of the cement market share.

These findings are supported by other studies listing construction, agriculture, and food and beverages as main material consuming sectors.

However, construction has exhibited an upward trend in resource use. In the 20th century, the global extraction of construction minerals increased by a factor of 34, significantly outpacing a quadrupling of world population and a 24-fold increase in GDP. Back home, in 2011–2012, India’s construction sector accounted for 8.2 per cent of the country’s GDP employing 41 million people. Poised to become the world’s third largest construction sector by 2018, the sector is expected to grow by 16-17 per cent over the next ten years.

The construction and use of buildings driven by rapid urban expansion is likely to impose tremendous pressures on the natural resources. Environmental impacts such as land degradation, waste generation and CO2 emissions from transportation and production are closely proportional to the volume of extraction and use of resources. The construction sector accounts for 30 per cent of electricity consumption in India, growing

at 8 per cent a year and 23.6 per cent of the national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Material resources account for 80 per cent of these emissions. The consequent pressure exerted on natural resources results in increasing resource scarcity as well as escalating costs of construction.

Low-cost, local, low-embodied energy and resource efficient materials and technologies exist, but there is limited spontaneous adoption of these resource efficient options, beyond isolated oasis of good practices. In order to scale up such initiatives, it is important to create an ecosystem where eco-friendly materials, technology and expertise are available and accessible to all. While many policies at the national level promote sustainability in construction, resource efficiency is not dealt with as a major driver for the economy and its sectors.

Approaches for Resource Efficiency

Unsustainable consumption causes resource scarcity, thereby increasing November 2015 I

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Flyash can be used for the production of bricks

prices and consequently leading to social conflicts. These approaches aim at decoupling construction from the exploitation of natural resources; providing an opportunity for leapfrogging from an ecological overshoot to sustainable economic production systems. They have cobenefits in terms of spurring on the local economy, creating jobs while meeting demand for goods and services.

Cleaner Production

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines Cleaner Production as the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, goods and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment.

This preventive approach integrates a strengthened lifecycle perspective, which looks at the use of resources from the point of extraction to the point of disposal, taking into account the critical issue of resource scarcity. Measures include adopting environmentally sound technologies likevertical shaft brick kilns, improving production methods like retrofitted zig-zagkilns and substituting raw materials with secondary streams such as flyash and waste based building blocks. Besides the environmental benefits, this approach leads to economic gains for the process as a result of efficiency linked savings of 32 I November 2015

energy and resources.

Design for Sustainability

Design for Sustainability aims to alter the stages of the production process to create a product of enhanced quality, functionality and environmental performance. It takes eco-design approaches further and addresses the social dimension of sustainability in the design process besideslaying focus onhaving minimal environmental and social impacts. Measures include biomimicry, smart homes, termite mound architecture are examples. However, a lot needs to be done before this can be mainstreamed.

How can India move towards Resource Efficiency?

The European experience, possibly the pioneering one under resource efficiency highlights that the transition to a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy needs to be supported by: Coordinated policy action across sectors in a systemic manner with political visibility and support

Effective, accessible and flexible investment opportunities that will have short term benefits in job creation and long term benefits for the overall economy

Persuasive messages empowering consumers to move to resourceefficient consumption, driving continuous innovation so efficiency gains are not lost The current trend of emulating western growth patterns will come at a very high resource price. Existing markets and policies are ill-equipped to deal with competing demands on strategic resources such as soil, sand, minerals, etc. Needless to say, a changed paradigm is required which could work on three broad parameters.

First, research and innovation on enhancing resource efficiency of construction technology needs an impetus, learning from vernacular and indigenous practices and integrating scientific advances e.g. bio-mimicry, use of industrial and demolition wastes, green building certification, smart homes, etc.

Secondly, capacity building of end users to influence behavior change for adopting resource efficient measures is crucial. Technical capacities and skills of facilitators and intermediaries like masons, material providers, designers, planners, engineers, etc. need to be strengthened to provide a robust supply chain.

Thirdly, diffusion of green technologies and expertise is impeded by financing. Channelizing investments and financial incentives are needed to strengthen the supply chain. There is a need to bring together technical and financial experts in order to develop innovative financing schemes.

While not all of these tools need to be applied for each technology option, there is a need to understand their impact on resource efficiency. For construction; codes, labelling and procurement are seen as an effective combination for accelerated adoption. Further, regulatory, fiscal and information strategies can enhance impacts.

An appropriate combination of policy instruments can create an enabling environment encouraging industry to transition towards resource efficiency.

Sustainable decisions on construction can catapult India onto a resource-efficient path.

(The writer is a Senior Program Manager at Development Alternatives) edit@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

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Cover story

The mission that failed Even after 10 years, Kerala’s technocity project did not take off

The model of the propsed project in Thiruvananthapuram

Lekshmi Parameswaran In the year 1991, when India was still grappling with the economic crisis, the Central Government slowly pushed for a scheme called ‘Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). Five cities were initially identified for this and the state that saw an opportunity in what was considered inconceivable till then was Kerala.The foundation stone was laid for what is now the biggest information technology park in the nation in terms of the total built-up area, the Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram. Under the overall supervision of E.K.Nayanar and the leadership of K.P.P.Nambiar, the first chairman of Technopark, it was a project that was meant to transform the face of the nation. It was expected to bring in the multinational corporations to India and to a very large extent Technopark has succeeded in its agenda.

Over the years, the park has seen four phases of expansion with startups also getting a considerable share of attention.

In the year 2005, the ambitious Technocity project was announced by the Government with the hopes of creating 34 I November 2015

an all-inclusive infrastructure that would cater to the needs of the population within the said limits. It was from here that the problems started showing up and what was to become the nation’s first smart cityremains just a mere idea on paper even to this date. So what exactly went wrong for a city that was so far sighted?

The reasons are aplenty. The first and foremost is without a doubt the case of policy paralysis. Kerala lacked both the dynamism and political will in executing a project like this. The fact that even after a decade there has been nothing substantial done in the land acquired for the venture is a telling declaration on the sorry state of affairs. The recent pulling out of Infosys from Technocity citing lack of basic infrastructure and non-cooperation gives further clarity to the unaddressed challenges.

Another point of interest is that though way ahead of time in the 1990s, Thiruvananthapuram still remains a Tier 2 city. Cities which tried to emulate this model of development in the later years like Hyderabad and Bengaluru have forged ahead and have firmly

sealed their place in the Information Technology map. When pitted against these cities which are known for its high development indices, the benefits of having a place like Technopark is yet to reach the rest of the city. The same holds true for Infoparkin Cochin and Cyberpark in Kozhikode. None of these cities have been able to transform into places that are known for its high class infrastructure and facilities. The Cochin Smart City project which has been in the pipeline since the last five years have had allegations ranging from corruption to lack of transparency leveled against it.

The changing governments and the changing policies are often cited as the reason for this failure. Though it was the communist government which laid the foundations for technopark, it is an undeniable fact that in the later stages they have been responsible for stalling the developmental process. What is often informally called labourmilitanism in the form of trade unions has been largely responsible for eroding the faith in Kerala’s investment climate. The frequent strikes that result in huge losses for the companies have deterred them www.governancetoday.co.in

from being a part of Kerala’s dreams.

Then there is the additional problem of anti-social elements troubling the immigrants and builders which has resulted in the formation of a fear psychosis in the minds of the people.

The blatant extortion of money and the nonchalance of those in power in addressing this issue have all proved to be a bloat on Kerala’s administration.

None of this is to say that the Congress led Government has been able to address the challenges. They have also shown an utter disregard for policy matters and have not been successful in reinstating the lost faith.

All the politicians have been equally non-committal and have not been able to ward off the allegations of playing to some vested interests leveled against them. The idea of vote banks began to take root and a technology park in every state became the election plank.

The officials associated with the project were also often changed to suit the government’s policies and there was no accountability attached to any decisions that were taken behind closed doors.

The harm that such a step caused in the long run was permanent. It would have been easier for the state to excel if the development was first concentrated on a particular point but what happened was an attempt at unplanned expansion which resulted in the project losing all direction The other issues plaguing the state are predominantly infrastructural.

Though the state has been producing energy from hydel power, it has not been able to ensure its quality something which is very important in the context of building a smart city. There has also been a lack of industrial water supply.

Another factor without which smart cities can’t exist is an efficient road system. Kerala is yet to have a four lane highway and the two lane highwaysalong which the information parks are located are probably the most mismanaged of all with no solution in sight for its traffic vows. To top it all, most of the buses run by the Kerala Road Transport Corporation are from an archaic age offering no ease to the daily commuters.

Such thorough lack of concern even to address the basic infrastructural challenges has greatly undermined the investor confidence. www.governancetoday.co.in

For a state that scores high on social development, it is indeed an irony that it has not been able to capitalize this strength in developing the human resources. The unemployment rates are still high which becomes a cause of concern when one takes a look at the literacy rates. The youth is still risk averse and refuse to walk that additional mile.

What is more intriguing here is that even after two decades of Technopark the only entrepreneurial ventures seen outside its premises are some small tea stalls and roadside eateries. Other than a few residential apartments, there is nothing in and around the area that can be seen as a reflection of the world class services that are being offered by the companies within the campus. Considering that it is a place where more than 40,000 technocrats from all over the country congregate on a daily basis, this inability to make use of the opportunities is a

friendly attitude. Unfortunately in Kerala, it is lacking. Somewhere the purpose of the entire project, i.e. creation of an additional 1 million jobs was all but forgotten and its execution was turned into a scandal. The political establishment never had the will to counter that criticism and the project came to a grinding halt. The 500 crore loan taken by the state government to develop the state eventually became its greatest liability”, opines N.Radhakrishnan Nair, former CEO,Technopark and the one in whose tenure Technocity was conceived.

In all these years, the Governments in power have made no efforts to put an effective check and balance mechanism in place. An example of this would be the allocation of land to companies for the Technocity project. Most of these are companies that had already received land 25 years back during the inception of Technopark and had failed to take any

Kerala lacked both the dynamism and political will in executing a project like technocity. The fact that even after a decade there has been nothing substantial done in the land acquired for the venture is a telling declaration on the sorry state of affairs clear indicator of what is inherently wrong with the state.

When the project was first conceived, it was meant to be concentrated in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. This would have given it the leverage to expand its scope and all the developmental activities would have concentrated on how to further its reach.

But over the years, the successive governments tried to disburse this idea and the state saw the budding of a technology park in almost every district.

This took away the very purpose of Technopark as the goal was no longer to create a single comprehensive unit.

“Technocity was a little too ambitious for Kerala to attempt. It was supposed to be executed on the PPP model. But for that to happen, everyone ranging from the politicians, bureaucrats, media and the people should have an investment

kind of developmental work. There has been nothing done to take back the land where the companies have not started their operations within the specified time period. Such glaring inefficiencies in the system are among the reasons why the future also seem bleak.

Kerala smart city project is just a case in point of the things that can go wrong when other cities start implementing their projects. In a country like India where there are a multitude of local factors at play, it is necessary for the states to chart out a plan which would take these challenges into account. There is no doubt that smart cities are the future of any developing nation, but for it to be successful, a lot more is required to be done on the policy front. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in

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interview

India should try to increase the ease of doing business

Aapo Polho, the Ambassador of Finland to India Located in Northern Europe, Finland is one of the most advanced democracies of the world. The country is not just one of the most developed nations, it also boasts of very HDI indicators. Finnish education system is one of the best in the world. It is also home to some of the most successful corporates in the world such as Nokia, the developer of the Angry Birds game.

Anand Mishra, Editor, and Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, ‘Governance Today,’ spoke to Mr Aapo Polho, the Ambassador of Finland to India, to discuss how the two countries can enhance cooperation in various fields.

Edited excerpts: 36 I November 2015

The trade relation between India and Finland has substantially increased over last few years but they are still at a modest level. How in your opinion can bilateral trade increase more?

In today’s integrated world trade statistics are no longer as good indicators of trade relations between two countries as they used to be. Finnish companies for instance have plants all over the world and in many cases

Finnish products manufactured by a Finnish company can come from any of the plants and will be recorded in the trade statistics of the country where the plant is located. The Embassy and the Finnish Trade Commission are working together as Team Finland in India for the benefit of Finnish companies. Team Finland is promoting business contacts between Finnish and Indian companies even if we know that the goods or services do not come from Finland. We also promote contacts between nonFinnish owned companies in case they export from Finland to India.

Another aspect of business relations between Finland and India www.governancetoday.co.in

are investments made by companies in the other country. We as an Embassy and Team Finland try to promote investments to both directions as they are all beneficial to Finland if they prove to be successful. Here I have to say that India has not been the easiest country to do business with in the form of investments. Here we as many others have high expectations of the policies and key campaigns launched by the present Government of India.

The key to expanding relations is to help companies from both countries to find suitable partners to work with. For Finnish companies an extra challenge is their relatively small size compared to the size of India. My advice to them has been that they should not try to conquer the whole country at one go but to concentrate first on a smaller target – one State for instance and to utilize consortium approach for impact.

India and Finland signed 19 pacts when the Indian President visited Finland last year. What are the status on the pacts?

The great majority of the agreements are between Indian and Finnish Universities. These institutions of higher education are intensifying their cooperation based on these agreements. Finnish Universities and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are encouraging direct contacts and cooperation between Finnish and Indian faculty and staff, departments and research institutions under the Indian Finnish Consortia for Research and Education (INDFICORE). One example of this cooperation is the first Finnish-Indian Joint Symposium on Future Opportunities in Health, Drug Development and Diagnostics in Turku, Finland, in October. In the Finnish system the universities are autonomous i.e. without any guidance or interference from the government and therefore we do not monitor in detail how these agreements are actually applied.

However, we support this cooperation in any ways we can when needed.

Moving forward, which www.governancetoday.co.in

are the major areas in which you see high scope of cooperation between the two countries?

We have defined as the primary areas where we try to promote increased cooperation 1) Cleantech (including smart grids, energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste management, water, sanitation); 2) Healthcare (e.g. hospital equipment and devices); 3) ICT and Digitalization (e.g. Smart Cities, cyber security and big data); and 4) Education.

Then of course there are many more areas where Finland and Finnish companies have competence that is of interest to India like nuclear power plant safety ecosystem. Or if India wants to buy an ice-breaker ship for Antarctica exploration you can find a Finnish builder for it.

Clean and environmentally safe energy has been a forte of Finland. On the other hand India is suffering because of low and polluting power generation. How do you think can Finland help India in this area?

India indeed is an energy thirsty country and will remain so. The more the country develops the more it will need energy and it will be a constant challenge to restore present grid and build new supply to serve the growing demand. Moreover the ever increasing energy supply has to be clean, safe and reliable. It is not an easy task as shortcuts to increased energy are seldom clean or safe or reliable. There are already Finnish companies which work with Indian counterparts in solar power generation, biofuels and waste to energy concept. Smart Grids and Smart Cities help to optimize energy consumption and thus save energy and Finland is working with those concepts, too. In Finland deregulation and open competition has brought down the price for the consumer as does the two-way connectivity across the borders to the

grids of neighboring countries.

Staying on the environment issue, India and Finland have a Joint Working Group on Environment (JWGE).

Could you let us know a bit about its functioning and the benefits this group brings to the cooperation between the two countries?

On the basis of the knowhow of environment and energy sector in Finland, key areas of cooperation between Finland and India nowadays are fight against climate change, air quality, sustainable energy solutions, waste management, water and sustainable production and consumption. They offer abundant business opportunities.

The Joint Working Group on Environment has been replaced by a Joint Working Group on Clean Technology and Waste Management.

The Group provides a vital platform for meetings and discussions between officials but also brings companies, research organizations and experts of the two countries together.

What is your impression of the Make in India, Swachh Bharat and Digital India initiatives of the Government of India? What would be your suggestions to make these programs successful? How can Finland contribute in these endeavors?

I regard all these initiatives as very important for India. That said I must add that nothing comes automatically.

All these initiatives will need a lot of investments both from Indian companies and foreign companies.

As I mentioned before India has not been regarded by the investors as an November 2015 I

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easy country to invest in and so the Government has to attract the investors with policies and practices that elevate India’s position in the Ease of Doing Business-indices. Investors are likely to invest in countries where they find the laws and regulations and their application transparent, non-corrupt and predictable. And, I may add, smaller companies from smaller countries expect to have the same treatment as the bigger companies from bigger countries without differentiation. In trade that is called the Most Favored Nation (MFN) concept. Investors are also looking at the different facilities the States are granting them and the best for them would be to have a uniform treatment in all States when it comes for instance to taxation.

In Europe economic and business relations are based on the common market within the European Union.

India does not have a common market within its own borders which creates complications for especially smaller companies that have not worked previously in India.

Could you please tell us more about Finnish collaboration with India on Technology, R&D and Innovation space?

Finland started its innovation bridge with India in 2011. India is an important strategic partner for Finland for innovation. Finland has several agencies promoting innovation and research and development work and networks. Tekes is the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation and seeks to support long term innovation cooperation, strengthen the networks between Finland and India and fund projects to generate innovations and ideas that benefit Finnish and Indian businesses.

In addition the Academy of Finland and the Technical Research Center of Finland, are engaged in long-term research, development and innovation collaboration with India. As both countries are keen innovators, R&D and technological solutions I believe that this will be a growth area in the IndoFinnish relations. In this field the size of 38 I November 2015

the country is not a factor.

Could you please highlight areas where Finnish investors would be interested in investing in India and vice versa?

Potential Finnish investors are companies interested in manufacturing in India or providing services, both for the Indian and world markets. They are not institutional investors buying promising stock or investing in different types of funds in India. Most likely then Finnish investors qualify as “Make in India-companies. ” It is impossible to define areas where investors would be interested in investing – they invest in areas where they find good business opportunity for themselves or value added for their own supply chain. In such a large country as India only the sky is the limit – or for space related technologies even the sky is no limit.

Finnish Primary Education system is believed to be one of the best in the world. What do you think can India learn from it?

Education systems are not easily transferable from a country to another country. Education system is always a culture affiliated system which has to be taken into account. In Finland the system has a long history: elementary schools started in 1866 and 6 years of education was made compulsory in 1921. The great breakthrough came in 1970’s when the old differentiated system was replaced by a uniform and compulsory 9 year education system.

We call it comprehensive school. After comprehensive school one has the choice of vocational education or education leading to university for 3 years. This system gives equal opportunity to all whoever and whatever their parents are, what economic means they have and what expectations they initially may have for the future of their children. It brings to the forefront the talent that is unattached to the social status of the

parents. Thus it has produced a totally different class of successful talented people than the old system.

I know personally a son of a village carpenter who made an international career as the country director of a large multinational company in three different countries on two continents. Another feature is that in Finland nobody is left on his or her own. Those with learning difficulties, whatever the reason for it, will be given support so that they can also complete their education. In brief: Everyone is in, no-one is left behind.

India is now a country where a lot of interesting start-ups are coming up. Finland hosts an important start-up event like “Slush” every year.

Could you let us know more about it?

Slush is the focal point for startups and technology talent to meet with toptier international executives and media.

In 2014, Slush brought together over 14,000 attendees and more than 3,500 companies for the two-day event. More than 750 investors came to Helsinki to meet startups in nearly 3,800 prebooked meetings. Next Slush will take place in Helsinki on November 11-12th, 2015.

Slush is a non-profit event organized by a community of entrepreneurs, investors, students and music festival organizers. Although Slush has grown from a 300-person event to become one of the leading events of its kind in the world, the philosophy behind it has remained the same: to help the next generation of great, world-conquering companies forward.

Finland and India are both democracies. How can we learn from each other?

Quite simply by keeping up our own respective democratic values and traditions.

www.governancetoday.co.in

Economy

The Indian start-up engine is roaring full throttle

India is changing and more and more start-ups are successfully taking off in a variety of sectors and industries

Most of the Indian start ups have focused on leveraging ICT technologies

Dr. Uday Salunkhe As a culture, India has never boasted of an inherent risk-embracing entrepreneurial energy, unlessthe reference is to particular localized pockets in certain communities. However, these were typically small, well-established, family-run business owners who used to be fairly averse to risk, and will stay well within the limits of their cash-flow setups. But times are changing.

For a while many young guns of business familieshave been traveling abroad to gain international exposure and education. When they are back on www.governancetoday.co.in

their turf, they introduce new concepts that they have imbibed on these stints.

The Start-up Story

Furthermore, in the last decade, start-ups have been writing a whole new chapter for corporate India, and there are a number of interesting trendsemerging.

In fact, all the founders of BookMyShow. com— Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande— have a degree in management, as does Peyush Bansal, the founder of Lenskart.com and Bhavish Aggarwal,who started Olacabs.com. The much-in-news founder duo of Urban Ladder, Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa,

has charted a similar trajectory.

The growth in the volume of startups in the country seems directly linked to the increase in the number of highlyeducated CEOs at helm of these outfits.

While this may seem like the story of only the sunrise industry of ecommerce, and that is partly true, other sectors are being jostled into a phase of frenzied entrepreneurial interest and activity as well, and not without good reasons.

The academic foundations of entrepreneur aside, there are several factors at work that directly contribute to a start-up-friendly environment in the economy. Here are a few.

November 2015 I

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The idea is to solve big infrastructure problems

The new-age businessmen no longer begin with the idea of starting a business; for them the business is a means to solve a problem. Phanindra Sama could not meet his family on a festival, and that got him thinking about the problem. Soon after, he founded Redbus to provide a resolution to a missing online ticketing structure.

On similar lines, Flipkart faced huge challenges in timely and efficient shipping of consignments. It soon found a way out – Flipkart Logistics – so that itenjoyed complete control over the cash-on-delivery payments and logistics infrastructure.

High Appetite for Risk

and allows them to sell select dishes every day. From five requests per day at the time it started operations in September 2014, Holachef has graduated to more than 150 in January 2015. A calculated risk, but a risk that has worked.

In fact, there are even instances of traditional business houses placing highticket bets on rank new businesses. No one is surprised that Ratan Tata, who is revered as India’s best known business icon, is seen backing several start-ups these days such as Myntra, Bluestone and Urban Ladder.

This is clearly indicative of our changing attitude to, and appetite for, risk.

Support in the form of hubs, investmentsand incubators

to AngelList (a platform for start-up, investing and fund-raising), Bangalore is at the top of the leaderboard in terms of the sheer volume of start-ups, followed

by New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

And each of these cities has events or activity centers that support start-ups in need.

Investors, too, are playing their part by placing trust in new start-ups and investing big. Urban Ladder, BlueStone, Paytm, Housing.com, and Ola Cabs are just some of the new businesses that grabbed headlines by attracting investor attention, sometimes several times over.

A Strong Foundation

There are also nurturing hubs like Microsoft Ventures and WeSchoolthat empowernascent causes to do more. The WeSchool-MIT Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) is a very special one. Born out of the belief that active support of entrepreneurial activities contributes to the entrepreneurship education of the community, this chapter of the VMS plays the part of a supporting platform for start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs in their pursuit of creating a successful venture.

Having started the journey with 19 student ventures in December 2013, WeSchool VMShas created a thriving ecosystem that fosters the entrepreneurial spirit within the campus as well as in the corridors of the Mumbai B-Schools fraternity. For the current academic year,VMS already has twelve ventures in the pipeline.

The journey ahead

The country has seen a surge in startup businesses

Not only are people actively working from a problem towards a solution when thinking of a start-up, they are also less restricted by fears of failure and charting unexplored territory.

Even two years ago, one could not have imagined an online possibility of ordering a homemade meal at reasonable rates. The Powai-based ensemble called Holachefmakes it a reality today. A start-up in the food technology space established in May 2014, it curates chefs 40 I November 2015

According to a study by NASSCOM titled ‘Tech Start-up in India: A Bright Future’, with more than 3,000 technology start-ups, India is the fourth largest base for nascent businesses anywhere in the world. By 2020, this number is expected to rise to 11,500 tech start-ups.

As a fledgling sector trying to consolidate its position, start-ups are increasing depending on each other for assistance and offering support for their own kind as well. According

Start-ups are driven by passion, unencumbered by any baggage; hence giving free reign to innovation in business. And this channel is fuel to India’s economy, a fact that did not escape even Barack Obama. No wonder the US President once said, “India is not simply emerging; it has emerged.”

India’s start-up sceneis at apromising juncture. How the industry fares will be seen in the days to come, but, at this point in time,each sectoral component is playing its part and that’s vital.

(The writer is the Group Director of Welingkar Institute, Mumbai)

www.governancetoday.co.in

interview

a powerful national innovation ecosystem is missing

Raghunath Anant Mashelkar

www.governancetoday.co.in

Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar symbolizes Indian science and technology community to a great extent. His appeal transcends the scientific community and policy making apparatus alike, for he has not just worked on crucial scientific projects, but has also tirelessly strived to create a scientific thinking culture in the country. In an interaction with Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, Mashelkar expounded on many aspects of science and technology, innovation and startup ecosystem in India. Edited excerpts:

In a recent lecture at IIT Indore, you drove home the point that talent, technology & trust should be the cornerstones of Indian start-ups. Could you elaborate on the same?

Someone had asked me ‘aren’t there Bill Gates’ in India? I said, ‘’of course, there are. But having a Bill Gates is one thing and creating a Microsoft is another thing.” It requires an innovation ecosystem, which spots and encourages talent in the young people, helps them harness their technology and puts trust in them taking all the risks and indeed celebrating their failure.

I recall Bill Gates narrating this story in an exclusive dinner cum discussion with him, which I was privileged to attend in New Delhi five years ago. He mentioned about the speech that he gave at the Harvard University Commencement 2007. After acknowledging the fact that he was the most successful drop out from Harvard University, he said, and I quote him from his Commencement address.

“One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and would hang up on me. Instead they said: “We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good November 2015 I

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About Mashelkar Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar is one of twelve Indian National Research Professors at National Chemical Laboratory(NCL) and the President of Global Research Alliance, a network of publicly funded research and development institutes from Asia-Pacific, South Africa, Europe and USA with over 60,000 scientists.But more than a scientist, Mashelkar comes across as a crusader of science and technology to most Indians, someone who has been closely associated with the science and technology policy making apparatus for many years.

Mashelkar served as the Director General (GD) of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - a network of thirty-eight laboratories - for over eleven years. He was the first DG who brought in the corporate style of functioning to the institution.

He was also a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and also of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet set up by successive governments.

He has chaired twelve high powered committees to look into issues as diverse as overhauling the Indian drug regulatory

thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet! From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and that was the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.”

This tells you the importance of Talent, Technology and Trust. Bill Gates had the talent and also the technology strength to deliver the software. The company in Albuquerque did not hang up the phone after a youngish voice made an audacious offer of supplying software in those early days of personal 42 I November 2015

system, reviewing the state of Regional Engineering Colleges and preparing a National Auto Fuels Policy.

As an expert in restructuring public R&D institutions, he has made contributions to many institutions around the world. He has been awarded numerous awards recognizing his contribution to the field of science. These include Padma Vibhushan, Business Week Star of Asia, Padma Bhushan, Fellow of the Royal Society, AIMA - JRD TATA Corporate Leadership Award, Padma Shri and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize besides many honorary doctorates and awards for scientific research.

computers. They had a trust in him.

And look at the audacity of young Bill Gates, who offered the software that he did not have. Why? He had the trust in himself that he would deliver. That is why I say that Talent, Technology and Trust should be the cornerstones of Indian start-up system.

You have often focused on the need for ‘More from less for more people.’ How can this

frugal innovation be brought in practice under current circumstances?

Could you also cite a couple of examples?

Inclusive growth will lead to resource poor people gaining access to essential necessities of life at affordable prices. Inclusive growth can be accelerated through inclusive innovation.

For achieving `truly’ inclusive innovation, we will have to cater to the needs of over 2 billion people, whose income levels are less than $ 2 per day. For this, we need to make some paradigm shifts. For instance, getting more (performance) by using less (resources) for more (profit) is a wellknown strategy of industrial enterprises.

However, when we achieve more (performance) by using less (resources) for more (people) then alone we can create ‘inclusive growth’. I like to call this “more from less for more people” paradigm as an MLM paradigm.

The objective of MLM type of innovation would not be just to produce low performance, cheap knock-off versions of rich country technologies so that they can be marketed to poor people. Rather, the objective is to harness sophisticated science and technology know-how to invent, design, produce and distribute high performance technologies at prices that can be afforded by majority of people.

Let me give you some striking examples of MLM. Can we make a Hepatitis-B vaccine priced at US$20 per dose available at a price that is 40 times less?

Can we make an artificial foot priced at US$10,000 available at a price that is 300 times less?

Can we make a high quality cataract eye surgery available, not at US$3,000, but at a price that is 100 times less?

Can we make a mobile phone call at not 8 cents per minute but at a price that is 80 times lower?

Incredible as it may sound, all such MLM targets have been met in India www.governancetoday.co.in

by using technology innovation, business model innovation, workflow innovation, system delivery innovation, policy innovation or a combination thereof.

In your book ‘Reinventing India,’ you raised an important question which is why India could not carry forward the legacy of eminent scientists. What is your understanding of the situation and how can India correct the wrong?

To my mind, here are some obvious fundamentals that we have to change for making Indian science and technology more original and innovative.

The first is the issue of our cultural inheritance that inhibits questioning.

India has the dream of becoming a ‘start-up’ nation. Israel is dubbed as a ‘start-up’ nation in terms of the highest number of new technology start-up companies. But it is so because young Israelis always challenge and question and are highly entrepreneurial. Both these attributes need to be significantly improved in India.

Second, our education system suffocates originality. There is a need for innovation in our education systems – getting rid of the rigid unimaginative curricula, replacing ‘learning by rote’ by ‘learning by doing’, and phasing out examination systems based on single correct answers.

The third is bureaucracy, where paper becomes more important than people, where ‘appearing to be right’ takes a precedence over ‘being right’, where rule book dominates over the objectives and where decision-making time cycles are larger than product life cycles.

But then there is a fourth fundamental of subcritical Indian R&D funding. We can’t aspire to do globally competitive science with subcritical infrastructure, especially in cutting edge experimental research.Our investment in Science and Technology has remained at less than 1 per cent of our GDP in spite www.governancetoday.co.in

“There are other domains of knowledge, which we have kept away from. These are the so-called ‘parallel’, ‘indigenous’, ‘traditional’ or ‘civilizational’ knowledge system... Our Ayurvedic medicinal systems being one such domain” of the promise of raising it to 2 per cent of GDP for the past two decades by successive governments.

Narayan Murthy of Infosys recently lamented that India has not produced any path breaking innovation over last many decades. What is your reading of the situation?

My friend Murthy had raised two questions in his convocation address in IISc.Let’s separate the two of them.

The first was “what the contributions of Indian institutions of higher learning … have been over the last sixty plus years to make our society and the world a better place?” There is no question that Indian scientists’ contributions to Indian society (with national S&T budgets less than that of R&D budgets of a single American company) have been extraordinary.

The second question raised by Murthy is a more difficult one. “Is there one invention from India that has become a household name in the globe? Is there one technology that has transformed the production of global corporations? Is there one idea that has led to earth-shaking invention to delight global citizens?”The simple & honest answer is ‘no’, if you interpret his question with its true meaning!

What Murthy is asking about is the challenge of making a difference in the field, in the marketplace, and that too only at a global level.The fact is that it is not an original ‘invention’ but a successful ‘innovation’ that puts that invention into practice on a global scale that makes an impact.

We have been missing a powerful national innovation ecosystem. The essential elements of a powerful national ecosystem comprise physical, intellectual and cultural constructs. It includes idea incubators, technology parks, a conducive intellectual property rights (IPR) regime, smart and fast IPR capture systems, balanced regulatory systems, strategically designed standards, proactive government support systems (including aggressive public procurement policies for indigenous innovations), industry leaders, who believe in innovation led growth and invest heavily in R&D, scientists with an aspiration to become technopreneurs, potent inventor-investor engagement, venture capital, and passionate innovation leaders.

The past deficiencies in each of these twelve key elements have hurt India’s ability to move from invention to innovation. The good news is that sincere efforts are being made to create these constructs now.

Funding start-ups is perhaps the most crucial aspect of commercially successful innovation.

How can we create an ecosystem where startups are fully supported to convert their innovative ideas into great businesses?

As you rightly point out, funding is the crucial issue.I remember being on the Board of Directors of TDICI, India’s first Venture Capital Company in mid-eighties.It was TDICI, who trusted young KiranMazumdar with November 2015 I

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her Talent & Technology and funded her.Today we can proudly look at KiranMazumdar’sBiocon. Starting in a garage with a seed capital of Rs. 10,000, Biocon has grown into Rs29.3 billion annual turnover (2014) enterprise!

We need hundreds and thousands of Kirans and Biocons.For this we require more angel investors, more early stage financing, more ‘ad’venture capital, not just venture capital.

The good news again is that India has the fastest growing start up ecosystem in the world today.

Currently it has 12,340 start-ups.

Ten-year projections are pegged at 100,000 start-ups with a $500 billion combined market value. Look at the great valuations of current Indian technology start-ups, Flipkart ($11 billion), Snapdeal ($5 billion) and Ola ($3 billion), who are riding on the wave of digital technology. But these are based on the clones of ideas born in the USA. Our dream should be to create these Indian start-ups with cutting edge science & technology based ideas that are born in India and fostered in an Indian innovation ecosystem.

I must also applaud the Government for initiating the Atal Innovation Mission and also starting the India Aspiration Fund to help the start-ups.

China has been able to bring back many of its foreign based scientists to work in the country?

Why, in your opinion, has India failed to do that?

It is perceived that Indian scientists migrate and go to the developed world in search of gaining a higher income – physical income to be precise. But I do not think that is the only reason.

Otherwise, why would the proportion of scientists and engineers from Japan who went to USA, and never returned, would have increased by 100per cent during 1995 to 1999 as shown by the 2002 NSF study? After all, Japan is a rich developed country unlike India.

The answer is provided by the Italian scientist RiardoGiacconi, a Noble Laureate is Physics, who summed it up beautifully, when he said ‘A scientist is like a painter. Michael Angelo became a great artist, because he had been given a wall to paint. My wall was given to me by the United States’. Are such walls to paint are now being given in India? In other words, can India be perceived as a land of opportunity? I am happy to find some winds of change.

There is a rapid expansion of the Indian education, research and innovation system. Several new IITs, IISERs Central universities have come up, opening up hundreds of faculty positions. The infrastructure facilities in some, though not many,of our top institutions are becoming world class.

The opportunities for international research and innovation partnerships have increased enormously, thanks to advances in ICT. Government departments like DST, DBT and top R&D institutions like CSIR have created special schemes to attract young talent back. Industry, especially auto, pharma, etc.are moving to innovation led growth very aggressively. India has become a global R&D hub.Over 1,000 multinational R&D centres are employing over 200,000 scientists and engineers; a large number of them are returnees.

So I think the ‘walls for painting’ that RiardoGiacconi talked about are getting created and you will see that not a ‘trickle’ but a ‘torrent’ of returnees will start.

“It is perceived that Indian scientists migrate and go to the developed world in search of gaining a higher income – physical income to be precise. But I do not think that is the only reason” 44 I November 2015

You are the Chairman of the Committee on the Swachh Bharat program.

How do you think India can apply technology to make the program a big success?

We in the Technology Expert Committee are laying a very heavy emphasis on selecting technologies that are first, scalable, since we plan on building over 100 million toilets.

Secondly they have to be sustainable.

Then they have be affordable. Next, they have to be rapidly deployable, since we want to reach such a large scale rapidly, within 4 years! Finally, they have to be socially acceptable, since hundreds of millions of first time users from thousands of villages are involved.

If we achieve these five technology objectives then we will be certainly successful.

We would want to know about the AnjaniMashelkar Inclusive Innovation Award that you started.

AnjaniMashelkar was my mother.

She brought me up facing all the odds that a poor widowed uneducated mother moving to Mumbai with her only child - a six year old boy - would face. And this she did with courage and dignity. Her own circumstances never brought her down - she always expressed concern about the underprivileged people around her, and wanted her son to do something about it.

The AnjaniMashelkar Inclusive Innovation Award fulfills this wish.

This is an annual award of Rs 1 lakh given to an individual or an organization for an idea, prototype or a commercialized product, service and business model. The innovation must address the problems faced by the disadvantaged resource-poor people in India and offer an original and implementable solution This award presents an opportunity to spur and fuel innovation for the benefit of the most disadvantaged sections of society in order to ‘include’ www.governancetoday.co.in

them into the mainstream.It also has another equally important aim: to sensitize innovators about the problems faced by such sections of society- such as the resource poor elderly.We choose the awardees, who believe in not just ‘best practices’, but ‘next practices’. And most importantly, we value solutions that represent ‘affordable excellence’, breaking the myth that ‘affordability’ and ‘excellence’ cannot go together.

How can we validate traditional knowledge with modern science?

As scientists, we focus rather narrowly only on S&T based knowledge, which is established through the rigorous methodology of science. But there are other domains of knowledge, which we have kept away from. These are the so-called ‘parallel’, ‘indigenous’, ‘traditional’ or ‘civilizational’ knowledge system.

These systems belong to societies in the developing world that have nurtured and refined systems of knowledge of their own, relating to such diverse domains as geology, ecology, agriculture, and health etc., our Ayurvedic medicinal systems being one such domain.

They were, as yet, neglected by modern science but not any more so.

New bridges between the modern and the traditional are being built. CSIR’s pioneering partnership with Arya Vaidyashala of Kottakal is an example of the benefits of blending the modern science and the traditional knowledge. I was also instrumental in pioneering the Golden Triangle Initiative that brings together traditional medicine, modern medicine and modern science.But this is only a small step, we have miles to go.

The importance of bringing together these knowledge systems is evident from the fact that the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was won by YouyoyTu from China, who brought together Chinese traditional medicine,modern medicine and modern science to discover Artemisinin , a cure for Malaria.In a paper on reverse pharmacology that I wrote some years ago I had championed such an approach based on Ayurveda for new drug discovery, just as the Chinese did! www.governancetoday.co.in

“Indian innovation is changing the very dictionary of innovation! We did not see phrases like ‘inclusive innovation’, ‘reverse innovation’, ‘frugal innovation’, ‘Gandhian innovation’ just five years ago. Today they dominate the discussion around the world” India has slipped to the 81st position in Global Innovation Ranking.What do you think are reasons for that and what needs to be done?

India has slipped in the World Innovation Index (WII) from 62(2011) to 64 (2012) to 66 (2013) to 76 (2014) to now 81(2015). This continuous slide of India, rather than being sometimes a little up and sometimes a little down (like in the case of China, where it has been always held a ranking of around plus minus 30 or so) should be a matter of great concern. I am surprised that whereas there have been debates on all sorts of issues linked to India’s performance in science, technology and innovation, there has been no debate whatsoever on this alarming six year continuous slide at all!

I am a member of the International Advisory Board of World Innovation Index. I have expressed some concern that the current parameters that are used in determining this Index may not fully reflect nation’s true innovation capacity.

The current parameters include R&D spend as a fraction of GDP, export of high technology goods, electricity consumption per capita, ease of doing business, etc., where India does not fare well. Further, this index caters only to technological innovation. The other types of innovations, which sometimes have proved to be game changing, are not considered. These include business model, work-flow, system delivery, organizational innovation, etc. And India excels in these.

Innovation done only by the formal systems ‘for’ the people are counted by this Index, but not the grass roots

innovations, which are innovations done ‘by’ the people, which are meant to be useful for the people. I chair the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). Over 200,000 of such grass roots innovations are listed on our NIF web page. None of these count for the World Innovation Index.Nor does a stupendous achievement such Mars Orbiter Mission that was done successfully by India in its maiden effort, and that too in US$74 million(as against the US, who did it in US$671) does not count!

It is clear that India is running faster and faster in the innovation race, but it is also true that other countries are running faster than India! But there is also a good news.

Indian innovation is changing the very dictionary of innovation!

We did not see phrases like ‘inclusive innovation’, ‘reverse innovation’, ‘frugal innovation’, ‘Gandhian innovation’ just five years ago. Today they dominate the discussion around the world. There is even a book titled ‘Nanovation’ written by two US citizens, Kevin & Jackie Freiberg. Here, nanovation does not refer to nanotechnology, but to the inspiring story of making of the Tata Nano Car. In fact India is being looked at as a leader in this class of innovation.

Understandably, World Innovation Index presently uses some input and output based measurable parameters.

But one must go beyond the current methods to assess the true innovation capacity. India is running faster and faster in the innovation race, but it is also true that other countries are running faster than India! So we must increase our pace and expand our space.

Building a robust innovation system as I have outlined above is the first step in that direction.

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social evil

Bonded to work A large number of laborers are trapped as the menace of bonded labor fails to make impact on socio-political radar

Brick making work is one of the most common places to find bonded laborers in the country

Lekshmi Parameswaran India is a country where the fundamental rights are considered to be the very soul of its constitution. It gives its citizens a distinctive identity and promises them a decent standard of living where their rights never get compromised. The democratic principles stand supreme and everyone is given a voice that is meant to get heard. In a nation that has always stood out for its progressive approach, how fathomable is it that some people are denied their basic 46 I November 2015

right of existence? They are stripped of all dignity and are forced to live in shackles for an entire lifetime.

Bonded labor is one of the saddest realities of Indian society. The evil started in the colonial times with the plantation workers, and its remnants are plaguing the Indian society even today. According to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report there is an estimated number of 11.7 million bonded laborers in India.

The numbers are no doubts staggering, but what is worse are the appalling conditions many of them have to work

under. In most cases, death happens to be the only escape route.

The most prevalent form of bonded labor in Indian society is that of debt bondage. Agricultural laborers constitute the majority followed by those engaged in brick kilns, mills, leather factories and mining to name a few. Unable to pay back the money they may have borrowed mostly from the upper class landed section, generations after generations of laborers are pushed into this dark dungeon with no hopes for a future.

The dangerous mix of illiteracy and www.governancetoday.co.in

social backwardness adds on to their absolute sense of indebtedness. Those who get entrapped into this are forced to work for either no wages or a sum of money that is not even enough to cover their basic needs. The conditions of work are deplorable and the long hours are nothing but inhumane. In many of the cases, the family members are also dragged into this by threat or coercion and the outcome is an unjust society that should never exist in a democratic nation.

The disturbing stories of laborers’ hands getting chopped off in the outskirts of Hyderabad while on their way to escape or the sexual exploitation of the women workers in textile mills in the interiors of Tamil Nadu point towards how deeply entrenched the problem is. In all these cases the underlying principle responsible for the continuation of this evil is the class inequality. The upper class who find themselves in a far better position socially and financially utilize the social stigma associated with lower caste individuals to normalize the exploitation. India even with its many laws ensuring basic rights to every citizenhas not been able to eradicate these societal biases. In the form of bonded labor what essentially gets practiced are the disguised forms of untouchability and forced slavery.

A certain section of people are entirely removed from the developmental map and they remain faceless and nameless throughout their lives.

The legal side

The constitution has in its many articles prohibited any form of exploitation. Article 21 gives the ‘right to life’ to all which includes the right to a dignified life. In Articles 17 and 15 the practice of untouchability and any kind of discrimination are made penal offences.

Article 23 bans trafficking in human beings and forced labor. Recognizing the lacuna in all these laws, the Government in the year 1976 enacted the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act that was meant to free all the bonded laborers and make this practice an offence punishable by law. In 1997, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was given the responsibility to oversee the law’s implementation. www.governancetoday.co.in

India is also party to a number of international conventions that address the issue. In 1951, India had ratified ILO’s Forced Labor Convention 1930 and the country is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, 1951. Over the years, the international community has recognized debt bondage as a separate category and has emphasized on the need for urgent legal reforms.

The Supreme Court in its landmark judgments in the Asiad Workers Case, 1982 and Bandhua Mukti Morcha Case, 1984 has redefined the meaning of bonded labor to include all forms of forced labor that go against the idea of a dignified living.

Where does the problem lie?

In spite of all thelaws being in existence for so longthe number of bonded laborers continues to grow in India. Swami Agnivesh, whose organization The Bonded Labor Liberation Front has done commendable work in this area puts things in perspective “The laws are not enforced in India and there is no accountability for non-implementation. This is the root cause for the perpetuation of modern day slavery in India. There is no proper mechanism for identification, release and rehabilitation of workers.”

Chandan Kumar, Program Lead, Workers’ Rights, ActionAid India and member of the NHRC core group on bonded labor, says “Bonded labor is a manifestation of the structural inequality in rural India. The existing labor laws do not address the issue of informal labor and there is a lack of labor governance system. For example in the state of Rajasthan, one inspector is supposed to oversee the functioning of 6,500 factories which makes it impossible to have a monitoring system in place.”

Another factor hindering the eradication of this system is that many of the states are in denial of the existence of bonded labor. An open acceptance of the continuation of this practice would mean an administrative failure of the state machinery. And for states that want to forge ahead in the measurement of development indices, such a despicable form of oppression is best kept under

the carpet.

The Ministry of Labor, Government of India has tried to reverse this situation by coming out with a centrally sponsored scheme in which a sum of Rs 20,000 is provided for the rehabilitation of every bonded laborer. “There is no way to identify a bonded laborer and if that is done the process of issuing the release certificate takes a long time. By then, many of the rescued laborers go back to being bonded laborers and the cycle of bondage continues. Again in this, the women are excluded from the ambit of this scheme“, adds Kumar.

It does seem that it is not just the society but also the laws have institutionalized this widely prevalent discrimination. It has become such a common feature of the society that many fail to see it as a crime. Even if a responsible citizen takes the employer to court, the long drawn out judicial process would ensure that the person gets away with a fine of just Rs 2,000 when the maximum punishment should have been three years of imprisonment.

Even the maximum punishment does not serve justice as it is nothing when compared to the ordeals that a bonded laborer faces.This clearly shows the lack of seriousness to address this issue on the part of both the legislation and judiciary.

Possible Solutions

The one most practical solution to curb this practice according to Chandan Kumar will be the “fixing of minimum wages as it will address the structural question.” Once payment of a fixed sum of money is made mandatory, it will make the systematic exploitation of labor difficult.

“The issue of bonded labor can be solved only in a holistic political way.

There should be a National Wage Commission which would provide the workers of the unorganized sector the same pay that a Class IV employee of the Central Government receives. It should be understood that the unorganized labor put in more hours of work than any government employee. The question of minimum wages should be linked to the Pay Commission,” elaborates Swami Agnivesh. While fixing of the minimum wages, there should be a realistic assessment of the companies’ income.

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Year of Incidence

Bonded Labour Reported

1997-1998

6000

1998-1999

5960

1999-2000

8195

2000-2001

5256

2001-2002

3929

2002-2003

2198

2003-2004

2465

2004-2005

866

2005-2006

397

2006-2007

197

2007-2008

716

2008-2009

543

2009-2010 (upto 30.09.2009)

25

Source: Annual Report 2009-2010, Ministry of Labour and Employment

What the Law says “bonded labour” means any labour or service rendered under the bonded labour system-Section 2 (e). “bonded labourer” means a labourer who incurs, or has, or is presumed to have incurred a bonded debtSection 2(f). “bonded labour system” means the system of forced, or partly forced, labour under which a debtor enters, or has, or is presumed to have, entered, into an agreement with the creditor to the effect that he wouldi. render, by himself or through any member of his family, or any person dependent on him, labour or service to the creditor, or for the benefit of the creditor, for a specified period or for any unspecified period, either without wages or for

48 I November 2015

nominal wages, or ii. for the freedom of employment or other means of livelihood for a specified period or for an unspecified period, or iii. forfeit the right to move freely throughout the territory of India, or iv. forfeit the right to appropriate or sell at market value any of his property or product of his labour or the labour of a member of his family or any person dependent on him; and includes the system of forced, or partly forced, labour under which a surety for a debtor enters, or has, or is presumed to have, entered, into an agreement with the creditor to the effect that in the event of the failure of the debtor to repay the debt, he would render the bonded labour on behalf of the debtor-Section 2(g)

And for those companies that are not able to afford the amount required to pay its employees, the government should step in to provide the required assistance.

This is the only way by which the owners can be encouraged to abide by the rules.

Along with this, the government should have some effective social welfare schemes in place. The mere spreading of awareness will be of no use if it is not backed by some practical solutions. Once a laborer is rescued, the first thing that needs to be done is their psychological rehabilitation.

Most of them being treated as just machines are completely emotionally ravaged to even think of a life ahead.

They need to be brought back to the society by giving them the respect that every human being deserves.

The next step should be to give them vocational training so that they acquire some skills to eke out a living. The government can also grant them loans to start something on their own. They should also be provided adequate social security cover so that they don’t go back to being bonded laborers.

The judiciary should take a more pro-active part in eradicating this sin through some landmark judgments that will help in closing the policy gap.

Efforts should be made to identify a few people at the grassroot level who can help in the identification of bonded laborers.

The BBC Media Action Project , ‘Majboor Kisko Bola’ which aims to spread word on bonded labor through community radio in the districts of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkahnd and Chattisgarh is an initiative that can be replicated all over the country.

In the end what needs to be understood is that any kind of exploitation can happen only as long as the people remain mute spectators. It is the responsibility of the educated class to empower the less fortunate sections to fight for their rights.

And if India truly wants to be seen as a progressive nation, the onus should be on both the Central and state governments to erase the deep seated biases and inequalities persistent in every nook and corner in one form or the other. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

legal Issues

‘NJAC unconstitutional’ The Supreme Court strikes down NJAC kicking off a bitter debate on judges’ appointment issue & transparency in the higher judiciary Raj Bjushan The much awaited judgment of the Supreme Court on the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) regarding constitutional validity of the Ninety-Ninth Amendment Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014, was announced this month declaring the same unconstitutional. The basic premise of striking down the Amendment was that the primacy and independence of Judiciary had been compromised with; consequently it is unconstitutional.

The Judgment was extensively analyzed by the legal pundits and eminent jurists and some of them have divergent views in pretext to the fact that the Judgment has tried to compromise with the basic structure of the Constitution

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of India. It has been argued that the selection of judges is a participatory, consultative and constitutional function performed by high constitutional functionaries whose objective is to pick the best persons for the higher levels of the judiciary by way of process of consensus and not by way of collegiums which is non-transparent.

The eminent lawyer and finance minister Arun Jetley expressed his concerns as the Judgment is “majority transgresses into an erroneous logic”.

It is relevant to mention herein in the Judgment the Supreme Court said that method of appointment of judges as per the NJAC would breach the

concepts of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary, which are both components of the basic structure of the Constitution. The “judgment has upheld the primacy of one basic structure - independence of judiciary - but diminished five other basic structures of the Constitution, namely, Parliamentary democracy, an elected Government, the Council of Ministers, an elected Prime Minister and the elected Leader of the Opposition. “ expressed Jetley.

If the learned judges found any element of unconstitutionality in the NJAC, they are empowered with a veto and could suggest the removal of such elements. Many a jurists feel that by virtue of this judgment the Supreme Court question the Parliament’s sovereignty. The principle of separation of powers between all three quarters have been compromised with and has created a ripple which may throw distribution of power out of balance. Now at this juncture, the independence of the

November 2015 I

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judiciary is an important objective of the Constitution, but the basic structure of the Constitution which advocates about the separation of powers between its constituents may not be compromised with as is being perceived by the this judgment.

Article 124 to 147 of the Constitution deal with the establishment and constitution of appointment of Supreme Court judges and the related matters. It is important to note that prior to introduction of the collegium system, judges used to be appointed by the President meaning; meaning appointment by ‘the Executive after consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the High Courts’. Similarly, an appointment of a Judge of the High Court was again to be undertaken by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the respective State.

The present Collegium system is working for the past for more than 20 years and have many eminent jurists have argued that this is not working as it was initially conceptualized and has some inherent flaws such as lack of accountability and the transparency. The principal issue regarding the existing system is the ‘judges-appointing-judges’ which would certainly not the legislative and constitutional intent though the same remain in practice as advocated by some. As the dissenting judge Justice Chelameswar writes “There is no accountability in this regard. The records are absolutely beyond the reach of any person including the judges of this Court who are not lucky enough to become the Chief Justice of India. Such a state of affairs does not either enhance the credibility of the institution nor is good for the people of this country.”

Another criticism which emerged against the collegium system is that the same remained opaque and not subjected to the public scrutiny. This system never demonstrate the promotion of merit as it has been extensively discussed in the legal sphere.

The main criticism against the collegium system is that Judges’ strength do not correspond to legal talent we have in India. Some of the basic criteria at the time of selection such as integrity, ability and knowledge appeared to have not been strictly adhered with; consequently 50 I November 2015

Lone Dissenter

Justice J Chelameswar

Justice J Chelameswar, the lone judge who dissented the NJAC judgment of the five member constitutional bench said that the judiciary should acknowledge that “a comprehensive reform of the system is overdue” and the ever increasing pendency of matters before various constitutional courts of this country is “clearly not a certificate of efficiency”.

In his strongly worded dissent, he said that the assumption that “primacy of the judiciary” in the appointment of judges is a basic feature of Constitution “is empirically flawed.”

He also stated that “To hold that it (the government) should be totally excluded from the process of appointing judges would be wholly illogical and inconsistent with the foundations of the theory of democracy and a doctrinal heresy.”

many advocate a change in the existing collegiums system. As per the NJAC Act, the NJAC will consist of (a) Chief Justice of India, (b) Two other senior judges of the Supreme Court next to the Chief Justice of India, (c) The Union Minister of Law and Justice, and (d) Two eminent persons to be nominated by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India and the Leader

of opposition in the Lok Sabha. In case of no such Leader of Opposition, then, the Leader of single largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha will be substituted.

Out of two eminent persons, one person would be from the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or OBC or minority communities or a woman. It is pertinent to note that the eminence of person is subject to affiliation from certain community such as ‘Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or OBC or minority communities or a woman.’ Though this is a noble way to impart social justice but why judicial selection process is treated as political plank?

One of the important points which the NJAC Judgment makes is its deep understanding of the issue of ‘independence of judiciary’ which is unquestionably a prime contention in this Judgment. It also establishes the primacy of judiciary over the rest and asserted non-acceptance of any interference from any quarter. The Ninety-Ninth Amendment Act of the Constitution not only did away with the collegium or and tried to establish an arrangement wherein the convergence of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary had a collective role to play.

The Judgment does not just raise a question of primacy or independence of judiciary but it also opens a fresh contention between the parliament and judiciary. The Judgment is also a manifestation of lack of credibility of legislature and executive which are often a subjected to criticism regarding their conduct and competence. There is no iota of doubt about the credibility of the legislature and executive which hit at their lowest ebb however as compared to the same the credibility of judiciary are not muddled with the rest.

Selection of Judges by Judges is undoubtedly a better proposition than legislative and executive interference to muzzle judiciary. This legal wrangle does not only open a Pandora Box of gamut of debate of Judiciary Vs. Legislature but also forces Legislature to introspect about the quality of leadership we are witnessing even after 68 year of independence. edit@governancetoday.co.in (The writer is a Delhi-based lawyer)

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society

First nurturer, now victims Elderly abuse refuse to die even as society seems to be okay with it

As per reports, the country has 100 million elderly and the figure is likely to triple to 324 million 2050

Ritika Bisht An inevitable truth of every living species is death and prior to that comes the old age. Everyone at some point of time fears old age as this iswhen person struggles to maintainsocial and economic security along with facing issues related to health and shelter.

Elderly people require major assistance which can be provided by proper care from the younger members of the family.

However, the ground reality is much harsher as elders confront interpersonal violence and struggle to find a way out. www.governancetoday.co.in

According to Agewell Foundation, out of 28,295 affected elderly respondents, 10,452 (36.94 per cent) ranked mistreatment as the most common form of abuse. 6,204 affected respondents (21.78 per cent) said restriction in their social life by family members or others was second common form of abuse faced by them. When elders across cities were asked about the abusers within their family, Daughter-inlaw (61 per cent) and Son (59 per cent) emerged as the topmost perpetrators.

What is more unfortunate is the counter reaction of the youth who are

aware of the elderly mistreatment but would choose not to report it and turn blind eye to the situation. Taking the case of the capital city, 92 per cent youths in Delhi are unlikely to take action against elderly abuse. 29 per cent youth feel that ‘physical abuse and beating up’ is a very common incident.

Diminishing traditional joint family system owing to changing socioeconomic scenario, rapid urbanization, higher aspirations among the youth, and the increasing number of women in the workforce have been rated as the prominent reasons for this unfortunate November 2015 I

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Source: Helpage India

How we treat Elder People

trend wherein the younger members of the family no longer want to take the burden of providing for their parents and prefer to admit them in old-age homes.

In some cases, elderly are marginalized and abused continuously. Due to high physical as well as psychological vulnerability their plight remains within four-walls.

Accounts of elderly abuse

State of India’s Elderly-2014 report

by HelpAge India reveals that country has 100 million elderly and by 2050 the number is likely to triple to 324 million.

Another recent report titled The Indian Youth Speaks Out states that 73 per cent of responders (from the surveyed 20 cities) accepted that abuse of the elderly exists in society. What is more disturbing is the fact that 37 per cent of the youths surveyed would prefer to stay passive in elderly abuse cases.

A national daily reported the life of one such elderly named Mamata Prasad.

Aged 75, Mamata Prasad last saw her family members almost seven years back.

Currently living in an old age home in New Delhi, she now wishes to meet her son, daughter-in-law and nine year old granddaughter before she dies. That is her last wish despite the fact that her family was the reason she ended up in a NGO. Mamata explains that her son and daughter-in-law harassed her over petty reasons. As rift grew, eventually she had to leave her home and take shelter in an old-age home.

“They told me that they cannot look after me anymore. I have no other option, but to leave my home of almost 50 years and stay in an old age home. I have not 52 I November 2015

met my family members for last seven years,” explained Mamata Prasad.

Similar incident tells a story of an M Pradeep (name changed), a 73 year old widower who had to look for a rented apartment after he was continuously abused by his son and daughter-in-law.

These are just few out of the thousand cases of elderly mistreatment happening in our society. There is no one-way path that assures guarantee solution to put this menace to halt. Old-aged people are left in the dark, all alone and are now trying their best to survive the remaining years sans abuse.

Issues at different strata

India is home to one in every 10 senior citizens of the world, and still the country’spolicies are not compatible with the needs of elderly as it spends a mere 0.032 per cent of its GDPon them.

Also, the ongoing National Program for Health Care for Elderly is being implemented in only 13 out of the around 600 districts of the country. Lack of financial power is the primary reason for the senior citizens’ problems.

In order to make elderly financially independent, Mathew Cherian, Chief Executive Officer of HelpAge mentioned that his organization has been fighting to regulate the pension system nationally with the introduction of universal pension but that’s a tough task.

Another problem is that elderly people are not aware of their human rights which make it more difficult to ascertain the situation and reach for help.HelpAge India report 2014, states that while abuse has gone upbut still 41 per cent of those abused did not report the matter to

anyone. 59 per cent of the victims admit that maintaining confidentiality of the family matter is major reason behind not reporting abuse.

The awareness about Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 marginally increased from 11 per cent to 19 per cent.

All these instances call for solving the problems from different segment in order to work ahead for elderly welfare.

Rising Above Abuse

Neglect, disrespect, verbal and physical abuse on elderly refuse to go away with incidents increasing every year.

Is it the fading of joint-family structure or deteriorating ethical values or any other reason, it needs to stop.

Years of hard work in upbringing kids and maintaining a social reputation go up in smoke as the inevitable old age knocks the door. Many have admitted to dying early than live long and suffer in their old age.

This is not the way any person should think about his/her old age; beaten up by son or daughter-in-law for family inheritance, devoid of care an elderly should get, ignored repeatedly with verbal abuse.

When would it finally stop no one can guarantee for sure but what one is willing to do best in the circumstances presented before us Society is aware but it is not enough.

Instead of keeping mum they should report the perpetrators so the punishment they get become an example for other such people to respect senior citizens. At the same time, elderly must know their rights and report against mistreatment and rise above the concern of maintaining confidentiality of the family matter.

Our elderly population deserves more than mistreatment and disrespect. They deserve to live rest of theirlife in peace without the fear of getting abused for family inheritance and getting neglected by their very own children.

With a little help that can be provided from old-age homes, our elderly also need counseling that would inspire them to find a new purpose in the new chapter of their life. Hence, the struggle continues… ritika@governancetoday.co.in

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education

‘E’ for English-medium enrolment Will it hold the key in Hindi heartland?

The enrolment in the English-medium schools is set to grow in Hindi speaking states.

Ramesh Kumar Raja The language of English as a medium in schools is finally catching up in most parts of India, particularly in Hindi heartland, defying politicians endeavourto push Hindi. Thanks to its growing importance in different walks of life, more and more parents are voting with their feet and opting to put their children in English-medium schools.

While overall enrolment in schools went up by just 7.5 per cent between 2008-09 and 2013-14, enrolment in English-medium schools almost doubled during this period,against just 25 per cent increase in enrolment in Hindi schools. Though the number of Englishmedium school students is still dwarfed

by Hindimedium ones, the growth in www.governancetoday.co.in

numbers is significant, jumping from over 1.5 crore in 2008-09 to 2.9 crore by 2013-14. In the same period, the Hindi numbers went from 8.3 crore to 10.4 crore.

As per trends based on data received from 14.5 lakh schools spread over 662 districts across 35 states and union territories, the English-medium enrolment was highest in Bihar, where it grew 47 times or 4,700 per cent while Hindi-medium enrolment grew by just 18 per cent. In Uttar Pradesh, Englishmedium enrolment grew 10 times or by 1,000 per cent compared to just 11 per cent in Hindi-medium enrolment. In other Hindi speaking states too, Englishmedium enrolment grew massively – 525 per centin Haryana, 458 per cent in Jharkhand and 209 per cent in Rajasthan.

The data received from the states is put together by the District Information System for Education (DISE) of the National University of Education Planning and Administration under the human resource development ministry.

Since 2010-11, DISE has been covering unrecognised schools and recognised and unrecognised madrasas, which in 201314 comprised 2.4 per cent of all schools.

While there is some underreporting of enrolment by medium of instruction, as acknowledged by DISE, the undercounting is not seem big enough to affect the overall picture.

It may be noted that UP and Bihar make up 53 per cent of the students enrolled in Hindi medium schools.

Add Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and these four states account for more November 2015 I

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than three quarters of Hindi-medium students, close to eight crore. If the other three Hindi speaking states -- Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Haryana – areadded to this, it would account for 90 per cent of those in Hindi medium, leaving about one crore children in Hindi-medium schools in the rest of the country.

Of the 2.9 crore English-medium students, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir, in that order, make up over 54 per cent.

According to the DISE data, in Haryana, the proportion of children in Hindi-medium fell by 25 percentage points in one decade from 97 per cent in 2003-04 to 72 per cent in 2013-14 while it fell from 94 per cent to 70 per cent in Himachal Pradesh. However, the biggest decline in proportion of children enrolled in vernacular medium schools was in Kerala and Punjab, where it fell by 40 percentage points. In Kerala, the share of Malayalam-medium students fell during the decade from 90 per cent to almost 50 per cent and in Punjab the share of those in Punjabi-medium fell from over 99 per cent to 59 per cent. In Andhra Pradesh, the proportion of Telugu-medium fell by 30 percentage points and in Tamil Nadu the share of Tamil-medium fell by 24 percentage points.

Interestingly, the highest proportion of English-medium enrolment was in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, where almost all students are in Englishmedium schools. Likewise, in northeastern states like Nagaland, Sikkim and Manipur, the share of Englishmedium is above 80-90 per cent. In Kerala, nearly half the enrolment is in English-medium schools. Other states where English-medium has a significant share are Andhra Pradesh (44 per cent), Tamil Nadu (41 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (30 per cent).

So what’s setting the trend? It is the need for a common language in an increasingly globalised community that is making English more important than ever. The thrust for English is not just for wider job prospects, but also to meet social standards, as a personality development tool. The shift towards English-medium schools, thus, supplements the fact that the language is being accorded an increased importance, especially in Hindi-speaking states. The 54 I November 2015

language has become synonymous with a better quality of life. Though it may not guarantee success, English has indeed become one of the essential factors.

However, across the world, and in India as well, there is a consensus among educators, educationists and linguists that children learn most effectively in their mother tongues. Even a research conducted by UNESCO shows that children who begin their education in their mother tongue make a better start, and continue to perform better, than those for whom school starts with a new language.It’s a no-brainer thatusing a language that children are familiar with, eases their transition from home to school. According to experts, kids are more easily engaged in the classroom because they understand what is going on and are able to link it to their everyday

languages. Starting to learn to read and write in a language that they never hear at home or in the community makes learning difficult and reduces its appeal, making it harder to keep children’s’ attention in class or to keep them in class at all.

On the other hand, English is said to be a corrective against existing social disadvantages. But it is more likely to accentuate these disadvantages. The obsession with English resolutely ignores what is impossible to ignore, that a majority of Indian children leave school without the basics of old-fashioned reading, writing and arithmetic, in any language.

This cannot be fixed by teaching them English or in English with, among other things, teachers who themselves are unskilled in the language. To reverse

Interestingly, the highest proportion of Englishmedium enrolment was in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, where almost all students are in English-medium schools. In Nagaland, Sikkim and Manipur, the share of English-medium is above 80-90 per cent lives. This helps them develop literacy skills more easily and also their general cognitive abilities.

Research shows that a child’s ability to learn a second or even a third language improves greatly if his/her first language skills are well developed. And far from being a burden, children who know one language well are very receptive and quick to learn new languages. The three-language formula for schools, which stressed learning in the mother tongue, seemed to acknowledge this.

The transition from home language to a school language is complicated enough in a country like India where large proportions of the population do not speak the standardised regional language but a dialect or, as with many tribal communities, an entirely different language.States with large tribal populations, for example, do not even have sufficient teachers who understand, never mind teach in, their various

this trend, policy makers need to re-think mass education from the perspective of children and their socio-economic situations.Right now, all Indian children are forced into a school system designed for a tiny proportion of the population that has an inter-generational education advantage. What they need instead is an education system that helps them acquire language skills early and learn in a manner that will allow them to close the gap with the educationally advantaged.

Most importantly, English is a language, it is not a test of your intelligence. This is something policy makers and promoters of English should think through seriously.Learning a language, any language, is about gaining a skill that’s necessary to gain an education, it’s not an education in itself. Moreover, done badly, it deprives a child of a proper education. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

On the margins

policy

The Muslims continue to suffer amidst loud minority politics

The poor social indicators of the community is a challenge for the government

Praveen Raman This November, it will be exactly nine years after ahigh level committee under the chairmanship of Justice (Retired) RajinderSacharsubmitted a comprehensive report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India. This was the first time in India that such an extensive study on the socio-economic status of the community was done.

Acting on the recommendation of the committee, the government took several decisions and a statement in this regard was laid in both Houses of Parliament in August 2007. The government accepted 72 outof 76 recommendations/ suggestions; the three recommendations which the government did not accept related to enumeration of castes/groups as a part of decennial census exercise, creation of a new All India Cadre of officers to manage the affairs of State Waqf Boards and Central Waqf Council, and having an alternative admission www.governancetoday.co.in

criteria to facilitate admissions to the most backward amongst all the SRCs in the regular universities and autonomous colleges. The accepted recommendations were lumped in 43 decisions and action points.

While the government did set measurable parameters to check the time bound progress in the implementation process, the entire effort falls short of the desired result for various reasons.

Lack of harmony in action of the Centre and the state is said to be a major reason because states play a crucial role in centrally-funded schemes and the political leadership at the two levels oftendon’t work in unison.

As a result, even after eight years of the committee, the Muslims as are virtually lagging behind all other communities and a trend of relative deterioration is observed in almost all spheres of day-to-day life. Especially in the field of education, the situation is of grave concern.

According to a study by the Pew Research Centre, India will probably

have 23.6crore Muslims in two decades’ time, on a par with Indonesia (which has the world’s biggest Muslim population).

That is a lot, but is still under a fifth of India’s total population. These figures indicate a pressing need for the welfare of the community as it is much poorer and less educated than average. Against an average of above 70 per cent, literacy amongMuslims is around 59 per cent.

While 26 per cent of all Indians aged 17 years and above have completed matriculation, this percentage is only 17 per cent amongst Muslims. The Mean Years of Schooling among children of age group of 7- 16 years is lowest among Muslims at around 3.4 years whereas for others it is above 5 years. Also, only 7 per cent of Muslims have graduate degree and diplomas against about 7 per cent of the overall population aged 20 years and above. While Muslims start with an above average enrollment are dropping out much faster than normal. Further, a comparison of the probability estimates for completion of higher secondary and graduation suggests that Muslims are November 2015 I

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Nine years after Sachar Committee Total primary schools constructed

16,174

No. of teachers

125,386

No. of Bank branches opened

19,119

MSDP programes

710 Blocks Source: Ministry of Minority Affairs, GoI

at a greater disadvantage at the higher secondary level resulting in a much lower size of Muslim population being eligible for higher education.

The SacharCommittee identified poverty as the Main Cause of Low levels of Education, poor access to schools andlow perceived returns from education among Muslim community.

While poverty among Muslims is explicit, the other factors deserve further elaboration. A mere physical existence of a school in the vicinity does not ensure access to quality education. As the report admits, government schools that do exist in Muslim neighborhoods are merely centers of low quality education for the poor and marginalized. The poor quality of teaching and absentteachers, in turn, necessitate high cost inputs like private tuition, particularly in the case of first generation learners from the Muslim 56 I November 2015

community. This has a negative impact on retention and school completion.

Thus, poverty again has a causal link with access to education among Muslims.

Low expectation of return from attending schools is another factor for lack of motivation towards education.

Since the community does not see a lot of Muslims youths becoming successful by virtue of going to school, it apparently does not promise much of immediate return to people who rather pay attention to vocations that pay an earlier return. This happens due to abysmally low representation of Muslims in public and private sector jobs. Many of us would agree that after Independence, the identity politics have played key role in elections. The Muslims have been treated as ‘vote banks’ that attract attention only during elections or at a time when bomb blast or any terrorist activities take

place. This practice attaches a set of prejudices towards Muslims, and this ultimately results in social and economic exclusion. Time and again the conditions of Muslims have found space in social and political discourse, but rarely transformed into action.

As the problem is complicated, the solutions need to be innovative.

The mainstreaming and improving the plight of minorities stands as a challenge to Muslims as a community and the government as the state.

Muslims as a community, will have to bear their share of the burden by actively engaging themselves to the discussion as to what are the reasons behind their poor participation and performance, what could be solutions and how they could be implemented.

Muslim leadership and civil societies must become pro-active rather than maintaining a reactive stance.

The government, on its part, must provide a platform for equitable participation and inclusive growth.

First of all, creating sufficient awareness about various existing facilities, schemes and programs is very important. Affirmative actions to address the serious issue need to be undertaken. Muslims being as backward as SCs/STs, are not getting the benefits of reservations simply because their religious identity.

So, this issue needs to be given due consideration so that reservation can be extended to Muslims like any other community.

Seeing the under-participation of the community, it becomes imperative to provide reservations at all levels of education just as SC/STs are given.

It becomes even more important at the primary, secondary, higher secondary levels since these form the foundation for higher education.

Sachar Committee had recommended the government should allocate 10 per cent of the seats in existing NavodayVidyalayas, the 3500 Model Schools to be set up under the directives of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) declared in April 2010, and any other similar public institutions for Muslims. praveen@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

interview

targeted steps required levels of education. The pressure to join the economic activities is not so much on them as it is on the Muslim boys.

We need to see this as an indicator and ensure that their access to schools is enhanced.

Dr Tanweer Fazal is an expert in social and economic issues of minorities. He is presently serving as an associate professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Fazal has been on many committees before and wrote several books on the issue of minority development. In an interview to the ‘Governance Today,’ he shared his views on the present socio-economic conditions of Muslims. Edited excerpts:

What is your understanding of the problems of Muslim?

Muslim problems are not uniform across the country. Neither are they very different from most of the citizens of the country. Education, unemployment and poverty are the teething problems from which a majority of Muslims living in northern Indian states suffer.

Take U.P for example, more than 90 percent of its urban Muslim population could be termed as poor. Consequently, educational attainments are also low as pressures for making early earnings is immense on Muslim boys. Further, the labor market is not bereft of discriminatory practices. Ultimately, Muslim workers end up with most backbreaking and low income jobs.

What is your assessment of the government action on the recommendation of Sachar committee?

The UPA government did introduce some targeted beneficiary oriented programs such as scholarships to arrest school drop outs. Multi-sectoral development program (MSDP) for infrastructure development in minority areas, soft loans for entrepreneurship development etc. However they remained half-baked and ill-designed.

There are few minority academic institutions in India. What do you think are the reasons for it? www.governancetoday.co.in

What steps you would recommend for madarsas?

Tanweer Fazal True, there are only a handful of minority institutions. In south you do have a large number of institutions for technical education. But they have largely become money minting machines. Over the years, the emergence of an entrenched vested interest in all these minority institutions has more or less dampened the original spirit and objective. Nevertheless, the presence of universities such as Aligarh Muslim University or JamiaMilliaIslamia has contributed to the imparting of modern and technical education to a large number of Muslim youth. But we have very few of them. Reasons are many, including reluctance on the part of the government. Also Muslim aristocracy has declined in terms of its possessions.

What necessary change is required on policy front for upliftment of Muslim?

There is a yearning for education as enrollment rates have gone up. But poverty compels them to withdraw from it early in life. Targeted measures might help in improving the scenario.

The education of girls is a big issue. What is your assessment about it?

As the educational attainment data suggest, Muslim girls tend to have initial impediment in taking to education.

But amongst those who managed to cross the barrier and enter educational institutions, there are greater chances of good many of them attaining higher

Madarsas in my understanding tend to grow in areas where there is lack of schools. We need to concentrate on making schools accessible to poorest of the Muslims. Madarsas are essentially meant for religious instruction but many of them are now providing a mix of deeniteleem (religious education) and dunyawitaleem(secular education).

Many madarsas have joined in the Madarsa modernization scheme which was later rechristened as Special Program for Quality Education to Madarsas (SPQEM). The government has committed to provide teachers for science and computer education.

However, the allocation is extremely meager. A science teacher tends to get between Rs5000-8000 only. As a result, trained and qualified teachers are not being found in Madarsas. The quality of modern education, therefore, remains poor.

The representation of Muslims in security forces is very low. How do you look at this issue?

Security forces are very cagey about providing data on religious distribution of their personnel. However, through various estimates, it can be assumed that the participation of Muslims is miniscule. There are various measures which can improve their share in the security forces. More recruitment from areas of minority concentration.

Adoption of diversity index and incentives linked with it. This would compel organizations to device methods of recruitment that would enhance share of excluded groups.

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interview Digitization of data is one of the most important aspects of developing a user friendly public service delivery paradigm. In India, land reforms is a huge problem area which is compounded by the absence of proper records. Thomson Reuters is a leading players globally in digitizing the land and property records and enterprise solutionsthat immensely simplify the record keeping besides reducing corruption in land related deals. In an interaction with Praveen Raman, Prashant Pillai, Head – Tax & Accounting and Market Development, Thomson Reuters, expounded on the potential benefits of the digitized records and how it could help in reducing litigations on the same. Edited excerpts:

Will you share with us your key focus areas?

Thomson Reuters has been a valued partner to government for many years. The team that I head, focuses on providing enterprise level, technical land administration solutions to local/state/ federal governments that improve the process and services these governments provide to their citizens. We partner with these government entities that are charged with implementing effective and efficient “fit for purpose� land information systems (LIS). We provide a customizable solution that can provide real-time access to accurate and actionable information.

Whether the solution supports land registry, land resource management, cadaster, valuation, or property tax administration or a combination thereof, we provide an end to end solution to enhance the ability to make sound, educated decisions.

The role of IT has increased in maintaining land records. What had been your experience so far?

Technology is playing a major role in revolutionizing the way governments approach the Land Administration process. The next generation platforms are improving the way governments 58 I November 2015

Accurate and integrated land management necessary for improving revenues operate internally, as well as providing a significantly improved service to the citizen. Today governments are looking for proven integrated, enterprise level solutions that are capable of efficiently managing the entire land administrative and revenue generation process as well as delivering the information necessary for smart decision making. Our global experience ranges from working in the US to other parts of the developing markets like Africa, with over 1,600 government departments operating our solution. We have seen phenomenal impact with the implementation of our solutions in City of Cape Town, in countries like Nigeria, Uganda etc. In our view depending on which phase of growth the country is in, land administration and revenue management solutions can mean improved land rights, better citizen services, integrated governance and improved planning and

revenue realization opportunities.

How will your services impact the land revenue for the government?

We have seen that efficient land administration requires the integration of both Land Administration data with Geospatial data. Without this synchronization of datasets, accurate information is difficult to maintain over the long term. Based on global best practices we have also observed that it is important to have true integration so that data is synchronized and is accessible across multiple departments.

The Land Administration data, (or parcel fabric), which includes GIS mapping from the Registry and Cadaster departments is the foundational data that governments need to be able to make informed decisions. It is www.governancetoday.co.in

expertise and professional services around the implementation and deployment of this type of solution.

We are accustomed to partnering with governments and enabling them to take the journey from paper based manual process to full automation and digitization.

We have helped countries like Jamaica etc. in shortening the Land Registration process from 15 business days to 2 business days.

In the present scenario, the land is an important part of political discourse. How do you offer solution to government in suitability of land for various purposes and the process of land acquisition?

Thomson Reuters have been helping government departments around the world in increasing Transparency, reducing time, cost in Land Transactions, improving accuracy.

Our endeavor is to provide government sustainable, scalable andsecure technology solutions.

Prashant Pillai also paramount that all government departments such asAssessment, Valuation, Revenue, Planning, Utilities, and Public Safetyare able to share this data. This integrated enterprise approach enable governments to significantly improve operational efficiencies as well as provide better citizen services. In India currently most of states are working on automation of land records/GIS mapping but we believe there is a need to build integrated solutions to achieve the above approach.

Tell us the challenges you face in building land database?

We provide a proven enterprise level technology solution based on next generation technology, in conjunction with the professional services necessary to successfully deploy. This next www.governancetoday.co.in

generation platform automates the land administrative process and integrates land administration data with spatial data enabling various governments to share data between departments and publish this data to the public via the web.

What are the areas in which your service can help?

The Thomson Reuters AUMENTUM Platform is a suite of tightly integrated modules that automates a municipalities’ Land Administrative and Revenue Collection processes, and fully integrates this data with the GIS Spatial data to improve the operational efficiency and service delivery of multiple governmental offices. In addition, Thomson Reuters provides international subject matter

How do you look at the ‘Smart City’ initiative?

We believe this is a very important and valuable initiative. One of the first stated objectives of the ‘Smart City Initiative’ is for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to develop a dedicated and substantial revenue stream so as to make itself sustainable and enhance its own ability to raise funding etc. An accurate and integrated land administration and revenue management solution is the foundational platform for improving the revenue generation capability of any government institution. Thomson Reuters hopes that governments realize it is imperative to build a solid, integrated, revenue management and GIS platform in order to provide the governmental leadership with the information necessary to make “Smart Decisions.”

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Youth radicalization

Risks of overselling the trend Before the government considers any action, it should be very clear that how real this threat is for us

Data suggests that the total number of terror cases is very low in India as compared to many countries

Praveen Raman When the top police officers from across the states and UTs will put their heads together in the forthcoming conference of DGPs and IGPs on various issues this November, the current spate of Indian youths joining Islamic State (IS) will surely figure prominently. Our security agencies might take the incidents of youths joining the globalterrorist organization a security challenge, but how big this ‘threat’actually is, the government should be very clear about.

A leading Indian newspaper claims that there are 20-odd Indians are currently fighting for IS in Iraq-Syria.

These include two youth from Mumbai outskirts Kalyan, an Australia-based Kashmiri, one youth from Telangana, one from Karnataka, one Oman-based Indian and another Singapore-based Indian. This number is, given the size of population we have in our country, miniscule.

60 I November 2015

This small number not only indicates the failure of some fringe elements to radicalize our youths, it also highlights the hype that has been created around a threat that does not exist at all. While a section of media look frenzy and terming this as ‘a big security threat’. Electronic media runs documentaries and news report depicting India a target of jihadists group, but little factual evidence and matter do such reports carry.

The data suggests that total number of terror cases is very low in India as compared to many other countries. Save Jammu and Kashmir, the country had seen few instances of terror activities. It is not that the government is not aware of the hype created around radicalization, but if it is not checked, it will create undue prejudice towards minority community.

In March this year, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had apparently warned against the overselling of radicalization. Singh while speaking at a counter-terrorism conference in Jaipur

said: “Indian Muslims are patriots and are not swayed by fundamentalist ideologies.

Extremism is alien to their nature.”

Singh’s statement was in consonance with the standpoint articulated earlier

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “Indian Muslims will live for India and die for India.” Al-Qaeda is delusional to think Indian Muslims will dance to its tunes. Speaking about the threat of the Islamic State, or ISIS, the home minister also remarked, “According to our intelligence agencies, just a handful of Indian youths have joined the ISIS and some have returned after being persuaded by their families.”

Six months after, Singh’s statement does not vary much from what we have experienced. It is now proved that;one, Indian Muslims are law-abiding citizens and are indeed patriots; two, Al-Qaeda and the IS are not a serious threat to India. It can be argued that the ordinary citizens in any country, not just India, are never a threat to the law and order. Also, www.governancetoday.co.in

the fundamentalist organizations can never take over our societies, our cities and our governments.

Without doubt, the security of citizens is the first priority of states.

Our experience with terror groups had been awful and thousands of innocent people have been killed. But overselling the terror threat is equally damaging. If the first is threat to life and property, the second is to peaceful mutual co-existence.

It makes a common man undue careful of the virtual threat.

However, India must not slip into its default co-existence consciousness. India must not get complacent about the terror threat for the following reasons: the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai demonstrated that a group of just ten jihadists can join hands and launch a major attack that can strike at a nation’s confidence and create insecurity in a major metropolis; the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that a group of 19 terrorists can join hands with a few others and alter the course of foreign policies of dozens of countries for several decades.

There is no doubt that some elements are active to influence Indian youths using many platforms and Internet is most prominent on them.

It is quick, ubiquitous and cheap mean to communicate. Our government will have to look at this issue rather than paying heed to mindless media coverage of the ‘threat’ that doesn’t exist. In an email reply to a question on modus operandi of the fringe elements involved in radicalization, W John, a researcher with Observer Research Foundation, says that much of the indoctrination is done on the internet. It is also the global trend especially in the case of the IS. Social media is put to greater use here; gullible youth are attracted by videos, exhortations and sermons. In the pre-IS items, the most successful instrument of indoctrination was personal contacts either at the mosque or at other meeting places. Many were indoctrinated went abroad especially in the West Asia where a large number Indian Muslims work and live together. But the trend of online radicalization was visible during the rise of Indian Mujahideen. Many IT professionals indoctrinated online and via personal contacts began to join the so-called jihad against the Indian state.

The IS has upped the ante by creating www.governancetoday.co.in

Terrorist attacks in india Years Incidents

Civilians Killed

SFs killed

Terrorists Killed

Total Killed

Total Injured

2001

1

9

0

0

9

60

2002

3

8

9

5

22

51

2003

4

35

5

2

42

147

2004

5

67

2

0

69

289

2005

3

63

0

6

69

166

2006

3

261

0

1

262

1088

2007

5

141

0

0

141

262

2008

7

330

27

9

366

783

2009

1

2

1

0

3

0

2010

5

20

0

0

20

109

2011

4

41

1

0

42

217

2012

3

0

0

1

1

5

2013

5

29

0

1

30

236

2014

6

2

0

2

4

18

2015

3

0

4

7

11

4

Total

58

1008

49

34

1091

3435

* figures dont include J&K, Punjab and North east. Source: SATP

an effective social media recruitment campaign which has so far been quite successful among the Muslim diaspora in the west and is beginning to find roots in the Indian subcontinent also.

John also pointed out that there are of course no readymade solutions. We will have to find indigenous solutions which should take into account local factors like religious polarization, economic condition of the target groups and failure of the security agencies. In the Indian context, the basic approach to counterterrorism should marry the elements of soft power as well as hard core actions.

Hard core actions should include covert and pre-emptive intelligence operations.

Soft power should have counselling, building rapport with the community and inter-faith dialogues. The police, being the first responders, should be trained in community intelligence operations which essentially mean ear and boots on the ground and hands on the shoulder approach.

This makes radicalization a social problem than a political one. The government needs to work on social indicators of the weaker sections, irrespective of the religion and faith. In which, policing will have very limited

role. An expert also agrees and says that it is not wrong to say that poor and the uneducated do get carried away by the cocktail of temptations which the terrorist recruiters offer. Besides money, the poor are tempted by the need for recognition and religious sanctity of their actions. But there has for some time enough evidence to show recruits to terrorist groups coming from the middle class.

This is not only true in India but elsewhere also, including Pakistan. Going by the IS experience, it holds true in over 50 other countries. The motivation often is avenging imaginary and real injustice, adventure and a make-belief sense of participating in a religious crusade and of course the sense of approval from peer and elders.

The best way to prevent such indoctrination is, besides monitoring online activities, is to persuade community elders to support a counterradical narrative by condemning violence, upholding human values as part of every religion and inter-faith dialogue at the grass roots level. praveen@governancetoday.co.in

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State in focus

Leveraging technology for smarter governance GT Bureau

The Uttar Pradesh Government has embarked on a new path of administrative and structural reforms. With the new schemes, the state government hopes to usher in an era of reforms that will give the whole question of governance a new perspective. The focus here is especially on e-governance and the use of technology to streamline the functioning of various departments to bring in more accountability and transparency which will in turn ensure greater participation of citizens. Some of the core areas of reforms are the following:

Administration

Akhilesh Yadav, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh 62 I November 2015

The aim of the administrative reforms is to address the concerns of citizens by getting to the root cause of the issues that they face. In this public service delivery was seen as the most important area where urgent reforms were necessary. For this, the Sevottammodel was developed with the purpose of improving public service delivery in the country. This is expected to provide an example to other states on ways to involve the citizens directly so that solutions can be found to real time problems within a specified time limit.The model has three main components. The first one is Citizens’ Charter that provides information on Citizen’s entitlements so that they have an idea of their rights and can demand better services. The second component of the model, ‘Public Grievance Redress’ give the citizens a better understanding of the way an organization functions and also allows them to ask for information on the status of their complaints.

“Excellence in Service Delivery’ is the third component which involves managing the key ingredients for good servicedelivery and capacity building for its efficient functioning. There is also provision made for assessment and the emphasis on change management and research and development will ensure that the state government is abreast with www.governancetoday.co.in

Features of Shasanadesh model; (Below) Components of Sevottam Model

all the recent advancements.

E-Governance Initiatives

With the third largest economy in the country, Uttar Pradesh is on a quest to bring in more technology to the state that will enable the streamlining of all departments. Its current focus on e-governance holds the promise to change the way the state has been functioning till now.

As a start, e-district has gone live in 58 districts which gives citizens easy access to services and has made the functioning of government more organized. A central repository has been created by the name of Shasanadesh Portal where all the UP government orders have been uploaded for public view. In addition to this, more than 175,000 common service centers have been operationalized under this project. UP is also the first state in the country having e-district cloud. More than 31000 officials were trained in the year 2014 to lead this change.

The benefits of such a scheme have not just been restricted to the cities but have also accrued to the villages. Now Over the Counter certificates are issued through e-villages and affidavits have been replaced by self-declaration. In what is a clear sign of success of this project, 31.20 crore e-transactions have taken place in just the initial five months of the projects. Moreover, MoUs worth Rs5000 crores have been signed for electronics manufacturing which includes the Yamuna Expressway Electronics Manufacturing Cluster and Greater Noida Electronics Manufacturing Cluster. The Government has been encouraging new investments by providing fiscal incentives so that the www.governancetoday.co.in

companies are able to set up their units without any hassle. The building of IT Parks in Tier II and Tier III cities of the state is clear indication of the state’s resolve for an all-inclusive developmental process.

IT Upvan

Being the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh has the tremendous advantage of having a huge youth talent pool.

The IT Upvan is a policy that aims to make use of this factor in putting the state firmly on the Information Technology map. Formulated under the e-governance initiative ‘IT Upvan’ are centres equipped with Plug and Play facility has a conducive environment created for the state talent to build their future. The two stated objectives of the project are: i) to nurture entrepreneurship

in those people who have a passion for knowledge generation and mentoring, and ii) to make entrepreneuriallydriven communication initiatives recognized as vital for supporting the sustainability of indigenous enterprises.

The government has recently invited Expression of Interest for the selection of firms who are interested in broadening the developmental framework of the state. Facilities have already been set up in theShreetron India Ltd Campus in Sahibabad and Ghaziabad where a 14 seater incubation Centre has been established.

IT City, Lucknow

A project that requires special mention is the proposed IT City in Lucknow that will be developed by HCL. The city will be spread over November 2015 I

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Energy

The initiatives of the government has resulted in a phenomenal increase in e-transactions in the state

100 acres of land covering the areas of ChackGajeria Farms and Sultanpur Road. Once completed, it is expected to generate employment opportunities for 25,000 IT professionals and bring private sector investments to the tune of Rs 1,500 crores.

The IT City will have all the facilities that will be at par with international standards.

The technological infrastructure will incorporate lessons from some of the world’s best and the end result will be a model that will go a long way in furthering India’s progress.

The government has also envisioned the commissioning of a Skill Development Centre (SDC) in 10 acres of land to equip the students to make successful contributions. Every year 5,000 students will be imparted Technical and Soft skills training so that they will be exposed to new arenas of development and companies will find them employable. The state government will provide Student Support Fee to UP domiciles to encourage more participation from the rural areas.

There are also measures put in place to invite more investments from the private sector. An interest subsidy of Rs25 crore will be provided every year during the construction phase which will last for a period of 10 years. The proposed city will have SEZ where the government will offer both fiscal and non-fiscal benefits.

On a smaller scale, five locations 64 I November 2015

have been identified for the setting up of IT Parks. They are: Meerut, Agra, Ghaziabad, Kanpur and Gorakhpur. The development of these cities will result in the springing up of numerous satellite towns which will allow the inclusion of more and more communities for the sharing of benefits. With time, the cities will also see an increased migration which will be the start of new entrepreneurial ventures in the state.

All these measures have given the private sector a renewed sense of confidence to make bold investments in Uttar Pradesh. The government’s investment friendly approach have succeeded in bringing investments that will help in the all round development of Uttar Pradesh.

The use of renewable energy has remained central to the state government’s policy making. Chief Minister AkhileshYadav has time and again emphasized on the importance of the use of solar energy to power the state. The Solar Power Policy, 2013 clearly charts out the future course that the government is planning to take in terms of making the state greener as well as attracting private sector participation.

As a start, investments have already been made in the Bundelkhand region. In addition to this, the state has been seeing a steady increase in the share of renewable energy in its power production.

Uttar Pradesh Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant Policy, 2014 is another innovative way to encourage the use of solar energy by all in the state. The main idea behind this policy is to achieve energy security while also contributing to combat climate change. Such a step is also expected to bring in new technologies which will also help the other sectors to innovate and improvise.

It will aid in the establishment of local manufacturing facilities which is sure to provide employment to many and put the state on the developmental path.

Agriculture

The vision of the 2013 Agriculture Policy of the state government is to ‘transform the state into a “Granary of the Nation” by ensuring food and nutritional security and to improve the quality of village life with inclusive and sustainable growth.’

With this, what the government

www.governancetoday.co.in

The initiative of the state government called ITUpvan aimed to attract startups

hopes to achieve is a growth rate of 5.1 per cent in the agricultural sector. The thrust here is on sustainable practices that will conserve the natural resources while also ensuring a higher crop yield. Efforts are also on to encourage private sector participation in the field of agricultural research, development, extension, input management and distribution, and agricultural marketing.

Agro parks have already been set up over 180 acres in Varanasi and Lucknow by the state government. Amul is involved in the setting up of plants in Lucknow, Kanpur and Saifaifor a cost of Rs 600 crore.

All these measures will lead to an increase in farmers’ income levels and would bring in more infrastructural facilities that will result in greater connectivity across the length and breadth of the state. Also the greatest advantage of an increased growth in the agricultural sector would be that the people of the state will be able to get the required level of dietary balance which will go a long way in strengthening the state’s manpower.

Education

Education is one of the core areas of focus for the present government.

Recognizingits importance in shaping the state’s future, the government has formulated policies with particular emphasis on primary and secondary education. In addition to this, the year 2015 has been declared as the year of upgrading education quality. The government has been distributing free www.governancetoday.co.in

Salient features of IT policy A Capital Subsidy of 15% provided subject to maximum of INR 5 crore.

Further, interest subsidy of 5% per annum for a period of 7 Years Provision of a subsidy equivalent to 50% of the grant provided by the Central Government in developing infrastructure facilities for EMC development An interest subsidy of 5% per annum for a period of 5 years subject to a maximum of INR one crore per annum per unit.

Units with capital laptops to meritorious students of Class X and XII so that they are not bogged down by any technological constraints while choosing their career paths.

This step is also helps further the state government’s e-governance initiatives.

Equal importance is also given to the education of girls. The government in its ‘PadhenBetiyan, BadhenBetiyan’ scheme offers financial assistance of Rs30,000 for girls hailing from families below poverty line and who pass X.In a similar, ‘HamariBeti, UskaKal’the same kind of facilities are offered for girls

investment of INR 5 crores or above allowed Interest free loan equivalent to the amount of VAT and Central Sales Tax (CST) deposited every year for a period of 10 years

IT/BPO Units with a minimum of 20 people and maximum of 50 people allowed to establish anywhere irrespective of master plan/Land use barring specified Land usage Land at rebate of 25% on sector rates 100% exemption of stamp duty

from minority communities. Both these schemes have been successful in giving a new glimmer of hope for especially those in rural India.

Housing

Affordable housing has been a prime area of focus for the government. The ‘SamajwadiAwasYojna’ is an affordable housing scheme which plans on developing 3 lakh affordable houses for the lower and middle income groups by 2016. These houses will also be earth quake resistant which will be a huge relief November 2015 I

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Uttar Pradesh boasts of some excellent road connectivity

for the disadvantaged sections as they are always get affected the most in the event of a natural calamity. This scheme has attracted a lot of private sector participation in the city of Ghaziabad.

The government has announced rebate in developmental fee and has set up a single window clearance, AwasBandhuto ease the investment process.

cover over six crore children in the age group of two years to 18 years. The scheme titled ‘Aashirvad Child Health Guarantee Scheme’ will be implemented under National Rural Health Mission.

It involves regular health check-ups, diagnosis and treatment of ailments and has three phases which will reach even the kids with no permanent homes.

Health care

Transportation and Infrastructure

Considering the social realities, the Uttar Pradesh government hasunderstood the need to provide efficient healthcare for those in need. The government is committed to providing free treatment for all those who fall below poverty line.

In Rae Bareli, free land has been given for the setting up of AIIMS and efforts are on to identify more areas where medical institutions can be set up.

In recognition of the good work that the government has done in the healthcare, the state has been conferred with the honour of ‘the most improved state in the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme.’

This scheme will cover 53 lakh poor families. In this, a smart card is issued to the beneficiary for a payment of `30 and the family can avail treatment of upto `30,000 per year. It also includes a twotier grievance redressal system where the aggrieved could apply to the district and state level committees.

There is also a separate health scheme for the rural kids which will 66 I November 2015

Uttar Pradesh boasts of some excellent road connectivity. The AgraLucknow six lane expressway which will run a length of 302 km will connect all the major commercial centers on the northern side of Yamuna. This will provide greater accessibility for the movement of goods and will also help the farmers in taking their produce to the cities. An important aim with which the state government has been developing the roads is to develop the interior areas like Mainpuri so that the benefits of development will be spread evenly throughout the state.

The Metro Rail Project which is proposed to come up in six major cities of the state is yet another landmark achievement. Lucknow will be the first city where the project will be operational by the year end.

The other infrastructural projects in the pipeline are an a cricket stadium for Ranji Trophy, a football stadium that is aimed at encouraging sustainable living

among the citizens.

Tourism

Tourism is increasingly becoming a huge revenue earner for the state.

The ‘Discover Your Roots’ scheme by the Department of Tourism is an initiative to help those people of Indian origin to trace back their ancestry. The Department on receiving inquiries from NRIs or any interested person will help them in locating their roots through the old letters, school certificates, passports, land records, religious scriptures (Pothis), cultural heritage and through personal inquiries. The department will also provide all necessary facilities in India if they wish to visit the places. The project has been implemented on pilot basis in Ballia district and has so far been successful in tracing the roots of 17 persons.

A glimpse into the future

The wide range of initiatives covering all sectors has definitely put the Uttar Pradesh Government on a forward looking path. The adoption of e-governance will in all probability give the state its biggest advantage in terms of achieving its growth targets. With the right machinery in place, the state can most effectively use its demographic advantage to carve out a future where it will be ahead of all others in the developmental indices.

www.governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

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Health Ramesh Kumar Raja Ever wondered what is there in your meal along with the cereals and vegetables you tuck in everyday? They are the harmful chemicals – pesticides in technical language –which are present in alarmingly high doses in greens across the country. Not only veggies, the residues of these harmful chemicals, spanned non-veg items as well, hazardous for health, even to the point of being fatal if consumed over a prolonged period.

According to an agriculture ministry report, there has been an almost two-fold increase in the number of samples having pesticides above the permitted maximum residue level (MRL) in vegetables, fruits, meat and spices in the past seven years. In 2008-09, 1.4 per cent of samples tested failed the MRL test (183 out of 13,348 samples) while the figure went up to 2.6 per cent in 2014-15 (543 out of 20,618 samples). Among all, the vegetables accounted for over 56 per cent of the samples which had more MRL than the limit set by the food regulator. The major culprits were green chilli, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, okra, tomato, capsicum and coriander leaves. Interestingly, the annual report on Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level (2014-15) showed that the number of samples having high dose of pesticide was more in samples picked up from mandis and retail shops than the ones collected from the farm gates.

The samples collected during 201415 had been analysed by 25 labs. The maximum number of failed samples in most test centres was from the vegetable family. For instance, in Anand, out of 54 samples with MRL over permissible level, 42 were vegetable samples. Same was the case in 17 out of 34 samples in Kalyani, a suburb of Kolkata, and 14 out of 15 in Solan in Himachal Pradesh. The situation was equally disturbing in Delhi and NCR as well. Out of 41 samples with high presence of pesticides, 31 were vegetables. A large part of vegetables available in Delhi is grown along the Yamuna and in nearby regions. The data showed that in Gurgaon, of the 24 failed samples, 11 were vegetables. Likewise, in Mumbai, out of the 38 samples with high pesticide content, 25 were vegetables and in Port Blair, all eight failed samples were from this category. In Hyderabad, 27 of 68 I November 2015

Pesticides on plate 51 such samples were vegetables and in Jaipur, it was seven out of 10 samples.

Even though the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had proposed regulations for heavy metal content in a whole range of food items including vegetables to hold traders accountable and also to persuade Indian farmers to do responsible farming and adopt good practices, non-approved pesticides like acephate, bifenthrin, acetamiprid, profenofos and hexaconazole, among others, were detected in the lab findings. While the vegetable samples contained nonapproved pesticides such as acephate, bifenthrin and malathion, the residues of non-approved chemicals such as cypermethrin, profenofos, quinalphos and metalaxyl were found in fruits.

Similarly, the residues of profenophos, metalaxyl and hexaconazole were found in rice and triazofos, metalaxyl, carbaryl and acephate were detected in pulses.

It may be noted that it’s not just pesticides – atoxic mix of sewage and industrial run-offs may be contaminating what is grown on the bed of the river like Yamuna. Vegetables irrigated by this contaminated water are laced with heavy metals and chemical residues.

Artificial colours and waxing of produce are the other factors contributing to the disturbing trend. The quality of the fruits and vegetables – that feed most of population in cities like Delhi -- may thus

stand severely compromised. The issues were recently put forth by an NGO to Delhi High Court and National Green Tribunal. Even a study conducted by The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) in 2012 found the level of toxic metals like nickel, lead, manganese, chromium and zinc high in many water samples. At one location, lead levels were 10 times more than those anywhere else in the river and at another location near a thermal power plant, mercury concentration was about 200 times more than the USEnvironmental Protection Agency standard.

Health at risk

Vegetables contaminated with such toxins can impact health seriously, as pesticides and heavy metals have been linked to a wide range of human health hazards, ranging from short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea to chronic impacts like cancer, reproductive harm, and endocrine disruption. Acute dangers - such as nerve, skin, and eye irritation and damage, headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and systemic poisoning - can sometimes be dramatic, and even occasionally fatal. Chronic health effects may occur years after even minimal exposure to pesticides in the environment, or result from the pesticide residues which we ingest through our food and water. A 2007 study conducted by researchers at the Public Health Institute, www.governancetoday.co.in

the California Department of Health Services, and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health found a six-fold increase in risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for children of women who were exposed to organochlorine pesticides.

Pesticides can cause many types of cancer in humans. Some of the most rampant forms include leukemia, nonHodgkins lymphoma, brain, bone, breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular and liver cancers. There is also mounting evidence that exposure to pesticides disrupts the endocrine system, wreaking havoc with the complex regulation of hormones, the reproductive system, and embryonic development. Endocrine disruption can produce infertility and a variety of birth defects and developmental defects in offspring, including hormonal imbalance and incomplete sexual development, impaired brain development, behavioural disorders, and many others.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is a medical condition characterized by the body’s inability to tolerate relatively low exposure to chemicals. This condition, also referred to as Environmental Illness, is triggered by exposure to certain chemicals and/or environmental pollutants. Exposure to pesticides is a common way for individuals to develop MCS, and once the condition is present, pesticides are often a potent trigger for symptoms of the condition. The variety of these symptoms can be dizzying, www.governancetoday.co.in

including everything from cardiovascular problems to depression to muscle and joint pains. Over time, individuals suffering from MCS will begin to react adversely to substances that formerly did not affect them.

Tough action required

What is bothersome is the irony that pesticides are widely used in agriculture without paying much heed to the consequences of its unregulated and indiscriminate use. This fact has been known to our policy makers for nearly five decades but there is no action on the ground. Ironically, the size of spurious pesticide market in India has gone as high as 30 per cent by volume and 25 per cent by value and it is expected to reach 40 per cent by value of pesticides sold in the country by 2019, according to a study by industry body FICCI and the Tata Strategic Management Group.

It is high time to ensure safe manufacture, storage, distribution and use of pesticides. Still awaiting the passage of Pesticide Management Bill 2008 that is pending in Parliament. The bill, which seeks to regulate manufacture, inspection, testing and distribution of pesticides alongside levying heavy penalties for violations, is meant to replace the Insecticides Act, 1968. The agriculture ministry regulates the manufacture, sale, transport, distribution, export, import and use of pesticides under the 1968 law.

Besides, broadly speaking, the Central Insecticides Board advises the central and state governments on technical matters.

Regulations are implemented largely by state governments. Approval for the use of pesticides and new formulations on crops is given by the Registration Committee of the Central Insecticide Board. The health and family welfare ministry monitors and regulates pesticide levels in food, and sets limits for residues in food commodities.

While some regulators say there are good structures in place for pesticide regulation, and add that their effectiveness varies from state to state because much of the enforcement is left to state governments,many manufacturers beg to differ, saying that current structures breed corruption and encourage the ‘inspector raj’.

Taking discrepancies into account, what the country needs is a well-coordinated policy, which is implemented in a transparent fashion.

According to experts, the food safety officials are supposed to inspect pesticide manufacturers’ premises at least twice a year, and dealers’ premises three times annually. They are also supposed to inspect all food retail outlets to ensure safe food. But the beginning has to take place in the official apparatus to ensure zero tolerance for such activities. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

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Cultural Diplomacy

Conquering hearts Art and culture has become an important part of diplomacy and India is deploying its cultural assets well a glimpse into India’s rich traditions and history.

Projecting India’s soft power

India is influencing the world through its culture

Lekshmi Parameswaran India, the land of TajMahal is an oft repeated idea the world over.

Such is the importance of culture in defining a nation’s identity that it becomes inextricably linked to the way it is seen in the global arena. India with its rich history and traditions has been at an advantage while projecting its image culturally. The multi-culturalism prevalent all across the country has always helped it to strike the right chord in the minds of people from different parts of the world. The present Modi Government has fully understood this aspect of India and has gone a step ahead than any other government to spread the idea of India in every nook and corner of the globe.

While there is no doubt that International Yoga Day which saw the participation of 192 countries remains the biggest successIndia has had till date on the international front, there are certain other developments that are 70 I November 2015

equally important in furthering India’s reach. The very recent and the most important of all is the government’s plan to develop Bodh Gaya as Bhuddism’s spiritual capital. A lot many years would have gone by since the spread of Buddhism, but devotees still see India as the most important place of pilgrimage.

In a scenario like this, can there be any place better than the place of Buddha’s enlightenment itself to spread this universal idea of brotherhood? With India’s diplomatic relations with her neighbors experiencing quite a strain in the recent past, this perhaps is the best way to show how intricately connected many of the South Asian nations are in reality.

The Sanskrit Conference held in Bangkok and the first conference on contemporary relevance of Bhagavad Gita are the other events that have helped further the idea of India as a cultural powerhouse. The Festivals of India and the Indian cultural centers abroad are the other means by which outsiders get

The question that most definitely follows here is whether this is an attempt to turn India into a soft super power, a concept that takes a leaf out of Joseph Nye’s writings. The answer is cultural diplomacy is a narrower term whereas soft power is an all-encompassing idea.

While soft power has all its focus on the nation-state, cultural diplomacy tries to bring people together by identifying areas of commonality. The results of this are never immediate but it slowly crawls its way to leave a lasting impact.

Be it Bollywood, Indian books, Indian cuisineor the contributions of the Indian diaspora to their countries of residence, it is the very idea of India that people outside come to identify with. For them India no longer remains a hostile entity but a country where there prevails a vibrant and diversified culture.

Cultural diplomacy is the first step in making India into that global soft power envisioned by many inside and outside the country. Before India can have the absolute power of negotiation while dealing with other nations, it has to establish itself as a country that is transparent and democratic. For countries that do not have the economic, political or military prowess, it is the cultural side of India that can establish an instant connect. When they are exposed to the similarities and dissimilarities of their cultures in comparison to the Indian culture, what emerges is an India that is real and accessible.

Even for countries that look at each other with suspicion, culture can be a great factor for dousing the fears.

Recently the restorationof the 2000 year old Nangchen Stupa with Lord Buddha’s relics sent by Emperor Ashokain China by an Indian monk is a case in point.

These are times when culture bridges the www.governancetoday.co.in

gap between two populations who are never certain of how to view each other.

Why cultural diplomacy?

Apart from generating goodwill amongst different nations, is there anything more to cultural diplomacy?

The benefits of such an approach to relation building are endless. This paves the way for people to have a better understanding of the country not just culturally but also politically and economically. The bilateral cultural agreements and the cultural programs bring with it an element of trust that gets trickled down to the psyche of respective populations.

Kathak Danseuse Shovana Narayanan points to the spread of the English system of education as an example of the penetrative power of cultural diplomacy. “Cultural diplomacy should be seen outside the realm of performing and visual arts. It lingers on in the psyche of people and it is a latent philosophical thread that binds people together. Though in the 1970s India was known, it is only now that there is a fair understanding of what India is.

They are many in the Asian diaspora who see the programs that we do as a means to get in touch with their roots.

The standing ovation that we receive is a testimony to the fact that people now are able to identify with the idea of modern India”, she adds. (For more, read the full interview in later pages) Considering India’s need to be seen as a non-aggressive power, cultural diplomacy becomes all the more important. While pitching for reforms in the United Nations Security Council, it will be the idea of a country that is willing to co-operate with all other nations, will go a long way in ensuring support of other nations.

There are also other opportunities that get opened up on other fronts.

When people are able to see the strides that India has taken in various sectors, there gets created a curiosity to know more about the country. For people looking for new avenues, India becomes a place where they can take risks while expecting to get results. This in particular benefits the Indian economy.

The increased inflow of tourists, the portfolio and direct investments and the www.governancetoday.co.in

growing number of expat population in many ways point to the acceptance that India is now getting on the global front.

The importance of this link between culture and commerce is not understood by many nations. The present government has rightly identified the importance of involving the citizens of any nation in its quest to build brand India.Here the private players are also equally involved in spreading awareness about the nation.

Unexplored avenues

In spite of all the achievements that India has had in spreading the idea of cultural diplomacy, there is still a long way to go before the country can establish a strong foothold in the global

to name a few. The achievements of India especially in the areas of space, communication and technology should be projected so that India will be seen as a nation that has something to give back to the world.

Another aspect that can be looked at is to popularize the Indian languages abroad.Many universities in Germany and the United States offer Sanskrit as part of their course. India should tap into this and offer all those who are interested in the study of Indian languages a chance to study in the respective state universities. One interesting thing to note here is that Max Muller whose name is taken as the most important Sanskrit scholars and who played a substantial part in popularizing Indian

The International Yoga Day was a big success

platform. One way to strengthen it is by diversifying the festivals of India abroad to include not just a few well known cities but to take it to remote towns all over the world. When it comes to cultural relations it is always the human to human bonds that will help in the image building of the nation.

The idea of India as a friendly nation should penetrate deep enough to let the country garner support for its policies and programs on all stages. The power of public opinion in deciding a country’s policy should not be overlooked.

India should once again pursue the policy of cultural exchange programs with great vigor. It is essential for people from all walks of life to come to India and have an understanding of the opportunities that are available. This in addition to contributing to the positive image building will also help expand the scope of fields like art, science, economics

culture was a German. This is the real power of cultural diplomacy. It should get an outside population interested in India’s heritage and that interest should result in spreading the culture of India throughout.

In a world which is increasingly becoming war wary and where there are talks of disarmament being heard very faintly, it will be the people to people bond that will help in sustaining the global order. If used rightlyit is a powerful tool in the hands of India to win back its lost allies and make new ones. The aim should be to acquaint people from across the length and breadth of the world to Indian culture and in the process initiate a system which would aid in the effective transfer of values across nations. Only this can help overcome the cultural barriers and make knowledge gathering meaningful. lekshmi@governancetoday.co.in

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interview

Performing arts, first window to a nation Kathak Guru Shovana Narayan has many achievements to her credit.

An accomplished dancer who is known for constantly reinventing herself with her dance, she has been instrumental in taking the idea of India to different parts of the world. Her tenure as an officer of the Indian Audits and Accounts Service has given her not just an understanding of the Indian Administration but has also made her the best ambassador to propagate the cultural ethos of the country. In an interview with ‘Governance Today,’ she speaks about the concept of cultural diplomacy and its importance in bringing the nations together.

Cultural diplomacy is a very broad concept and there is still no comprehensive definition that has evolved. How would you define the term?

Since the main aim of cultural diplomacy is to wield influence over another community/ group/nation through exchange of ideas, information, art and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples thus fostering the spirit of mutual understanding, what is important is the manner in which this is held.

Behavioural attitudes play significant role in this entire process.

Body language and actions are potent means of communications that may either make or break relationships.

Difficult situations and adversities can be overcome with a positive approach and attitude of consideration, graciousness, thoughtfulness and elegance. Therefore such exchanges should be devoid of arrogance and misdemeanour and that diversity, difference of opinions, dissenting views 72 I November 2015

should be respected. In the long run, it is this attitude that bears fruits.

You have been taking your dance form to many countries. Have you been able to identify a common thread that links India to the rest of the world?

The seven basic notes of the musical scale, rhythm and body language are the common links – linking people and artistes and art forms all over the globe. It is fascinating to see how easily dance, communicating through body movements and gestures, overcome all language barriers.

After all, several gestures (barring the culture specific ones), emotions and sense of rhythm are universal. Another aspect is how classical music and dance, be it Indian or Western, evokes a strong sense of spirituality as they form a bridge between the mundane and the mystical and elevate the soul to a higher level of consciousness.

Indian art and culture has always had an audience in other countries. Has this increased understanding of Indian art and culture translated into an increased understanding of the way our country as a nation functions?

The enhanced interest and appreciation of Indian art and culture has also whetted the appetite to know more about India. Several have certainly embarked on this journey.

How effective an arm is ICCR in the realm of cultural diplomacy? Have programs like Festivals of India achieved its stated objectives?

Sure. Such Festivals have drawn the attention of the uninitiated too along with the already initiated members of the larger global society. Such attention gave birth in few members of the then uninitiated members of the audience to make an effort to know more about India as a nation with all its diversities.

In the long run, these members become the unofficial ‘ambassadors’ of India and Indian culture. However, it also largely depends on their experiences in India for a positive experience results in good ambassadors but negative experiences prove harmful for the image of the country.

What is the role of performing arts in enhancing cultural diplomacy? What according to you is the best tool that can be employed to create the people to people bond?

Performing arts is the first window to draw attention to a nation. Once attention is drawn then an interest to know more about the country is ignited and propels the individual to take concrete steps to fulfil this urge to know and experience. The cultural diversity that can be seen through our classical performing dance forms, each so distinct and attractive yet at the same time echoing spirituality, Indian philosophy and innate core of Indian-ness, have never failed to evoke

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admiration, awe and the urge to explore this country.

I do remember when in 1994, in an ICCR presentation at 6 metros of India, in the first ever triad involving Kathak, Western Classical Dance and Spanish Flamenco was being performed by me, Christian Rovny (lead dancer of Vienna State Opera) and Dario Arboleda respectively with our supporting musicians, all speaking different languages, yet we understood each other perfectly through the language of dance and music. Till today the bond of friendship that developed between us exists and that does prove the fact that people to people bonding can occur, sustain and become long lasting friendships. But it is equally important to remember that the common human failings of ego and one-upmanship should not be allowed to make inroads.

In the context of India’s neighbourhood, there is an increasing distrust that is seen amongst its neighbours. How far can cultural diplomacy help India in winning back its allies?

Performing arts is surely a platform where people of different nations come together. While performing artistes are opening the doors and windows of understanding on a shared platform, however, it is equally important that care should be taken by other members of society especially organisers and members of the audience and society at large that their behaviour and utterances should be such that the atmosphere is charged with civility, respect, consideration, courtesy, elegance and graciousness. As Lord Buddha said “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours…”

Can you think of an example where cultural diplomacy has played a major part in forging www.governancetoday.co.in

Shovana Narayan

long lasting ties between nations?

Who can forget the contributions of Rabindranath Tagore, Uday Shankar, Raj Kapoor, Pt Ravi Shankar, Zubin Mehta who opened the portals of interest not only for India but also within India itself.

What should be the future course India should take to develop its soft power?

I would strongly advocate nurturing our traditional classical performing arts as they live and breathe tradition while moving with times. However, just by showcasing Indian arts and culture is not enough, for the term ‘culture’ encompasses behavioural attitudes and

actions. Here again Buddha’s saying comes to mind that we have to learn to ‘first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.’

We tend to forget the Upanishad words of wisdom echoed by Mahatma Gandhi at all times that anger is the enemy of non-violence and that pride is a monster that swallows it up. Chinese General of 5th century BC, Sun Tzu opines that ‘the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting’.

Similarly, the supreme success of diplomacy is to win over the minds and hearts of nations through the soft power of cultural diplomacy without resorting to violence.

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Book review

An interesting chronicle of Bihar politics

The book tells a compelling story of the caste ridden politics of the state and much more Feature Desk There are two types of people.

Onelikes to discuss politics and another likes to read about it. For the first kind, sitting on a small chai shop anywhere in Bihar would be enough, but the latter had very limited avenues. Interestingly, Bihar politics findslot of space in political discourse but not much has been written and published about the political history of the state. Ruled or Misruled: The Story and the Destiny of Biharattempts to fill that void.

The book begins with an interesting tale of the Congress politics in 50s and 60s and why Bihar was among the first statesthat the party lost. The book blames, and rightly so, the working culture of the grand old party of India which did not allow leadership from the state to grow.At one place, the writer quotespresent Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Kumar Choudharyas saying “My father was a Congress MLA from 1952 to 2000, but he was not made AICC member.” This shows how the state leaders were treated and how the party never cared about them. The book also gives an insight into the loss of fortune of the party, with numerable instances, and tries to explain how the grand old party lost a social base which cannot be retrieved.

The rise of Lalu Prasad has been impressively chronicled, but very few will like to read about him. He is a kind of leader who looks good onlyon television and media as he successfully crafted his style similar to the fictional characterLoha Singh.The man is responsible for backwardness of that used to be intellectual centre once. There is hardly other political regime which is so dreadful as the one was under Lalu.

The writer impressively covers the law and order situation under Lalu Rabri 74 I November 2015

Ruled or Misruled: The Story and Destiny of Bihar by Santosh Singh Bloomsbury ` 499 regime, but it fails to capture the social and economic cost of the same. Had the book coveredthe dismal social indicators and backwardness even of those who voted Lalu to power, it would have amply explained the red surge in the state in late 90s. Over 2,000people died in massacre that took place in Lalu’s regime.

The book dedicates a big section on Nitish Kumar who became the CM at the time when the people of Bihar had lost hope and idea of governance. It seemed impossible to think of a law and order situation in the state. Before going into the story of the change in governance that Nitish tediously brought about, the writer lays out an interesting background in which he became NDA face of Bihar.

Through a meticulous political analysis, the book argues that Nitish was the choice of the BJP, more precisely the Vajpayee brigade. This was a unique situation where a bigger party had chosen a leader from a smaller party as a face of the coalition. Nitish had delivered as a Railway minister, but the defeat of Vajpayee in 2004 brought a big setback for the man from Kalyanbigha, a small village of Nalanda district. The book gives an interesting tale of how Nitish

built his image and proved a winner in 2005 Bihar Assembly polls.

His stint as a Bihar CM more or less worked for bringing back the state from the state of chaos. He brought back law and order to the state and worked extensively for improving the infrastructure. The book is full of instances where his skills were tested as an administrator and a politician.

The writer picked three parameters to analyze Nitish’s regime, law and order, infrastructure and education. More or less the book agrees that Nitish delivered on each. His officers were handpicked who worked very hard for the development of the state.

When NDA was re-elected in 2010, this was a turning point in the political life ofNitish. This was the first time, the book argues, that he might have thought of becoming a PM. ‘Power goes into his head’ the writer says. He took many unpopular decisions too, like scrapping of MPLAD funds and ordering every minister to declare their assets. In the meantime, Nitish took a wrong political decision too. It was the misjudgment of the mood of his coalition partner.

He might have thought of becoming a PM candidate, similar to the lines of what happened in Bihar. He did not realize that Narendra Modi was already building a wave around his Gujarat model that was to blow opponents away in 2014 elections, Nitish included. The book reinforces the idea that politics and governance are different things.

The writer has kept topics on present perspectives also. The state polls will be a testing time for both the NDA and the JD(U). But it is live or die situation for Nitish. His ‘bade bhai’ has nothing left to achieve in politics, but a loss could devastate the political survival of Nitish, leave alone his ambition to become PM.

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