Urban Update November 2021

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VII, Issue VII

November 2021

Cities finding ways to become plastic-free

Cities of the future must be zero plastic

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

AIILSG The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

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UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG. Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Dr Jairaj Phatak Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor Ashley Paul Senior Sub-Editor

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ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate

UrbanUpdate

Volume VII, Issue VI

Volume VII, Issue V

Volume VII, Issue VII

NoVember 2021

OctOber 2021

Cities finding ways to become plastic-free

September 2021

Cities to lead ‘Race to Zero’

Indian cities have to lead

Radhika Matta Shivi Sharma Editorial Assistants Arjun Singh Digital Marketing Associate

UrbanUpdate

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Pooja Upadhyay Trainee Reporter

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

SDG movement

Cities of the future must be zero plastiC

‘Gazab Ghaziabad’ will be clean, green, & inclusive

Stop passing the buck on Climate CRiSiS aCtionS “Indian cities proved their mettle during the pandemic” AIILSG

European Union AIILSG

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project The project is implementedThe by the AIILSG.is funded by the European Union.

The project is funded by the European Union.

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November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Editorial

Dr Jairaj Phatak | Editor-In-Chief | dg@aiilsg.org

The environment needs urgent focus The two-week long Conference of Parties (COP26), a major global event, concluded recently in the United Kingdom. This annual event is among those that would have profound impact on the well-being of mankind and indeed of this planet for all time to come. The outcome was mixed.

The nearly 200 countries present adopted an outcome document which, in the words of UN Secretary-General, “reflects the interests, the contradictions, and the state of political will in the world today”. He said in a statement at the close of the meeting, “It is an important step but is not enough. We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.” There were several elements such as ending fossil fuel subsidies, phasing out coal, putting a price on carbon, protecting vulnerable communities, and the $100 billion commitment by rich countries towards climate finance. The UN Chief added, “We did not achieve these goals at this conference. But we have some building blocks for progress,” as he noted, “We are in the fight of our lives, a fight that must be won.” One hopes for further all-round rapid progress at the global level so we are able to ward off the biggest threat as yet to our civilization.

This issue of Urban Update focuses on another pressing environmental issue, namely the scourge of plastic waste. The humungous quantity of plastic waste being generated all over the globe has now acquired alarming proportions; it has permeated all dimensions of the ecology, including our oceans, putting ocean life and the entire underwater ecosystem to great threat. No wonder there are urgent calls all around to find lasting solutions to the plastic menace. While many have called for efficient collection and recycling of the material, many say that we must find alternate materials and do away with plastic altogether. But this is easier said than done. As we all know, plastic is a very versatile material. It is light, durable, rust proof, resilient to shocks (unbreakable), and above all, inexpensive. No wonder we see plastic all around us – from the humble water bottle to our office computer and printer, our television set, and so on. Just see the amount of plastic in our cars, motorcycles and even in aircrafts. Plastic is indeed the wonder material. Polymer science is able to craft its composition to meet varying requirements – from the ordinary kitchen vessel to the high-end spacecraft component (engineering plastics). The problem with plastic is related to its end-of-life disposal. In other words, plastic is a great friend while in use but an enemy of the planet once it turns into waste.

Therefore, the solution could be to keep plastic items in use for longer. Polymer science must develop varieties of the material that remain robust, resilient, and retain their properties for longer while also keeping the material affordable. So we could see much lower amount of plastic waste generation. As a corollary, single use plastic must surely be removed from our lives and many of its forms must be banned.

We trust that the articles in this issue can provide greater insights and generate more informed debate on the subject.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

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Quotes

The reason why we saw such sluggish progress toward gender equality, is because of lack of political will and lack of investment. Cooperation, multi-stakeholder cooperation, and investment is what we want to see going forward

Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It’s one minute to midnight on that Doomsday clock and we need to act now

Lopa Banerjee Executive Coordinator, Generation Equality Forum

Boris Johnson Prime Minister, United Kingdom

PIN POINT

So much of the conversation in urban planning is buildings talking to buildings, and they forget that there are human beings living inside and underneath these buildings

Suketu Mehta Journalist and Pulitzer prize winner

If people move voluntarily in order to find a better life, it is a great way and it vitalizes the economy.

Displacement does not happen all of a sudden. We need to understand and mitigate risks so that people are not forced to move Mami Mizutori Head, United Nations Office for DRR

BUZZ Durga Shanker Mishra

George Soros

The International Water

Claudia Sadoff

Secretary, MoHUA, GoI

Founder, Open Society Foundations

Management Institute (IWMI)

MD, Research Delivery & Impact, CGIAR

@Secretary_MoHUA

@georgesoros

@IWMI

@ClaudiaSadoff

Central Vista will bring all 51 Central Govt Ministries to 10 Common Central Secretariat buildings offering proximity & ease of inter-departmental movement to enable more efficient & productive functioning

Many families are missing out on aid and loans to repair their homes when disaster strikes. Without reform, this systemic issue will only get worse with the climate crisis

Drought, flood, hunger, health, and pollution are all linked to water.

Our vision is for a water-secure world. And we’re hoping that @COP26 will get us closer to that goal

The climate crisis is exacerbating the degradation of food, land and water systems, impacting productivity, viability and resilience. Investments secured at #COP26 will accelerate @CGIAR’s climate adaptation and mitigation work

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November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Content

Inside Volume 7, Issue 7

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Pin Point Newscan

13 46

City Image Urban Agenda

November 2021

Girl Power Project

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A platform to support women entrepreneurs

Cover Story

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Cities of the future must be zero plastic Plastic is one of the deadliest creations of man, being non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle.

Only a few decades old, plastic waste has scourged the environment and has already begun changing natural ecosystems, particularly oceans and areas around landfills. As millions of tonnes of plastic waste is generated every day, ‘what can be the remedy to plastic?’ remains the one to be answered

One ON ONE Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Addl Chief Secy, Govt of UP

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New-age India will emerge from its villages rather than cities Urban growth in India has been often termed as the reason for India’s overall development. However, urbanrural migration is also a cause of concern, as more and more people are now moving to cities in search of better opportunities, thereby putting exceptional pressure on their civic services. In such a case, it is important to direct that migration away from cities. One of the prime ways of doing that is by developing rural India.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh is making use of this approach, aiming to make rural areas self-sufficient in all aspects. To know more about how the government is doing this and how the state’s farmers are being encouraged to sustainably increase their yields, Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviewed Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Sugar Industry & Cane Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh

LEADERSPEAK

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Cities finding ways to become plastic-free With consumption patterns changing, the use of single-use plastic has increased manifold in the last few decades. Now cities are realizing the significance of going plastic-free, it is necessary to provide sustainable alternatives locally and create an enabling environment for businesses and consumers to shun plastic forever

Articles

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Toxic Plastic & Sick Seas

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Circular economy or no future of cities

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Commerce platforms commit to go plastic-free

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Is there no hope for a net-zero future?

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What is new with SBM 2.0!

42

Lessons from the government’s social protection measures during the second wave of COVID-19

EventUrban75

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AIILSG launches Urban75 Initiative www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

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Girl Power Project

Jharkhand Mahila Social Entrepreneurship Market Connect

A platform to support women entrepreneurs Team girl power project

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n the occasion of Diwali, one of India’s biggest festivals, Jharkhand Mahila Social Entrepreneurship Market Connect (JMSEMC) under Girl Power Project organized a two-day marketing event. The event aimed at providing a platform for women artisans/entrepreneurs in displaying a range of festival-specific products.

This event played a major role in connecting buyers and women entrepreneurs who are involved in making a range of handmade products like diyas, candles, flowers, paper lanterns, dolls, incense sticks, bamboo products, lamps, lac bangles, sweets, and masks. For ensuring maximum footfall of customers, a few strategies were adopted by Girl Power Team which constituted components of the marketing mix.

As per the Jerome McCarthy model,

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the marketing mix consists of seven key elements that are involved in the marketing of the product or service.

In line with this model, the JMSEMC adopted these elements for effectively marketing products of women artisans.

The key elements for the seven Ps are Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical Evidence.

As the first step towards the event, the team went on to identify the local women artisans/entrepreneurs from Ranchi who were making items that have a huge demand during the Diwali.

Visits were made and meetings were conducted with the entrepreneurs to understand their product range and marketing potential.

The first P of the marketing mix is the Product relevant for the event. As per our market survey, we shortlisted the products, which could stand out in the market in terms of quality, variants, and unique features. The products that were displayed were

decorative flowers, diyas and candles.

The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of our products were – ‘handmade’ and ‘eco-friendly’ products ‘sourced from the local artisans’. Our USP went very well with the Government of India’s campaign “Vocal for Local”. The second P - Price, played an important role in the sale of the products. The women artisans were encouraged to price the products keeping in mind cost-benefit analysis and breakeven point. For the third P Place, the team approached Ranchi Municipal Corporation, who supported JMSEMC’s initiative.

The authority granted permission to display the products in Morabadi ground, which is a central place, in order to attract customers. The team also displayed the products near our JMSEMC office in Lalpur. For Promotion, pre-buzz activities were carried out through social media posts and circulating the same by the team in their contacts. Fifth P of marketing mix - People, was taken care of by the Girl Power Team.The team actively participated in the event by being involved in promotional activities, customer handling, and support in packaging the products. The Process component was involved through research and development activities that were conducted before the event for assessment of demand, the team went on to explore the local markets to assess the price, products and demand of similar products. Physical Evidence, the last P of the marketing mix, involved activities like sales experience, and product packaging. A general verbal feedback was taken from the potential customers that reached our kiosk during the event.

As the Girl Power team geared up for the two day Diwali event, our main focus was to give an exposure to

the women artisans who have limited access to the marketing opportunities.

Through this event, we involved individual artisans as well as the women of the Self Help Groups, who also felt motivated as they got market exposure

through this initiative. The event began on October 31 morning in Morabadi and the response received from the locals on the initial day itself was very encouraging. The stall remained open for the public from 07:00 AM to

05:30 PM. One of the locals said, “The quality of the products is superior to the commercially produced decorative items in factories, which is why they opted to help the women of the Self Help Groups.”

All the decorative items displayed were prepared and packed at home by the women. A few of the buyers even enquired about similar products and wanted to indulge in bulk orders directly from the SHGs groups to start off their venture. The Diwali event also acted as an eye-opener for urban buyers who were unaware of local artisans’ talent. In today’s times, given people’s preference for ethnic wear, handmade items, and exclusive gifts, our stall gave proper exposure to the art of women of the self-help groups. A woman of Niti Self Help Group prepared handmade flowers from corn husk, stocking, and paper, which helped to attract people, especially housewives, in large numbers at the stall. The cost of one flower stick varied from `20 to `80, depending on its size, material used, and labor cost.

Similarly, colorful hand painted clay lamps – diyas - with intricate designs were, also the center of attraction as they could add to home decor creating a warm ambience during Diwali Puja and parties. The eye-pleasing colorful set of 12 diyas was also seen an ideal gifting item.

A majority of self-help groups had faced problem of low footfall during the pandemic, which also resulted in shutting down of their enterprises. Therefore, the event brought employment opportunities for the women who were otherwise struggling to sell their products in the marketplace during the festival time. With events like this, the Girl Power Project aims to identify similar opportunities which could leverage their art and skills and generate some income towards supporting their livelihoods. The future strategy of the project is to provide an online e-commerce platform for such SHGs which will provide a wider market, will directly benefit the women, and will be able to generate a stable source of income for their better future.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

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AIILSG Diary

DG, AIILSG launches Mental Health Innovation for Indigenous Populations The special focus of the program is on children of AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T

AIILSG Director General Dr Jairaj Phatak’s field visit to AIILSG’s TARFAH tribal development model

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n October 10, the World Mental Health Day 2021- the Director General, AIILSG, Dr Jairaj Phatak, IAS (Retd) launched AIILSG’s Mental Health Innovation for Indigenous Populations, with special focus on children. The program and innovation is designed by AIILSG’s International Centre of Equity & Inclusion for Transformation (ICEQUI-T). This year’s theme for the day of “Mental Health Care for All: let’s make it a reality” has an implicit crucial reference to the indigenous populations as their mental health concerns have hitherto remained neglected. The children from these indigenous populations are among the worst affected, especially during the COVID-19 era as the impact of pandemic on mental well-being exacerbated.

Thus, very aptly, the launch of this program was held in the remote tribal field action area of AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T in Palghar district. Holding the

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program in this area is an embodiment of AIILSG’s commitment to the cause, as the area is known for the forest dweller tribes and ‘Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups’ (PVTGs) in deep clutches of poverty, marked by high malnourishment of tribal children and reporting tribal child malnourishment mortalities.

The insights gained by the team from on-field efforts with all types of indigenous tribes in India (forest dwellers, nomadic, PVTGs, very peculiar cases of racial discrimination such as Siddi tribes which is Afro-descendant) indicates that these indigenous groups also face discrimination-based risks to mental health, apart from those arising from marginalisation. The stigma has an impact on mental health and exacerbate them especially for children and youth. It is important to safeguard the mental health and psychosocial well-being of children to enable them to reach their full potential.

Dr Jairaj Phatak during his speech and on-field-mentoring, dwelt into

the important role towards the cause of each stakeholder such as local governments, communities, parents, etc. He also emphasized the uniqueness of AIILSG’s said innovation vis-a-vis focus on the indigenous populations in line with the World Health Organization’s theme for this year - Enabling mental health for “ALL”.

In its usual spirit of shunning extravaganza, the team held the event in remote indigenous ‘openair conference’ space. The team with this unique approach had also held an international conference with 102 dignitaries from 21 countries in pre-COVID past. Moreover, AIILSG considers ‘youth’ in India and globally as SDG advocates and torch bearers of the cause. Despite higher numbers of interests received, the participation to the event was kept limited- due to the COVID-19 situation- to youth representatives from 5 countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tazikistan and Yemen). They expressed willingness to be the ambassadors of

the cause in their respective countries and endeavor multiplier effect globally.

AIILSG sees the issue of mental health of indigenous children with dedicated focus as well as an inherent constituent of its model for holistic tribal development- TARFAH (Transformative Actions for Rural Development, Food security and Health). Therefore the Director General with the Director of AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T Dr Mukesh Kanaskar, made it a point to visit the TARFAH model in action in deep interiors of the tribal area. The Director General of AIILSG, traversing on foot the remote tough terrain with access further aggravated by recent heavy rains served a demonstration of AIILSG’s commitment to the cause of the indigenous tribes.

About AIILSG’s Mental Health Innovation for Indigenous Children: AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T has been undertaking initiatives for improving lives of the indigenous populations since a decade. With keen focus on indigenous children, AIILSG’s Shikshan Ranjan Kendra model has

brought about holistic development and enablement of children’s rights for more than 17,000 disadvantaged children, many of them belonging to indigenous tribes. A unique feature of this work by AIILSG is that probably it is among handful organisations in the world which works with all types of indigenous children. Its efforts towards enabling mental health for indigenous children rendered greater insights into the mental health issues of indigenous children. A stark realisation was the urgent need for disseminating mental health messages in non-verbose manner, through edutainment, using traditional tribal art forms, and in ways easily understood by children and adults including those who are illiterates. This aspect is very crucial as many indigenous children benefitting from AIILSG’s field actions are first generation learners with their parents deprived of educational opportunities.

Thus, de-mystification through edutainment at AIILSG’s grassroots action‘innovations for indigenous children’ in the mental health context takes

AIILSG Director General Dr Jairaj Phatak’s address at launch of AIILSG’s Mental Health Innovation for Indigenous Populations

form of street theatre, puppet show, use of traditional tribal art forms that are embedded in their socio-cultural context and finds easy acceptance by the indigenous populations as it helps to alleviate stigma associated with discussing openly on mental health.

The visual simplified depiction of various facets associated with the mental health of indigenous children and conveying to parents and other stakeholders their roles, Dos and Don’ts is another important constituent of this AIILSG innovation.

Moreover, the conventional mental health efforts generally resort to generalisation. However, considering the diversity in sociocultural context of the indigenous communities, cultural-customization of these messages is crucial to help the respective communities for them to develop a connect with the cause. A core strength and an in-built sustainability enabler embedded in AIILSG’s Shikshan Kendra Model is that a local person, usually a young-woman, and youth volunteers are groomed as Mentor of children. They are trained in various aspects of children’s rights and their holistic development. The tailormade deliverance of Mental Health dissemination through well-trained cadre of Shikshan Mitras is another crucial aspect of this innovation.

The innovation also re-emphasizes AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T thrust on ‘youth’ (especially from disadvantaged sections) as enablers of social transformation and SDGs at the grassroots as well as globally, as is manifested in its past innovations of: MY SDG2 (Mentoring Youth for Sustainable Development 2: End Hunger & Malnutrition), MY SDG4 (Mentoring Youth for Sustainable Development 4: Fostering Innovations Culture & Scientific Temper in Children from a Young Age), MY SDG 8 (Mentoring Youth for Sustainable Development 8: Building Capacities of Youth for Enabling Inclusive Growth & Productive Employment), BALTARFAH: Enabling Innovations: Onfield schools with Children, etc.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

11

NEWSCAN

Pledges at COP26 but dire need of concrete actions

NEW DELHI: The United Nations Climate Change Conference has been taking place every year since 1995.

The COP is the official name for climate conferences of nations. COP26 was held between November 1 and November 12 this year. The two-week summits have become an important space for stakeholders to discuss and plan actions around climate crisis on a global level. The participants are the nations that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty addressing climate change. In fact, effectively, every nation, country, or state in the world is involved, giving a total of 197 signatory parties.

The 26th COP was supposed to take place in Glasgow, United Kingdom, in November 2020. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and

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stringent lockdowns across the world, it was postponed to this year. The first week of the summit witnessed officials discussing technical issues like carbon credits, funding for countries vulnerable to climate change, and nature-based solutions against the rising problem. Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, welcomed the heads of about 120 states and 25,000 delegates. He said that the anger and the impatience of the world would be uncontainable “unless we make this COP26 in Glasgow the moment that we get real about climate change.” Two climate change activists followed the address of Boris Johnson and called on leaders for bold actions.

Poet Yrsa Daley-Ward also addressed the leaders with her poem titled ‘Earth to COP’, which included the lines: “Anything less than your best is too much to pay. Anything later than now,

too little, too late. Nothing will change without you.” Displaying less optimism and more acceptance of reality on the very first day of the conference, António Guterres, Secretary General, UN, dismissed the suggestion that the climate situation was improving, and exhorted the more than 120 national leaders present to “choose to safeguard our future and save humanity” instead of continuing with the addiction to fossil fuels. António Guterres took the podium with a blunt opening message on the first day: “The six years since the Paris Climate Agreement have been the six hottest years on record.

Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink”. “We face a stark choice. Either we stop it - or it stops us,” he added. He emphasized that even if the recent pledges were clear and credible - and there are serious questions about some of

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged that the nation will meet the target of net zero emissions by 2070.

‘Net Zero’ emission implies a situation where all the carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases produced are completely absorbed via natural solutions or through the use of advanced technology.

India also made a commitment of getting half of its energy from renewable resources by 2030 them - we are still careening towards climate catastrophe. He said, “So, as we open this much anticipated climate conference, we are still heading for climate disaster.”

Sir David Frederick Attenborough, English broadcaster, natural historian and author, called for a new industrial revolution powered by millions of sustainable innovations to counter the terrible decline caused due to the previous industrial revolution. He said that humans are the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth.

Guterres said that G20 countries have key responsibility of mitigation and immediate concrete action to reduce global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, because they represent around 80 per cent of the emissions. Moreover, he suggested that countries revisit their national climate plans and policies, not every five years, but every year, if

commitments fall short by the end of COP26. Guterres also announced the establishment of a Group of Experts to propose clear standards to measure and analyse net zero commitments from non-state actors, because he mentioned that there is a deficit of credibility and a surplus of confusion over emissions reductions and net zero targets, with different meanings and different metrics.

Over 20 countries and financial institutions at the COP26 vowed to halt all financing for fossil fuel development overseas, and to divert that money, estimated at around $8 billion a year, to green energy. The signatories for the same included the US, UK, Denmark, and some developing countries, including Costa Rica. The European Investment Bank is one of the financial institutions involved. In addition, a finance pledge was made, also known as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). Under this, by 2050, all assets managed by hundreds of the world’s biggest banks and pension funds will be aligned with net zero emissions. Cristián Samper, an ecologist and President of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City, commented that the involvement of the financial sector and of ministers of finance and energy in the meeting is a game-changer.

One of the biggest commitments came from India as its Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pledged that the nation will meet the target of net zero emissions by 2070. ‘Net Zero’ emission implies a situation where all the carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases produced are completely absorbed via natural solutions or through the use of advanced technology. India also made a commitment of getting half of its energy from renewable resources by 2030. Many scientists have been skeptical about mid-century net-zero pledges, partially because it is easier to make long-term promises but hard to make the difficult short-term decisions that are required to meet those pledges. But India’s commitment comes as a good change as it includes measurable near-term targets, such

as a pledge to provide 50 per cent of the nation’s power through renewable resources and to reduce projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.

Joe Biden, President of the United States of America, started his address by saying that if world leaders came together and commit, they could keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. He said that Glasgow has to be the kick off of a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future, for climate change is already costing nations millions of lives and dollars every year. Biden said that his government will soon release a long term plan as well to enable the country to become a net zero emitter by 2050.

More than 130 countries also pledged to halt and reverse forest-loss and land degradation by 2030. The signatories, including Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia, are home to 90 per cent of the world’s forests. Additionally, a group of high-income countries, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and EU countries, has pledged $12 billion in public finance for forest protection between 2021 and 2025. However, they have not specified how the funding will be provided. A statement from the group said that governments intend on working closely with the private sector to leverage vital funding from private sources to deliver change at scale.

Referring to the pledges at COP26, Dr Niklas Höhne, Professor, New Climate Institute, said that none of the countries that have a net zero carbon emission target have so far implemented sufficient short-term policies to put itself on a trajectory towards it. Known for monitoring and assessing national carbon cutting plans, he said that “right now, it is more a vision, or imagination, and it is not matched by action.” Experts have noticed that despite repeated calls from developing countries for a larger share of the finance to be used to help them to adapt to higher temperatures, the focus is still on using the money to help them cut emissions.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

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BRIEFS | Newscan

Kerala awarded for most sustainable transport

Antony Raju, Minister of Road Transport, Motor Vehicles and Water Transport, Government of Kerala, said that Kerala’s Kochi has been awarded as the city with the most sustainable transport system. The award was presented to the state on October 29 in Delhi by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

The city has been awarded due to the exceptional work done in the Kochi Metro, Water Metro and e-mobility to improve transport facilities, said Raju.

ADB to aid Aizawl’s urban mobility, grants PRF loan worth $4.5 million AIZAWL: The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank signed a $4.5 million project readiness financing (PRF) loan on October 26. The funding will support project preparation and design activities to improve urban mobility and better manage the urban sprawl in Aizawl.

The proposal of funding the Aizawl Sustainable Urban Transport Project was signed between Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Activities, Ministry of Finance, and Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission.

The representative of ADB said that the PRF will assist the state in developing a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) that would outline the urban transport

development strategy. This would further assist in building synergies with urban development planning initiatives in Aizawl. Aizawl, though the center of the administrative and service industry of Mizoram, has largely constricted urban mobility. Its direct consequence has been traffic congestion on narrow roads and an adversely impacted road safety. Thus, a long-term plan is essential for Aizawl’s development. The PRF will strengthen the backbone of projects that are working towards resolving the city’s transport problems by adopting sustainable urban mobility solutions. The PRF will be conducting feasibility studies of projects that are underlined as priority in the CMP and prepare detailed project reports of the same.

“India all set to complete its climate goals”

Sustainable food system must to combat rise in hunger: UN Chief

Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, said that although India is not responsible for global warming, yet it is the only country among G20 which is well on track to realise its climate goals. He said this while addressing the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit 2021 which was held on October 19 in New Delhi. Kant said that independent studies have rated Indian efforts to address climate change as highly compliant with the requirements under the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

NEW DELHI: On the occasion of World Food Day this year, Antonio Guterres, SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, noted that almost 40 per cent of humanity, amounting to around three billion people in the world, cannot afford to eat healthy at present. World Food Day is celebrated on October 16 every year.

The UN Secretary-General noted that hunger and undernourishment are on the rise, and the economic impacts of COVID-19 have made the situation worse. He quoted a study’s data which established that the pandemic made an additional 140 million people unable to access the food they need.

In his address, Guterres mentioned how the way humans are producing, consuming, and wasting food has started taking a heavy toll on the planet. He warned how this pattern is an epoch-putting pressure on Earth’s natural resources, climate and natural environment, thereby costing humans trillions of dollars a year. Last month, the world had taken part in the UN Food Systems Summit which addressed the need to transform food systems everywhere in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2020.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that sustainable agri-food systems can offer food security and nutrition to everyone without compromising the economic, social, or environmental bases for generations to come. Collen V Kelapile, President, Economic and Social Council, said that the day highlights how access to science, technology and innovation, smart investments and cooperation can make “hunger a hardship of the past”.

14

November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

City Image

Germany unveils world’s first automated, driverless train German rail operator Deutsche Bahn and industrial group Siemens unveiled the world’s first automated, driverless train in the city of Hamburg on October 12, assessing it as more punctual and energy efficient than traditional trains. The train runs on digital technology and is fully automated. However, the driver remains on the train to supervise the journey with passengers on board. Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said automated trains offer “a more reliable” service “without having to lay a single kilometre of new track”.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

15

BRIEFS | Newscan

India bags 71st position on Global Food Security Index 2021

On the Global Food Security (GFS) Index 2021, India ranked 71st out of 113 countries.

Moreover, the country lags behind its immediate neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka in terms of food affordability, according to the report. Pakistan and Sri Lanka both scored comparatively better than India, with 52.6 and 62.9 points respectively in category of food affordability.

This information was released

by The Economist Impact and Corteva Agriscience on October 19. This GFS Index was devised

by London-based Economist Impact, and is sponsored by Corteva Agriscience.

Thane-Borivli twin tunnel project gains ground The Thane-Borivli twin road tunnel project has made headway with Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) proposing to de-reserve around 34 hectares (ha) of land within its bounds for the project. Around 8.4 ha in Majiwada-Manpada administrative ward was required for access to the ThaneBorivli road, a survey reported.

This proposal for changing the current reservation on the lands has been moved before the TMC. Officials said that a majority of the land is currently reserved for a botanical and zoological park, Thane Transport Depot, and a road development plan. These places will need to be altered to suit the project.

16

November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

World missed most 2020 mental health targets NEW DELHI: The recently released edition of Mental Health Atlas 2020 has found that the increased attention given to mental health in recent years has yet to result in a scaleup of quality mental services aligned with needs. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organisation (WHO), said that the world needs to act immediately on this wake-up call and substantially increase investment in mental health, because there is no health without mental health.

Dr Tarun Dua, Unit head of WHO, said that in order to build a better post COVID-19 world, it is crucial to invest in mental health data and services. She said that mental, neurological and substance abuse were the most disrupted health services during the pandemic. Dr Fahmy Hanna, Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, WHO, said that lost productivity costs a trillion dollars a year, and each dollar invested in mental health would yield a return of $5. According to the report, out of 171 countries assessed, none is close to achieving targets set for mental health. In 2020, only 51 per cent of WHO member countries reported that their mental health policy was in line with the international and regional human rights instruments, which falls way short of the target of 80 per cent. Only target that was met in 2020 was reduction in the rate of suicide by 10 per cent, but even then, only 35 per cent of the countries had a stand-alone prevention strategy, policy, or plan. The report revealed that governments’ health budgets spent on mental health has scarcely changed in the last two years and still hovers around two per cent.

Looming water crisis requires urgent attention GENEVA: United Nations World Meteorological Organisation published a report on October 5 saying that improved water management, monitoring and forecasting are needed against the looming global water crisis. The report titled ‘The State of Climate Services 2021: Water’ was coordinated by WMO and included inputs from over 20 international organisations, development agencies, and scientific institutions.

According to the report, frequency of water related disasters has increased since the year 2000. Flood-related disasters have risen by 134 per cent, in comparison with the two previous decades. It added that most deaths and economic losses occurred in Asia, where warning systems require strengthening.

Petteri Taalas, Secretary General, WMO, said that increasing temperatures due to global warming are resulting in changes in global regional precipitation, which is leading to visible shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons. This is

creating a major impact on food security and human health and well-being.

Taalas recalled that extreme rainfall across the continent caused massive flooding in Japan, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and India over the last year. He said that it is not only the developing world that is bearing major disruption due to flooding and irregular rainfall patterns, but catastrophic flooding in Europe had also resulted in deaths of hundreds of people and widespread damage over the past year.

The report established that the number and duration of droughts have also increased by 29 per cent over the past two decades. Taalas said that lack of water is still a major cause of concern for many nations, especially those in Africa.

With more than two billion people living in water-stressed countries and suffering lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation, there is an urgent need to open our eyes to the looming water crisis in the world.

NEWSCAN

Delhi CM Kejriwal launches plan to fight pollution during winter 10 point action plans 1.

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NEW DELHI: With the aim of controlling air pollution which Delhi faces every year during winters, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal released a 10-point winter action plan for the national capital on October 4. While speaking at a press conference, Kejriwal said that since neighbouring states have not taken steps to tackle air pollution and stubble burning, Delhi will begin bearing its brunt and face high levels of air pollution. Buses and taxis coming to Delhi from other states should be converted to CNG, stated the CM. He also announced that specific areas in the NCR region would be marked as pollution hotspots that would further help in fighting pollution in the region.

He also said that even though the Delhi government has repeatedly requested the Centre and neighbouring state governments, no step has been taken to tackle stubble burning and other activities which affect Delhi’s air quality.

He added that instead of passing the blame on each other, the Delhi government has come up with this action plan and has requested the Centre to consider implementing the plan on a larger scale. With assembly elections approaching in Punjab, and the farmer agitation against the three

farms laws still on, stopping farmers from burning paddy stubble will be an uphill task. The Government of NCR of Delhi identified ten areas of focus for the smog season ahead. These include measures to mitigate dust pollution, garbage burning, paddy straw burning, ban on firecrackers, installing smog towers, monitoring pollution hotspots, controlling vehicular pollution, effective operation of the green war room, and the Green Delhi app To pave a way through the polluting stubble burning, the state government has invented a process of decomposition with the help of Pusa Institute. This solution, once sprayed on the crop residue, will eliminate the need to burn it. Delhi government has been spraying it for free, Punjab and other states too can do the same. The CM mentioned that his administration is in talks with the central government so as to get other states to use the Pusa Bio Decomposer. This helps the paddy stubble decompose quicker and hence eliminates the need for farmers to set fire to their fields after harvest.

The Delhi government will be running an anti-dust campaign in the coming smog season. 75 teams will be deployed across the national capital which will be conducting surveys and

Stop stubble burning Anti-dust campaign Stop burning of garbage Ban on firecrackers Installation of smog towers Monitoring of pollution hotspots Strengthening Green War Rooms Promoting use of Green Delhi app Construction of eco waste park imposing heavy penalties on those who are found violating the government’s dust pollution norms. 250 teams have been allotted the duty to stop the burning of garbage. Recently, the Delhi CM inaugurated two smog towers in the Capital under the National Clean Air Programme. These towers have shown good results so far and they will continue to analyze results before taking a call to install more such structures. The Delhi administration will be monitoring and identifying pollution hotspots by using the Green Delhi mobile application.

Kejriwal, in his speech, informed that over 20 acres of land has been allotted to the eco waste park project, the first such park to be constructed in the country. He also said that steps are being taken to minimize traffic jams to reduce the emissions caused by cars and other vehicles. The chief minister said that 64 congestion points have been identified across Delhi and steps will be taken to control traffic and the resultant pollution here. “We have also intensified checking for Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates and are cracking down on diesel vehicles older than 10 years,” Kejriwal added.

The Delhi Government has hired 50 environment engineers to strengthen Green War Rooms.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

17

BRIEFS | Newscan

Kerala’s health department joins UN’s Race to Zero campaign

Health Care Without Harm, the official healthcare partner of Race to Zero, announced on October 25, that India’s Kerala and over 50 healthcare institutions, representing 11,500 health facilities from 21 countries, have joined the UN-backed Race to Zero Campaign. As per this, these organisations commit to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The organisations included in Race to Zero campaign comprise of institutions ranging from global, public and private hospitals and health systems to entire government or state government health departments.

UN Council declares access to healthy environment a human right The United Nations Human Rights Council declared ‘Access to a clean and healthy environment’ as a fundamental right. The declaration added formal weight to the global fight against climate change and its consequences. Although, this resolution is not legally binding, David Boyd, UN special rapporteur on human rights, called this decision a ‘historic breakthrough’ as it has potential to shape global standards.

Environmental lawyers said that the decision would help them in building arguments against governments ignoring the already visible effects of climate change.

18

November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

PM launches renewed schemes to lead Indian’s urban development NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched two flagship missions on Friday, October 1 – the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U) 2.0 and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0. These flagship programmes of the Government of India address the ambitious challenge to make all the cities in India garbagefree and water-secure. These are part of India’s journey towards achieving sustainable development goals by 2030.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in reference to the launch of these programmes that the SBM-U 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0 programmes signify a step forward in the march towards effectively addressing the challenges of rapidly urbanising India. SBM 2.0 is being introduced to make all cities garbage free by ensuring grey and black water management in all cities, except those covered under AMRUT. The programme aims to make all urban local bodies (ULBs) with a population of less than one lakh Open Defecation Free. It will also focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilising the principles of the three

R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle. It will work on introducing scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste, and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management in all ULBs. AMRUT 2.0 is all about providing 100 per cent coverage of water supply to all households in around 4700 urban local bodies. It aims to provide about 2.68 crore tap connections and 100 per cent coverage of sewerage and septage connections, which will benefit more than 10.5 crore people in urban areas.

Moreover, AMRUT 2.0 will promote conservation and rejuvenation of surface and ground water bodies by adopting the principles of circular economy.

AIIB approves $356.67 million loan for Chennai metro DELHI: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a fund of US$ 356.67 million for the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system. After this approval, the total financing of the bank for various projects in India has reached US$ 6.7 billion, making India the largest beneficiary of the bank.

DJ Pandian, Vice President, Investment Operations, AIIB, said that the Chennai project includes the construction of a new corridor in Chennai’s metro network as part of its Metro Rail Phase 2.

After this, the Bank has approved a total of 28 projects in India, which amount to a total of US$ 6.7 billion, in which energy and transport sector got the maximum amount of financing, Pandian added.

Besides funds for infrastructure, the bank has also released US$ 1.75 billion for India in terms of COVID-19 relief budget support. Pandian said that the Chennai project is aligned with AIIB’s mission to assist high-quality and sustainable infrastructure. The project will have solar panels on the rooftop of elevated stations, as well as dedicated spaces for bicycles and green vehicles, including signage to raise environmental awareness. Pandian added that the project also integrates climate change resilience features in order to reduce the vulnerability to climate-related events. Women will also benefit from the project as they will have access to a safer and convenient mode of public transport.

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Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

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REsHAPING OuR uRbAN FutuRE, LEssONs LEARNt FROm COVID-19

Cities need to bAlAnCe development, resourCe utilisAtion, sustAinAbility tArgets responsibly

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to three for climate discoveries

This year, the Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to three scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy. Syukuro Manabe from Japan and Klaus Hasselmann from Germany were awarded for their work in the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifiable variability and reliably predicting global warming. The award was also presented to Giorgio Parisi for discovering the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical system from atomic to planetary scales. The winners were presented the awards by Goran Hansson, SecretaryGeneral, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Mumbai becomes first city to join TUMI e-bus mission Mumbai has become the first city in India to join the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) E-Bus Mission, which will design and implement the plan for deploying electric buses in Mumbai. The Letter of Intent (LoI) to join the mission was signed by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) in the presence of Aaditya Thackeray, Minister of Environment and Tourism, Government of Maharashtra.

The Mission will include a technical assistance plan and strategy for long-term adoption of e-buses in Mumbai.

20 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

New Malaria vaccine receives WHO’s approval NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation endorsed the world’s first vaccine against Malaria on October 6.

Malaria is a mosquito borne disease which kills over 4,00,000 people in a year across the world, and is most prevalent in Africa. WHO recommended the use of newly developed malaria vaccine, RTS,S/ AS01 (RTS,S), also named Mosquirix, against moderate to high transmission of P. falciparum malaria.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO, said that RTS,S malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health, and malaria control. He said that it took more than 30 years to make the RTS,S malaria vaccine and it will change the course of public health worldwide. He added that using this vaccine to prevent malaria on top of existing tools could save tens of thousands of lives each year, especially those of young ones.

WHO issued a statement where, in the context of comprehensive malaria control, WHO recommended that the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine should be administered in a schedule of four doses in children from five months of age.

The mention of the vaccine developed

by GlaxoSmithKline, a British drugmaker, by the WHO came after the latest results from an ongoing pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. The pilot found RTS,S increases equity in access to malaria prevention as the pilot programme gave evidence of more than two-thirds of children in the mentioned three countries, who were not sleeping under a bednet, benefitted from the RTS,S vaccine. Moreover, significant reduction in deadly severe malaria was noticed, even when introduced in areas where insecticide-treated nets are widely used and there is good access to diagnosis and treatment.

SDMC seeks PWD’s cooperation in EV hub installations NEW DELHI: South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), on October 4, wrote to the Public Works Department (PWD) to assist them in the installation of electric vehicle charging stations on roads which fall under their jurisdiction. As the mentioned agency removed equipment from Bhikaji Cama Place and Lajpat Nagar, SDMC officials were drawn towards the matter.

An SDMC official said that the installation process has been deferred for long now. He further added that Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL), a public sector undertaking, has been tasked with installing 35 e-charging stations, but reported that they are facing reluctance from PWD in carrying out the needful.

“These charging stations have been removed from these two locations and from Lajpat Nagar. The equipment has been confiscated, which indicates a loss of public money.

To make electric vehicle policy a success, inter-departmental coordination is needed,” the official added.

However, PWD officials said that the stations were removed because the contractors did not take prior permission for the work. Civic officials argued that roads that are wider than 60 feet were only transferred to PWD for maintenance purposes but the actual ownership of land still falls under the three municipal corporations.

SDMC has planned on installing e-charging stations at 109 locations out of which, installation work for two-wheeler specific modules will be carried out at 35 locations by TCIL, an official said. According to Delhi’s Electric Vehicle policy announced in August this year, the Delhi government aims to achieve 25 per cent battery electric vehicle registration out of the total registrations by 2024.

Event | Sustainable Cities

Sustainable transport should be priority in shift to green energy: UN Chief BEIJING: A three-day United Nations Conference on Sustainable Transport was held from October 14. It addressed the ways in which transportation can contribute to climate response, economic growth and sustainable development. In the opening remarks of the conference, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, UN, underlining what is at stake here, said, “The next nine years must see a global shift towards sustainable energy,” and that sustainable transport is central to that transformation. According to the World Bank, such a complete shift to renewable energy can save $70 trillion by 2050. The International Financial Institution said that with sustainable infrastructure, there will be better access to roads, which can help Africa become self-sufficient in the food sector, thereby creating a regional food market worth $10 trillion by the end of this decade.

Several UN reports have quoted that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the shortcomings of the transport sector across all the countries in the world, even though transportation is much more than a means of getting people and goods from point A to B.

Transport, according to the UN Chief, is fundamental to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Adding that both these goals are going completely offtrack, Guterres said that the door for action for major goals, opportunities and commitments is closing. The transport sector, which currently accounts for more than one quarter of global greenhouse gases, must be reformed drastically. Guterres asserted that in order to get to net-zero global emissions by 2050, all means of transport must be decarbonized. In order to decarbonize transportation, countries must address emissions from all shipping and aviation industries as their current activities are not aligned with the Paris Agreement.

Decarbonization has to be undertaken in a systematic manner, keeping the priority of clean and sustainable transport in mind. By 2040, Guterres aims for the transport sector to have discontinued the production of internal combustion engines in a phased manner, and for the shipping sector to have made the switch to zero emission vessels as “the default

choice”. Therefore, all stakeholders have a role to play in this matter.

Individuals must change their travel habits and businesses must transform their carbon-footprint for sustainable transport to become a reality. In his speech, Guterres urged governments worldwide to use incentives to promote clean transportation, such as regulatory standards and taxes, and to impose stricter regulations on infrastructure and procurement.

The three-day Sustainable Transport Conference also addressed the concerns of vulnerable groups such as women, youth, elderly persons, and people living in poverty. The SecretaryGeneral emphasised the importance of safety and accessibility in transport and said, “This means helping more than one billion people with access to paved roads with designated space for pedestrians and bicycles, and providing convenient public transit options.” Public transport needs to be made more reliable and efficient, so more people can switch to it, without having to worry about their safety. The Secretary-General added that public transportation should be the “foundation of urban mobility” as investment in the public transport sector also yields more benefits in addition to contributing to sustainability. These pros include the generation of jobs and opportunities for communities that are isolated.

“Per dollar invested creates three times more jobs than building new highways,” said Guterres. He also stressed the importance of making transport resilient, stating that it is the need of the hour, following the crisis of the pandemic. The concerns of developing nations, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states must be kept in mind in relation to this transformation work.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

21

Cover story | Plastic Smart Cities

Cities of the future must be zero plastic Plastic is one of the deadliest creations of man, being non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle. Only a few decades old, plastic waste has scourged the environment and has already begun changing natural ecosystems, particularly oceans and areas around landfills. As millions of tonnes of plastic waste is generated every day, ‘what can be the remedy to plastic?’ remains the one to be answered

P

lastics are the scourge of the environment, considered by many as a necessary evil. With this in mind, it is important to note that more than half of the world’s plastic was manufactured after the year 2000, and about 75 per cent of all plastic ever produced is already waste.

Thus, a solution to plastics is essential to the achievement of Agenda 2030, now more than ever.

The World Wildlife Fund’s Plastic Smart Cities is an initiative that helps cities worldwide in realising the need to systematically phase out plastics from their production, consumption and disposal systems, and to switch to greener and cleaner alternatives.

So far, the initiative has a total of 31 participating cities, most of them from Southeast Asia and Europe. Plastic Smart Cities provides a platform for cities to come together, share their knowledge and experiences, and also helps them with access to a world of expertise. The initiative supports cities and coastal centres in taking bold action to stop plastic pollution, with a goal to reduce plastic leakage into nature by 30 per cent in the near term, and achieving no plastics in nature by 2030.

With a little over eight years to go till the deadline of the long term goals of the initiative, it is necessary to assess how their progress has been.

Waste prevention

Ashley Paul Senior Sub-Editor

22 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

The famous saying, ‘Prevention is better than cure,’ applies perfectly to tackling the global plastic crisis. The Plastic Smart Cities initiative makes use of the same strategy, giving prime importance to smart prevention instead of systematic disposal. The initiative signifies prevention of generation of waste from source and puts to use a number of approaches – a ban on single-use plastics; edible packaging; packaging material fees; city waste rating; and plastic credit system, etc.

A number of these approaches deal with phasing out the use of plastic in

production and packaging processes.

This helps in reducing global plastic generation, making it easier for city administrations to handle waste and dispose it off responsibly.

Evoware is an excellent example of adopting waste prevention using edible packaging as an approach. Evoware is a social enterprise, aiming to innovate biodegradable alternatives to singleware-use plastics using seaweed, while increasing livelihood security and incomes of seaweed farmers in Indonesia.

Waste collection

Waste collection is a major problem for city administrations, majorly caused by a lack of awareness amongst citizens and waste collectors regarding the essence of segregating waste at source.

This, in turn, leads to a back log in the waste management processes of cities as additional time is spent in segregating waste post-collection.

Moreover, as more and more cities are developing and increasing in size across the world, they are not being accompanied by an equivalent and appropriate increase in waste collection capacities. This is only going to add to the current issue of plastics. The Plastic Smart Cities initiative adopts a mix of modern and typical waste collection techniques, making it both easier and cost-effective for cities to collect more waste. Some of these are smart sensors and digitalization, recycling initiatives and awareness campaigns, city waste ratings and plastic banks.

Waste Free Oceans (WFO) is an exceptional example of how waste collection can be extended to areas outside of cities. WFO’s ‘Ocean Trash Catchers’ collects upto eight tonnes of floating marine debris per pass. Once collected, WFO acts as a link between the collected marine debris and plastic recyclers/processors, turning what was once waste into new, innovative and durable products.

Reusing waste

Reusing is one of the oldest tricks in the book to reduce the amount of

waste generated. Reusing a product for purposes that it may not have been initially intended for is a great way of extending its life and including in deeper into the material-cycle. This also helps in reducing the amount of plastic produced at source, thereby translating into lessening problems for future generations. The COVID-19 pandemic played a particularly important role in this by making sanitation and protective equipment essential to life, which are mostly either made of plastic, or packed/ distributed in plastic containers. Using products like toothbrushes and water bottles made of organic/biodegradable materials is also enough to reduce the overall generation of plastic by millions of tonnes per year, as per a report by the United Nations Organisation. iFixit is one such initiative, teaching people how to repair electronic devices and adopt measures to extend their useful life, thereby reducing the need for the production of new electronic devices. The step-by-step guidance offered by iFixit has been adopted widely in Europe and Southeast Asia and needs to be up scaled to other regions of the world too.

Recycling waste

Recycling is considered by many as one of the only credible and widely available methods of reducing the amount of untreated plastic that ends up in our environment. Of the total packaging material used globally, only 14 per cent is collected for recycling, according to a study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This is a staggering number and depicts how humungous the issue at hand is. Localising recycling by creating recycling pop-ups, issues cash/ kind incentives for those recycling their waste, and using different methods of recycling for different types of plastics are just some of the ways suggested by the Plastic Smart Cities initiative.

In Hong Kong, the Environmental Protection Department introduced GREEN$ (Greeny Coins) smart card system in November last year. The project aims to encourage people to

deposit their recyclables in the city’s waste collection network, in turn encouraging them to recycle their waste and rewarding them with points. These points are logged into the GREEN$ smart card and can later be used to redeem gifts. As of August this year, 11 recycling stations placed across Hong Kong have collected a total of 13,500 tonnes of recyclables and received over 23 lakh visitors. The scheme has, therefore, been successful and has now been launched at full scale.

Waste disposal

The Plastic Smart Cities initiative gives the least importance to waste disposal and considers it as a last resort, to be used mainly for plastics that cannot be reused or recycled using any of the methods mentioned above. Research has shown that almost half of the world’s population lacks access to waste management facilities, a result of the large capital required to undertake responsible waste management activities by urban local bodies. And the harmful gases released when plastic is burnt irresponsibly only adds to the problem. The Plastic Smart Cities initiative suggests multiple solutions, while strongly terming them as the last resort at every step.

Advanced Disposal Fees (ADF) is an excellent method of reducing the supply and demand of plastics, while also bringing in revenues for the urban local bodies to treat plastic waste. In Denmark, which imposes an average ADF of 0.37 euros per bag on retailers, the consumption rates of plastic bags are only four single-use plastic bags per person per year. In Thailand, on the other hand, where there is no AFD, the rate is almost 3000 per year.

The solutions and case studies mentioned above, though groundbreaking in their own way, have not been adopted globally. The climate change clock is ticking fast, and the time to act is now. And until governments realise that climate change cannot be reversed without taking care of plastics, achieving the Agenda 2030 will remain a mere dream.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

23

One on One | Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Addl Chief Secy, Government of UP

New-age India will emerge from its villages rather than cities Urban growth in India has been often termed as the reason for India’s overall development.

However, urban-rural migration is also a cause of concern, as more and more people are now moving to cities in search of better opportunities, thereby putting exceptional pressure on their civic services. In such a case, it is important to direct that migration away from cities. One of the prime ways of doing that is by developing rural India. The Government of Uttar Pradesh is making use of this approach, aiming to make rural areas self-sufficient in all aspects. To know more about how the government is doing this and how the state’s farmers are being encouraged to sustainably increase their yields, Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviewed Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Sugar Industry & Cane Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Abhishek Pandey Editor

The Government of Uttar Pradesh is constructing plastic roads in rural India to connect farmers with marketplaces. This program is solving the issue of connectivity while ensuring the route to sustainability for urban stakeholders. Could you please elaborate on this program and explain how the Sugar Industry & Cane Development Department is associated with it?

During my time in Housing and Urban Planning Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh (2000-2005), the issue of solid waste management was brought up several times. The amount of solid waste generated in urban centers is a big hindrance to the process of urbanization in any civilization. We have found that plastic has become a big

24 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

nuisance. It is easier to advise people not to use plastic but in some way or the other, it sneaks into the industrial processes. Its non-biodegradable nature makes it impossible for authorities to be acquiescent of its use. It can choke sewage lines and is often ingested by cows and other animals. Thereby, it enters the food chains and is also polluting the seas. The Sugar Industry and Cane Development Department in Uttar Pradesh is very uniquely placed as it also constructs roads and ensures inter-village connectivity for the farmers so that sugar cane is smoothly supplied to the market.

We have 9000 kilometres of roads in UP. Since it is a big number, we started using plastic while repairing the existing roads or while laying down new ones. A pilot run of the plastic roads was done in Sitaram in 2018-2019, which turned out to be a huge success. We also had to incorporate advanced technology in the operations as a particular type of plastic can only be used which has a specified strength. Furthermore, the department had to involve technological institutes to figure out the nitty-gritty of handling the project. The plastic used has to be collected or bought and then recycled into a processed plastic grain of a

particular size. It is very similar to the size of grit, a stone popularly used in making roads. Bitumen, a component used in making roads, when mixed with plastic grains has an enhanced level of adhesiveness. The plastic road also has better life compared to a bitumen road.

This is especially beneficial in areas with heavy rainfall. With the increased use of plastic in making roads, the demand for bitumen has dropped, which has a direct impact on foreign exchange. Through the use of plastic roads, the department has found an eco-friendly way of dealing with plastic while making sure farmers have access to the marketplace.

How did the Cane Department find this unique solution? Who is providing the Department with the technological support to run this program?

Even before joining the Department, I was aware of the plastic road concept.

But I did not see its application in any other department during the course of my service. So in 2018-19, we decided to build plastic roads. To figure out the specifics of running the program, I sent over my team to the state engineering institute in Kanpur and Roorkee,

where this technology was available.

After that, a pilot program was run in Sitapur of 600 km which turned out to be a huge success, following which the roads were built on a large scale across the state. The team learnt the protocols of running the program smoothly through the pilot run.

While working on a government project, expenditure plays a vital role because anyone can allege you of siphoning funds. It had to be ensured that the plastic roads were more budget-friendly than the bitumen roads. There was an added pressure to provide strong and durable roads to the farmers so that they had easy access to the sugar mills and the market.

Talking about urban mobility and technology, the use of bio-fuel is

being promoted by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Transport and Highways, in his constituency (Nagpur). How do you see ethanol or bio-fuel being used in public transport to improve the condition of sugarcane farmers and to provide an economic and environmentallyfriendly solution to the urban local bodies?

The ethanol blending concept was introduced in the 2000s by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Since then, we have been learning new technologies and are improving our processes.

Uttar Pradesh started the production of ethanol from molasses in 20172018 with a small production number of 25 crore litres. In 2018-2019, we

started two pilot projects in sugar mills wherein we produced ethanol through PAV. This process helps in increasing the amount of ethanol produced by reducing sugar production by 15 per cent. Since sugar is in abundance, it was necessary to control its production.

After the success of the pilot projects, we expanded the production to 28 mills last year and 54 mills this year.

After several quantum jumps, today we are producing over 160 crore litres of ethanol. Competing with Maharashtra as a key player in the supply chain, UP also assists other states where ethanol production is limited. Lately, the Government of India has come up with production processes with damaged grains and other agricultural products such as potatoes, etc.

In the last few years, the Government

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One on One | Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Addl Chief Secy, Government of UP of Uttar Pradesh has started running CNG buses. Now we have switched to electric-vehicle (EV) buses in some areas as well. If you visit Lucknow, you would notice that a majority of the buses have been converted to EVs. There is an experiment going on at the national level to blend ethanol in addition to petrol in diesel. If the project gets cracked, Uttar Pradesh can enhance bio-ethanol production on a larger scale. This would further help the cause of the farmers as it would ensure the utilization of the yield as it would get converted into fuel or some economic product.

There is a stark difference between rural and urban areas in terms of facilities and access to infrastructure. There is a trend prevalent amongst village folk moving to urban areas looking for better health and education facilities, as well as better paying job opportunities. how can we improve the situation of the farmers on the ground and the overall village ecosystem so that people need not migrate?

In order to come to a solution for this, we first need to understand that urban centers have an innate magnetic pull in terms of glitter, glamour, and better services. We have deglamorized the rural sector by over-glamorizing the urban sector. I have initiated a program in which we give prizes, along with a handsome cash amount, by the CM to young farmers. First, we started with male farmers, and last year we started a woman entrepreneurship program.

During the pandemic, several girls studying at the University of Lucknow came back to their hometowns and reported that due to the state-run programs, they have started enjoying farming. Hence, we came up with the program of handing out prizes to three girls who practice cane farming every year. The rural ecosystem will not change until we start respecting the agricultural sector and farming as an occupation. The aforementioned initiatives have not only successfully encouraged the youth, but also women

26 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

entrepreneurs involved in seed production. Consequently, we started another program to encourage the use of technology in farming methods. An ordinary farmer needs to adopt five technologies, called ‘panchamra’. If he/she successfully does so, they are deemed eligible to be declared state champions.

When I joined the force, the rural infrastructure was very poor. However, that is not the case anymore. People need to let go of the exaggerated image shown in black and white films and they need to visit today’s villages in Uttar Pradesh. Our government has closed open drains, set up a proper sewage system with an efficient drainage system in the villages. Villages have their brick or tar roads as well.

The pandemic has shifted the attention of people towards conscious consumption and organic farming. They want to know how their food was cultivated and where it is from.

Do you think this will help in increasing the respect people have for farmers?

30-40 years back, a farmer had very little opportunity to market or sell his produce. Their main concern is to be able to sell their produce at a regulated price. Today, jaggery farmers are directly selling to Amazon for `400 per kg, and their products gets sold in advance. Many farmers who are growing their produce organically are earning well as well. Now, a farmer needs to be trained in marketing techniques, which is key to any sale.

Any farmer that is networking and successfully marketing their product is earning huge numbers.

The issues of UP’s farmers have several socio-political connotations. What are the initiatives introduced by your department to improve the onground situation?

When I entered the Department, it became evident that the system is corrupted by mafia gangs. Farmers directly supply sugar cane to the mill

if they receive cane slips. UP has over 9-10 lakh very small farmers who had difficulty in selling their produce at the sugar mills since they would not get the cane slips. So the farmers used to contact local politicians or local representatives to get cane slips, or the farmers would sell their produce to the ‘sugarcane-mafias’ who would then collect the produce in bulk and sell it off at the mills. This would result in the cane getting stale and the mill incurring a loss. We developed an enterprise for resource planning called ‘Smart Ganna Kisaan’ that helped in removing the paper sugar cane slips from the system.

Every farmer is now updated through their phones.

You would be surprised to know that over 40 to 45 lakh farmers involved in the cultivation of sugarcane have an android phone with an app called ‘E-Ganna’. With the introduction of technology, the whole politics of the sugarcane industry changed and the issue of unavailability of cane slips for genuine farmers was dissolved. Now, farmers get updates via SMS and the cane slip system is no longer an issue.

Farmers supply a predefined quantity of sugar cane to the mill. In case of surplus, the farmer should have an outlet to market his product. Hence, we also created a Khandsari licensing portal which now has successfully acquired 267 new units. We also connected the farmers to the Government of India’s M-Kisaan portal that provides them with technological assistance, weather, and disease information. We have set up a farm machinery bank wherein we rent out equipment on an hourly basis at a highly reasonable rate. The banks provide the farmer with drip irrigation equipment, trench methodology, retro management device, intercropping tools, and trash mulcher.

We also assist farmers with increasing their yield by trench farming and giving information that would help them in producing more sugar cane. Sugar cane is a water guzzler. Hence, we worked extensively on building a strong drip irrigation system. Along with water, we also help the farmer in sprinkling fertilizers and pesticides. When the

quantity of fertilizers is right on the spot, its consumption by the plant is decreased by 60 per cent, thereby reducing the farmer’s expenditure and improving the overall profits. The only way of improving a farmer’s income is to either increase the remuneration or to reduce their cost and expenditure.

The problem of cities cannot be addressed only in cities. If we cannot arrest rural migration, we cannot solve urban issues.

How do you see Uttar Pradesh’s rural areas helping the urbanisation process of its cities?

We have to understand that India is a different mosaic. Each state is unique in its own way. For example, you cannot distinguish where the village ends and the city begins in Kerala. The process of urbanisation is very state-specific and hence we should not compare it. When I was in Urban Planning Department, we realized that more urbanisation is okay until its density and intensity increase.

Extensive urbanisation can lead to our cities facing urban problems which are very difficult to solve. Each town has an economy of scale which will give you an advantage, but only to an extent. If we keep expanding our cities beyond 50-60 kilometres, it will bring in accessibility and mobility issues. Life in metropolitan cities such as Delhi and Bombay is very difficult as many hours of the day are wasted waiting in traffic jams. Therefore, we should not focus on urbanizing every corner of the country but on providing good infrastructure to the rural areas and making people comfortable there. If people are provided with 24-hour access to water and electricity, education, health, and a good livelihood within their proximity, then they would not think of leaving their ancestral property. If the services provided in a digital headquarter are also accessible in rural areas, people would automatically not get attracted towards urban centers. Nowadays, a new trend has also emerged wherein people have even started shifting away from metropolitans to their native villages, especially people from Delhi,

Uttar Pradesh started the production of ethanol from molasses in 2017-2018 with a small production number of 25 crore litres. In 2018-2019, we started two pilot projects in sugar mills wherein we produced ethanol through PAV. This process helps in increasing the amount of ethanol produced by reducing sugar production by 15 per cent. Since sugar is in abundance, it was necessary to control its production.

After the success of the pilot projects, we expanded the production to 28 mills last year and 54 mills this year.

After several quantum jumps, today we are producing over 160 crore litres of ethanol

as the smog season approaches.

How do you see the role of villages and Indian agriculture in developing a new-age India?

We need to make the youth understand that being a part of the agricultural ecosystem is very respectful and farming is a very prosperous field in terms of money-making. Living in the digital age, it has never been more convenient to get connected to the global markets and ensure great profits. We have to consciously think and unite the minds of young boys and

girls, making them understand the pros and cons of living in an urban area.

Today, Kerala’s tourism is booming because they have not industrialised their land and have a higher focus on the environment. Almost every family in Kerala is involved in the tourism ecosystem of the state. We should not keep raising new urban centers but create alternatives. I am optimistic that the rural landscape will be ‘glamorized’ in the coming years.

Transcribed by Shivi Sharma | Editorial Assistant

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Numerograph | Biomedical Waste

C

Adding burden to the global waste crisis With the COVID-19 pandemic prolonging its stay and spread, the face of litter has been changing rapidly across the world.

The cities that tried to steer clear of plastic waste have been witnessing a surge due to the pandemic. Things like PPE kits, surgical masks, and even syringes for vaccines, are creating a huge burden of plastic on nations across the world.Team Urban Update tries to analyse how pressing the issue of BMW waste is Pooja Upadhyay | Trainee Reporter Radhika Matta | Editorial Assistant

Plastic waste due to vaccination syringes in India Number of vaccination syringes used (in millions) 90

84

80 70 58.9

60

63.9

47.5

50 40 30 20 10

10.1 3.4

0 Jan

Feb

Mar

April

May

June

BMW generated in states with peak cases during second wave 90 81.3

(in TPD)

82.7

80 70 60 50 40

47.6 37.2 27.9

30

25

21

25.7

16.4

20 6.5

10

5.7

4.2

0 Delhi

Maharashtra

28 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Haryana

Chattisgarh

Andhra Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

6491.49

(as of July 2020) 278.00

UAE

237.88 ISRAEL

278.00

237.88

SIN G APOR

204.65 UAE

SIN G APORE JA P A N 130.54

204.65

JAP AN

130.54

S R I LA N K A

11.12

7000 6000

ISRAEL

IN DIA

6491.49

7000

IN DIA

Hazardous waste amount in most urbanised countries

6000 5000

5000

4000

4000

3000 3000

2000 2000

1000

11.12

S R I LA N K A

0.18

MACAO

1000

MACAO

0.18

0

0

BMW generated daily (in tonnes)

BMW generated daily (in tonnes)

Impact of Covid-19 on waste management Waste production ♦♦ Medical waste increased up to 40% ♦♦ Drastic fallout in the volume of industrial and commercial waste ♦♦ A surge in hazardous waste in infected households ♦♦ Resurgence in SUP through plastic based PPEs, packaging materials Waste treatment & disposal ♦♦ Waste stockpiling, reduced treatment and disposal ♦♦ Recycling activities postponed ♦♦ Most collected waste transported to landfill zones Challenges to industry & authority ♦♦ Surge in MSW volume, inadequate workforce, and low budget ♦♦ Livelihoods and health safety of have been compromised ♦♦ Increased health care and social protection costs strained ULBs’ funds

BMW - Biomedical Waste TPD - Tonnes per day SUP - Single-use plastics MSW - Municipal Solid Waste

G7 nations in July this year made a huge commitment of preparedness for future pandemics. But this commitment needs to also address the possibility that the world might need plastics yet again for any future pandemics, and therefore, cities and nations need to be prepared to manage and process huge amounts of biomedical and plastic waste appropriately.

Source: Central Pollution Control Board, Our World in Data, Worldometers, National Centre for Biotechnology Information

29 www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021 29

Leaderspeak | Plastic & Cities

Cities finding ways to become plastic-free With consumption patterns changing, the use of single-use plastic has increased manifold in the last few decades. Now cities are realizing the significance of going plastic-free, it is necessary to provide sustainable alternatives locally and create an enabling environment for businesses and consumers to shun plastic forever

T

he ‘disposable’ lifestyle of citizens is damaging the urban environment and also oceans. In dayto-day urban life, citizens generate mountains of waste by using disposable plastic items such as plastic bags, packaging material, wrappers, toothbrushes, and plastic disposable cutlery items. A majority of these items are strewn on our streets or land up in dumping sites of municipalities. A tiny amount of such waste is segregated and recycled. Hence, most plastic waste gets accumulated on our streets, water bodies, or dumping sites. It takes centuries for plastic to degrade.

In India, the plastic industry began in the later part of the 1950s, but it took almost thirty years to reach the masses.

However, the sheer size of the plastic waste problem could be understood because the first plastic bag that ever came to use in the country would not have degraded if not recycled or reused. Today, India is generating approximately 26,000 tonnes of plastic

waste (TPD) every day. This is likely to grow at 10 per cent. Moreover, as India is on the path to becoming a $5 trillion economy, it will surely drive consumption. Hence, the growth rate could be even higher. Therefore, it is required that governments and technology companies must come out with a foolproof strategy to handle the massive burden of plastic waste.

The recent pandemic also drove up the demand for disposable masks advised by governments and medical experts to be used once or, at most, a couple of times. India traditionally does not dispose of things until citizens have utilized the products to the fullest.

India was among the first nations which started using traditional clothes like ‘gamcha’ or cotton towels as masks.

Though the medical effectiveness of such products could not be verified at that time, Indian citizens have a mentality to reuse things, and not opt for disposable items. Thousands of small and big manufacturing units came up and started making masks almost instantly. We have seen many countries

facing the difficulty of shortages of masks during that period.

According to a research study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to generate up to 7200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which is disposable masks. Facemasks and protective gears used by medical professionals have also become essential for saving lives and containing the spread of the deadly virus. In other parts of the world, governments have started promoting reusable masks because it is well-known that usage of masks may continue even after the COVID threat is over. Some countries have even developed technology to make reusable masks made of silicone rubber and an N95 filter. The filter can be either discarded or sterilized after use. Such technological interventions and innovation for making sure that less and less waste is generated is a way to go for a sustainable future, particularly for urban areas.

Shun plastic

There are many small yet significant initiatives that individuals can take at their level to reduce the use of plastic.

First, citizens must ditch plastic bottles for reusable metal or glass bottles.

Packaged drinking water bottles are a strict no. Data suggests that one single person can save approximately 1400 bottles from going to landfill sites. It is also concerning that most single-use plastic items, including water bottles, do not land up in landfill sites or recycling centres. Instead, they enter our water bodies, are eaten up by animals, or remain lying in our vicinity. According

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Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

Plastic industry began in the later part of the 1950s in India, but it took almost thirty years to reach the masses. However, the sheer size of the plastic waste problem could be understood because the first plastic bag that ever came to use in the country would not have degraded if not recycled or reused. Today, India is generating approximately 26000 tonnes of plastic waste every day.

This is likely to grow at 10 per cent

to data published by Plasticides.org, 100,000 marine animals die every year by eating plastic.

It is very much required that people in cities and elsewhere be sensitized about the harms of plastic water bottles, plastic bags, plastic straws, and cutleries. Approximately one million plastic bags are used every minute globally. These are the products that are easily replaceable with sustainable alternatives. The simple change of habit can save the lives of marine animals and help in protecting our environment. People must use reusable items and shun single-use plastic items for good. In this, the role of urban local bodies is critical as their waste management policies and initiatives

should be designed to discourage the usage of single-use plastic items. Local governments can also incentivize the use of reusable products and penalize the usage of single-use plastic.

In India, many cities and municipalities have banned the use of single-use plastic, but only a few cities have implemented the ban effectively.

As a result, one can find single-use plastic items being used rampantly.

Explore alternatives

Many urban citizens are getting increasingly aware of the harmful effects of plastic on Planet Earth. A majority of them want to avoid its use. Awareness around plastic use and its consequences is increasing by the day, and there are

a few alternatives available. Many of these are suitable for the planet but not for the pocket of a majority of the population. As a result, the wealthy and environmentally conscious population have started switching to sustainable alternatives. But these alternatives are either not widely popularized, scarcely available, or over priced.

There is no doubt that plastic items are handy, cheap and useful. Therefore, if governments want to discourage people from using them, a stringent policy could be placed on manufacturing plastic items. However, this could be an extreme step as plastic items are found in almost every item we use daily, from mobile phones, household decor items, cutlery, electronic gadgets to the computer keyboard used for writing this article. Therefore, there should be an alternative available without burning a big hole in the pocket of end-users. The concept of bioplastic is also flourishing.

Still, the main problem with bioplastic is that it may create another problem by burdening the environment to produce more crops suitable for bioplastic and may also stress food production and water availability.

Another approach could be people-centric. People must be environmentally conscious in making choices. For example, people can carry cloth bags and avoid using polythene bags, carry your own reusable water bottle and cutlery while going out. The improvised use of bamboo, paper, wood, cloth, pottery, glass, etc can change the packaging paradigm. Consumers can drive change by choosing products that come in recyclable packaging materials.

For example, many grocery shops in big cities do not use any plastic and provide alternative packaging material or ask customers to bring empty containers. If people begin making such choices, it will force companies to do away with the use of plastic. Over some time, the plastic industry players will gradually shift to a sustainable business alternative. Cities can do a lot but it requires sincere, consistent and rigorous efforts by all stakeholders, including the citizens.

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ARTICLE | Plastics & Oceans

Toxic Plastic & Sick Seas

Plastic is the most dangerous component piling on the planet, driving the cause of climate change, and it has now entered the sea ecosystem as well. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 80 per cent of the sea debris from surface water to deep sea sediments comprises of waste plastic Hitesh Nigam | Reporter

U

rban areas majorly contribute to this load of sea debris as 60 per cent of the plastic in marine debris is generated from urban areas, according to Plastic Smart Cities (WWF Forum). Plastic use has continuously increased, especially in the urban centres of India and the world in different forms. Its affects and by-products are continuously analysed by experts but the exact extent is still unknown.

32 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Condition of India and surrounding seas

Plastic marine debris is mainly produced due to the mismanagement of produced plastic from waste and short-lived plastic products comprising of various consumer products. Ganges river in India is notorious for being the major contributor of plastic debris into the sea, as found by The CounterMEASURE Project, which was started in 2020 by the United Nations Environment Programme and is funded by Japan. The project, which is

based in three cities namely Haridwar, Agra and Prayagraj, found that almost 10 to 25 per cent of plastic waste is littered, which eventually reaches the sea instead of being recycled or going through proper waste disposal channels.

India is distressed from the problem of plastic litter, as is evident from data of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which states that India accumulated 34 lakh tonnes of plastic waste in 2019-20, which is 10 lakh tonnes more as compared to 2017-18 data.

In order to phase out marine plastic from the environment, the Government of India signed an agreement with the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, in April this year.

Moreover, India has also pledged to ban the use of single-use plastic from the beginning of 2022 under the new Draft Notification Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021. However, these draft rules are being criticised by experts and environmentalists on the grounds that they have no clear instructions on recycling methodology.

In line of this, various state governments such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, etc., have also banned singleuse plastics, including those used in water bottles, tetra bottles, single-use straws, etc.

Global issue of marine debris

Everybody knows and wonders about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but countries are not serious or concerned that a second version of it is not formed in the coming future. In order to address the growing cause of marine litter and plastic pollution, the Governments of Ecuador, Germany, Ghana and Vietnam organised a ministerial conference and developed a draft of its statement in order to be sent to the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2), which is to be held in February 2022.

However, there is growing criticism for countries such as the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK), which have not given their nods to form a global pact on plastic pollution in seas. Moreover, US and UK are the two countries with the highest amount of per capita plastic waste production in the world.

Whereas, two third member states of the UN, including African countries, Baltic areas, Caribbean, and Nordic and Pacific states, have agreed to consider a global framework to be functioning under the Paris Climate Accord. Nonbiodegradable plastic litter is a growing

concern and the world has to come together soon in order to tackle this menace.

Cities leading the change

As per the 2015 assessment report presented by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Indian cities produce 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste per day. However, several Indian states and places around the world have taken initiatives to decrease the usage of plastic. In India, according to CPCB’s statement to the National Green Tribunal in 2019, 18 Indian states had banned the use of plastic bags and products.

Cities around the world have joined this thought in which Plastic Smart Cities, which is a forum by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is holding hands of cities. In this, 15 Asian cities have pledged for a 30 per cent reduction is plastic usage by 2025 by way of improved waste management and adopting circular economy. In the Mediterranean region, Nice was the first city to take the initiative to curb plastic litter which was eventually accumulating in the Mediterranean Sea. Most recently, Izmir in Turkey and Dubrovnik and Trogir in Croatia have also joined hands with the initiative to supress plastic litter around regions of the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to cities around the world, local governments of Indian urban cities have also presented example of circular economy by constructing roads out of plastic waste. Cities like Chennai, Indore, Jamshedpur, Pune, and most recently Lucknow, have taken the initiative of using plastic waste in the construction of roads.

Way forward

Marine litter is a growing menace and a challenge which needs to be addressed soon in order to save the planet from unforeseen consequences. According to United Nations Environment Programme, the quantity of plastic waste collected in a decade after 2000 was equal to the total waste generated in the last 40 years. It has percolated

deep in the lifestyles of humans, which is why it is difficult and necessary to supress the dependency on plastic in our daily lives.

Unique habitats such as the mangrove forests of India have also been infected with this as 62 per cent of the debris found in the mangrove forests is composed of plastic litter, according to the Central Institute of Fisheries Education. The adoption of circular economy is also vital as plastic is a non-biodegradable commodity and even if we pull down its usage, the question remains as to what can be done about the plastic waste that is already existing?

The answer lies in innovating the ways where usage is inevitable at the designing phase itself and not at the end. Developing new technologies with less plastic, designing reusable plastic products, and efficient reprocessing can be some of the initial measures which manufacturers can adopt. Local governments and administration, on the other hand, have to bring in strict regulations on the use of plastic products.

Conclusion

India is taking initiatives to curb the amount of plastic litter entering the oceans both by ways of regulating it and finding new alternatives to it such as using nano technology for smart packaging with the help of waterresistant materials. Cities are at the centre of this menace as the urban centres around the globe are major contributors to marine debris. Various cities have also joined hands to fight this burgeoning crisis and it should be dealt at the earliest.

Conservation of seas and the marine habitat will help in achieving the targets under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. Moreover, conserving natural habitats and nature is at the heart of SDG targets set by United Nations Organisation.

Abiding by the sustainable ways of growth is important for countries in order to preserve the civilisation from deadly consequences.

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ARTICLE | I Circular Economy

Circular economy or no future of cities India cities generate over 1,00,000 MT of waste per day (CPHEEO). Resources being limited, with rapid population growth, urbanization, and development, cities cannot afford to lose all the waste that it creates. Just collecting and managing waste will not be enough anymore for urban spaces Pooja Upadhyay | Trainee Reporter

W

aste management is an extremely important aspect of a society for it impacts lives and environment.

It has rightly become a burning issue in recent times, especially in urban areas, owing to the huge amount of waste cities produce. This generation of technology and minds is largely relying on innovations to appear as solutions to challenges faced in management. For example, cities are beginning to introduce solar powered vehicles for door-to-door collection of waste, thereby introducing carbon emission free transportation, while simultaneously ensuring that waste is collected on a regular basis.

Waste management consists of transportation, disposal methods, recycling methods, avoidance and reduction methods.

Reduction remains one of the most important aspects. Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner of Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, had said in an interview with Urban Update that 5000 people can never be enough to manage and clear waste produced by over five lakh people. The ultimate responsibility lies on an individual to manage their own waste at the basic level, thereby making

34 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

the process of sorting and managing easier as the waste goes through each stage in the management process.

Provisions and challenges

The Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules notified in 2000 by the Ministry of Environment and Forest dictate urban local bodies (ULBs) to collect waste in a segregated manner with categories including organic/food waste, domestic hazardous waste, and recyclable waste, and undertake safe and scientific transportation management, processing and disposal of municipal waste. However, most ULBs in India are finding it difficult to comply with these rules, implement, and sustain doorto-door collection, waste segregation, management, processing and ensuring safe disposal of MSW due to lack of funds. ULBs in India are in greater need of strengthening in terms of their authority and funds to be able to address issues like waste management.

The biggest challenge in India in the waste management sector remains segregation of waste. Even after years of campaigns, teachings and workshops in schools, offices, and colleges on segregating waste at source, ULBs continue to receive waste bags with a mixture of plastic, biodegradable materials, and e-waste. These bags

of mixed waste are then individually opened and each waste is segregated by hand by waste pickers and segregators, thereby putting their health at extreme risk. Engaging the public by imposing fines has been found to be a good method in India, but ULBs need to be strengthened systematically to be able to do so.

Waste can only be treated and managed properly if it is considered as a box of hidden treasure by every single individual. When people think of the used product as ultimate waste, they overlook its potential that arises by reusing and recycling. Using biodegradable waste as compost, depositing or selling e-waste at processing centres, etc., are ways in which waste can be turned into treasure.

Even recyclable plastics and aluminium cans can be recycled by processing plants. The problem remains that the waste never reaches the processing plants, essentially because presence of informal collection and transportation of waste often leads to all kinds of waste, including electronic waste,

plastic, paper, and biodegradable waste, to go into landfills or get incinerated.

A humanitarian venture in Chennai, for example, hired local informal garbage pickers this year. Wastepickers, who collect and sell scraps from all over the city, are an important part of the informal, unstructured waste management supply chain.

Kabadiwalla Connect, an enterprise, injected technology into the mix by piloting artificial intelligencepowered solutions to connect waste collectors with recycling facilities and empower the informal sector to decentralise waste management.

In order to tackle informal waste collection and management in Indian cities, corporations have given major thrust to door-to-door collection of waste. However, what is required is turning those informal workers into formal waste collectors and segregators to account for each bag of waste that leaves an establishment.

Some cities like Ghaziabad and Bhubaneswar have introduced door-todoor collection of waste. The Rajasthan

State Pollution Control Board in October 2021 launched a mobile van at the divisional headquarters for door-todoor collection of e-waste. Noting the piling up of e-waste in this digital world, the city of Dehradun opened 51 centres specifically for collection, management and processing of electronic waste.

But much needs to be done in terms of awareness campaigns for citizens on e-waste and metal waste.

3R or circular economy

Circular economy is a new model of production and consumption that ensures long-term growth. It extends the life cycle of products, reduces waste, and establishes a more efficient and sustainable production model over time. The city of Ljubjana has been using waste products like millings and chippings produced from re-surfacing its asphalt roads in construction/ renovation of its street and sidewalks.

The city is also known for converting its old bus seats into equipment for children’s playgrounds. Recently, Ljubjana became the first city in the

world to produce paper out of Japanese knotweed, which is originally a pest illegal in most countries, and is known to cause significant damage to the foundations of buildings. Moreover, Ljubjana’s public waste management organisation is already cleaning the city’s pavements with recycled water.

The city has been actively reusing the kind of waste no one would think was useful, and that is an essential part of 3R economy. If any Indian city is closest to achieving circular economy in waste management, it might be Hyderabad.

In an effort to deal sustainably with plastic and dump yards in the city, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) cooperated with Bamboo House India to turn a former dump yard, which used to be a black spot in the city, into a dog park.

The 4000 sq ft pavement outside the park was made up of 1500 recycled plastic tiles. According to the Swachh Survekshan Report 2020, Hyderabad’s urban local body installed a recordbreaking number of 775 recycled plastic bins. In 2020, GHMC decided that it will implement a new plastic waste management strategy, with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) South Asia. ICLEI will assist with the installation of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) for the collection of PET bottles and aluminium cans.

Taking inspiration from Malaysia, where people can submit plastic bottles and aluminium cans and be rewarded with investment gold, GHMC has also decided to introduce users receiving rewards from outlets that will have tieups with the provider of RVMs. Garbage management was a past of cities. Circular economy is the future.

Cities are in urgent need of developing systems in a way to establish 3R Circular economy. Going by the speed at which humans are expending resources, there will soon come a time when there will be nothing left for our future generations. Every aspect of urban lifestyle is in dire need of being introduced to circular economy, and the time to act is now.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

35

ARTICLE | Plastic-Free Packaging

Commerce platforms commit to go plastic-free The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us face to face with new challenges in tackling plastic pollution. These include the availability of certain materials with suppliers, inability to test new materials and closure of sorting and recycling centres in the markets. Yet, we need to remain as committed as ever to shifting to a circular economy for plastics Radhika Matta | Editorial Assistant

P

lastic is incredibly valuable. It assists in getting products to consumers efficiently and securely. It might be the option with the lowest carbon footprint. Yet, far too much plastic ends up in our environment. According to a global research report, the flow of plastic could triple by 2040. This has to stop because we dream of a plastic free world and believe zero waste is the way to get there.

“Despite difficult conditions, we will not turn our backs on plastic pollution.

It is important for us and for the rest of our industry. Our larger aim is to chop the number of plastic we have a tendency to use and quickly transition to a circular economy,” says Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever. The corporate took a step further and developed a framework: Less Plastic. Better Plastic.

No Plastic.“Whenever we use plastic, we ensure we are choosing better options - recycled and recyclable plastics. We make sure to keep plastics in our system and out of the environment, by buying post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. We are ramping up what proportion recycled plastic we have a

36 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

tendency to use and around 11 per cent of our plastic footprint is from PCR today. This will provide us a push to achieve 25 per cent by 2025.”

A number of stores and corporations are tackling challenges and moving towards an improved plastic journey.

They are trying to improvise novel ways of working that embrace chemical exercise of plastic that is hardest to recycle. Recycled plastic packaging conjointly has got to meet constant technical and safety standards as virgin plastic, particularly within the case of food packaging.It is hard to achieve our ‘better plastic’ goals unless there is enough high-quality post-consumer recycled material available.

Zero waste stores in India – from Dehradun to Chennai – will facilitate abandoning single-use plastics in everyday groceries. During the COVID-19-induced lockdowns, several online zero waste stores surfaced and offered plastic-free deliveries.

The zero waste movement is slowly gaining momentum in India. A slew of bulk outlets, refill stores, zero waste essential outlets and sustainable living brands have conjointly also popped up in both the online and the physical retail sphere.

Green mantra

“We cut plastic packaging at the source to prevent plastic from going to the landfill,” said Debayani, Co-founder of Green Mantra.

It has been exciting to witness the evolution of zero waste stores in Bangalore, where Green Mantra, situated in Marathahalli, carries packaging-free, preservatives-free groceries, and offers home-refills of spices, food and even dosa batter. Their home refill model makes going zerowaste a lot easier.

Green Mantra co-founders Debayani, Prachee and Shikha’s collective love for the environment encouraged them to start Green Mantra and unfold the message of a simple, affordable, accessible, and eco-friendly lifestyle.

EcoIndian zero- waste store

“It was difficult to persuade the customers to carry their own bags and containers in the beginning. However, we have successfully built a small community, the members of that have started caring about nature over the past few years.” – Prem Anthony Founded by childhood friends Prem Anthony and Pradeep Kumar, EcoIndian flagged as an organic grocery store, but pivoted to a zero waste model after the plastic ban in Chennai. They stock everything, from regular groceries to dips and snacks in reusable glass bottles or compostable paper packaging – this act as an inspiration for many in the city to shop more consciously.

Assav organics

“As soldiers, we have defended the motherland. Now we need to defend

Mother Earth by improvising a sustainable world.” - Lt Col Arvind Rawat (Retd) Started by Lt Col Rawat, Assav Organics has ushered in a new phase of acutely aware consumption movement in Dehradun. Lt Col Arvind’s journey as an organic farmer gradually led him to set up a prominent zero waste store in Dehradun.

Revolutionary e-commerce destination- Flipkart

E-commerce platform, Flipkart proclaimed in July 2021 that it has eliminated all single-use plastic packaging used across its centres in the country, in accordance with the commitment it had made in 2019 to manoeuvre to plastic-free packaging in its supply chain by 2022. This has been achieved in more than 70 facilities of Flipkart as of now, where it has eliminated single-use plastic packaging by introducing sustainable alternatives such as eco-friendly paper shreds,

replacing polythene pouches with recycled paper bags and bubble wraps with carton waste shredded material and ply rolls.

“At Flipkart, we largely emphasise on sustainable and responsible business practices. Acing towards 100 per cent single-use plastic elimination is one of the significant steps we have taken towards fulfilling our commitment in creating a sustainable ecosystem.

We managed to achieve this while navigating a tough year impacted by COVID-19 and are proud that our teams kept the priorities in check. We are now dedicated on enabling our seller ecosystem to adopt sustainable packaging solutions as well, and to create positive environmental and social impacts across the entire supply chain,” said Hemant Badri, senior vicepresident and head of supply chain, Flipkart.

Some of the other key initiatives that have been taken by Flipkart so far, include ‘E-commerce ready packaging’,

where it has been able to ship approximatey 15 per cent of products without adding a secondary layer of packaging. This one-stop destination for shopping aims to reduce the need for an outer layer by working with brands across apparels, electronics and home furnishings to ship in their brand packaging.

The Centre had notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2021, prohibiting the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of several single-use plastic items from July 1, 2022.

In June 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced that India will eliminate all single-use plastic items in the country by 2022.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change also informed that single-use plastic items such as earbuds, balloons, ice-creams and candies with plastic sticks, plastic flags and thermocol used for decoration purposes will be banned from the period specified by PM Modi.

The use of plastic items with a thickness of less than 100 microns such as plates, cups, glasses and wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards and cigarette packets, as well as cutlery products like forks, spoons, knives, straw and trays, will also be forbidden.”

“Pollution due to single-use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries,” the Ministry said. “At the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly held in 2019, India had piloted a resolution on addressing single-use plastic products pollution, recognising the urgent need for the global community to focus on this very important issue.”

Going low on waste does not mean that we have to clean out our entire kitchen or bathroom and make room for sustainable products. The idea of the zero waste movement is to reduce what we waste or throw out. That means using what we have for the longest time possible, then replacing it with a greener alternative.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

37

ARTICLE | Trafficking Plastic Waste

Is there no hope for a net-zero future?

The ambitions of a net-zero future are being stymied by the exponentially increasing use of plastic, stagnated and disappointingly low global recycle levels, and the illicit trade of plastic waste into third world countries. Tackling this issue has become a question of climate justice as dumped plastic harms the health and environment of third-world countries Shivi sharma | Editorial Assistant

H

umans have become addicted to plastic. It was estimated that in 2019, global plastic production totalled 368 million metric tons. Due to plastic’s durability and affordability, its market value continues to increase, but only

38 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

20 per cent of it is recycled globally.

A recent report published by the research group Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GITOC) points out how plastic waste from the United States of America, Europe and Australia is being dumped in countries of Southeast Asia and Africa.

The illicit trafficking of plastic waste

is an emerging trend first pointed out by a report published by Interpol. The report, titled ‘INTERPOL’s Strategical Analysis On Emerging Criminal Trends in The Global Plastic Waste Market Since January 2018’, indicated that there has been a considerable increase over the past two years in illegal waste shipments, primarily rerouted

to Southeast Asia via multiple transit countries to camouflage the origin of the waste shipment. This illicit trade has linkages to a criminalized supply chain involving brokers, recycling companies, shipping entities and corrupt officials who are responsible for arranging the shipping of waste.

Who are the main players?

Countries in Europe and North America have very limited recycling facilities. As country leaders pledge for a net-zero future, lack of recycling facilities and a never-ending production cycle of plastic complicate the situation. Producing over 42 million metric tons of plastic waste, the United States of America is by far the world’s largest generator of plastic waste. Coincidentally, it also ranks third among other coastal nations for contributing litter, illegally dumped trash, and other mismanaged waste.

Over the last 30 years, developed nations have formed a pattern of shipping their recyclable plastic to developing nations that lack the infrastructure to manage it. The nations on the receiving end are mostly located in the global south, primarily China, Malaysia, Indonesia and other developing countries from Asia and Africa. In 2017, China announced that it would no longer purchase plastic scrap shipments and serve as the “world’s garbage dump”. In the trade of banned plastic waste, Turkey has also become a key node. The report stated that Turkey is looped in the circuit due to its “permissive regulatory environment”, financial interest in generating revenue from receiving foreign waste, and the presence of criminal groups. The report also found that Turkey’s port staff and pollution investigators lack the technical knowledge required to identify illegally trafficked waste once it reaches their shores. They also lack the resources to trace back the country which is trying to dump their waste in Turkey.

How is this illegal practice possible?

The Basel Convention is an international treaty designed to prevent the transfer

of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries. Despite this and other legalisations, low-quality and difficult-to-recycle plastic scraps continue to find their way to developing countries. The GI-TOC report found that waste exporters are skirting regulations and finding loopholes to dump plastic waste, especially through shipping routes. The report found several recycling companies and waste brokers engaging in fraud. They conceal the shipments of banned plastic products by camouflaging them among other goods. These waste exporters are illegally dumping waste, getting past inspectors by either paying them off or mislabelling their cargo. This way, the plastic waste incorrectly appears to be in compliance with international agreements. Often, shipping routes are designed to incorporate several stops across countries so that by the time the shipment arrives at the final destination, it is not clear to the inspector as to where it came from.

The illegal traders continue to find loopholes through the system, making it all the more difficult for countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, who are making an effort to send back the banned plastic scraps. Companies involved in the trade have not been formally charged with anything as their names are mostly never mentioned in reports. However, one of the larger waste companies in Britain, Biffa Waste Services, was fined 350,000 pounds back in 2019 for shipping contaminated waste to China by labelling it as ‘fit for recycling’.

The GI-TOC report also emphasized how this problem is “not just a whitecollar crime”. There is evidence to show how polycriminal groups involved in the trafficking of plastic waste also deal in drugs and prostitution. On several counts, the waste-recycling companies have also been accused of human trafficking and sourcing cheap labour (termed as modern slavery).

The unsustainable disposal practices of hazardous foreign waste contaminate the health of local communities. In the long run, this can lead to irreversible

environmental problems and health issues. In nations like Indonesia and Malaysia, the burning of plastic waste is highly common. Once the fumes generated through the incinerator are released into the environment, they will pollute soil, water and air, and poison food production.

What is the solution?

The International Criminal Court has started laying higher prominence around an ecocide and its possible inclusion among the crime. The Stop of Ecocide foundation’s expert panel defines a crime of ecocide as an “unlawful act committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” It is crucial to break the trafficking networks and actors present in the deal by increasing the involvement of agents ensuring climate justice.

Given the serious lack of recycling infrastructure, it is virtually impossible to manage plastic waste given current production statistics. The first and foremost solution would be to reduce plastic consumption and replace nonbiodegradable components with an easily recyclable option. There is a need to bring in an institutional change, given the exponentially growing plastic waste trade, increased reliance on raw plastic and an ever-increasing demand for single-time use plastic. On a global level, nations need to be rethink the current waste disposal model and build on their existing recycling infrastructure. Moreover, there is a need to increase the involvement of communities on the ground who are the most affected by mounting plastic dumps. Proponents from the industry, people engaged in plastic production and supply, regulators, law enforcement agencies and NGOs need to be a part of the solution and have to be converted to agents of change. The gravity of the situation needs to be communicated and explicitly understood by nations to ensure that the developing economies achieve environmental justice and are on the path of a net-zero future.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

39

ARTICLE | Swachh India

What is new with SBM 2.0!

T

he Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched on October 2, 2014, with a target to make the country clean by October 2, 2019.

All 4041 statutory towns as per census 2011 are covered under SBM. The admissible components under SBM with broad funding pattern were: ♦♦ Household toilets including conversion of insanitary latrines into pour-flush latrines (`4000 per toilet as an incentive); ♦♦ Community toilets (max 40 per cent VGF); ♦♦ Public toilets (100 per cent Private Investment); ♦♦ Solid Waste Management (max

20 per cent VGF later increased to 35 per cent); ♦♦ IEC and Public Awareness (15 per cent) and; ♦♦ Capacity Building and Administrative & Office Expenditure (A&OE) (5 per cent).

SBM 1.0 was implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development (M/ oUD) and by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (M/o DWS) for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The objectives of SBM-U 1.0 are: ♦♦ Eliminate open defecation, ♦♦ Conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, ♦♦ Eradication of manual scavenging, ♦♦ 100 per cent collection and

♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦

scientific processing/ disposal/ reuse/ recycle of municipal solid waste, To bring about a behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices, Generate awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health, Strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems, To create enabling environment for private sector participation in Capital expenditure and Operation and Maintenance expenditure (O&M).

Mission outlay

The estimated cost of implementation of SBM (Urban) based on unit and per capita costs for its various components was `62,009 crore. The Government of India’s share as per approved funding pattern amounted to `14,623 crore.

In addition, a minimum additional amount equivalent to 25 per cent of GoI funding, amounting to `4,874 crore should be contributed by the states as state/ULB share. The balance fund was proposed to be generated through various other sources, which are: ♦♦ Private Sector Participation ♦♦ Additional Resources from State Government/ULB ♦♦ Beneficiary Share ♦♦ User Charges ♦♦ Land Leveraging ♦♦ Innovative revenue streams ♦♦ Swachh Bharat Kosh ♦♦ Corporate Social Responsibility ♦♦ Market Borrowing ♦♦ External Assistance

SBM 2.0

Mission launch The second phase of the Mission is now being extended for a period of five years, from October 1, 2021 to October 1, 2026, as Swachh Bharat

40 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Pravin Bhardwaj Consultant, NIUA

Mission (Urban) 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0), for completing the work remaining, institutionalizing ‘swachh’ behavior and making it sustainable. The Government of India, in partnership with States/ UTs and ULBs, is committed to make all cities ‘Garbage Free’ under SBM-Urban 2.0 in order to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030, which will ultimately improve the quality of life and ease of living of urban populations, thus leading to urban transformation.

The SBM-U 2.0 is having following areas of focus: ♦♦ To achieve the vision of a “Garbage Free” Urban India, more focus is required to be given to issues such as source segregation, collection & transportation, and processing, including effective management of construction and demolition waste, plastic waste management including reduction in single use plastic, and remediating all legacy dumpsites; ♦♦ To sustain the ODF status and prevent slippage, there is a need to ensure that all faecal sludge and waste water are safely contained, transported, processed and disposed off, so that no untreated faecal sludge or used water pollutes the ground or water bodies; ♦♦ Intensified focus is required to be given to IEC and behavior change through citizen outreach and jan andolan, as well as capacity building and skilling of all relevant stakeholders Apart from the above, concentration is also needed on the following issues mentioned below without which, SBM-U 2.0 may not be fully successful.

♦♦ Need for continued investment in IHHLs and CT/PTs; ♦♦ Need for focusing on entire sanitation value chain for inclusive sanitation, which also includes collection, containment, treatment, disposal and recycling of faecal waste and waste water; ♦♦ Need for managing different types of solid wastes (including plastic, C&D and sanitary waste); ♦♦ Need for budgetary support for disposal of legacy waste, management of plastic waste, C&D waste.

Overall vision and specific objectives

SBM-U 2.0 will be implemented with a vision of achieving “Garbage Free” status for all cities.

In order to achieve this vision, the following specific objectives are targeted to be achieved: ♦♦ Sustainable Solid Waste Management 1. ensuring cleanliness and hygiene in public places to make all cities clean and garbage free, with 100% scientific processing of MSW; 2. reducing air pollution arising out of SWM activities; 3. phased reduction in use of single-use plastic. ♦♦ Sustainable Sanitation and treatment of used water 1. holistic sanitation, with end-to end solutions (from discharge, containment, evacuation, transportation to safe disposal of all effluents from toilets); 2. treatment of used water before discharge into water bodies, and maximum reuse of treated water; 3. eradication of hazardous entry into sewers and septic tanks, and sustaining elimination of manual scavenging, through mechanization of sewer and septic tank cleaning operations.

To ensure that no untreated fecal

sludge or used water is discharged into the environment, and all used water (including sewerage and septage, grey water and black water) is safely contained, transported and treated, along with maximum reuse of treated used water, in all cities with less than 1 lakh population.

The following components would be eligible for funding: 1. desludging equipment, for scheduled and need-based desludging of all septic tanks; 2. interception and diversion of drains (I&D) (including last mile connectivity for nearest sewer network); 3. construction of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs)/ STP cum Faecal Sludge Treatment plants (FSTPs) for used water treatment.

Conclusion

The first phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission focussed mainly on the construction of toilets for individuals and in the community and the public areas. As the gap of the toilets was filled till 2019, the country was declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) and some focus was given to faecal sludge management as it was one of the major concerns after all toilets were made.

The second major component was solid waste management and the first phase focussed on various parameters but during implementation, a lot of challenges cropped up and needed attention. Sanitation usually covers both solid and liquid waste management and in the first phase, the attention was mainly on solid waste.

Thus, in the second phase, a balanced phase has been adopted and both liquid (black and grey water management) and all components of solid waste management is being covered through focussed information, education and communication campaigns, clubbed with skill development. The idea is to achieve the vision by making it a jan andolan.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

41

ARTICLE | COVID & Informal Workers

Lessons from the government’s social protection measures during the second wave of COVID-19

W

ith the Covid-19 crisis, the urban informal workers, largely invisibilized by modern urban development, were visible at least on mainstream news, and social media. “The visceral images of informal sector workers trudging hundreds of kilometres in the heat during the first lockdown in 2020 inadvertently acted as a Worker’s Rights March,” says Meena Menon from the Working People’s Charter.

This year, state governments were expected to be prepared to support the returning migrants. In April 2021, as localised lockdowns were implemented and the COVID situation worsened dramatically, these same urban informal workers, struggling to cope with the new wave, were subjected to more lost livelihoods and despair. In this context, unlike last year, it was expected that all the states, with their learnings from past failures and fresh experience of dealing with migrant informal workers, would react in a quicker, more dynamic and robust fashion to guarantee a basic social protection floor.

IGSSS and YUVA’s joint study ‘Seeking Justice for Informal Workers During the COVID-19 Second Wave’ assessed social protection to the informal sector through orders and announcements of the union government and 10 state governments (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh) from April 1 to June 10, 2021.

From the beginning of April (end of March in states like Maharashtra), lockdowns lasted in their most extreme forms till mid June. During this time, through the announcements of relief

42 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

measures, the economic, social and health needs of the four largest groups of urban informal sector workers (i.e. construction workers, domestic workers, street vendors and waste pickers) were addressed, but unevenly so. Only three orders were passed by the Government of India, specifically in favour of all these groups during the second wave. Two out of the three orders were related to the continuous provision of dry rations to all PDS cardholders. Only one circular ordered the registration of domestic workers.

In the same period, 10 states which have been examined in this report due to them hosting a majority of migrant workers in the country, released a total of 33 orders specific to the four worker groups. Seven orders were related to provisions of rations and cooked meals to vulnerable groups, five orders calling for registration drives for workers, nine out of 10 states ordered cash transfers for some of the worker groups, one ordered the widening and continuation of a financial loan scheme, six states released orders declaring some of the groups as essential workers and one order setup a grievance redressal mechanism for workers to be assisted.

Although most states ordered financial assistance to COVID orphans, only three states ordered the inclusion of these most vulnerable worker groups in their vaccination priority lists.

Social protection measures for specific informal livelihood groups

Of the 10 states, only five states provided cash transfers to registered construction workers between `1000 – `5000. Registration with BOCW welfare boards is vital to access social protection, but only three out of the 10 states (Assam, Gujarat and

Odisha) ordered new registration drives for construction workers during the second wave. Construction activities were allowed through official government circulars in Gujarat, Delhi and Maharashtra.

Among the 10 states, only the Maharashtra government ordered direct cash transfer of `1500 to registered domestic workers. Although there are more than four lakh domestic workers in Maharashtra, the relief was only due to be provided to a little over one lakh of them. There was no announcement categorising domestic workers as essential service providers.

But Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allowed domestic workers to work and travel during the lockdown and only one state (Madhya Pradesh) prioritised domestic workers for vaccination. The central government meanwhile has released an order to conduct an All-India Survey on Domestic Workers, poised to be published by November 2021, according to the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Only four states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh) announced cash transfer schemes for street vendors. These were meant only for registered street vendors, or those who were beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) credit scheme announced in 2020. An ongoing scheme for vendors, Jagan Thodu of the Andhra Pradesh government, promising `10,000 interest free loans to vendors, was renewed during the second wave via a government circular. Only the Gujarat and Assam governments released circulars allowing street vendors to operate freely without police harassment. The Assam government announced the setup of compulsory

Shalaka Chauhan Social Designer, YUVA

Adrian D’Cruz Researcher, IGSSS

sanitisation points in all its local and weekly markets. Only two states (Odisha and Chhattisgarh) mentioned street vendors in their priority lists to receive vaccination.

It is a matter of grave concern that no government provided any relief to the waste picker community.

Only one circular passed by the central government, which launched a registration drive under NFSA, mentions waste pickers.

It was found that some states announced meaningful relief measures for distinct groups like beedi workers, rickshaw pullers, auto drivers, tea garden workers, sex workers, dock workers, amongst many others.

Maharashtra announced cash transfer to auto drivers and free distribution of food to migrant workers. Assam released numerous orders in favor of sex workers, tea garden workers, rikshaw pullers, auto drivers and gig workers. Delhi had also announced cash transfers and food facility.

Measures for marginalised identity groups

Circulars/orders for marginalised identities like the homeless, transgender communities, women, children, tribal groups and people with disabilities were also released by some states. It was found that most state governments aimed to safeguard children who have been orphaned by

COVID-19. Education fee assistance and monthly allowances have been uniformly announced across most states for COVID orphans. Groups like persons with disabilities, tribal groups, and the homeless have been afforded vaccination priority by states like Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Assam and Chhattisgarh also provided transgender persons a priority status in vaccination while the Centre announced `1500 cash transfer to registered transgender persons.

Overall impressions

The findings highlight that during the second wave, a larger number of state governments provided relief to more types of informal workers.

Recognition of varied worker groups has seemingly improved as compared to the first lockdown. Subhadra Pandey of SEWA pointed out the collective and coordinated effort made by Delhi and central government. “Free dry rations and cooked rations expanded by Delhi were supplemented by Jan Dhan payments provided by the Centre.

Monitoring systems were constantly maintained by the state government to oversee relief efforts of both levels of government. This is a very good example of how two governments can work together in times of crisis,” says Pandey, who works directly with thousands of construction and domestic workers in Delhi through SEWA. However, we cannot deny the fact that the social protection coverage is inadequate in dealing with the aggravating livelihood risks and poverty in India. Therefore, for the current stage, a safety net is significant to combat the livelihood risks by safeguarding food security, livelihood protection, and health and safety.

“The nature of informality in urban spaces is very varied. Many of these workers fit into multiple identities.

Self-employed people might also double as domestic workers, as disguised workers, changing through multiple worker identities within the span of one day even,” says Bharti Birla of the International Labour Organisation.

“114 million directly lost their livelihoods during the first and second lockdown, according to a study done by ILO. The interventions by states to assist these workers often involved sector based schemes, which have complex eligibility criterias varying from state to state,” Birla points out. In this scenario, one really has to reconsider the strategy used to facilitate the formalisation of workers.

A way forward

The report details a few general measures that should be undertaken, not only in the event of another pandemic-like situation, but as a national strategy.

Food security can be improved by expediting the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC), establishing more worker canteens and community kitchens, help desks at local levels and the universalisation of the mid-day meal scheme.

A national database of workers is to be drafted under the Ministry of Labour and Employment to begin formalisation. Pre-existing worker welfare boards must be strengthened.

It also should be a norm for all states to immediately issue guidelines and orders in favour of vulnerable informal sector workforce during a crisis.

The inclusion of urban informal workforce in health schemes such as AB-PMJAY, RSBY and others, must be given an impetus by registration drives, through worker welfare boards and inclusion of NGOs in project planning.

Firstly, basic primary healthcare treatment costs and generic drugs should be universally covered in times of crisis as out of pocket expenditure is the sole reason why many families slip back under the poverty line. More immediately, door to door vaccination campaigns should be undertaken at the slum/basti level for informal workers so that they can rejuvenate their livelihoods without the fear of hospitalisation to a large extent.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

43

Urban75 | Inaugural

AIILSG launches Urban75 Initiative

Ravi Kant Sharma, Mayor, Chandigarh, lighting the lamp in the presence of the event’s Chief Guest Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, and other dignitaries

Team Urban Update

A

ll India Institute of Local Self-Government, in association with Foundation EMDA South Asia, has started a series of dialogues to celebrate 75 Years of India’s urban transformation, where the focus will be on several pressing urban issues to present feasible solutions to cities. The inaugural Dialogue of the series was organised on October 21 at the India International Centre.

Additionally, AIILSG is working on a Coffee Table Book “Urban 75” to commemorate the completion of 75 years of Independence, and it is expected to be released in August 2022.

Indian cities are currently witnessing a massive transformation in governance, operational mechanism, capacity building, and adapting to sustainable development practices. Over the years, governments have tried many experiments to make urban spaces efficient, inclusive, and livable.

Moreover, the recent COVID-19

44 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

pandemic has forced policymakers and leaders to rethink the development paradigm of future cities. It is the opportunity to lay a new path for cities in the post-pandemic world.

Leveraging on the learning from these experiments, from these policies and programs, AIILSG decided on this series. The inaugural event of Urban75 witnessed an array of experts and people holding key positions in urban sector. Key points of discussion in the event included major learning in India’s urban journey through its 75 years of independence; case studies for efficient municipal governance; future roadmap of urban development and governance, etc.

Dr Jairaj Phatak, IAS (Retd), Director General, AIILSG, opened the event with his address to the panelists and attendees. He said, “I now find that challenges in the coming decade will be shortage of water supply, sanitation, air pollution, water inadequacy.” Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG, addressed the audience next

and talked about AIILSG and how one of its strongest verticals is capacity building programmes. Ravi said that the organisation thought about bringing out a publication/book where various experts/officers will share their experiences in the sector of urban development. He mentioned how this publication is being introduced in light of creating an exclusive platform for leaders and experts to thoroughly discuss and present ideas related to urban development.

Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, was the Chief Guest of the event. In his address, he said that there are over 3000 cities in our country, but we rarely consider them all when we talk about urban areas. He said the focus should be on developing those young cities sustainably from the very beginning.

He emphasized on building capacity of nations’ local government bodies.

Talking about how cities create plans for their development and act on

them, thereby forgetting to adapt to the changing environment, demands, technology, and innovations, he said, “The entire game lies in seeking exception from rigid plans of cities.”

He was of the opinion that India has not been leveraging the technology enough, which is a must for growth.

Hitesh Vaidya, Director, NIUA, was one of the esteemed panelists at the event. He traced three big learnings from COVID-19 pandemic which need to be adopted to improve the scenario of Indian urban spaces: (i) Cities were called engines of economy, when instead there are two engines – inclusivity and sustainability; (ii) More is needed in terms of the investment in human capital; and (iii) It is essential to develop a different business approach from scratch. Ravi Kant Sharma, Mayor, Chandigarh, said that the important aspect of growth of a city is to address all aspects of a city simultaneously, instead of working on different aspects one after another in a series. Taking his own city as an example, Ravi Kant talked about financial sustainability of a city. Under a campaign named ‘Corporation aapke Dwaar’, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has been collecting revenues as small as `0.5 from each citizen of the city to generate funds to work for the development of the city. Additionally, Chandigarh has

introduced a mobile application, ‘One City One App’ for people to have better access to services of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Sharma said that he has found the nationwide assessment of cities by the Government of India as extremely useful. He said that it helps them reflect where they stand in terms of their progress and work, which can guide them to work accordingly. For example, he mentioned that Chandigarh started door-to-door collection of waste after noting their ranking in Swachh Saurvekshan.

Dr PG Dhar Chakraborty, Former Secretary, Government of India, said that India has travelled far, from a relative neglect of this urban sector during independence to some seriousness of its development during the 21st century. Impact is visible, and that is something to celebrate.

However, he added that right now, it is more important to look at the challenges. With Urban 75, Urban 100 can be envisioned, and for that numerous prominent challenges need to be adequately addressed. He said that the experts from the panel have rightly mentioned the need to focus on the challenge of resources in urban spaces. He said that India’s work to achieve SDGs needs to go hand in hand with developing liveable and inclusive urban spaces. He also mentioned

Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update; Harish Sharma, Project Director, AIILSG; Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG; Pravin Bhardwaj, Consultant, National Institute of Urban Affairs; Laurent le Danois, Team Leader (Corporation Sector), Delegation of the European Union to India and Bhutan; Ashok Wankhade, Managing Editor, Urban Update; Dr Jairaj Phatak, Director General, AIILSG; Ravi Kant Sharma, Mayor, Chandigarh; Dr Prabodh Chakrabarti, Former Secretary, Government of India; and Abhilash Khandekar, Senior Journalist (L-R)

the Chandigarh Mayor’s address to reiterate the importance of making local government bodies financially sustainable and innovative.

Abhilash Khandekar, Senior Journalist, said in his address that the environment is currently a major issue with respect to urban development, that most of the engineers and urban planners are refusing to talk about.

He said that Indian cities need to be visionary and hence act in ways that can help them avoid running out of their resources in future. Increasing air pollution, water inadequacy, waste management, etc., are some of the prominent challenges that need to be addressed effectively as soon as possible by urban planners and decision makers.

Laurent le Danois, Team Leader (Corporation Sector), Delegation of the European Union to India and Bhutan, brought a global perception to the panel discussion. He said that as important as it is to have a vision for the cities, acting now is essential.

He said that waiting for even a single day will translate to issues in the long run and create new problems. Acting now has the potential to prevent birth of new problems in the urban scenario in future. He talked about an important aspect of urban development which cities and local bodies mostly forget in their run to achieve a target. Every city has its own DNA, its own identity, some features that are unique to each city.

He said that it is extremely important for cities to keep that substance alive in them through all that growth and development.

After the panel discussion, a question-answer round was conducted.

In response to a question on effective planning and vision of cities for development, Pravin Bharadwaj, Consultant, NIUA, said that there is a dichotomy present in the planning part of our urban local government bodies. He said that planners here take inspiration from successful plans and structures of other cities and then adopt it as such. They forget to take only inspiration and develop plans specific to the demography and needs of that particular city.

www.urbanupdate.in | November 2021

45

Urban Agenda

SBM U 2.O

Indian cities will now be garbage free, have safe water Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

One of the Government of India’s most ambitious projects – the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), was recently revived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, before we delve into how effective SBM-U 2.0 will turn out to be, we must understand what its objectives are.

SBM-U 1.0 targeted the achievement of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status for all urban local bodies (ULBs) in India, building of toilets and making them accessible to all sections of society, and ensuring scientific waste management. In the past seven years, SBM-U 1.0 has managed to make over 4000 ULBs in India ODF, over 950 cities ODF++, and has also lead to over 70 per cent of India’s waste being treated scientifically. Additionally, over 62.37 lakh individual toilets and over six lakh community and public toilets were also constructed under the Mission, both surpassing their initial mission targets. Lastly, as a direct result of the Mission’s guidelines, all faecal sludge from the toilets thus constructed is also treated responsibly, ensuring that it is not dumped into nearby rivers or open landfills. Thus, it is safe to say that SBM-U 1.0 was a success. However, India’s journey to becoming a clean and 100 per cent waste treating country is still far from over.

With the launch of SBM-U 2.0, the Government of India now aims to achieve ODF+ status for all ULBs in India, and ODF++ status for ULBs with less than one lakh population, along with grey and black water management throughout the country. The Mission will also focus on source segregation and scientific processing of all types of waste, adherence to the concept of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), and remediation of legacy dump sites across Indian cities. These too are gigantic tasks set forth under the Mission. However, with a budget outlay of around `1.41 lakh crore, the targets have come in sight.

One of the most prominent issues that the government will face while implementing this Mission will be a lack of public awareness on the importance of targets set under the Mission. Carrying on the legacy of the first edition of the Mission will be a good move for the government, ensuring that people understand why it is important for them to use toilets, segregate their waste and hand it over to the respective ULB officials accordingly. The next issue will arise in cities achieving the ODF+ and ODF++ certification. Although a number of cities have already declared themselves as ODF+ and ODF++, the journey for the rest of them will be long. One of main reasons for this is the absence of waste transportation and treatment facilities. Although large metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai have worked hard on increasing the number of sanitation workers employed to keep toilets built under SBM clean, simply increasing the number of sanitation workers will not be enough. The government will have to adopt modern technologies like automatic sensors and onsite waste remediation. This will help in reducing the cost and effort required to transport and treat faecal sludge from community and public toilets, thereby making it easier to keep them clean as the fund hence left unused can be directed to keep them cleaner.

The government’s ambitions behind SBM-U 2.0 are humungous and in line with Agenda 2030. However, only a clear, planned, and well-funded mission, executed with a bird’s eye view will be able to set things straight in India’s sanitation journey and help it achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

46 November 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

How PMC fought COVID battle Misfortunes never come singly. Events in the last 18 months were unimaginable. Hard times like these test the character of a person, an administration, and a society. I have first-hand experience of the great fight the administration and civil society put against the coronavirus pandemic.

Two Pune residents tested COVID positive on March 9, 2020. They had a travel history in Dubai. But everyone was dealing with the situation in hands with some experience of past pandemics and a few lessons from already affected countries. Within seven days, we specially arranged of `One crore from the Mayor’s Fund and installed 100 beds and 12 ICU beds in Dr Naidu hospital. Parallelly, the Pune Municipal Corporation focused on tracing and testing all the contacts of the COVID patients. The number of infected persons rose rapidly. Swab testing facility was available in only Dr Naidu Hospital and only the National Institute of Virology was processing the samples. The city administration opened quarantine centres to accommodate the rising number of infected citizens.

Meanwhile, the Central Government announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. While we were dealing with the health crisis, the need to provide shelter and food for needy people emerged at a rapid speed.

PMC took help from private hospitals as well. Though everyone was striving hard, no one knew the exact treatment.

Availability of vaccines and the world’s largest vaccination drive has really helped public life to get back on track.

One of the finest coordinated vaccination programs is being implemented in Pune city with the help of all PMCrun and private hospitals. Pune is aiming to vaccinate all the eligible population within the next few months and that will help us make a ‘corona-free city’.

We have learnt crucial lessons. Though Pune is now witnessing a significant drop in new infection cases, we are well aware that the war is still not over. PMC is also now prepared to tackle the third wave of coronavirus infections, if it comes. In Pune, we now have over 12 oxygen generation plants, two jumbo covid centres, and special ICU beds for children. Pune Municipal Corporation is always striving hard to be a step ahead and vigilant in protecting our city.