We all need a Citizens' Charter

I belong to a very interesting Whatsapp Group, that was formed to debate issues important to the Indian Nation, and to share ideas and suggestions on Policy that could work towards the betterment of some aspect of public life. 

This group called Illuminati, had tasked me with the drafting of a Citizens Charter, which would list out some critical behavior expectations from an enlightened citizen, which all the members would debate and adopt or revise as per majority vote. I reproduce the first draft here, and I would love to receive comments and suggestions to make the same more useful or robust.

Illuminati Citizens Charter

We, the members of this movement to encourage an ever increasing number of Indian Citizens to agree to voluntarily submit themselves to a Citizens Charter defining the ideal standards of Ethical, Democratic and Egalitarian behavior expected of a Citizen of India. 

I, the undersigned, having appended my signature to this Charter, do pledge to abide by this Citizens Charter in letter and spirit, and shall do my utmost to encourage my family and friends to similarly abide by the same. 

1. Franchise. 

I solemnly swear that I shall always exercise my Right of Franchise. I shall unfailingly cast my considered vote for the most suitable candidate in all elections that I am eligible to vote in, whether they be for the Local Body, the State Legislature or the Parliament. I shall do my utmost to encourage such Candidates who I sincerely believe support Meritocracy, are Patriotic, and place the Nation and the Indian Constitution above narrow Self Interest and abhor considerations of Caste, Creed, Community or Religion based politics. 

2. Abhor Corruption. 

I pledge to do my utmost to discourage corruption in public life in any form. Whether it be a low level act to escape a traffic infraction or a high level one involving Corporates and Governments and, everything in between. I promise to never be personally involved in any corrupt act and also counsel others to abhor such practices if it comes to my knowledge and information. 

3. No Discrimination.

I will never practice discrimination of any sort and I will oppose, with all the vehemence at my disposal, any discrimination on the basis of Religion, Caste, Gender, Color, Race, Place of Origin or Sexual Orientation. If I come across anyone indulging in discrimination in word or deed, I promise not to be a mute spectator, and shall endeavor to educate and prevent or report such individuals. 

4. No Animal Cruelty. 

I shall never indulge in any act of cruelty towards animals and undertake to actively work towards the prevention of any act of cruelty to animals, whether they be pets, beasts of burden or wild animals. If I do consume animal products, I shall restrict myself to food products and avoid fashion and Fur products that are obtained by inflicting cruelty. I assure that I will make every effort to ensure that the products I consume are obtained humanely and I shall restrict my consumption to only permitted animals and avoid products obtained from Protected, Exotic or Wild animals and Birds. 

5. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I swear that I shall responsibly consume scarce resources or products that have a deleterious effect on the environment. I shall be prudent in my use of Electricity, Fossil Fuels, Disposable Plastics and products manufactured using fuels and methods that add large quantum of carbon into the atmosphere, such as burnt bricks, etc. I shall actively promote the planting and nurturing of trees and prevent any wanton or irresponsible tree felling. Thus, I shall strive to minimize my Carbon Footprint and aim to achieve a Carbon Neutral existence for my family and myself. 

6. Civilized Drivers. 

I undertake to always drive my vehicles in a responsible and courteous manner. I promise to follow all the traffic rules and also adopt a civil and the Right-of-Way principle of driving, and strive to drive on public roads causing a minimum of inconvenience to other users. In the event that I am involved in any accident, I promise not to bolt from the scene, and shall make every effort to provide medical assistance to anyone injured in the accident. I also promise that I will report all accidents to the jurisdictional Traffic Police and undertake to assist them in their investigations. I shall endeavor to be a Good Samaritan on the roads and offer assistance to victims of vehicle accidents, and inform the authorities about the incident and assist them in their attempt to provide Medical Attention and to bring the guilty party to book. I will never permit my under aged children to drive a vehicle, and shall inculcate the highest standards of safety and courtesy in my children who are licensed to drive.  

7. Local Body Rules. 

I promise to help make my city, town or village more livable by following all the Bylaws and Civic Amenity Rules. I promise not to deviate from Sanctioned Plans and default on Setbacks and FSI regulations, and ensure that Light, Ventilation, Privacy and Safety are not denied to my neighbors due to my transgressions, as I expect my neighbors to care for my hygiene aspects. I undertake to also not tolerate others for their deviations from the bylaws and shall bring such deviations to the notice of the concerned authorities. I also promise to practice all mandated aspects of Good Urban Citizenry like Rain Water Harvesting, Waste Segregation at Source, Not Dumping of Waste in public areas and Never Littering or Spitting on the streets of my city. 

8. Athithi Devo Bhava. 

I promise to make my country welcoming to tourists and visitors both from within India and from outside. I will try to be Pleasant, Warm, Helpful and Accommodating of the needs of our guests and will try to ensure that all others do so too. I will try and prevent anyone from taking undue advantage of our guests in any manner and do my utmost to present a positive picture of our country and culture that expects us to treat our guests like God. 

9. Taxes and Duties. 

I solemnly pledge to truthfully and dutifully pay all the taxes and duties that are payable by me towards the Local, State and Central Governments. I will not take recourse to any illegal or questionable methods for assessing my taxes and undertake to do so only by using the legally permitted provisions and exemptions in a fair and transparent manner. I realize that taxes are my way of contributing to the development of my nation and I shall do my utmost to get everyone I know to similarly comply and contribute.

Place:                                                Name:

Date:                                                 Signature:

My Disappointments with Budget 2016

Is this Really an NDA Government?

Prime Minister Modi was decisively voted to office on the basis of his promise of 'Acche Din Aanewaale Hai' credo (Good Days are around the corner), and in a manner of speaking, to take up from where Prime Minister Vajpayee had left off. Big Bang Reforms, Job Creation, Wealth Creation and Robust GDP Growth were supposed to be a given, and a departure from the regressive Left of Center politics of the ungainly UPA Coalition Governments of the past was supposed to be a reasonable expectation. However, on several counts, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley disappointed me with his Budget for 2016. The large outlays for Rural Development without creating urban wealth and Jobs, makes this look like just another UPA-X Budget.

Direct Taxes - A Historical Anomaly

I cannot profess to be an expert on all aspects of the Economy and Union Budget preparation but I do understand this. We have been "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" since the past 65 years. The salaried class continues to bear an inordinate burden of the Direct Taxes and nothing is being done in every Budget to widen the tax base.

Why cannot the Government consider bringing all Aadhar Card holders (a known and verified database, with the yet un-enrolled eager to enroll, to enjoy the benefits of subsidies) into the IT net with a voluntary low rate of tax, say 5% with compulsory filing of Returns? 

There must be hundreds of million people in India, who are self employed, earning handsome incomes but not paying a rupee in tax and thus contributing nothing to Nation Building. If the Govt. brings all earning folk into a benign tax net and expands the Direct Tax Revenue, Salaried Class Income Tax rates can be cut and their disproportionate burden towards the nation reduced. Nothing done, disappointed. 

Reduce and Simplify Direct Taxes

Ideally, a simplified Tax Compliance mechanism where all the Salaried Class pays 10% Flat Tax Rate on income with no Exceptions and Rebates is something we need to work towards. No move towards implementation of the recommendations of the Direct Tax Code, which has been gathering dust for years. Disappointed.

A Harebrained Scheme to Tax Provident Fund Savings

So instead of rationalization of taxes to reduce the burden on the Salaried Middle Classes, we have a completely incomprehensible move to tax even their savings. The Provident Fund Saving is the only nest egg that a Private Sector Employee has to retire on. To want to tax that too is akin to twisting the knife in the back a couple more times, as though bleeding them dry was not enough. One day after I wrote my piece, The Times of India had pretty much the same thing to say.

Where is the much publicized Disinvestment?

The NDA from the Vajpayee days had a stated principle that the Government's job is to Govern and not to manufacture Soap, Operate Hotels or Run Airlines. The huge financial package for the loss making Public Sector every year could be used to build hospitals, schools, roads and other infrastructure, and the reticence of Modi to boldly take a position on the same is baffling. His early political learning seem to be very Left of Center, and perhaps, he still carries some baggage of Nehruvian Economics where all things were supposed to be Government run or controlled. In this one aspect, Prime Minister Modi is more old fashioned than his much senior NDA predecessor, who had a Disinvestment Ministry and wanted the Government to exit all non-critical ventures and unlock the wealth held in these properties and businesses. 

One was hoping that the Government would make some significant announcement in connection with 100% Disinvestment in a few Public Sector Undertakings and stop the continuous bleeding of tax payer money by supporting inefficiency and sloth that constitutes the sector today. Instead, we see some spineless Stake Sale of marginal significance. This is not a reflection of the 'Government should not manufacture soap' policy. Disappointed again.

I was hoping to see genuine investment in Farm Infrastructure

One is deeply distressed that the state of our farmers has not materially improved over the past 65 years. Surely, everyone should strive to ensure a situation where this noble profession would be a safe and remunerative one on which a farmer and his family could depend on? I believe every patriotic Indian should be deeply concerned about them and use their knowledge to help better their situation. 

I support a Farm infrastructure impetus. 

I have previously written on this subject to Agriculture Ministers, Food & Civil Supplies Ministers, Secretaries of Agriculture, even to FCI and Warehouse Corporation, but not one of them have responded to either initiate action, or to rule out the idea as un-viable. I appeal to the Government to constitute a Preliminary Study to check the feasibility of my suggestion, and provide some direction and hopefully later to obtain some commitments from the Government in the Budgets.

All Governments, regardless of their political persuasion since independence, have done nothing substantive to modernize the Farming Sector and tragically, the average Indian farmer even today remains stuck in the medieval age using cultivation methods which were developed thousands of years ago. True, a lot of progress has been made in the creation on a large talent pool of Agricultural Scientists and Graduates who are working to change the sector in terms of providing a Knowledge Base on Cultivation Methods, Crop Rotation and Soil Management, but the vast majority of the millions of farmers have no access to this expertise and have to come a long way just to catch up to subsistence. One is particularly concerned about the state of post cultivation collection, processing and storage of produce, which is in a 'rotten situation’ in more ways than one, fraught with corruption, leakages and unscientific methods, but no efforts or thoughts are being extended to remedy this.

Successive Governments have thus far, spent Thousands of Lakhs of Crores of Rupees in promising Remunerative Prices in the form of MSP, providing Free Power, Pushing (sometimes controversial) Seeds, Promoting Unsafe (and sometimes banned) Insecticide and offering Fertilizer Subsidy which have just kept the farmer dependent on the Monsoon, on Usury and his produce slowly turning Pesticide-Ridden and Non-Prime over the years. In addition to such upstream efforts, the government needs to invest in downstream capabilities, in the form of contemporary farm infrastructure and help the farmer modernize the entire chain of activity from soil preparation to the ultimate storage of grain. The Government is expecting Modern Retail Trade to make these investments, but has made the Retail Industry a minefield of regulations, deterring investment (more on this later).

I have recommended exploring the need to invest in farm infrastructure in addition to subsidy, which I have tried to bring to the attention of many of the powers that be, but have found no success. No one it seems, is interested in pursuing an alternate path. I sincerely believe that this has the potential of changing the landscape of rural India and will go a long way in improving the Food Security situation of our nation. No Capital Expenditure proposed for Farm Modernization in the Budget, a further disappointment.

Our Cities are decaying due to a step-motherly treatment

Touching on an co-related matter, for 65 years, we have been repeatedly told that releasing funds for Urban Infrastructure was 'frivolous expenditure' as India is a rural agrarian economy, and thus, a lion’s share of the past Budgets were allocated to Rural Initiatives. Consequently, due to neglect and sheer non-investment in our urban centers and poorly managed investment in our villages, we are now facing a situation of both urban decay where the worlds most polluted and grid-locked cities are Indian – on the edge of collapse, while on the other hand, the farmer is still killing himself for his inability to repay a loan of a few thousand Rupees, or curiously, abandoning his farmlands to move to decaying cities. In this connection, we see however some positive action, and investments are planned for Smart Cities and improvement of the creaking infrastructure of our major urban centers. However, far more targeted and aggressive investments are required to overcome the lag imposed on our cities for 65 years. So, yes, disappointed!

Finally, my pet peeve. No clarity on Retail Trade continues to stifle it.

Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary DIPP, had recently accepted that the Government may not have all the answers, especially when it comes to Sunrise Industry, and hence, it was more than willing to solicit the views of the Domain Experts in assisting in the formulation of policy. While Minister for Commerce and Industry, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman stressed that the primary aim and immediate concern of the Government was the creation of millions of jobs for our young adults, who are just entering the Economic Contributory Stage. Both spoke during the events organized for the promotion of Start Ups in India. In the background of the above, the one Sunrise Industry that has the ability to create, and absorb millions of fresh High School (Class X and XII) graduates i.e. Modern Retail Trade, is unfortunately mired in so much confusion and politics. If it is harnessed properly, Retail is a low hanging fruit that can change the outlook of the nation while contributing immensely to job creation.

• At the outset, it is no secret that India was perceived as the ‘Most Desirable’ Retail market for investors for over a decade and a half, but is now considered as a ‘High Risk’ market.
• The policies governing Retail in India have not been enablers, perhaps due to the political sensitivity to the adverse effect unbridled Retail expansion may have on the Kirana Stores, and they have been made very complex and confusing.
• The primary problem was the classification of Retail proposed by the UPA Government, i.e. Single Brand and Multi Brand Retail.
• This is a classification that is not natural in Retail, as the Activity Chain / Processes depends on type of Merchandise, and not whether they bear a single brand name or not.
• Retail Business Models are generally not amenable to the above classification and hence the Back-End Investment mandates and Sourcing Criteria do not make fiscal sense to most Retailers.
• This has resulted in no significant investment in Retail since the policy was announced by the previous Government, when it actually has the potential to be one of the best Forex earners for the country.

The Government refuses to take the advice of Retail Experts

Despite Mr. Amitabh Kant's statement of consultative process to be followed for Start Up's, when it comes to Retail Trade, he obstinately refuses to engage with Retail Experts to help formulate enabling policy. 

To ensure that the artificial barriers to investment in Retail are dismantled and the country becomes the most desirable destination for Retail Businesses the world over, while still keeping a tight watch on the deleterious effect Retail can have on the Kirana’s, the following approach that has been endorsed by the Retailers Association of India, may be worth considering.

• The entire policy framework governing retail needs to be re-looked into, and the same aligned with the business processes of the industry.
• The new suggested classification could be ‘Food Retail’ and ‘Non-Food Retail’.
• Non Food Retail which can be anything from Car Showrooms to Apparel and Consumer Durables to Jewelry Retail should be permitted as freely as possible. 
• Whether we permit 100% or 76% or even 51% FDI it is immaterial, as most retailers will be able to find Indian partners without much problem. It is critical however, to have minimal restrictive rules and regulations governing this segment.
• Thus, without even impacting the Kirana in any manner, we can open our market to literally thousands of Retail Chains and create a large number of Entry Level Jobs.
• To ensure that investment in Food Retail like Supermarkets and Fresh Chains is done in a very planned and controlled manner, this category can have reasonable restrictions to minimize their impact on the Kiranas while at the same time, encouraging them to invest in upstream infrastructure like Grain Elevators, Cold Storages and Logistics.
• Retail creates jobs for young people with Minimal Higher Education, and Short-Term Training (could even be On-The-Job Training), hence the benefits to the economy and the politics of the issue can be had within a very short gestation period.

Thus, in addition to creating a large number of jobs, the freeing up of Retail (or simply clarifying the classification) will improve our grade in the Ease of Doing Business Rating, improve our Currency Valuation and contribute to a Feel-Good Business Climate, as investors in other more Critical Sectors will be comforted when they see Retail Brands from their own countries flourish in this market. Needless to say, the influx of Retail will also have a positive spin-off on the IT, Malls, Manufacturing, Construction, Apparel and Consumables industries, and support a vast number of indirect jobs in addition to the direct ones.

We in India deserve to have a fully enabling environment for Retail, and permit us to reap the benefits of the low entry barrier investment it can bring even while protecting our Kirana heritage and jobs. No move towards clearing the logjam of Retail. Disappointed? No, distraught, actually.

Support for Ms. Durga Nagpal IAS

The country is awash with the news of the Samajwadi Party's (SP) Government in Uttar Pradesh bowing to the pressures of the so called Noida based Sand Mafia and getting the officer in question, Ms. Durga Nagpal IAS, suspended on what seems like spurious charges. The powers that be in SP, must have assumed that like in the past 65 years, they could ride roughshod over this lady, and via their retrograde action on her, send out a stern message to all other officials - that they will face similar consequences if they do not toe the Party line. Being Democratic Dinosaurs, the poor chaps may have never imagined that the entire nation will erupt in anger and condemnation, as is happening now, in response to their illegal actions.

On the first hand, we understand that the Sand Mafia is an entrenched lobby with close connections to the ruling party honchos. Thus, it is quite conceivable that goons from the Mafia, who have been facing the brunt of Ms. Nagpals’ official actions, would have complained to their Political Godfathers to fix this ‘pain in their side’ Officer. After suffering the seizure of several trucks and many Crores of Rupees worth in fines for the illegally mined natural resource, the Mafia would have naturally chafed at the ‘interference’ in their activities and resented it. Naturally.

While I do not support retrograde action of any sort, I believe that the SP Government should have handled this with more finesse. If an officer is causing you problems by preventing your cronies from say, looting, then you would typically look for a more pliant Officer and post him / her in place of the honest and upright Officer. Such action is permitted by law and is well within the boundaries of civilized governance and decency, even if the action was contemplated for less than honest reasons. But, to give the whole issue a religious and communal color to suit their actions is reprehensible and deserves condemnation in the strongest possible language and the strongest purgatory actions permitted under the Constitution.

The Officer was just doing her job and apparently following a Supreme Court order prohibiting the sprouting up of religious structures illegally on Government owned land. Media reports suggest that she herself did not get the structures demolished, but in a most mature and sagacious manner, managed to convince the villagers themselves to abide by the law and demolish the structures in question. Even while this needs to be proven, one must express ones’ total and complete admiration for the maturity of the young officer. If this is indeed true, without doubt she needs to be felicitated and publically adored instead of being witch hunted, as the SP Government seems to be doing. Another report in the media also mentioned the fact that her superior Officers at the District level have given their reports to the Government that there was no evidence of malafide intent on the part of Ms. Nagpal, and that post her actions on the demolition of the Mosque structures, there was absolutely no evidence of communal tension or unrest, nor was any complaint received protesting her actions. All this seems to show the SP Government in very poor light, unfortunately.

Thus, for the SP Government to latch on to this flimsy excuse and accuse her of taking actions that could Endanger Public Peace and be Detrimental to Communal Harmony is just a whole lot of rot. This is Minority Appeasement and Communal Politics of the basest order, and their using it as a fig leaf to cover the disgusting naked illegality of their action in suspending Ms. Nagpal, and later serving her with a Charge Sheet, is plainly visible to every right-thinking citizen of this country.

We the people of India have to protest this illegal action and make it clear that we will not stand for such Banana Republic Politics any longer. Since the SP Government seems to have decided to brazen it out and continue with this travesty of justice, we are forced to turn to the Judiciary to set thing right, as usual. Unfortunately, the Judiciary is currently, the only arm of Democracy that still overwhelmingly stands up to scrutiny, particularly at the level of the High Courts and the Supreme Court. Thus, it is inevitable that we petition the Respected Chief Justice of the Honorable High Court at Allahabad, and seek his intervention in the matter.

• The Actions of the SP Government are illegal and anti-Democratic in nature, and Bad in Law.
• The principles of Natural Justice and the Fundamental Rights of the IAS Officer Ms. Nagpal seem to have been undermined.
• The actions of the Government looks to be strongly in response to the spectacular work the Officer has done to preserve the Natural Resources for the public good, which apparently impeded the functioning of the Sand Mining Mafia.
• In smothering the faculties of an honest and upright Officer, the SP Government has verily extended its tacit support to corruption and crony capitalism, to the detriment of the nation.
• Instead of encouraging and motivating Good Governance, the SP Government seeks to exercise pecuniary control over its Officers, and encourage yes-men and pliant Officers who look the other way when an illegality is being perpetrated.

To do my bit, I have created an online petition, addressed to the Respected Chief Justice, and am collecting signatures in support of the same. Please click on the link below and sign the petition, and then share it with all your contacts, exhorting them to sign the same too. It is hoped that we can all manage to collect 500 endorsements. Thank You.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_honest_and_upright_IAS_Officer_Durga_Nagpal/

Drought and Cloudbursts, Manmade Monsoon Fury

The past week, has been quite a dramatic one - if one is a viewer of any of the 24x7 Television News Channels. We have been constantly bombarded with images that one normally saw only on viral YouTube videos prior to this. Two and Three storied buildings just collapsing like a pack of cards, cars floating furiously away along in the current, dashing into other cars, bludgeoning buildings and bridges along the way, and dramatic pictures of mudslides having decimated holy towns on the banks of the Ganga, after they having stood strong for over a hundred years.

Officialdom is as usual, wringing its hands and begging us to appreciate the fact this is a natural calamity of gigantic proportions, and hence their sorry and uncoordinated rescue attempts need to be seen as brave and heroic by all patriotic Indians. Only the Armed Forces seem to be doing anything credible or worth appreciation in the search and rescue efforts. On the other hand, News reporters have already alleged that this is a 'manmade disaster' and have started pointing out that most of the buildings that were damaged, were illegal or permitted to be built on the river banks in contravention of Environment Ministry norms, and ignoring even the basics of engineering design. Focusing on the illegal structures alone seems to indicate that the reporters too are willing to accept the view that the cloudbursts are indeed natural disasters, and only the consequences thereof were manmade. It is depressing to observe that no one is studying this from a continental perspective, as I sincerely believe that this problem is entirely manmade, including the cloudbursts and feel that nature is wrecking her revenge on us for having raped and pillaged her incessantly for the past 40 odd years. What follows is my perspective as to the causes of the sudden cloud bursts and consequently, the still unknown number of lives lost and immense loss to property.

I’m sure everyone who was a child of the ‘70’s and the ‘80’s will remember the Weather Reports on the Doordarshan channel, in which, the progress of the monsoon used to be tracked from the 1^st of June onwards, by showing a Monsoon Front Line moving in slowly over the sub-continent until it was shown to cover the entire Indian landmass by the first week of July or thereabouts, when it finally became a spent force while battling the might of the Himalayas. One could see the front moving faster over the sea due to the absence of obstruction, and lagging over the land by a few days. The terms used the news readers are still fresh in my mind “The Monsoon front has progressed to cover Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Costal Kerala, South Interior Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka, Rayalseema and the Konkan regions. It is expected to further progress over the Deccan Plateau, Goa and Coastal Orissa in the next two days. The Monsoon is also expected to reach Delhi and Rajasthan which are currently reeling under heat-wave conditions, by the 30^th of June”, or something to that effect.  Thus, an entire month of rains starting from the 1^st of June had to first drench the rest of India before it could even reach the foothills of the Himalayas. This time, it took just about 10 days, and like it has done over the past few years, it has entirely skipped Karnataka and Maharashtra, and reached Delhi and the foothills. Why could this be happening?

In a similar vein, I am also quite irritated whenever a discussion on climate takes place on TV for instance, where residents of Bangalore mention that they never saw temperatures in the high 30’s back when they were kids, and the ‘Experts’ will be quick to point out that in some obscure date in May of 1937 or 1928 or whatever, Bangalore had recorded a temperature of 38.7 Deg. C, and hence there was no truth in the alarmist theories of Global Warming. The so called experts are also quick to point out that the 'Average Temperature of Bangalore has remained more or less constant over the past 100 years'. This needs to be debunked in the strongest possible terms, as I have personally seen the change in the temperatures in Bangalore, and never before was it as hot as it is in summer or as cold as it is in winter now. Thus, it seems that nature has a way of ensuring that the average is maintained – warmer summers are compensated by colder winters and thus, when the average temperature is mapped for the entire year, it will seemingly remain same as the average recorded in the ‘70’s. What this average hides is the earlier maximum – minimum range and what change that has undergone over the past 40 years. Similarly, showing us a record of some extreme temperature when our Grandparents were kids in Bangalore misses the fact that back then, such high temperatures were an absolute rarity, and may have appeared on a couple of days due to some global phenomenon like the El Nino effect, while these days, we see Bangalore suffering temperatures of mid-to-high 30’s for over 45 days in April and May, which was unheard of back then. For a city that needed no ceiling fans when we were kids, this is tragic. Nowadays, an Air Conditioner is the ubiquitous adornment for most bedrooms, adding to the environmental impact and climate change, making them more and more inevitable each season.

So, getting back to why the monsoon traversed the sub-continent so rapidly, I think it basically boils down to this – Deforestation. The monsoon front used to traverse very slowly over the peninsula landmass due to the very extensive forest and tree cover over the Malnad region of Karnataka, and the greenery of the North Karnataka and South West Andhra regions. This green cover not only slowed down the movement of the front, but also divested of it a major portion of the water content in the monsoon clouds by forcing copious yet gentle precipitation for weeks. This helped to not only slow down the movement of the front, but also resulted in controlling the amount of precipitation they retained when the winds finally hit the Himalayas, as the mountains seemingly possess the ability to extract every last drop from the clouds. Now, with the forest cover in Karnataka reducing each year, and the whole of Hyderabad Karnataka and Andhra a veritable gaping wound due to the open cast mining rampant there, means that the clouds are able to just pass over the entire landmass virtually unchallenged, and hence arrive still swollen with rain at the foothills of the Himalayas. This leads to cloudbursts, simple. Thus, this extreme weather phenomenon has been caused in part due to the greed of man, and of course, corruption. Greased palms have never possessed the ability to protect our forests, and much like the rain bearing clouds, they slip through the rules, and lay bare larger and larger swathes of forest land.

Touching upon the aspect of how the Himalayan region has been managed, and why the raging rivers have managed to wreck so much havoc, one only needs to look at the flood waters to understand that even in the Himalayas, the greed of man and the lucre of money has apparently laid bare the timeless hills. The water is a deep chocolate brown due to the millions of tons of precious topsoil that has been washed off the hills due to the absence of a tree root network that once bound it together. Further, it must be understood that this is pretty much a one-way street - as water that is mixed with soil and moving at a fast rate becomes virtually an unstoppable force, as the density of the mixture rises, so does its destructive power, eroding away more and more soil to feed the frenzy. Add to this a million trees, a few hundred thousand boulders, several houses and an assortment of cars to the mixture, it will be no different than a weapon of mass destruction, and nothing will stand in its way, especially not the shoddily constructed illegal guesthouses and cheap hotels that sully the banks of the Ganga all along its course.

I do hope that the Experts will wake up and instead of just rationalizing the problem, do something about it. We need to revert Karnataka to the earlier forest cover, ensure that the bald wounds inflicted by the iron ore mining are all greened over, and the forest cover of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are similarly improved to form an effective monsoon barrier or sponge, that traps the rain in a gentle and sustained manner. In the hills themselves, the pressure of human settlement has to be eased and extensive reforestation taken up to prevent topsoil runoff. All along the banks of the rivers, a respectful buffer zone or Ecological Zone needs to be created and the course of the rivers and their flood plains kept unpopulated. Finally, all buildings on the hills have to be restricted to a single level only, so that the pressure on the inclined soil plane is minimized. The officials tasked with the maintenance of ecologically sensitive zones need to faithfully perform their duty and preserve our nation and its precious ecosystem for our children.

Lastly, India as a nation – every single man, woman and child will have to abhor corruption. As long as we are willing to pay a bribe as speed money for our own selfish reasons, the officials will see no reason to reform themselves. Ultimately, it seems that any disaster, natural or manmade can be connected tenuously or otherwise to acts of corruption. This has got to stop!

Global Warming can be abated by Truck Hauling

Global Warming is a serious problem

It is currently one of the most serious issues that have been faced by man. Global Warming is indisputably building up to be one of the most serious killers and hence needs to be addressed on a war footing. Unfortunately, most Governments are not according the issue the serious consideration it deserves, and one hopes that they wake up and smell the coffee soon enough! Thankfully, The Koyoto Protocol has given the world a proverbial silver lining in the dark clouds (literally) by providing us a platform and an opportunity to monetize the carbon abatement efforts and consequently the Carbon Trading opportunities that have presented themselves are hugely exciting. These are opportunities that India needs to grab and it is heartening to note that many enlightened Indian business corporations are shouldering their social responsibility while also making sound business gains, as this is perhaps the only way investments (and sincere efforts) will be put in by industry to tackle this looming and calamitous problem.

One of the largest single consumers of Diesel in the world is the Indian Railways, and despite the low ‘per capita’ emission standards due to the massive number of passengers they move, the gross emissions would still be humongous, and any initiative in cutting down of carbon output that they put in place would make a huge dent in the emission levels, but I’m however a little disappointed to see the Indian Railways making only token gestures towards reducing emissions by adopting Light Weight coaches and solar powering their Signaling. Light weight coaches, to make any sizeable impact will need to be introduced on all trains, existing and future – and would come at an enormous capex as all the existing rolling stock needs to be replaced, and solar powered signals do not even begin to address a really serious issue. In my opinion, to achieve some very quick and high impact emission reductions, the Indian Railways should consider introducing Truck Hauling services on their proposed Freight corridors. This is the type of Inter-modal Transportation System that moves fully loaded trucks on trains and is also called Piggy-back Transportation.

Dedicated Freight Corridors

According to the plan published by The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, which is a special purpose vehicle set up by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, the country will see two main corridors being proposed, i.e. the Western and the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors or DFC’s. I’m not aware of the basis on which the above routes have been selected, but if they have been selected purely on the basis of current parcel / freight bookings, the planners will be missing the big picture. Instead of just looking to shift existing parcel vans to these corridors, the Railways would do well to look at the real movement of bulk freight in the country. An overwhelming majority of the movement happens by Trucking, and if we do not take a few thousand of these off the roads, we will be doing the Earth a great disservice.

Every day, literally thousands of trucks leave cities like Chennai to travel to Bangalore (and vice-versa) usually making the journey non-stop (no deliveries / pick up’s enroute) burning thousands of liters of Diesel, using up lubricants, and other consumables, causing crores of Rupees worth of wear and tear to parts and tires, incurring huge insurance costs, while increasing the occurrence of accidents, over crowding and wear and tear of highways, endangerment of other road users etc., while offering largely unreliable transport solutions to users. In addition to all the above, these trucks are seriously gassing up the world. I believe that the DFC’s should attempt to replace this movement to meet with both commercial as well as ‘green’ success. If the Railways can take even 500 of these trucks off each highway each day, by hauling them with their loads, from city to city, such that the trucks need to be driven only from the origin point to the loading yard and then from the unloading yard at destination to the consignee location, the benefits are manifold.

Truck hauling services can be made mandatory

Such a hauling service would dramatically cut CO^x emissions, while also reducing our country’s overall diesel consumption. It will improve our fuel security situation by cutting down on oil imports, stemming the foreign exchange outflow and prune the diesel subsidy bill. The resultant Carbon Credits that would accrue should also be a big ticket encashment. The direct revenue generation possibilities and future growth prospects are also enormous, as many businesses should prefer to route their logistics onto such a service, as the entire transport process would be more reliable (and possibly less expensive) than it is currently. Further, if the service is found to be viable and successful, the use of the service can be made mandatory by law as is being contemplated in many EU nations. Surely something worth evaluating seriously by the authorities concerned. Truck Hauling is already being offered in India by the Indian Railways, for instance on the Konkan Line, but the argument here is to apply the same compulsorily on the proposed DFC's, and also expanding the DFC network that can take a large number of trucks off the highways.

In the current situation, Indian trucking largely consists of Fixed Chassis 6 and 10 Tonne trucks. The sizes of the Trucks by the various manufacturers and the resultant diversity in the platforms to be provided for hauling them would be a little complicated currently, but needs to be persevered with. In the near future, it is inevitable that all trucking will become palletized and various container sizes that are uniquely standard to India will be visible. In such a scenario, the hauling needs to be only of locked containers and local deliveries will be made using small and large Trailers trucks. This will virtually remove a majority of the trucks from the highways, leaving behind these overloaded passageways to trucks that are travelling on non-trunk routes or on short haul routes. This will also make the highways safer for all the other vehicles using them, as for several reasons, the Indian Trucker is the worlds’ worst follower of Highway and Traffic rules. Thus, the less he is let loose on the roads the better it is for all of us. More about this in the future!

Why no Bio-fuel in India yet?

Background

India is an economy that is in its ascendant phase and with the expansion of the financial base, the nation is seeing never before prosperity levels. During our parents’ generation, owning a house was the primary investment goal, and the car was relegated to a poor fifth or sixth on the priority list, to only appear after house, children’s education, children’s marriage, Television, 2-Wheeler and for the obscenely rich minority, a car. Now, the trend has been reversed and arguably the car and one’s lifestyle figure on the top of the list. This has resulted in Indians owning some 40 Million Cars and about 3.7 Million units being added to the streets each year (2010 figures). This has resulted in an explosion of the demand for lubricants and fuel which are mostly imported and subsidized and has also contributed to enormous pollution concerns in all our towns and cities. Thus, the need of the hour is to tackle the issue of rising oil prices, high cost of subsidy to the Government and to address the problem of growing vehicular emissions polluting the environment.

Concerns

It is of serious concern that the Indian Government seems to have no specific long-term policy to address the issue of our dependence on fossil fuels. We continue to import ever larger quantities of fuels spending billions of dollars in precious foreign exchange each year, and the well-entrenched Oil Industry propagated idea that ‘fossil fuel is cheap and near limitless’ has not even been challenged. This problem is only expected to spiral upwards as the population is seeing increasing affluence and aspirations towards a higher, more western style of living and consumption patterns. Due to the legacy of socialist policy making, the Government has been subsidizing or controlling the price of Diesel fuel as this is the fuel of choice for the transport industry and thus, in the current set up, any increase in the fuel cost (diesel) would invariably lead to a rise in the prices of essential commodities. The subsidy burden is increasing each year due to higher oil prices and the increasing vehicular population, and will continue to do so in the perceivable future until the whole artificially propped set up collapses.

In my view, this subsidy is being funded from money that should be ideally spent on other, more important sectors like health, education or infrastructure, and such an enormous subsidy spending (India's fuel subsidies might cost it as much as $17.5 billion this year, according to Lombard Street Research, a British firm of economists) is unfair to the vast majority of the population, as they depend on the Government to spend on the more critical sectors, to improve their lot, rather than on fuel subsidy that touches only a small section of the needy population.

Even in the issue of encouragement of adopting more fuel efficient cars and thus bring down the fuel consumption per capita, the Government seems to have its eyes crossed. While the world is quickly moving towards and aggressively encouraging the use of EV’s or Electric Vehicles and Hybrid cars that run on fossil fuel initially, but switch over to electric power stored in batteries resulting in dramatically lower tailpipe emissions and lower fossil fuel consumption, the Indian Government does not seem to recognize this class of vehicle as a ‘special product’ and it makes one sad to mention that an imported Hybrid Prius is taxed in exactly the same manner as an obnoxiously fuel guzzling SUV such as the Hummer, @ of some 300%!

Suggestions

Critical and immediate

§  The Government should urgently implement a system of ‘Post Utilization Fuel Subsidy’, wherein only specific sectors that genuinely require the subsidy are targeted and provided the subsidy if needed. Perhaps they can introduce a Pre-paid Registered Transporters Card which will provide subsidized Diesel only to transporters of food and infrastructure goods and the farming sector, etc. This will prevent expensive SUV’s and other elitist toys running on subsidized diesel, while the struggling lower income Motorcycle owner pays a higher price for Petrol because there is an atrocious cross-subsidy component between the two fuels.

§  The Government should immediately request all members of the public who can manage without the fuel subsidy, perhaps the passenger car owners or individuals having incomes above INR 10 Lakh per annum to switch to branded fuels of public sector oil companies or private fuel companies like Reliance, Shell etc. This move will largely have to be voluntary of course, and the Government will need to appeal to the general public to comply, in the larger interest of society.

§  The Government, in addition to the above initiatives, should enact or modify the tax laws that would result in the encouragement of the production, sale and ownership of EV’s and Hybrid Vehicles by making them virtually tax-free so that large numbers of people will be encouraged to switch over to these vehicles, which will go a long way in making our country more self-reliant and environment friendly.

Desirable in the short to medium term

§  The government should strictly implement its already existing rule (The Gazette of India: Extraordinary [Part I- Sec. I] Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Resolution, New Delhi, 3rd September, 2002 No. P-45018/28/2000-C.C.) concerning the blending of fossil-bio fuels mixtures with immediate effect.

§  Bio Diesel from Jatropha seeds should be aggressively promoted and should be mixed with fossil diesel at the maximum permissible ratio which will not require any engine modifications.

§  Methanol or Ethanol blended petrol at the maximum permissible ratio which will not require any engine modifications should also be made compulsory.

§  Suitable additives can be included in the mixture to ensure that the burn will be clean and complete, as well as maintain the current anti-knocking properties of the fuels.

§  All diesels available in the country should be compulsorily made into ‘Ultra Low Sulphur’ grade to reduce SOX emissions.

Benefit to Agriculture, farmers and the environment

§  We have large tracts of fallow lands in the northern districts of Karnataka (and similar lands in backward semi-arid and arid districts across the country) which can be converted into large scale Jatropha growing areas. I understand that these plants can be grown using very poor quality of water, including municipal waste water, which will yield us the benefit of using marginal lands for main stream agriculture, recycle large quantities of municipal waste water, increase green cover and provide much needed income to the subsistence farmers in these districts. Of course, suitable precautions need to be put in place to prevent food growing lands being diverted for bio fuel crops.

§  Intensive research needs to be carried out to identify a suitable grain that can be grown for preparation of ethanol that will be more efficient that cane sugar, which is a water intensive crop and is also quite burdensome to the environment. As ethanol can be misused, it will have to be made unfit for human consumption.

§  I feel that we can achieve a high success rate in the Bio Fuels initiatives and also reduce problems of leakage, corruption and other issues by making the oil companies themselves responsible for acquiring their requirements of the raw materials for the manufacture of the two bio-fuels, and the production of the Fuels, their processing, the blending with fossil fuel and additives etc. can be fully under the control of the oil companies.

Other Benefits

§  It is quite evident that the benefits of implementation of the above measures will result in the saving of about 20% on the fuel import account, as the mixing of bio-fuels in Petrol and Diesel is possible to the extent of E10 / M10 for Petrol and B20 for Diesel, without any infrastructure changes to the oil transport, storage, dispensing mechanisms in place or modifications to the engines running them.

§  Bringing traditionally non-farming lands into agriculture, even for cash crop agriculture, the benefits to the environment and to the farmers can be expected to be dramatic. A clear policy that mandates some safety measures to counter mono-cropping and soil / water table degradation can be put in place, but it is obvious that the benefits far outweigh the possible concerns.

§  Post Utilization Subsidy and the promotion of customers switching to Private Fuel Retailing Companies or Branded Fuels of the Public Sector Oil Companies will result in a massive saving on the Fuel Subsidy Account and leave precious funds for spending on the social sector.

§  The above initiatives, together with the encouragement of the production, sale and ownership of Hybrid Vehicles by making them virtually tax-free so that large numbers of people will be encouraged to switch over will go a long way in making our country more self-reliant and environment friendly.

Update posted on 6th June 2021.

Fully after almost a decade of passing up the opportunity to save billions of dollars in oil purchases, the government has finally mandated E20 blended Petrol. 

Should the Filament Bulb be banned?

First published in the Stylus Magazine of Reliance Retail, December 2007

I recently came across a campaign by Greenpeace to get the light bulb banned in India, on account of it being the most inefficient light source possible. Apparently, a majority of the energy consumed by the ubiquitous light bulb (GLS or General Lighting Series Lamps) is lost as waste heat, and by switching to alternatives like Fluorescent tubes and CFL's (Compact Fluorescent Lamps), India could apparently save millions of tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions. Such emissions have been identified as the possible culprit in the altering global weather patterns, these past few years.

While I sincerely believe that the developed nations or the first world nations have to shoulder a major part of the blame for the degradation of the environment and consequently take the front line in the shouldering of responsibility towards the cutting back of carbon in the atmosphere, and India has the onerous responsibility of first providing a decent standard of living to all its citizens before worrying about such lofty ideals as the environment, in the current globalized scenario, I feel that it is perhaps prudent that we ought to be trying to achieve that by adopting technologies that will not gas the world into oblivion, even while improving the lot of our people. Towards this goal, the developed nations should ideally be providing investments and infrastructure at affordable costs to large nations like India and China to ensure that we do not follow in their polluting footsteps.

Indeed, the Per Capita Carbon generated by India is a minuscule fraction of that generated in the US or UAE, the total quantum of carbon generated by India adds up to a serious sum, and as we are all aware of the need to cut back ones' carbon footprint, India needs to undertake some measures. One such measure is the adoption of energy efficient lighting solutions and hence there is much merit in supporting this ban; however the flip side of the coin that one needs to consider are the following:

§  India has still a long way to go before the dream of power and lighting being made available to every citizen of our country. By banning the bulb which is very inexpensive to buy may put a spoke in the efforts of the government (when it puts in such an effort) to make the above dream come true. However, if the bulb is indeed banned, then more people will buy CFL's (which is the best alternative to GLS bulbs) bringing to effect economies of scale in their manufacture and perhaps, bring the costs down considerably.

§  We have many very small scale factories and cottage industries that are dependant on the manufacture of the light bulb for the livelihood of many thousands of people. By banning the bulb, will we perhaps be taking away their only source of income? A very sobering thought, as we face a minor social problem that will require the intervention of the government to provide alternate means of livelihood for these people. I suppose we also need to consider the fact that global warming and adverse weather will kill more people every year worldwide and hence, perhaps should justifiably be treated as the greater evil!

§  Lastly and perhaps most importantly, CFL's are very dangerous and can be a real challenge to recycle / dispose safely because the coating they contain is made using mercury. It would be a disaster if we just threw away our millions of CFL's every year, as the mercury would find its way into the ground and surface water sources and kill millions of birds, fishes and other wildlife, and in turn humans who consume them. For sure, we will require a legislation that will make it mandatory for manufacturers to collect back fused CFL's while selling replacements, and to recycle them suitably.

The moot question here is, Will our government have the vision and the sagacity to promulgate such a law? Your guess is as good as mine, (I guess!!). Maybe some day it is bound to happen?? (One hopes and prays).

Thus, all things considered, I decided to support the petition as I felt that we had no real choice - just look at the summer weather in Europe and the floods in India during the monsoon! I thought it was a good idea to seek your support for the movement to ban the bulb, and I have advocated the same to all my friends and contacts.

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/banthebulb/

Hemanth Sharma