Author name: GurgaonFirst

A few days ago, my son, a sixth grader, approached me for some help with his social science homework. He had to answer the question “How does India’s diversity add to its unity?” While helping him write the answer, I realised that the answer is what defines our Indian identity and its essence. Diversity for us is not a remote concept, but a part of our everyday lives. We follow different beliefs and religions, speak different languages, dress differently, look different, have different ethnicities, experience different seasons, reside in diverse geographical terrains and yet are woven in one common fabric. Diversity forms the basis of our character, our values, our philosophy and our strength. As we celebrate our 73rd Independence Day, we must recommit ourselves to this Indianness. A serious reading of the preamble to our constitution is a simple yet very powerful gesture towards such recommitment. We may have read it before, but it is important we reinforce within us the values it enshrines. This one-sentence preamble, I feel, is very empowering and all encompassing. It lays down core principles and objectives we wish to achieve as a country. It reminds us about the ideas and ethos of India. The opening phrase “We, the People” gives a sense of both empowerment and responsibility. The words —sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic, liberty, equality, fraternity, unity, integrity and dignity—reinforce the promise to provide and promote better life to all citizens. Delve a bit more into the constitution, to read about directive principles of state policy and our rights and duties as a citizen, and in one stroke you get an overarching view of how the state needs to set policies and how we can become better citizens of this country. Our preamble highlights why it is important to vote and to pay our taxes. Why it is critical to ensure better wages and working conditions for workers in our factories and houses. Why employment opportunities must be available to all. Why we must consider men and women, rich and poor equal. It also reinforces why we must accept diverse religious beliefs. Why we need far greater education, housing and health infrastructure for the poor and the needy. Why a pedestrian has an equal (in fact even higher) right on the road than the car-owner. Why we need to protect children, senior citizens and differentially able in the society. Why all citizens have equal rights over natural resources, such as water, in the country. And, why must we protect our natural environment, such as lakes, rivers, and the wild life, of this country. The gap, in terms of where we are and where we should be, is abysmally wide. The onus is both on the governance and the citizenry to work towards reducing socio-economic inequalities through all formal and informal means. Some recent incidents indicate that we are still far from internalising the core values enshrined in the Preamble. In a recent unfortunate instance, a customer who ordered food online, refused to accept it because the delivery boy was of a different religion. In yet another incident, a customer cancelled a cab as the cab driver was of a particular religion. While both these acts are unconstitutional, and they were widely criticised on the social media, they indicate deep social biases and prejudices that still exist in our society. Such biases are not just related to religions, but also related to sex, economic class, regions, colour, etc., that are also widely prevalent. Clearly, we are missing the idea of what India is, as defined by the fathers of our constitution. What can we do to bridge this divide? We should certainly stay away from activities that polarise or divide us and we must root ourselves in India’s core values to build a stronger nation. This means celebrating all festivals, bringing different communities together, upliftment of weaker sections, making sure everyone’s rights are honoured, ensuring better health, housing and education facilities for the under-privileged, ensuring public spaces are used by all, saving water, reducing pollution and increasing the green cover. There is clearly a lot to do at an individual, community and city level. As I was telling my son about the Constitution and read the Preamble to him, I was drawn towards the following lines that sum up the spirit of our constitution: “Let’s be equal, just, and free…strong in our diversity…free in thought and free in prayer…and free to dream and free to dare”.

I found the theme of a recent workshop held in the city quite fascinating. Organised by the international Charter for Compassion, the workshop brought together change-makers to talk about compassionate initiatives in Gurugram. My mind went a trifle off tangent. I wondered how compassionate is Gurugram as a city? Here are some of the thoughts that crossed my mind. Is the city serving its workers well? These are the industrial, construction and domestic workers—the people who built this city and are sustaining it. They left their villages to work here as shop floor workers in auto units and their ancillaries, as masons and labourers constructing our homes, buildings and offices; as maids, drivers and support staff. Aren’t these the ignored, invisible, faceless lot of the city? There aren’t enough government and private schools that cater to them, neither are there enough government hospitals, dispensaries or primary health centres to cater to their medical needs. Is the city conserving its natural resources such as water, air and forests? Certainly not. The real estate boom, the weak town and country planning and subsequent land use changes and manipulations have all left Gurugram and its people devoid of precious natural resources. The water table is down in the dumps; the air quality has gone from bad to worse and the natural forests of Aravallis that provide the last vestige of hope—being a water recharge zone, our green lungs and home to biodiversity—are under constant threat. The pressure on land and water resources is so high that the city’s liveability index is at an all-time low. What will we do of the plush malls and condominiums when the air becomes too toxic to breathe? We can’t stop it from penetrating our homes. It’s high time that Gurugram becomes conscious about and compassionate towards its natural environment. Conservation must be taken up on a war footing. We need to monitor our air closely and take stringent steps to clean the air, revive water bodies, conserve rainwater in ponds, homes and buildings, and save the Aravallis by declaring all of it as a “natural conservation zone” for all times to come. Is the city designed and structured to cater to the needs of all sections of the society? Is it easy for pedestrians and cyclists to move on the roads? Is it comfortable for people to use public transport? Are there enough parks and playgrounds for children? Are there public places that can be used by all in the city? Are our streets, footpaths, streets, buses etc designed for the differently-abled? Are there enough night shelters for the poor and homes for the elderly? Are there enough schools that cater to children with special needs? To sum up, can all sections of the society live with greater dignity and comfort in the city? There is a lot that needs to be done in upgrading the quality of life for the disadvantaged. Are the city authorities compassionate enough in ensuring a hassle-free experience for residents to get basic services done such as renewing driving licences, paying property tax, getting a birth/death certificate issued? These functions, as per my personal experience, have become more streamlined in the city. Is there a thriving civil society that is monitoring and engaging with the authorities? Here again, I can vouch that Gurugram scores decently well. Gurugram is fairly diverse and but do people have a sense of belongingness towards the city? Gurugram has a diverse set of residents—the original descendants whose forefathers lived here, families that have migrated from neighbouring cities like Delhi, youngsters who are temporarily here for jobs. The point is, how do we develop a “new shared culture” for the city? For this to happen, we need to have more cultural centres and public places where people can converge, express, raise concerns and collaborate. Finally, are we compassionate as individuals? When our domestic help is in trouble, do we grant her a few compassionate leaves to help her tide over her issues; do we reach out to a person in distress on the road; forgive someone who has accidently brushed against our car or simply start our day with a random act of kindness? In the fast-paced, frantic lives that we lead, we need to make some room for good, even if we are not volunteering with any organisation or supporting a cause. It will need effort from all of us—the authorities, NGOs, city planners, citizen groups and residents—to make Gurugram compassionate as a city. A compassionate city will have greater well-being, will respect human values, be smart and sustainable and, perhaps, a happier city to live in where everyone feels a sense of belonging. So, get, set and go! Let’s work together to make Gurugram more compassionate. Let’s be compassionate.

Any urban local body has a lot to contribute to a city’s liveability. In the last few days, several developments have once again put the spotlight on Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG). The latest was the news of the takeover of eight colonies by the corporation from private builders. This means that all services such as maintenance of roads, sewerage, drainage, upkeep of park and street lights as well as issues such as security, encroachments, etc. of these private colonies would now be in the hands of the MCG. The MCG is also planning to get ward committees in each of the 35 wards of the city to ensure that citizens of these wards act as foot soldiers and watchdogs for maintenance of all civic activities and that councillors play a more active role in local governance. There was also the news that MCG was able to utilise only 25% of its allocated budget in 2018-19. All these developments point towards the need for urgent capacity building within this large institution, which has several departments and a complex organisational structure. To begin with, frequent changes at the top is very unsettling for bringing any lasting functional changes. The organisation structure also doesn’t allow any central intelligence to build up and very often the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Responsibility and accountability remain loose and the organisation is always in a reactive gear than a pro-active mode. Motivation of staff to outperform is also low. There is simply too much on the plate — too many functions to administer, several ongoing and new projects to be undertaken and too many special drives to be undertaken. Some positive changes, such as increasing the use of IT in project monitoring (e-samiksha), encouraging online payments (e-payments), grant of certificates, etc, have not only reduced legwork and paperwork for residents, but also improved efficiency and removed delays. The empanelment of vendors is another commendable step. A list of wet waste community composting agencies is provided on the MCG’s website. Similarly, for rainwater harvesting, three agencies for installing and maintaining rain water harvesting systems have been empanelled and listed on the MCG’s website. The MCG has also empanelled suction tank owners to collect sewage from unapproved colonies and discharge it at specific disposal points. RWAs often face a difficult time trying to find the right vendors for a particular task or an initiative. Now, RWAs will be encouraged to take up these at a greater speed. Besides, a standard design for all road cross-sections in the city has been finalised. This will ensure that the contractors adhere to the basic requirements and that all the cross-sections in the city will have a similar design. Then, several sustainable initiatives are being tried out such as water ATMs, multi-level parking, vertical gardens, development of green belts, nurseries. Also, a state-of-the-art camera museum that showcases rare cameras, photographs and allied equipment at Chakkarpur Community Centre will be inaugurated this summer. Creating social spaces helps to enrich living experience and build the soul of the city, as people of all age groups and from all strata converge at these places for an engaging experience. The MCG has a promising but a large development agenda and to implement these plans and projects efficiently and takeover new colonies, monitoring needs to be stepped up. Systems and procedures need to be defined and tightened and teams built to execute and monitor these projects well. The MCG must also create ways and means to mobilise the city’s intelligentsia and talent in its development plan. There is a role and opportunity for local engineering firms, consultants, residents’ welfare associations, CSR wings, corporates, NGOs, progressive citizens’ groups can also contribute by becoming a part of the ward committees. While the role of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will remain largely strategic, and the role of Haryana Urban Development Agency will diminish. The MCG will continue to carry the bulk of the city’s development and maintenance on its shoulder. The more efficient it is, the faster it will show results. The GMDA is already creating a strategic development vision and plan for the city. If MCG too spruces up, hand-in-hand, they can connect the ‘missing links’ and ensure a better quality of life to the citizens.

When you exercised your right to vote to elect the government at the Centre this time, the indelible purple ink on your left finger (that perhaps has stayed on till date), was a quiet reminder of your active citizenship. Paying your taxes in full and on time is also an act of duty of an active citizen. These are some of the “first-line” rights and duties of a citizen. A conscious citizen who saves water, electricity, follows traffic rules is also an active citizen. Stepping beyond and getting involved in local communities, such as residents’ welfare associations (RWAs), being a member of ward committees, engaging with local bodies and other key stakeholders, organising awareness campaigns—all form elements of active citizenship. Filing Right to Information (RTIs) and Public Interest Litigations (PILs) for larger public causes also comes under the aegis of active citizenship. The beginning could be as small as planting a tree in one’s neighbourhood; but there is no end to leading, inspiring and affecting change. Active citizenship is participative, proactive and positive. For vibrant democracies that follow the principle “of the people, by the people, for the people”, active citizenship is pivotal. It helps everyone exercise their democratic rights, duties and values; fight social injustice; improve communities and local governance by keeping the government in check; instils civil leadership; promotes inclusivity, provides innovative solutions and engages citizens in national, state and local affairs. Several of our national policies have benefitted in design and execution through active citizenship. At the local level, many citizen volunteers help municipalities, panchayats and ward committees achieve efficiency and effectiveness. The seeds of active citizenship need to be planted at the school-level. One way to instil it is to reform the way we teach Civics as a subject to students. While students are taught about local governance structures, they need to be encouraged to make representations to local bodies about local issues. A group of students in Gurugram had recently made a representation to the state minister for protecting the Aravallis. An exclusively student protest march on climate change where young boys and girls of Gurugram raised slogans and made impactful speeches caught a lot of eyeballs. In fact, campaigns led by young volunteers appear more earnest and have more chances of being heard. Such is the importance of young leaders that post presidency, the United State of America’s former president, Barack Obama, has started a focussed mission to promote and empower young leaders globally. With a majority of its population young, India could also gain from such leaders—what is needed are institutional frameworks that help educate, empower and inspire them to bring about social change. Having said that, there is no age to turn to active citizenship. An incident, a chance meeting, a sudden realisation, a passionate hobby can turn on active citizenship in you. A homemaker who has learnt to make compost from her kitchen’s waste can hold a workshop for other residents in her colony. A retired senior citizen can join his colony’s RWA and contribute to its welfare. A student group can run a campaign on saving water in the neighbourhood. Gurugram is a great city to contribute to. It has the finest kind of active citizenry, be it for environment, education, natural resources, cleanliness, governance, women safety or children’s issues. As part of NGOs, citizen groups and RWAs, active citizens intervene, advocate and interact with stakeholders to make the city a better place to live in. Several social groups help citizens unite for meaningful causes. Raahgiri, a novel concept to promote non-motorised transport that has spread across several cities, in fact, originated first as a citizens’ movement in Gurugram. On an institutional level, a lot of credence is being given to citizens’ involvement. And, why not? Institution heads come and go, but citizens who have adopted the city as their home have a long-term interest in the well-being of the city. The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is mandated to have citizen participation through resident advisory councils and citizen committees. The GMDA has recently asked citizens’ committees to help decide new routes for public bus service in the city. It also sought citizens’ suggestions to create a liveability index for the city. Besides, one can join committees of their respective wards can help in improving civic issues of their locality. Making a positive difference by being socially responsible gives a new meaning and purpose to life.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, several cities have developed their own city-specific swachhta (cleanliness) anthems as part of the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activity. In these cities, the anthem is played on radio, cable TV, on the waste pick-up trucks and also popularised in schools and colleges. In some cities, the anthem has become quite popular. Most children in Indore, for instance, would know the lyrics of the city’s swachhta anthem, ‘Ho Hallah’ and the people of Indore take great pride in singing it. A well-composed swachhta song aids in building pride for a clean city and in retaining the importance of cleanliness on the minds and hearts of the citizens. Gurugram’s own swachhta Anthem ‘Swachhta Ki Dhoom’ was produced and launched on January 12, 2019. The timing of the launch couldn’t have been better. The Swachh Sarvekshan 2019 (that evaluates and compares sanitation standards across 4,000 plus cities in India) is currently underway from January 4 to January 31 and there is heightened IEC activity across the city. The song is slowly gaining popularity and has had 4,000 likes on Youtube within the first three days of the launch. Hopefully, along with the other IEC activities, such as workshops, hoardings, distributing leaflets, swachhta pledges, the song should help the city move forward in its aim to become cleaner. The intent was to create a song that was inspirational, had all the key messages and was lively and appealing to the youngsters. Its underlying motto was that swachhta or cleanliness must become a way of life, a habit. It has to come naturally to us, not something that is imposed on us. And waste champions need to be the ‘cool dudes’ of the city, recognised and acclaimed by the government and civil society for bringing about positive change. Only, then can the collective consciousness of a city be raised towards waste management. There was no better way to say this the language we all understand best, that of song and music. The 4.48 minute song sung in Hindi has key messages such as urging citizens to stop waste dumping, focus on cleanliness of roads and neighbourhoods, relation of cleanliness with health, importance of waste segregation and composting, avoiding use of plastics and polythene, and encouraging the use of public toilets and dustbins. In the end, it talks about celebrating cleanliness just like any other festival. The melody has been kept catchy and vibrant and a few lines of rap have been added to make it popular with the youngsters. The video of the song displays different key stakeholders including children, senior citizens, waste champions, councillors, sanitation bandhus, college students and MCG officials singing the anthem, demonstrating that each stakeholder has a role to play and that it needs the might of all stakeholders together to make a difference. The video also demonstrates most of the positive steps on waste management taken by the citizens and authorities in the recent past, including building clean toilets across the city, constructing a road in Sector 51 from plastic waste and community composting among other things. The next step is to popularise the song. Our team is planning to sing the song live on ‘Raahgiri Day’ currently held in Sector 4 with the participants. The song is already running on local radio, Gurgaon Ki Awaaz. It will be shown across at cinema halls and played in malls. We are tying up with schools to play the song with school bands. A live performance is also being held at Government Girls College, Sector 14. In live events, the idea is to give all key messages about waste management along with the song. A downloadable link to make the main lines (mukhda) of the song as the caller tune is also on cards. In future, there would be more versions of the song with supplementary messages. There is a plan to build interesting competitions around the theme, ‘Swachhta Ki Dhoom’. More local music talent will be involved in further versions of the song. The idea is to build excitement and enthusiasm about waste management. A disclaimer: The song can only do as much. It can create enthusiasm and excitement towards waste management. It can also spread key information in an interesting way. But it has to certainly be backed up with action. The newly constructed public toilets need to be used, remain functional and clean. There is still considerable amount of open waste dumping in the city. Waste segregation is inadequate and the bioremediation efforts at the landfill needs to be speeded up. More and more bulk waste generators need to start composting. Besides, ragpickers need to be integrated in the formal waste value chain. Of the total 5,000 marks in the Swachh Sarvekshan 2019 on which cities are being assessed, the allocation of marks is as follows: direct observation (25%), citizen feedback (25%), service level progress (25%) and certification including star rating and ODF status (25%). Gurugram is aiming for a five-star rating and an ODF plus plus status to get better marks on certifications). By the division of marks, one can see that citizens have a great role to play in the city’s rankings. Active citizen engagement is being assessed by how many of them have downloaded the swachhta app and reporting cleanliness-related issues or have given citizen’s feedback on the app, and how many have reported waste-related developmental activities on the website platform, Swachhta Manch. Last year, Gurugram’s ranking in Swachh Sarvekshan was 105. This time the hope is that it features among the top 50 clean cities of India. While the ranking is an important indicator, the city should aim for a more holistic, deeper and permanent transformation. Improved rankings would then simply be a by-product of that change. Then Gurugram would be celebrating ‘Swachhta ki Dhoom’ in the true sense.

When I heard the news that the Rapid Metro is facing an uncertain future due to financial losses, a lot of mixed thoughts crossed my mind: That the project was ill-conceived, that it didn’t cater well to the city’s real traffic needs, that there were vested interests involved, etc. But one overriding thought was: Will the urban planners learn a simple lesson that one needs to think twice before building any new infrastructure in the city? When planned, the Rapid Metro was to be the pride of Gurugram, the crowning glory of its majestic Golf Course Road. Investments were first made to build it and then to sustain and promote it. However, it could never get enough ridership to make itself sustainable. The Golf Course Road itself today is neither here nor there. On one hand, it has no room for the movement of pedestrians or cyclists. On the other, it does not assure of hassle-free driving experience to car owners given the frequent traffic congestion at its tail-end. There are other examples of ill-thought infrastructure decisions. We don’t think twice before chopping off the green belts on both sides of the road for the sake of widening the road. The moment you widen roads, more cars occupy and choke up the road, making a mockery of the exercise. The traffic situation becomes the same in no time. The real loss is of green vegetation that is so very crucial for the city. Besides, we need to fix the real problem (of restricting private traffic on roads) head-on, and not please ourselves with quick-fix solutions in the interim. As experts say, road widening is akin to loosening our belts to accommodate our larger waist size! Attack the root cause, the flab. Do not resize the belt. Another bad decision has been to build foot overbridges on city junctions where they were not needed. Some of these high structures remain unused and are poorly maintained. In fact, it is not a rare spectacle to see motorcyclists and cyclists using them as a short cut rather than pedestrians. People on foot (especially elderly) find climbing up and down the stairs too cumbersome. In the evenings, another issue is that these structures become desolate places and therefore unsafe. Pedestrian subways too remain unused for the same reason. Underpasses that get waterlogged and flooded in rains due to lack of proper drainage are another nuisance. They need to be well-lit, well-maintained and have proper signage. Initially, due to lack of information, people even use unidirectional underpasses for moving from the other side. This can have disastrous consequences. Speed-breakers too need to put at the right places. Besides, infrastructure, such as multilevel parking has failed in some cities like Chandigarh. So, one needs to undertake a complete feasibility study before constructing such massive structures. The basic problem with our city’s planning is that more and more capital infrastructure is being planned, allocated and invested for cars, and continuously less and less for public transport, cyclists and pedestrians. We need to reverse this trend. After all, we have to move people not cars and the majority of people on our roads are not car-owners but those who use public or non-motorised modes. Also, each time the solution does not necessarily lie in creating “hard” infrastructure. Sometimes innovative “soft” solutions such as geometric improvement of road intersections, improved design, reducing encroachments, improving markings on roads, traffic and road signage can help achieve greater all-round mobility and safety of all users. Besides using policy interventions such as de-incentivising car use, innovative parking policies, congestion pricing, creating low carbon emission zones and introducing vehicle quota can also work wonders. Other “soft” solutions include operational improvements such as better traffic management. Still, others include bringing behavioural changes in citizens. Let’s not forget that a city does not become modern by fast-lane road networks or massive zig-zag flyovers. It becomes modern when its infrastructure caters to all. Next time, when we think of building new infrastructure in the city, let’s think twice. Do we really need that capital investment? Can we not divert a small part of that investment in making pavements across the city? It’s high time we focus on simple solutions that cater to all citizens.

Until the beginning of this decade, most of us lived in denial as far as waste was concerned. As long as our homes were kept clean, we really did not care where our waste went. Waste for us had no value and its management was the task of the authorities. This mindset has now changed, as we recognise that waste is not just waste but also a resource. We accept that managing waste is as much ‘our problem’ with its negative impact affecting us back. The penny has somewhat dropped, and some on-the-ground positive changes have come about. But to make these changes permanent and move to the next level, waste management has to become a way of life. For this to happen, waste management should be looked as a ‘cool thing to do’ that can be done by making it a part of our everyday life and conversation. Films, music and art based on waste themes have already begun to appear, giving us more reasons to talk about the subject in interesting and exciting ways. Last month, a very interesting film shot entirely in Gurugram, called Halka, was released. It was based on a slum child’s desire to construct a toilet for his house and evoked a strong emotive response to the ‘Swachh Bharat’ cause. With painting competitions, music festivals and public art exhibitions devoted to waste management themes, the creative energies of the city can flow to inspire and move people beyond their comfort zones, forcing them to change. Besides, the collective values of our society at large need to shift. Identifying, recognising and awarding ‘waste champions’ from each of the 35 wards in Gurugram can help. A ‘swachhta’ medal or a batch that can be adorned by the champions will make them role models. Also, addressing sanitation workers in the city as ‘swachhta bandhus’ could uplift their morale and dignity. Schools and colleges are great places to trigger change. Some schools in Gurugram have already appointed ‘green ambassadors’ to take up e-waste and cleanliness drives in the school neighbourhoods. In fact, if children learn about simple waste management techniques (like how to make compost) at school, they can start influencing behaviours at their homes. Birthday parties and other events could be green parties or zero-waste events that use no plastics and ensure minimal wastage. Another cool thing will be to start gifting home-made compost or plants grown on home-made compost on festivals such as Diwali. All these ideas will not make sense unless it is backed by a robust information, education and communication (IEC) strategy. An effective IEC strategy should be comprehensive in approach, simple, and relatable with well-integrated themes and strong monitoring mechanisms. Here are some must-haves as part of the IEC strategy. All key stakeholders — MLAs, councillors, RWA presidents and officials, panchayats, religious leaders, youth clubs, women groups — must be covered. Communication must be simple establishing a clear linkage between poor sanitation and health. Doctors may be involved to convey these ideas more convincingly. Using different modes of communication, such as TV, hoardings, leaflets, workshops, apps and portals that have synergistic messages is recommended. Short motivational messages at critical locations such as the DC and ADC offices, courts, government departments, metros and public transport places could be put. Besides, one-to-one meetings with influencers such as village sarpanches and religious leaders, and understanding what they feel about waste management are important. Use of street plays and puppet shows in markets and villages could be undertaken. Swachhta pledges in schools, malls, villages and corporate organization can be organised. Another effective strategy is to revive and involve NSS, scouts guide and NCC in this mission. They could target key locations such as government hospitals, nursing homes, religious places and crowded markets, which require special care. Information can bring empowerment. So once the collective consciousness of the city builds up, courses for citizens — where they can understand types of waste, waste solutions, vendors etc — can to be organised. For the swachta bandhus or sanitation workers, workshops that touch upon the right and safe waste processes and practices, equipping them with waste management techniques and address their unique concerns, would be useful. They are, after all, our ‘ground warriors’ for change. Sometimes innovative messaging comes in handy. A smart alternative communication to “segregate your waste” is to tell people simply not to mix the various kinds of waste generated into bins. It suddenly takes away a lot of pressure of segregation. Besides, communicating that India has traditionally always had a “minimalistic” approach to waste and reused its waste sensibly is also important. (We shared clothes and books within family and friends and gave away vegetable waste to the cattles to feed). All we need is to tell people is to revive the same culture and values once again. Indore got the first spot in Swachh Sarvekshan Survey in 2017 and regained the title in 2018, as cleanliness became everyone’s priority: from the councillors, to the NGOs to the common man. Till a few years ago, it was hard to imagine that Indore will pull this off, as spitting paan residues in public places was common, markets were dirty and the city had open waste dumps. But with mass awareness and pride attached to cleanliness, each citizen has become a watch dog. Ho Hallah — the Indore Swachh Anthem by Bollywood play back singer Shaan is so popular that many residents of Indore use the track as their caller tunes. The city has now taken up the challenge to ensure, as mentioned in the song, ‘Indore Rahega No 1’. What Gurugram needs is the same passion and commitment. Once a positive cycle sweeps in, the results will be permanent and for everybody to see. Then, waste management would have become a way of life.

I find the theme for this year’s international women’s day on March 8—”Each for Equal”—quite compelling. This theme is steeped in the values of equality, dignity and fairness to all, and that’s precisely what all women movements should eventually be about. An equal world is a fair, just and inclusive world. It is a world that respects diverse talents and perspectives. It is a world that believes in sustainability and shared prosperity. In a landmark judgement recently, the Supreme Court of India paved the way for women equality in the Indian Army. Women officers will now have parity on getting command postings, promotions, ranks, benefits and pensions. In doing this, the court categorically stated that the discrimination was based on stereotypes and socially ascribed roles of gender, and emphasised the need to remove restrictions and bring about true equality in the army. This is a historic step. Hopefully, some other hitherto male-dominated professions will also see gender-equitable policy changes. “Equal” means that there are equal work and growth opportunities as well as equal pay. Women are paid less as it is believed that they are likely to put in less working hours, and are less competitive, less efficient (the incorrect example of daily wagers in the construction sector is often given) and also because they are likely to have more career breaks. But things are changing for the better. There is a growing awareness of pay parity in corporates. In sports too, prestigious events like the Australian Open and Wimbledon have started offering equal prize money to both women and men winners; though some popular sports like cricket and football still have to catch up. In the Hindi cinema world (Bollywood) too, conversations about fee parity between men and women actors are being heard. But the world is nowhere close to achieving gender equality. As per the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 released by the World Economic Forum last December that benchmarks 153 countries, global gender parity stands at 68.6%. This indicates an average gender gap of 31.4%, which the study says will take 99.5 years to close if the current gap continues. Among the four parameters used to analyse the gender gap—political empowerment, health and survival, educational attainment and economic participation—the largest disparities exist in political empowerment, followed by economic participation. In fact, the economic gap has widened more than before, with a wage gap of 40% and an income gap of 50%. Regionally, the gender gap in western Europe is the smallest, and Iceland has been deemed the most gender-equal country in the world for the eleventh time in a row. As for India, the report has nothing much to celebrate. The country’s ranking has dipped from 98 in 2006—the first year of the study—to 112 in 2020, indicating that other countries are doing much more to fix the gender gap than India. Worryingly, India continues to score low on health (this rank has dipped from 103 to 150, indicating it is among the last four) and economic participation (this rank has dipped from 110 to 149, indicating it is among last five). This is appalling. We simply cannot afford to let one-half of our population languish and be deprived of economic wealth and well-being. To ensure inclusive growth, many aspects need to be set right. Women need to take leadership roles in politics, get elected in Lok Sabha and take up ministerial positions. At the village and block level, they must be encouraged to get panch and sarpanch positions and head various local committees. They need to be in senior corporate leadership roles and sit on their company’s boards. They need to contribute equally to the labour workforce. They must have a presence in all professions, be it technical education, sports, defence services, as well as upcoming fields. The role of government and workplaces in creating facilitating policies and environment cannot be understated. Needless to say, for all of this to happen, violence against women and the girl child must stop. Women must feel safe to pursue their livelihoods and move about freely. It will also require women to overcome stereotypes, fight biases, change narratives and broaden their perspectives. What will certainly work is creating an inspired sense of sisterhood towards each other through robust women networks, mentoring platforms and support groups. That means women bosses must encourage their women subordinates to come up, and that mothers should stand up for their daughters’ equal right to education and right to inheritance. In sync with this year’s theme, let all women aspire to be “one among equals”. It is also important that we celebrate our roles, our identity, our accomplishments and the distance thus travelled in bridging the gender gap. Several events are being organised in the city to mark the occasion. The one I have signed up for is the all-women marathon at Cyber Hub by the Gurugram administration. See you women at the start line!

A recent incident in Gurugram that went viral on social media has once again highlighted the sexual harassment dilemmas that our society face. For those who are not tuned in, this is briefly what happened. A middle-aged woman entered a restaurant in Gurugram, and seeing young girl(s) in short dress(es), she implored a group of men sitting beside them to feel free to rape such girls who had what she thought was ‘immoral’ dress sense! Shocked and outraged, the young girls followed her and confronted her for an apology that turned into a rather ugly shouting match. The confrontation was captured on a video and in no time became a social media spectacle. The apology eventually came, but by that time, the women on both sides had faced severe bullying in cyber space. There is no denying the fact that our woman in question had no business whatsoever to comment on the girls dressing and heinously insult them in public. The girls did the right thing by asking her to apologise. But in reality, while most women may not have such an outrageous and extreme outburst as our woman in question, there are many in society who mirror her sentiments. Among my morning walk friends, several felt that some girls and women do dress to attract unnecessary attention. So whether we accept it or not, this perception runs through and through. Another notion that emerged from the group was that your figure decides what could be the appropriate dressing for you. A friend in particular who had two grown-up daughters sounded helpless when she said that she had stopped commenting on her daughters’ choice of dresses long ago and that she does find some of the dresses inappropriate. This incident brings out many deep-rooted biases in our society. It highlights the twisted perceptions and biases we have about our own gender, in the backdrop of rather stereotypical cultural values. It also brings out how we are becoming a “trigger happy” society quick to drop our “civil conduct” at the slightest provocation. Why just this incident? On the roads, it is appalling to see when people instantly start calling names when another car even has a slight brush with their car. A healthy outcome of the incident would have been to build public opinion on certain acceptable norms and code of conduct to minimise the cultural and civil divide that exist in the society today. One might argue that India is a land of many cultures and ideologies. It is indeed impossible to bring all on a common ground, especially for a topic as sensitive as this. But with more and more discussion at homes, formal and informal communities, forums, workshops, at least some prejudices and biases can be identified and resolved. A common myth surrounding sexual harassment is that women provoke sexual harassment by the way they look, dress and behave, and that there is no smoke without fire. However, studies on sexual harassment have found that victims of sexual harassment vary in physical appearance, dress-type, age and behaviour. How else do you explain girl children getting molested or raped? Another myth is that those women who face such harassment lack self-confidence and therefore self-defence training is important. The reality is that even so-called confident women can be taken for a ride and self-defence trainings are not the “be-all, end-all” for preventing such crimes. We need to go beyond these myths and biases to do a deeper root-cause analysis of the problem that plagues our society. Many real answers will emerge and, surprisingly, a lot will be to do with women themselves. One key point will be what mothers tell their boys about the rights of women and what it means to respect them. What women think of other women especially from different age groups and economic status will also throw up many surprises. As a civil nation that is progressing and evolving, we will have to draw the lines, somewhat, on what is appropriate and inappropriate. Otherwise, ugly events such as these will continue to expose the underbelly of our divergent society.

James Cameron, the director of the globally acclaimed film Avatar, once said that his film was a lesson for humankind to stop damaging the environment. But blockbuster movies such as Avatar, the stark evidence of climate change around us, and green awareness campaigns have still not made us realise that we cannot any longer mess with our environment and that the human race must formulate strong policies to protect the environment. But we continue to pollute our skies, our oceans and rivers, denude our forests and exhaust our natural resources in the name of development. If the life-sustaining systems of our planet get choked, who will be left to enjoy the fruits of this so-called development? It will be a hopeless future for us and our children. For landlocked areas especially, forests are the most vital life-sustaining systems. They do much more than provide a green canopy. They purify the air, bind the soil, prevent floods, help in water recharge, and are home to some rare species of flora and fauna. Perhaps that is why they are called the healing forests. For a city like Gurugram, where air pollution is high, porous ground surface is negligible and green belts are few and far between, the presence of the Aravallis is the lifeline for the city’s residents and the last vestige of hope for the city’s fast-degrading environment. Gurugram sadly is also a city where hungry real-estate developers are vying to grab every any inch of land for construction and profiteering. This mountain range of India that majestically lines the skyline of the city has been under a constant threat. A few activists have been trying to save this precious cover through petitions and court orders. But they find themselves up against a powerful lobby. Recently, in a blatantly irresponsible move, the 118-year-old Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), which legally protects and preserves the Aravallis, was amended in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, opening room for uninhibited construction in the Aravallis. Environmentalists are calling this amendment nothing short of an “ecological disaster”. The Act protects areas ‘not notified’ under the Indian Forest Act as reserve or protected forest in Punjab and Haryana. In effect, the PLPA in Haryana extends protection to forests and trees on private lands, community lands, panchayat and municipal lands in both the Aravallis in South Haryana and the Shivaliks in North Haryana. The amendment accords unlimited powers to the government to classify land as it pleases. This will legalise all the illegal transactions, mining and construction undertaken on these lands. At risk are 16,000 plus acres of forest in Gurugram and 10,000 plus acres of forest in Faridabad, as well as 10,000 acres of Shivalik hills around Chandigarh. Natural forests, such as the Aravallis and the Shivaliks, should be permanently protected for all times to come. After all, forest land cannot simply be treated as surplus land available to be utilised for expanding cities, mining or being cut up to build roads. The Aravallis help restore environment by being our green lungs that fight pollution. The cracks and fissures in its hills act as the only large-scale groundwater recharge zone. This is a region that has limited rainfall, and the groundwater extraction rate in Gurugram is 300% over the recharge rate. Besides, the ranges act as a watershed for nullahs and lakes such as Badhkal, Dhauj and Damdama lakes. It confines in itself 400-plus species of native trees, herbs and shrubs and eight types of eco-systems that exist in dry conditions. It has 200-plus bird species, including native and migratory birds, and a rich wildlife, comprising leopards, jackals, hyenas, neelgais and reptiles. It is also an archaeological site with ancient remnants. Aren’t these priceless advantages that should encourage us to fortify our forests? The Aravalli land is protected by 20-30-year-old notifications under the PLPA. The Aravalli area notified under the PLPA has been treated as forest by the Supreme Court, which has time and again, through various judgments, reiterated the need to protect this area. What needs to be done is to fortify this protection by re-notifying these areas. Instead, we are exposing this treasure trove to private profiteering. The PLPA amendment is an out-and-out regressive move. All of us, including the forest animals, birds and plants, have a fundamental right to live in a clean and healthy environment. Politicians, beware! Citizens will not sit easy and will do all in their might to force the withdrawal of the amendment. These protests can soon take shape of ‘jan andolan’. It will be not long before right to clean air and water security will become key issues on which elections are fought and won. Are the politicians listening?