Shubhra’s Article

“We made plastic. We depend on it. Now we are drowning in it.” This statement aptly describes how plastic, once considered a boon, is now threatening the earth. It’s strewn everywhere—on the streets and in the waste dumps; it is blocking sewer pipes, choking up landfills, floating on rivers and destroying our oceans and marine life. The problem is that left on its own very little of it gets recycled. It never decomposes, but finds its way back in the food chain as micro-particles that wreak havoc to life in soil and groundwater. It was the plight of our oceans and marine life brought out by research studies and documentaries that rung the alarm bells globally. Almost 90% of debris floating on the oceans and lying on the beaches is plastic. Given the damage it has already done, it is difficult to believe that the first plastics were made just about a century ago. However, its production shot up after the Second World War. The world produced 335 million tonnes of plastic in 2016 and this figure is set to double by 2050. India too is producing more and more plastic. Sadly, most of the plastic is produced for single use — 40% of all plastic produced is just meant for packaging, to be used once and thrown afterwards. From cars to toys to medical and sports equipment, plastic has become an indispensable part of our daily life. Milk comes in plastic sachets. Our waste liners are made of plastic. It is estimated that 40 plastic carry bags per week enter the average household in a city like Gurugram. Plastic are synthetic polymers that mainly exist as one of the following: polyethylene terephthalate or PET (found in bottled water and jars), high-density polyethylene or HDPE (found in snack boxes, toys), polyvinyl chloride or PVC (used in credit cards and pipes), low-density polyethylene (used in films and wraps) and polypropylene (found in straws and lunch boxes). In India, there are no formal ways to segregate plastic waste. Most of the sorting is done by ragpickers who sell it to kabariwalas, who further sell it to reprocessing units. There is a plan by the city administration in Gurugram to create plastic collection centres from citizens where plastic waste will be bought at ₹ 10 per kg. PET and HDPE are most commonly and easily recycled. However, recycling is cost-intensive and also the quality of recycled product decreases with every processing cycle. Besides, all plastic is not recyclable. There is now a rising demand to produce only biodegradable plastic or that plastic that can be recycled easily. But the best way to fight plastic pollution is by reducing the consumption of plastic. Here, the role of citizens is paramount. Simple behavioural or lifestyle changes can go a long way in reducing usage. Carry your own shopping bag. Stop buying bottled water and carry your own metal water bottles. Carry your own containers for buying meat, etc. You can take your own thermos to coffee shops. Glass jars can replace plastic containers. Newspapers or biodegradable liners can replace waste-liners. You can stop using straws easily. You can also avoid using plastic cutlery at events At the national level, the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 have created frameworks for better management of plastic waste. It has increased minimum thickness of plastic bags, expanded the jurisdiction of the law to rural areas, allocated responsibility of producers and brand owners to take back plastic waste under Extended Producers’ Responsibility, and revamped pricing under the plastic waste management fee for importers of plastic bags or street vendors for selling the same. While these rules will guide sustainable management of plastic at the macro level, we must not forget that ‘reduction in use’ is the easiest and the most natural ways of curbing plastic pollution. Unless each one of us makes informed choices in our daily life, this menace is here to stay.

The park I go to for my morning walk is frequented by three distinct categories of people: the “real” Gurugram residents who have been staying here for generations, those who have moved from the Delhi-NCR to live in larger homes and retire in Gurugram, and the young millennials who are here for work. The only time I see the three types coming together and chatting in the park is when they converge at the open-air gym; else they prefer to confine themselves with their likes. Public places, such as open-air gyms, are great meeting grounds. These are places that all residents, irrespective of their socio-economic standing, feel inspired to share and use. But such places are indeed rare in Gurugram. The city has been so caught up in building malls, hospitals and office buildings that there has been no time, resources or foresight to build ‘social infrastructure’ such as public libraries, auditoriums, centres of art and culture, clubs, community centres, public parks, playgrounds, picnic spots, bio-diversity parks, public toilets and so on. An apex centre for art and culture is, for instance, non-existent in Gurugram. There is Rangbhoomi, the open theatre at Sector 29, where weekly music, dance and drama performances are held, but you can hardly call it a space that promotes art and culture in the city. Public parks, libraries, play grounds, stadiums, clubs are few and far between, do not cater to all sections, or are in a dilapidated condition. Picnic spots are virtually non-existent. We are not talking about the facilities within Gurugram’s licenced or gated colonies, but ‘city-centric’ facilities that are available to all at affordable prices. In some HUDA colonies, community centres have been built and handed over to some RWAs recently, but RWAs need to find ways and means to make these centres more user-friendly by having basketball/badminton /tennis courts, libraries and senior citizen clubs at these centres. Some of these projects, I am told, are at a proposal stage. There has been a proposal to set up an art-and-culture centre at a cost of ₹ 100 crore in Sector 52. While the government needs to move fast on the new projects, it must also invest in renovating, modernising the existing social infrastructure in the city to make it relevant and usable. A case in point is the public library in Old Gurugram that was in such a bad state that it was overhauled through private donations. There are not many playgrounds or parks for children, so much so that one hardly finds children in the parks in the evenings. An innovative solution could be to encourage schools to let out their playgrounds in the evening for neighbourhood kids. After all, schools have been built up in spaces earmarked for community use. In fact, the concept of a shared resource needs to be put in place. Schools and hospitals should keep a certain percentage of their admissions reserved for the underprivileged class. Besides, we certainly need more sport academies and indoor stadiums, other than the solitary Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Sector 38 and community fitness centres in the public domain. Special needs should be catered to as well. There should be one or two parks where people can take their pet dogs to walk and play. Infrastructure for differently abled persons at the bus stops, railway stations and public utilities also needs to find its place. Then, we can certainly revive select water bodies in the city and develop them as picnic spots for families. Also, creating non-motorised infrastructure such as cycle paths or walkways will encourage residents to use the city in more engaging ways, such as walking and cycling. The 5.2-km-long Chakkarpur-Wazirabad Bundh is a great example of an equitable non-motorised pathway-cum-eco-reserve being used by one and all in the city. More such paths could be developed. For tourists visiting Gurugram or for Gurugram residents, there are no historical or heritage sites or tours that are well-etched out. Due to a dearth of such sites, most visitors end up at the malls or at best visiting the culture gully at the Kingdom of Dreams in Sector 29 that is not fully representative of the city’s culture or heritage. Last but not the least, the bio-diversity zones need to be protected. Gurugram’s shining glory, the Aravalli Bio-Diversity Park, which hosts many native species of trees, grass, birds, butterflies and wild life, needs to be protected and preserved as an urban forest for all times to come. A butter fly park is coming up in Sector 52A, but more of such eco-reserves need to developed and made popular among residents. The best part about a greater number of public places is their direct correlation with higher safety and security. Vibrant spaces visited by diverse sets of people in the city ensure better safety. These spaces can be made more interesting by street art or wall art. Certainly, the more social infrastructure we build, the more liveable our city becomes. After all, a city’s soul is not defined by the state-of-the-art malls and buildings it has, but by the collective consciousness and shared values and beliefs of its residents. The role of equitable, shared social infrastructure in creating platforms where residents can meet, interact, and learn from other another is crucial. This will not only help in emergence of a shared culture of belongingness to the city, but also help in building a more tolerant and safe society. Gurugram, critics say, is torn between the new and the old. Shared social spaces will bridge that gulf.

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”.

The Swachh Sarvekshan 2020 is currently on. It assesses the cleanliness standards of various cities. While there is a visible buzz in Gurugram with cleanliness and awareness drives at key markets and city events, I hope the fervour does not die down after the survey is over. Recently, I was at an awareness drive where I asked young participants a simple “waste quiz”. One of my questions was what do the 3Rs mean, and while the answer came back in a jiffy, I feel we as individuals can still do a lot to adopt the “reduce-reuse-recycle” mantra in our daily lives. Allow me to remind you of a word called “kifayat” that is commonly used in our parlance. It means to have a simple, moderate “mindful” lifestyle with no extravagance or frugality. Perhaps, there is no matching word for it in the English dictionary. “Prudent” is close, but does not fully describe it. Indians have been known to be “kifayati” people. This quality has helped us to not only save our pockets and keep away from mental stress, but also the pressure on the environment. Remember how in our childhood our mothers reinvented another use of an item before relegating it to the waste basket. And, we were so happy when passed down with clothes and books from our cousins and friends. Somewhere down the line, smart advertising and rising affordability has compelled us to become over-the-top consumers. The “new” allures us — new models, new versions, and a lesser new thing is now outdated. Let’s admit it, flaunting new acquisitions gives us an ego boost. Moreover, thanks to social media, there is an unsaid pressure of not repeating dresses at social events that forces us to load our wardrobes unnecessarily. What’s more, the mega sales are “cheeky” enough to make us buy more than what we need. We buy three bottles of ketch-up just to get the fourth one free. I have always noticed that I somehow spend more time and money when I shop for my monthly supplies at big stores in malls, vis-à-vis when I buy from a local kirana shop. As a result, wastages are common. We no longer feel the guilt in single use and throw. And, our landfills continue to pile up. Sadly, it suits all and nobody complains. More buying fuels the economy and makes the government and the manufacturing, packaging and retail companies happy. What it does hurt most is the environment. Wasteful consumption leads to wasteful production that plunders natural resources. What we must not forget is that while we have a limitless right to our money, we do not have a limitless right to our natural resources. The planet’s natural wealth — forest, water, and air — cannot be taken for granted any more. Besides, social inequities are increasing. Someone has dozens of sweaters to choose from and another has not even one to save himself/herself from the harsh winters. For all these reasons, it’s high time we became “mindful” consumers. We can reduce our electricity usage through use of efficient appliances and lighting systems, solar energy and optimally using daylight. We can save water by opting for bucket bath instead of shower bath, recycling grey water, reusing RO water and installing rainwater harvesting systems at our homes. We can send less waste to the landfills by using our kitchen waste to make compost for our plants and gardens. We can save fuel by car pooling, walking, cycling and using public transport. Most plastic materials are single-use; plastic used in packaging, cutlery, water bottles, straws can be easily avoided. Carrying our own cloth bag for shopping and a metal water bottle when moving out of home is a small habit change that does not hurt much. And, we can start making sharing “cool” again. I do see some positive changes around. A friend recently announced at her birthday party that she will not buy anything for herself for a year. Another friend is quitting online shopping completely as she finds it needlessly impulsive. Some youngsters I know have reduced or stopped ordering food online as it comes with heavy packaging. Parents feel happy to announce that their child birthday party is a “green” party where no plastic cutlery or plastic decoration has been used. A few satsang groups in the city have started borrowing utensils from the city’s crockery bank. People have started saying “no” to gifts and instead urging their invitees to donate for causes and charities they espouse. Having a kitchen garden and growing vegetables at home has become fashionable. So friends, knowing about 3Rs is good; but what we need is to put it in practice. It may be too much of a stretch to adopt all sustainable practices in one go. Let’s start by being “mindful” and adopting one practice at a time. And let’s flaunt minimalism and make it infectious, even fashionable. After all, we need to inspire others to grow the minimalistic tribe till it becomes a mass movement.

Gurugram has all that it takes to become a “solar rooftop” city—loads of sun, a conducive policy environment, large buildings, and above all, a progressive mindset. Installations across the city have, in fact, risen sharply in the last two years across schools, colleges, RWAs, hospitals, corporate and commercial buildings, industry and individual homes. The installed solar rooftop capacity in the city has crossed the 25MW mark (8MW is grid-connected, while the rest is off the grid), but the city’s real rooftop potential is well over 200MW. The call for solar is loud and clear. Cities urgently need to opt for greener and cleaner energy to control pollution levels. Solar power can decrease significantly, if not eliminate, the reliance on expensive and highly polluting DG (diesel generator) sets. It also partly saturates the rising electricity demand and the need for associated transmission infrastructure. Solar cost is low and falling (Rs 5-Rs 6 per unit), while the cost of grid power (Rs 7-Rs 8 per unit) and DG power (Rs14- Rs 22 per unit) are high and rising. The return on investment for solar is in three to four years, after that consumers can enjoy free electricity for the next 20 years or till the solar panels last. In fact, by putting their excess solar energy into the grid through net metering, one can actually earn too. But for cities to up the ante on adoption of solar power, it is imperative to popularise solar power as a commodity at the household level. For this, substantial work needs to be done to demystify solar power, improve basic understanding of it and update people on government policies on solar power. People seem to be carrying myths, misinformation and pre-conceived notions about solar power. It is considered as a hard-to-understand, fast-changing technology. The upfront cost seems daunting and the financing options appear limited. Besides, installation of and maintaining solar panels seems cumbersome. There is even resistance to use rooftops for solar panels as it may look “ugly”. Then, it’s a competitive market with too many vendors with little differentiation. Consumers often get perplexed comparing quotes from various vendors selling multiple qualities of products. Benchmark pricing and empanelment of vendors on government sites gives some indication, but not enough. What will really help is clear and simple guidelines from a credible source on the complete process of going solar—from inspection of roofs for assessing the solar need to structuring and financing options to commissioning, and observations and measurements, including when and how to apply for subsidy. Besides, success stories highlighting cost savings, the installation and running experience needs to be showcased in workshops and solar melas (fairs) so that potential users gain confidence to take the plunge. Nothing can be more reassuring than listening to real experiences. Citizen visits to National Institute of Solar Energy on the Gurugram-Faridabad Road to get acquainted with solar technology can be organised. Besides, Gurugram serves as headquarters to various solar companies that should provide courses on “solar basics” in schools, colleges and RWAs as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). By demystifying solar power, it could be promoted and popularised as a commodity or product rather than a project. This will remove the acquisition barriers to a large extent. (These days solar solution for homes is sold in a box with in-built subsidy and clearances. Such products are generating a lot of interest among residential consumers.) The installation process, too, should be simplified with single-window clearances and seamless coordination among all agencies involved, such as HAREDA (department of renewable energy for subsidy) and DHBVN (for net metering). Since “net metering” is what adds the real attractiveness, availability of net meters, their speedy installation, and integration with billing systems need to be resolved at the earliest. In fact, the DHBVN should play a more proactive role in facilitating growth of solar power, much beyond simply providing the “net metering” functionality. As for HAREDA, it needs to have more capacity in creating awareness, coordinating and monitoring. If all government buildings are run on solar power, it will have a huge demonstrative effect on citizens. Besides, RWAs can be encouraged to light up at least all their common areas, such as parking, parks etc, using solar power. Policies need to be more directed. On the one hand, mandatory provisions need to be implemented and monitored well, while on the other, new ways of incentivising solar panel installers need to be put in place. The HUDA (renamed as Haryana Shahari Vikar Pradhikaran) should have more regulatory oversight to ensure that all new buildings install solar panels, as per the mandate. Innovative policies such as rent-a-roof policy or those that support community solar projects should also be put in place. Most developed countries, such as Australia and Germany, started their solar programmes by targeting households and have a huge solar share under the rooftop segment. India, on the other hand, like China, has bulk of solar power under utility. Gurugram will become a solar city in the true sense when homes and residential communities make the solar switch.

Last week, as World Environment Day was approaching, I asked a group of 10-year olds to write a short essay on the topic “less is more”. They were clueless and confused and nonchalantly asked me how less could be more. I took them to my childhood days when sharing clothes and books were common, there was less wastage, and we thought of ingenious ways to recycle things. Those were the days when everything carried a higher “perceived value” and less was indeed more. I went on to explain to them that for every single thing that we produce, we consume some precious resource such as energy, wood, water and others, and that it was high time each one of us took a re-look at our daily living and consumption patterns and made “ethical” and “mindful” choices. Today, it is not economic compulsions, but the plight of our environment that is compelling us to adopt sustainable ways. While we do talk about managing resources wisely, there is still very little focus on reduction of consumption. Buying more things than we actually need seems to give us some sense of security and ownership. So, we end up owning more assets that we need — more cars, bigger homes, more clothes, more food items to stack up our refrigerators. Besides, the more stuff we buy, the more shopping bags and packaging material we bring home. Till recently, we never understood the connect between environment and consumerism. But now we do. We are beginning to realise that our consumption ways are responsible for depleting resources, shrinking forests; and deteriorating air and water quality. How do we make the qualitative shift? At our homes, we need to shift to equipments and processes that consume less energy, recycle waste and conserve water. This could be done through a variety of things such as switching to energy efficient devices such as LEDs, CFLs , energy star-rated appliances, solar power and sunlight during the day, opting for a bucket bath rather than a shower, recycling water, using taps and faucets that conserve water, installing rainwater harvesting systems, and composting kitchen waste and using compost for your kitchen garden. Opting to walk or cycle shorter distances, using public transport and avoiding use of diesel cars are greener choices in transport. There are endless possibilities — all we need is readiness to switch. In fact, new houses and buildings can be designed in a way that conserves resources. Communities including resident welfare associations too can install rainwater harvesting, recycle grey water, switch to solar and reduce reliance on DG sets and undertake community kitchen waste composting. Several retail products ranging from jeans, t-shirts and shoes to fruits and vegetables are available that have been produced using more sustainable products and processes. Clothing from recycling plastic waste too is available. Sustainable choices today may be more expensive or hander to find, but they are the right choices. Sustainable packaging too could be a differentiator when choosing what to buy. As demand for such products increases, consumers will find them easily and cost too will reduce over time. Besides, as a society, we will have to make “sharing of resources” more popular. Carpooling, for instance saves cost and planet’s resources. Technology platforms and mobile applications today have made sharing resources a very viable and practical options. In fact, technology is also enabling people to “work from home” or “freelancing” and it may not be long before physical office spaces may become redundant. In future, cities too would have to be designed in a “hub and spoke” transit manner where residential areas, schools and work places are all in the vicinity of each other. Some innovative concepts that are fast catching up are worth taking a note. A crockery bank of steel utensils run in Gurugram lends free crockery for parties and events, negating the need to buy thermocol or plastic cutlery for one-time use. Feeding India is a non-profit organisation that channelises food from individuals, weddings, restaurants and corporate offices to people who really need it. Other mobile applications too are preventing food wastage by collecting food from hotels and restaurants and distributing it in night shelters and orphanages. Recently, in Suncity, in Sector 54, Gurugram a first-of-its-kind community fridge was inaugurated where residents keep food that can be used by anyone at anytime. More such open fridges are being put up in Gurugram in the coming months. So the next time you feel the urge to buy something, ask yourself if you really need it. Make informed choices and make “sharing resources” your second nature. The children, meanwhile, promised that they will create a “sharing club” in their class to share books and games and buy fewer new things from the market. Way to go!

Declared as the most polluted city in the world last winter, Gurugram will have to take multi-pronged steps to improve its air quality. One relatively easier step it can take is to switch to solar energy. This option is relatively easier because, along with reducing the reliance on polluting gensets, this clean, smoke-free source of energy can also bring commercial gains via the reduction in electricity bills. With the introduction of progressive solar policies of Haryana, presence of large buildings, more than 300 sunny days and the presence of International Solar Alliance as well as the National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram is quite ideally placed to become a solar-powered city. The good news is that about 40MW of solar rooftops have already been installed in the city, up from 25MW achieved till last year. With concerted efforts, the city can easily become a 200-MW solar rooftop city by 2022. Haryana is targeting to add 1,600-MW solar rooftops by 2022. However, only 150-MW rooftops have been installed in the state so far. The potential is huge. However, it is only when households and residential complexes start adopting solar power that the Gurugram would truly become a solar city. With the installation of 350 kwp of solar power, Wellington RWA in DLF-5 has become the largest RWA solar installation in Haryana. At least five more residential complexes, Hewo Apartment-i, Maple Heights, Davinder Vihar, DLF Icon and Bestech Park View Residency, have also been solarised. The not-so-good news is that as solar becomes popular, the 30% subsidy that some solar installers enjoy may soon become a thing of the past. The subsidy will be removed first for institutions such as schools, NGOS etc and then for the households. But with falling costs of solar panel costs and the declining payback periods, there is every merit in switching to solar energy even without subsidies. Consider this. Payback periods are now as low as four years with subsidy and six years without subsidy. This means that one can recover the cost within this period and subsequently enjoy free gains in electricity bills for the next 19-20 years easily, as the life of solar panels is about 25 years. The real “game changer” in making solar energy economical has been the provision of net metering. A solar installer becomes a “prosumer” i.e. both producer and consumer of electricity, using the solar energy produced at his rooftop, and feeding the surplus produced into the grid. Through a bi-directional net meter, electricity can be both taken from and be given back to the grid, and the consumer only pays for the net electricity drawn from the grid. If his rooftop production is more than what he needs, the extra energy can be “banked” in the grid, with the distribution company, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Limited (DHBVNL), and can be drawn back over a period of a year. If his rooftop production is less than what he needs, he only draws the deficit amount from DHBVNL that is charged at a predetermined tariff rate by the distribution company. Haryana may not be a front-runner in solar power as compared to states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or even the neighbouring Rajasthan, but it has a very attractive solar policy and net-metering policy. The prosumer in Haryana can install a system of the capacity that matches his sanctioned load. The net metering policy of Haryana allows the solar installers to export solar electricity at the “same price” at which he buys conventional power from the grid. Since, consumer’s consumption from the grid reduces due to switching to solar, the consumer shifts to a lower slab in the tariff rate card, and lower slabs ensure lower electricity rates. Besides, as per an order in October 2018, solar users in Haryana can claim a rebate — ₹ 1 per unit for every unit of electricity generated from solar energy. Another ₹ 1 per unit is available for those with battery back-up, which is a slightly expensive system. This rebate is on the gross amount of solar installed at the end of the financial year. Despite these policies, the solar rooftop penetration in Gurugram is still low. There are concerns of high upfront costs ( ₹ 50,000- ₹ 1, 00,000 per kwh), techno-commercial risks, complicated procedures, and lack of time and effort needed to deal with vendors and agencies such as Haryana Renewable Energy Department (HAREDA), for the subsidy, and DHBVNL, for net metering. Greater public awareness can help gain consumers to gain confidence. Solar needs to be viewed as a commodity just like mobile phones. Besides, innovative financing schemes by banks are needed. The HAREDA and the DHBVNL must show greater agility and focus. Solarising not only reduces electricity bills but also control rising pollution. Those who produce solar and pass electricity into the grid are actually reducing the reliance on conventional energy, reducing their carbon footprint and contributing to nation building! Let us tap the good sun on our rooftops for a clean and green future.

Lack of empowered local governance is one the biggest challenges facing Indian cities today. A city like Gurugram, which contributes to more than 70% of Haryana’s revenue, has to depend on the state government for sanction and approval of projects. This is indeed very disempowering. Gurugram put in place its third tier of governance in 2011 by electing 35 councillors and a mayor. However, the fact that these councillors have little power to implement the city’s development agenda also makes its local governance weak. What can empower local governance to a large extent is implementation of the 74th Constitutional Amendment (CAA). It can make our municipal corporations autonomous and efficient, empower our councillors and mayors, remove the multiplicity of agencies, make ward committees more effective and even attract better local talent to enter politics. Basically, the CAA shifts the control from the state to the city and enhances the city’s ability to use the funds as per its needs. However, despite over 20 years of the legislation becoming effective, state governments have delayed, not implemented the CAA either in full spirit or at all to retain their powers on cities. All the major neighbouring states of Haryana, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, have implemented the legislation, then why is Haryana elusive regarding it? To be sure, this is what the 74th CAA grants — First, there are 18 civic functions that are mentioned in the 74th CAA including sanitation, roads, health care, urban planning, water supply, public parks, street vendors, public transport, street animals etc that must rest with the municipal body. It basically means that the municipal corporation is a complete city government with a constitutionally defined clear mandate. Second, it grants powers to mayors. Mayors of London, New York and even Shanghai run their cities as CEOs. As the mayor of New York City during the terror attack of September 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani played a vital role, coordinating the efforts of all city departments and making all the key announcements in the media. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on his first official visit to the US, his first meeting was with the mayor of New York. Such is the importance of the mayor. How many of us know who the present mayor of Gurugram is? Are these positions merely ceremonial? Mayors are democratically elected for a period of five years by the people. They should have more powers and accountability since commissioners are bureaucrats who are frequently transferred. Gurugram had seen eight MCG commissioners come and go in a period of four years in the recent past. In a welcome move, however, the Haryana cabinet approved the direct election of mayors last year, which means the voter will cast vote for both the ward councillor and the mayor. Earlier, the councillors, after ward elections, elected the mayor among themselves and there was a lot of horse-trading to garner support. This move also ensures that better candidates from the city will stand independently for the mayor’s post. Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Yamunanagar and Panipat, which had elections last October, have already benefitted by this move, and so will Gurugram when it goes for elections in a couple of years. The third thing that the CAA ensures is the presence of effective and operational ward committees. Gurugram has in fact hurriedly set up the ward committees in January this year to garner points under the Swachh Sarvekshan Survey. The MCG has set up a 13-member ward committee in each of the 35 wards of Gurugram to oversee sanitation, water supply, parks etc at the ward level. These committees would be chaired by councillors and progressive citizens and members of non-governmental organizations would be members of the committee. One nodal officer from the MCG will oversee the work of these committees in each ward. Creating ward committees is one thing; however making them effective tools of local governance is quite another. Let us hope these committees help in improving citizen’s participation, councillor’s interests and resolution of local civic issues. Because of the lack of implementation of 74th CAA, the MCG has a low threshold for expenditure. Its limit to decide on projects is Rs 25 million. Besides, budgets are often not presented on time. The budgeting quality itself is questionable. Citizen’s participation in budget allocation is non-existent. Robust revenue streams such as stamp duties and entertainment taxes are not devolved fully to the urban local bodies. Since, multiple authorities are involved, the total resources spent on civic projects, such as building roads, is unclear. The 74th CAA if implemented well can help in creating better budgeting and accounting standards, gaining better control of municipal finances, granting more autonomy to municipal corporation to decide on its needs of manpower, and ushering other urban reforms. Decentralised governance is the need of the hour. By creating decentralised platforms of autonomy, we are encouraging the citizen of the land to get interested in local issues, to feel empowered and be engaged in the affairs of the city. There will be a better turnout of voters and more competent and honest people will start contesting elections. We will then have mayors who are good administrators and have a vision for the city. Besides, cities are the fulcrum of our economic growth. They cannot be operated through remote controls. Further, they are not the ATMs of state government that can be milked whenever needed. Certainly Gurugram is not. It has been made what it is today by its people, its industry, its entrepreneurial spirit and its civic society. Implement the 74th CAA in Haryana, and let Gurugram decide its own destiny.

A few days ago, the news that Gurugram was the world’s most polluted city in 2018, as per the data released by IQAir Visual and Greenpeace, hit the headlines. (Ghaziabad stood at number two, Faridabad at number four; seven Indian cities were among the world’s top 10 polluted cities). Clearly, as a country, we have set our priorities for development wrong. What is most disappointing is that even with the general elections just around the corner, the issue of pollution is nowhere being publicly discussed by political parties in their election manifestos. As one of the fastest growing cities of north India, Gurugram has paid a high price for development. We must be fools to not realise that pollution will eventually impact Gurugram’s ability to attract investment and talent. From what I hear from my friends in corporate roles, conversations about moving corporate offices out of Gurugram are not uncommon. More aware citizens, especially those who have lived outside India, have been shouting from the rooftops about the deteriorating air quality on social media groups for a while now. Affected families with children are also saying goodbye to the city. The ‘liveability index’ of the city is certainly at its lowest ebb. Pollution is a complex problem to tackle especially in India, which has democratic structures aligned to populist politics and diverse stakeholders’ priorities. Unless there is political willingness to take drastic steps, nothing much will change. Besides, authorities need to back the policies with stringent enforcement. Last but not the least, citizens have to be fully engaged as drastic steps and enforcement will mean some pain for the larger good of a cleaner environment. After all, we must remember that progressive cities are those that have quality integrated public transport, walking and cycling tracks, are low on emissions, adopt solar energy, make sustainability and inclusiveness their priority. These are certainly not cities that thrust more and more cars on their roads, then build more roads and flyovers to accommodate these cars and, soon enough, have choking roads. So, where do we start? Planning to fight pollution is as important as fighting it. We need to have a national action plan with clear short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. In each city, a multi-disciplinary high-level committee (with citizens’ involvement) must review the problem on a regular basis. Gurugram currently has only two air quality monitoring stations, at Gawal Pahari and Vikas Sadan. A city of its size must have at least eight air monitoring stations. And the city should have regular analytical assessments on the causes and trends of the problem. The high-power pollution committee in Gurugram must focus on one or two immediate ‘actionables’ to set it on a course of correction. The main culprits of pollution are dust, vehicular emissions, and waste burning and dumping. To control dust, construction sites that flout construction norms should be duly covered need to be monitored closely. Besides, C&D waste cannot be allowed to be thrown. Trucks carrying construction material should also be covered well. Water sprinklers can also be used. Vehicular emissions can be controlled by better pollution checks, avoiding traffic jams, encouraging e-rickshaws, improving public transport and last-mile connectivity, as well as introducing non-motorised infrastructure. Decentralised waste solutions will reduce transportation costs and congestion of over-loaded trucks of garbage going to and fro to landfills. In all this, enforcements by authorities will play a key role — we need strict penalties for non-compliance at construction sites, waste burning, C&D waste dumping and tree-felling. Citizens’ education and awareness will play a key role in creating vital checks in neighbourhoods. Fighting pollution is also about raising collective consciousness at an individual and community level. Can we limit ownership of multiple cars, not buy luxury SUVs/diesel cars, opt for car-pooling, go ‘car-free’ once a week, compost our kitchen waste, switch to solar energy, and plant trees? The beauty of embarking on the sustainable trip is that different steps all integrate at one level and one positive cycle builds the other. If we improve the waste cycle, we will see both water and air cycles improve as well. So, if we start solidly somewhere, it won’t be long before we start seeing synergistic gains elsewhere. Recently, Gurugram scored a poor 83 ranking (among 99 cities in its category) in 2019’s Swachh Survekshan. It may not be misplaced to say that had our Swachh Survekshan rankings been better, that would have reflected well on our pollution scorecards as well. We have all heard the story of how the greedy farmer cut his goose that lays golden eggs in the hope of getting all the eggs in one stroke. Gurugram is the golden goose of Haryana. Let’s not exploit it to the point of no return!

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?