Xi to announce new route for Mansarovar

It will be via Sikkim, rather than Uttarakhand.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will announce the opening of a new and more convenient route for pilgrims to Mansarovar and Mount Kailash via Sikkim, rather than Uttarakhand, in Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his interest in the new route to Mr. Xi during their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July.

The new route will now traverse through the city of Shigatse to the pilgrimage spot situated at a height of 19,500 feet, part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

The route has a better highway owing to the infrastructure development there.

The decision is a significant gesture for the pilgrims. The annual pilgrimage takes place by an arrangement with the External Affairs Ministry. Tour operators take pilgrims through the Nepal route.

The earlier route through Uttarakhand and the Lipu Lekh pass was damaged in the flash floods last year that brought the number of “official” pilgrims to just 51. Beijing’s decision to open the new route will particularly help older pilgrims who will be able to drive up to the pilgrimage destinations instead of walking or using mules. Shigatse is connected to Lhasa by a high-altitude railway line, which was inaugurated in August.

Though India has been demanding the new route for the past few years, it was discussed only during a meeting of the working group on India-China border affairs in Beijing in April.

The gesture has political significance given China’s sensitivities over Tibet, and denotes a new confidence in opening up parts of the region to people from outside.

An official clarified that the new route would not in any way prejudice either country’s current position on the border dispute.

Finance to 5 Lakh Joint Farming Groups of “Bhoomi Heen Kisan” through Nabard in the Current Financial Year

Finance to 5 Lakh Joint Farming Groups of “Bhoomi Heen Kisan” through Nabard in the Current Financial Year 14 Crore Soil Health Cards to be Issued in Three Years Credit Support of Rs. 8 Lakh Crore to Agriculture During 2014-15 Targeted Rabi Conference 2014 Inaugurated

Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Agriculture Minister inaugurated the National Rabi Conference here today. In his inaugural speech Shri Singh proposed to provide finance to 5 lakh joint farming groups of “Bhoomi Heen Kisan” through NABARD in the current financial year. Minister said that, a very large number of landless farmers are unable to provide land title as guarantee, institutional finance is denied to them and they become vulnerable to money lenders’ usurious lending. Minister informed that in order to achieve the targeted growth of agriculture and allied sector at 4%, from the year 2014-15, various schemes of Ministry of Agriculture have been restructured into specific Missions/Programmes. The foodgrains production during 2013-14 as per Fourth Advance Estimates released on 14.8.2014 is estimated at 264.77 million tonnes against 257.13 million tonnes produced during 2012-13. The credit for increased level of foodgrains production goes to the hard work of our farmers. Shri Singh said that cotton, jute and sugarcane are amongst the main cash crops in India and during the year 2014-15 the Government of India has approved implementation of Crop Development Programme under the NFSM (Commercial Crops) by following Cropping System Approach to encourage farmers to improve productivity of these crops. This would be possible through use of proper crop rotation, multiple cropping systems, intercropping, etc. Shri Singh informed that deteriorating soil health has been a cause of concern and leads to sub-optimal utilization of farming resources. Government has, therefore, formulated a Mission to provide every farmer with Soil Health Card. Issue of 3 crore Soil Health Cards in the current year, 5.50 crore Soil Health Cards in year 2015-16 and 5.50 crore Soil Health Cards in year 2016-17 is targeted. Besides, 100 Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories (MSTLs) will also be set up in year 2014-15. Minister further said that there have also been growing concerns about the imbalance in the utilization of different types of fertilizers resulting in deterioration of the soil. Ministry has framed guidelines under Bhartiya Paramparagat Krishi Vikash Pariyojana to promote organic farming and to develop potential markets for organic products. Aim of the project is to maximize the utilization of natural resources through eco-friendly cultivation. Shri Singh also informed that National Agroforestry Policy, 2014 has been approved and it has been decided to take up Plantation of trees on farm bunds in all the developmental programmes of Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, and Government of India to take this Policy forward. He further said that National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) envisages Integrated Farming System (IFS) in which activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agroforestry, value addition are to be taken up along with crops/cropping system. Minister said that for Horticulture Development innovative project CHAMAN envisages use of remote sensing to assess production and area of horticulture crops. Further, Under the Indo-Dutch collaborative project, Centres of Excellence have been approved in Jalandhar (Punjab), Baramati (Maharashra) and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), wherein dissemination of modern technology for growing fruits and vegetables, awareness generation will be taken up. In order to make available fruits and vegetables at reasonable rates to consumers in Delhi, Kisan Mandi is in the process of being established. In the meanwhile direct sale of fruits and vegetables by Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) has also been started. Minister also said that Union Finance Minister in his Budget Speech, 2014-15 has rightly proposed to make farming competitive and profitable by stepping up of investment, both public and private, in agro-technology development and creation and modernization of existing agri-business infrastructure. Government has decided to establish two new institutions of excellence in Assam and Jharkhand with an initial grant of Rs.100 crore in the current financial year. In addition, an amount of Rs.100 crore has also been provided for setting up an “Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund”. Further, it is also proposed to establish Agriculture Universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and Horticulture Universities in Telangana and Haryana for which an initial grant of Rs.200 crore has been allocated during 2014-15. Shri Singh said that Crop insurance schemes presently under operation suffers from several deficiencies and operational difficulties. Suggestions have been sought from Chief Ministers of all the states/UTs in this regard. Suggestions have already been received from some States. The matter has also been discussed in the recently held meeting with the concerned officials of the States. It is proposed to roll out new crop insurance scheme for ensuring the production, productivity and income risk faced by the farmers. Minister informed that Banks are providing strong credit support to the agriculture sector. A target of Rs.8 lakh crore has been set for agriculture credit during 2014-15. Further, under the Interest Subvention Scheme for short term crop loans, the banks are extending loans to farmers at a concessional rate of 7%. The farmers get a further incentive of 3% for timely repayment. Shri Singh hopes that with concerted efforts, we would be able to achieve the target of additional production of 25 million tonnes of foodgrains envisaged during the 12th Five Year Plan Period. Earlier highlighting the monsoon pattern and interventions by Government, Minister said that ‘this year India faced the challenges posed by delayed and aberrant monsoon with ‘deficient’ rainfall and in the wake of shortfall in sowing of major crops during Kharif Government took a series of interventions through implementation of Diesel Subsidy Scheme; enhancement of ceiling on seed subsidy; implementation of drought mitigating interventions on perennial horticulture crops under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) with an allocation of Rs.700 crore; implementation of Additional Fodder Development Programme (AFDP) with an allocation of Rs.100 crore as a sub-scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) for ensuring availability of fodder; waiver of duty on import of de-oiled soya extract, groundnut oil cake, sunflower oil cake, canola oil meal, mustard oil cake, rice bran and palm kernel cake to increase availability of feed ingredients. Further, to deal with the situation arising out of weak monsoon/deficient rainfall, Central Research Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities and State Governments, had prepared crop contingency plans for 565 districts of the country’. Minister expressed hope that Rabi Conference 2014 would provide a platform for discussion, deliberation and sharing of experiences in charting the course of action in the ensuing Rabi Season. Secretaries in the Ministry of Agriculture (Shri Ashish Bahuguna, Shri Anup Thakur, Dr. Ayyappan); other officials of the Ministry and Agriculture Production Commissioners, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, Commissioners, other officials of Agriculture and allied departments of various States and UT Governments were also present on the occasion.

Lessons from a disaster

As life slowly acquires a semblance of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, the extent of damage caused by the floods is unfolding. People who had abandoned their marooned houses or were evacuated are slowly getting back and assessing the damage as the water level recedes. A long haul is ahead. According to industry body Assocham, the loss in terms of damage to trade establishments, hotels and restaurants, horticulture, the handicrafts sector, transport infrastructure and communications facilities may add up to Rs.5,700 crore. While traffic on the arterial Jammu-Srinagar highway has been restored partially, most other road systems are still in limbo. The ambitious Jammu-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line project has suffered setbacks. The death toll cannot be reliably determined as yet, given the number of persons who have been listed as missing. A major source of worry pertains to the possibility of spread of diseases after the water recedes. Livelihoods, including in the tourism and farming sectors, need to be restored. The number of people rescued by the armed forces and the National Disaster Response Force is close to 2.5 lakh. The armed forces and the NDRF have played a stellar role here. The Army alone deployed around 30,000 troops. Some questions have been raised about the level of coordination among different agencies, but overall it has been a creditable effort so far.

While looking at the challenges of relief and reconstruction that lie ahead, this is also the time to consider the lessons for the State from the extreme event. While there is agreement over the fact that the level of rainfall was unprecedented, intense and rather sudden, leaving little room for timely warnings, the environmental factors that underlie the tragedy need to be given a hard look. Ecological degradation caused by unplanned development and urbanisation, and failure to preserve wetlands, has played a role. Wetlands act as a sponge, and their loss is bound to have serious repercussions. A report by the Bombay Natural History Society has mentioned that the Wular lake, once spread over 20,200 ha, has shrunk to 2,400 ha. The Dal lake in Srinagar has been reduced to almost half its earlier size, to 1,200 ha. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, over the last century more than 50 per cent of the lakes, ponds and wetlands of Srinagar have been encroached upon. The banks of the Jhelum have been overrun, reducing its drainage capacity. The story is the same with the Tawi in Jammu. Flash floods in this river washed away some 400 buildings and inundated scores of colonies, many of them in breach of the Jammu Master Plan. This, then, has been a costly environmental wake-up call for Jammu and Kashmir — as it was for Uttarakhand a year ago.

Developing model village clusters

Creating central towns with urban facilities for 100 or so villages in each tehsil will prevent wastage of national resources on ‘model villages’ and ‘smart cities’

The Narendra Modi government has launched an ambitious programme for both rural and urban development. In his budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “The Prime Minister has a vision of developing ‘one hundred smart cities’ as satellite towns of larger cities by modernising the existing mid-sized cities. To provide the necessary focus to this critical activity, I have provided a sum of [Rs.] 7,060 crore in the current fiscal.” For rural areas, Mr. Modi in his Independence Day speech urged each Member of Parliament to make one village of his or her constituency a ‘model village’ by 2016. After 2016, two more villages should be selected and after 2019, at least five model villages must be established by each MP in his/her area.

Read: What are smart cities?

These are wise programmes, but if they are launched without due diligence, they may end up in enormous wastage of national resources. Here are some thoughts on how these programmes can be made effective.

An urban India

It should be clearly understood that it is an iron law of economics (without a single exception) that as countries get richer, the share of agriculture in GDP, employment and land use declines over time. If India aims at achieving affluence over the coming decades, it must be prepared for massive urbanisation. Our statistical analysis shows that in an affluent India, by 2050, more than 80 per cent of the population will be in cities. Rural population will decline from about 833 million in 2011 to about 260 million in 2050, while in urban areas, the population will increase from 377 million in 2011 to about 1,200 million in 2050. Thus, India in the future will live in towns and cities and not in villages. The choice before India is whether it will let urbanisation proceed in an unplanned manner as it has been doing until now or plan in advance and create smart towns and cities.

For rural development, one often hears of providing urban facilities to rural areas. The word “Rurban” is often bandied about. However, it should be understood that modern urban areas require many complex facilities which cannot be made available in a very small scale. In India, with 6 lakh villages, the average population of a village is only about 1,000. It is generally difficult even to provide basic facilities for health and education in rural areas as teachers and doctors are simply not willing to live in these villages without adequate facilities for their families. Creating model villages is thus going to be difficult. As villagers get educated and leave for towns, the so-called model villages may become half-deserted.

Model village clusters

One possible solution is to build model village clusters similar to what was done in Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh. In this approach, for 100 or so villages in each tehsil, a central town with a population of about 50,000 will be created with urban facilities. This town will accommodate teachers, doctors, agricultural extension workers, agro-industries, etc. These will be created on the lines of Special Economic Zones — with their own modern rules on land, labour, transport, education, health, etc. The town will be managed by rural communities that it will be serving along with representatives of the urban community in the new town. The town’s infrastructure will be developed along the principles of sound urban development before the inflow of residents begins.

Read: A ‘smart’ idea for urban ills?

Where will the funding for urban development come from? As has been the case in China, it will come from the capital gains due to land conversion accruing to the new urban authorities rather than landowners. The landowners will be compensated handsomely. Compensation will be two-three times the value of their land through a combination of lump sum payment and annuities and with guaranteed employment for all stakeholders. The value of land will be determined not by the so-called market value — which is difficult to determine partly because of paucity of land transactions and partly because of the black money in many of these transactions — but by the present value of income stream generated from the land concerned. Assuming a rate of time discount of 5 per cent per year and increase in land productivity of 2.5 per cent per year becomes a robust method for determining the value of land for compensation. When the land is converted to urban usage with horizontal growth allowing buildings of 10-15 floors, its value will increase by 15-20 times. Assuming that half of the land acquired will be auctioned to the private developers at market prices, the town authorities will earn handsome capital gains which should be sufficient to develop the necessary infrastructure with all modern amenities. The town thus developed will serve the cluster of villages and provide jobs for many migrants from the villages.

Thus the Prime Minister should urge parliamentarians to develop such model village clusters, one every year, so that in 10 years’ time, the entire country can be covered.

Self-financing of smart cities

The same principle can apply to the development of smart cities. These cities will be “smart” not only in terms of Information and Communications Technology but also in the design of urban physical and social infrastructure and modern policy regime on business climate and governance. These cities would, for example, allow FDI in retail which will not displace any shopkeepers but become a magnet for new inhabitants.

Read: Smart cities - Current practicality, future idealism

The economic base of these cities will be hubs for knowledge production and knowledge marketing. Starting with 100 such smart cities in the next five years, some 800 such cities may be built over the next 40 years covering all the district towns. The principle of land conversion and auctions for part of the land acquired will be the same as in the village clusters mentioned above. The infrastructure development of these smart cities will thus be largely self-financed through capital gains from land conversion and they would emerge as model cities which will accommodate nearly 400 million new urbanites between now and 2050. Thus, both the ideas of rural development and of urban development are basically sound but they need some forward planning to be effective.

PM launches Swavlamban Abhiyaan - new pro-poor initiatives of the Gujarat Government

"Three things are important for the shram-yogi: self reliance (swavalamban), self independence (swashray) and self-dignity (swabhimaan)." The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today launched "Swavalamban Abhiyan" - a set of 11 new pro-poor initiatives of the Gujarat Government, at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. Addressing a large gathering on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that 17th September is observed as Vishwakarma Day across the country, and Vishwakarma is revered by all shram-yogis (people who live through hard work). Congratulating the state government, he said it is significant that the state government has chosen this day to launch "Swavalamban" initiatives. The Prime Minister said three things are important for the shram-yogi: self reliance (swavalamban), self independence (swashray) and self-dignity (swabhimaan). He said no "shram yogi" likes to be dependent. Gujarat Government has launched these pro-poor initiatives for the benefit of shram yogis, especially women and youth, so that they are empowered to fight poverty, he added. This is in keeping with the spirit of "Shrameva Jayate," he said. The Prime Minister said that women in Gujarat are at the forefront of animal husbandry and milk production, and they will be benefited and empowered through this scheme. He also said ITIs in the state are focusing on soft skill development, so that the students can communicate their skills and abilities. The Prime Minister said the neo-middle class will also receive protection through the Swavalamban initiative of Ma-Vatsalya Yojana. The Governor of Gujarat, Shri O.P. Kohli, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel and several state ministers were present on the occasion.

IISc: novel membrane filters water, kills bacteria

A low-cost water purification membrane capable of filtering out objects greater than one micron size and also killing E. coli bacteria has been developed by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) researchers and Steer Engineering Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore. The results of the study were published recently in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

The novel membrane with pores as small as 0.57-0.68 microns was developed by mixing two polymers — polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) — at 180 degree C. Unlike PE, PEO is water-soluble and the two polymers are immiscible.

“We want them to be immiscible as we want to remove one of them, in this case the PEO which is water soluble,” said Dr. Suryasarathi Bose, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc. He is the corresponding author of the paper. Tiny holes came into being once the water-soluble polymer was removed.

In order to create pores that are sub-micron in size, the amount of PEO polymer distributed in the PE matrix should also be sub-micron in size. To achieve this, only a tiny amount of PEO was taken compared with PE. Also, the polymers mixed at 180 degree C were sheared at high speed to produce tiny droplets of PEO. “The higher the shear rate, the smaller the droplets,” Prof. Bose said.

The PEO droplets on the matrix were then removed to create tiny holes. “We take the mixture and dip it in water. As soon as we dip the mixture, the PEO gets dissolved in water leaving behind tiny holes in the PE matrix,” he explained.

Going further, the researchers rendered the membrane antibacterial against E.coli. For this, grapheme oxide (GO) was mixed with PE and PEO and the graphene oxide was made functional with amine groups. The tablet-shaped samples with tiny holes are hydrophobic (water repellent) in nature.

Since the holes were sub-micron in size, pressure was required to force water through the holes. “The pressure used varied from one to seven psi. Flux [rate of water flow] increased as the pressure applied increased,” said Prof. Bose.

“Since pressure was used to force water through the tiny holes, the hydrophobic nature of the tablet would not have mattered,” said Prof. Bose.

The membrane filtered all solid substances that were more than one micron in size. “By itself, the membrane cannot remove salinity. For that, one has to use reverse osmosis,” Prof. Bose said.

When put into a colony of E. coli bacteria, the tablets reduced the E. coli colony at 37 degree C; measurements were made 24 hours after the tablets were left in the bacterial colony.

There are two ways in which the bacteria may be getting killed. The roughness of the grapheme oxide surface is one factor while the interaction of the amine group of the tablet with the phosphate group of the lipids present in the cell could be another. “The amine group destroys the integrity of the cell membrane,” he said.

Since the tablet is hydrophobic in nature, the killed E. coli to a large extent do not stick to the membrane.

Though it cannot remove salinity, its ability to filter particles larger than one micron makes the membrane attractive.

“This membrane can support reverse osmosis but can’t replace it. If we use this membrane before RO then the efficiency of RO membrane will increase,” Prof. Bose stressed. “When we supply pure water [to RO unit], the pressure on RO motor will come down. So the efficiency of RO will increase.”

PM and Chinese President Xi Jinping witness signing of 3 MoUs in Ahmedabad

The President of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Xi Jinping and the First Lady Ms. Peng Liyuan arrived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat today. They were received at the Hyatt Hotel in Ahmedabad by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister shared the rich Buddhist heritage of Gujarat with the Chinese President and the First Lady through an exhibition set up at Hyatt Hotel. The PM and the Chinese President then had a one-on-one interaction ahead of the signing of MoUs. Three Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between the two countries in the presence of the Chinese President and the Indian Prime Minister: 1. MoU establishing 'Sister Province' relations between Guangdong, China and Gujarat, India which covers cooperation in economy and trade, environmental protection, public policy education, health, science and technology, tourism and culture. 2. MoU between the cities of Guangzhou, China and Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India for closer cooperation between the local authorities of the two cities, which will facilitate engagements in the fields of economy and trade, environment protection, public policy, education, health, science and technology, tourism and culture. Knowledge sharing will be done through delegation visits, institutional meetings and sharing of experiences in areas of mutual interest. 3. MoU between Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), the nodal agency of Government of Gujarat for investment promotion, and China Development Bank, under which iNDEXTb will assist Chinese investors in obtaining required clearances and creating infrastructure facilities in the industrial parks.