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.

FASTag”, the Brand name for ETC services on Highways

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided to roll out Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) program in the country under the brand name “FASTag”. ETC entails payment of highway tolls electronically without needing to stop the vehicle at the toll plazas. The unique number of the RFID Tag affixed on the wind shield of the vehicle will be read by the readers fitted in the dedicated “ETC” lanes of plazas and appropriate amount as per the class of vehicle will be automatically deducted from the account of the user. The dedicated ETC lanes will have colour coding for distinct identity recognized as “FASTag lanes”.

ICICI Bank and Axis bank, engaged for providing Central Clearing House (CCH) services, would distribute RFID based “FASTag” through their franchises/agents and at points of sales near the toll plazas. Road users can enrol and get “FASTag” affixed on their vehicles at designated toll plaza locations or Point of Sale (POS) stations of Axis bank and ICICI bank.

Such type of highway tag brands are common in developed countries and are known by different names like “Eazee Pass”, “SunPass” in the US, “e-Pass” in Australia, “Salik” in Dubai etc.

motivational

जब हम किसी सफल व्यक्ति को देखते हैं तो केवल उसकी सफलता को देखते हैं। इस सफलता को पाने की कोशिश में वह कितनी बार असफल हुआ है, यह कोई जानना नहीं चाहता। जबकि असफलता का सामना करे बिना शायद ही कोई सफल होता है।

अमेरिका के रोनाल्ड रीगन फिल्मों में अभिनेता थे। पहली बार गवर्नर का चुनाव लड़े तो लोगों ने हंसी उड़ाई, लेकिन वे जीत गए। दो बार गवर्नर रहने के बाद जब उन्होंने राष्ट्रपति का चुनाव लड़ने का फैसला किया तो पार्टी ने उन्हें प्रत्याशी नहीं बनाया। चार साल बाद फिर उन्होंने कोशिश की, फिर भी कामयाबी नहीं मिली।
चार साल बाद उन्होंने फिर कोशिश की और सफल हुए और भारी बहुमत से अमेरिका के राष्ट्रपति बने। हमारे यहां भी इस तरह के कई उदाहरण हैं जो कई असफलताओं के बाद सफल हुए। भारतीय फिल्मों के महानायक अमिताभ बच्चन ने अपने करियर की शुरुआत में लगातार नौ असफल फिल्में दीं, फिर वे सफल हुए। ऐसे कई उदाहरण हैं। असफलता, सफलता के साथ-साथ चलती है।

जिस दिन आप तय करते हैं कि आपको सफलता पाना है, उसी दिन से अपने आपको असफलता का सामना करने के लिए तैयार कर लेना चाहिए, क्योंकि असफलता वह कसौटी है जिस पर आपको परखा जाता है कि आप सफलता के योग्य हैं या नहीं। यदि आप में दृढ़ इच्छाशक्ति है और आप हर असफलता की चुनौती का सामना कर आगे बढ़ने में सक्षम हैं तो आपको सफल होने से कोई नहीं रोक सकता। तो हो जाइए तैयार सफलता की राह में आने वाली मुश्किलों का सामना करने के लिए, क्योंकि हर सफल व्यक्ति के पीछे उसकी असफलताओं की भी कहानी होती है।

गिरते हैं शहसवार ही मैदान-ए-जंग में ।
वो तिफ़्ल क्या गिरेगा जो घुटनों के बल चले ।।

रसायन शास्त्र का एक नियम है, जो जिंदगी पर भी लागू होता है। जब कोई अणु टूटकर पुन: अपनी पूर्व अवस्था में आता है तो वह पहले से अधिक मज़बूत होता है। इसी तरह हम जब किसी परेशानी का सामना करने के बाद पहले से अधिक मज़बूत हो जाते हैं और जीवन में और भी तरक्की करते हैं।

मंजिल मिल ही जायेगी भटकते ही सही, गुमराह तो वो है जो घर से निकले ही नहीं...