Think India Foundation

Waiting to explode

Population growth will negate development

Even as the world gets ready for the momentous occasion of the arrival of the seven billionth baby — it may happen late this year or early next year — India has every reason to be worried because it has the highest number of babies born every minute. Currently, the population clock is ticking away at 51. With 17 per cent of the world’s population — and still growing — trying to make do with a mere 2.5 per cent of global land, India’s future looks far from radiant. It means no matter how sound the policies are, Governments at the Centre, irrespective of the ruling party, will fail to reduce poverty with 20 million more mouths to feed every year because population growth would negate all economic development. That India was one of the first countries in the world to formulate a National Family Planning Programme in 1952 shows it anticipated the danger and wanted to take corrective measures. But policy-makers clearly have lost the plot as the country is certain to miss the target of stabilising population at 145 crore by 2045. If Jawaharlal Nehru allowed the population “asset” to grow because he thought it was “the key to our nation’s economic future”, Mrs Indira Gandhi’s Government skewed the programme with coercion during the Emergency days. And subsequent Governments failed to bridle the runaway growth because of their flawed focus on female sterilisation. What the policy-makers lost sight of is the fact that most women in our society are passive participants in the family planning process with no or little say in decision-making. If they go for sterilisation, it is only after they have four living children. Further, the emphasis on centralisation of family planning programmes has failed to give due consideration to regional differences. As a result, while States like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi saw birth rates dropping because most couples favour family planning, good policies fell by the way side in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan because people have a negative toward birth control. Read More

Source: Dailypioneer.com

Indian IT sector eyes global automobile market

In-car connectivity demands and technology for interaction open various possibilities.

India’s sunshine sector, the information technology (IT) industry, heading towards consolidation in the past five years, has its eyes set on the burgeoning global automobile market.

That global market is slated to go from 800 million cars a year at present to 2.9 billion in 2050, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates. India would have over 400 million cars, a five-fold increase over current numbers.

For automobile manufacturers, the challenge increasingly has been, and progressively will be, to innovate with the adoption of technologies, in the process of production and of the final product. Read More

Source: Business-Standard.com

MMRDA to seek sixth extension for Chembur link

Five years behind schedule, the under-construction Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) is set to get yet another deadline extension. If granted, this will be the sixth time that the completion date of the key east-west connecting road would been changed.

The MMRDA, the nodal agency for World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project of the SCLR, is all set to put forth the request for the extension during the review mission of the World Bank officials scheduled in the first week of February.

The country’s first double-decker bridge is behind schedule as the agencies faced several hurdles, ranging from religious structures to housing colonies and slums. The latest deadline for the completion of the project was June 2011, but the MMRDA is now seeking an extension till the year-end. Read More

Source: IndianExpress.com 

New approaches to life through energy conservation being evolved

"The earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed," Mahatma Gandhi once said.

Not many people around the world have been able to realize that we use energy faster than it can be produced, whether it is coal, oil or natural gas, these things are the most utilized sources, but take years, even millennia to form.

As nations across the world join the cutthroat competition to outpace each other in the name of development, there is a growing need to remember that energy resources that we have today are not unlimited.

With India having approximately one percent of the world's energy resources and 16 percent of the world's population, the need to conserve our energy resources is now being strongly felt.

Nonrenewable energy sources constitute about 80 percent of fuel use in India, and it is said that our energy resources may last only another 40 years or so.

People need to realize that we can save a lot of money when we save or conserve our energy resources.

In India, about 75 percent of our crude oil needs are met through imports which would cost about Rs.1,50,000 crore a year. Read More

Source: Arabnews.com

People have to be central partners in urbanization for cities to says Planning Commission member Arun Maira

When we think of growth, we must think inclusive growth. The model to follow is PPPP – People Public Private Partnership where people have to be central partners in urbanization for cities to grow economically and drive the growth of the nation, said Mr. Arun Maira, Member,  Planning Commission of India in his address at the Plenary Session on ‘Economic Growth – Imperative and Challenges of Urbanization’ at The Partnership Summit 2011 organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra.

Finding better ways in which people can collaborate is the way forward. The need is for innovation in business models and institutional models that allow working together to make things happen, said Mr Maira. Warning against straightjacket measures in solving problems of cities, Mr. Maira said that a master-plan idea is no longer practical as cities are organic entities that grow in their own way and discover where they need to grow. So a plan that cannot be changed is not ideal for cities and innovation comes by letting people find solutions, he added. Read More

Source: Orissadiary.com

Viira Cabs: Lady chauffeurs for Mumbai

Come on admit it, you prefer when the woman rides. So do the founders of a new taxi and chauffeur service here in Mumbai

Viira is a cab service for women, a female driver bureau, a recruitment agency and a motor training school.

Revathi Roy is a rally car driver turned entrepreneur in a simple cotton sari. Have you ever met a woman like that before?

Roy started Forsche (as in Porsche) in 2007, a cab service for women only, which was borne out of financial necessity. With a husband in a coma and a child at MIT, making ends meet was difficult.

Her new company employed and trained women to be strong drivers at a time when, she says, “No one had ever heard of a commercial driver being a woman.”

Her success in training India’s first female taxi drivers is evident on the streets of Mumbai, the city she calls ‘home.’

Thanks to ideological differences with an ally, Roy recently let go of her brainchild, to start her newest driving (ad)venture -- Viira Cabs. The company, officially launched on January 17, was started by Roy and Preeti Sharma Menon, a friend of Roy’s who was looking to do something new.

Viira, meaning courageous woman, is unique in its structure.

Whilst it’s a cab service for women, it’s also a female driver bureau, a recruitment agency and a motor training school.

All drivers, whether part of the regular cab-service or whether hired by customers as personal chauffeurs, go through a training program of which the company ought to be proud. Read More

Source: Cnngo.com

Leaking manholes stink up UGD system

A leaking UGD manhole near Karavali Junction along the NH-17 has not only stunk up the place, but also dirtied two popular hotels of the temple town of Udupi Sharada Residency and Karavali Hotel nearby. People are greatly inconvenienced and are unable to walk in the area due to the foul smell.

Though the Udupi CMC has constructed the UGD system in 15 out of 35 wards, the authorities still have to confront some problems like leakages in the pipelines. The leaking UGD manhole near Karavali junction is a serious issue as the system is quite close to one of the wet wells (collection chambers) and also near the modernized sewage treatment plant, Nittur, that is located on the other side of the national highway. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

Are you living in a happy city?

As the Indian republic enters its 62nd year, it’s only khushi and hardly any ghum in the lives of a majority of the urban Indian youth. A youth survey conducted by Hindustan Times among 10,000 participants in 18 cities reveals that of all the towns in India, Jaipur is the happiest, with 91% people in the age of 18-25 claiming to be very happy, closely followed by Mumbai, where 89.5% of the youth claimed to be in good cheer. On the third ‘happy’ spot is Ludhiana, with 85% happy souls. The Capital, too, features among the happy cities, with 60 - 85% of its youth population smiling.  Guwahati fared worst, with a meagre 43.5% of its people claiming to be happy. Most young Indians who were quizzed said it was their parents who were the biggest source of happiness for them, and girlfriends and boyfriends came last on the list of reasons. Experts say that’s because parent-child bonding has grown stronger in the recent years, with parents becoming more understanding, liberal and realistic in their expectations from children. “Parents play a significant role in determining how happy you are. For young adults, it’s not enough that their materials needs are met. It’s the emotional and psychological vacuum that needs to be filled. The findings of this survey reflect that the gap between parents and children has lessened and parents now know what their children want," says psychiatrist, Dr Sanjay Chugh. Read More

Source: Hindustantimes.com

India to plug in solar-powered telecom towers

The high-powered schmoozing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has yielded a project to install solar-powered cell phone towers in India.

Vihaan Networks Limited (VNL) and lithium ion battery maker Boston Power today announced that VNL will test the small-scale telecom stations with Boston Power's batteries. VNL had originally developed the system with lead acid batteries.

The communications-based stations, called WorldGSM, are designed to operate entirely from a few solar panels and are not connected to the grid. The Boston Power batteries can power the tower, which can be set up in half a day, for up to three days without sunlight.

The idea for the upgraded product came about at last year's World Economic Forum where the CEOs of both companies met after winning "Technology Pioneer" awards. Read More

Source: News.cnet.com

Unregistered voters greatest challenge in urban areas

Despite the IT and literacy edge, Bangalore saw a mere 44.04% voting for the local city corporation elections in 2010, while gram panchayat polls raced ahead with 80.24%. Even the recent zilla panchayat polls recorded a decent 69.55% turnout.

Concerns about voting awareness was at the fore on the first national voters' day in the city on Tuesday. Speaking at the inaugural function at Town Hall, chief electoral officer C S Suranjana said the number of unregistered voters was the greatest challenge in urban areas. And the trend, he said, was prominent among the youth, especially in the age group 18-21.

State election commissioner C R Chikkamatt pointed to a lack of awareness in this age group. "Today, no one needs to be reminded of Valentine's Day. But it's unfortunate that democratic India now needs a national voters' day to remind voters of their fundamental right," he said.

In an attempt to nudge youn'guns to exercise their right, the governor gave away electoral photo identify cards (EPIC) to a few youngsters. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

India: Roads and teachers crucial for rising star

India’s gross domestic product, measured in purchasing power parity, will overtake that of Japan this year, according to some projections.

Predictions by investment banks and economists of what the world’s leading economies will look like in the next 40 years are kind to India, currently Asia’s third-largest economy.

Such forecasts see the 2008 global financial crisis as having hastened the rise of Asia and helping to propel the likes of China, India and Indonesia past Group of Seven leading nations in the coming years.

The world economy appears to be rebalancing to where it was in earlier centuries. “The renewed dominance by 2050 of China and India, with their much larger populations, is a return to the historical norm before the Industrial Revolution,” says John Hawksworth, chief economist at auditing firm PwC. Read More

Source: FT.com

DMRC shoots down Plan Panel proposal for PPP on metro projects

 

The Hindu Bombardier CMD, Rajeev Jyoti flanked by Canadian Sports Minister, Gary Lunn (right) and Canadian Senator, Vim Kochhar (left) visiting Patel Chowk Metro Station, in New Delhi on October 06, 2010. A file photo: V. Sudershan

In view of the bitter experience with a private partner on the Airport Express Metro Line, which has been delayed significantly, the DMRC has shot down the Planning Commission’s proposal to develop metro projects in 50 cities under a Public-Private Partnership model.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) reservations were expressed during a recent meeting with officials of the Planning Commission, where DMRC Chairman and Managing Director E Sreedharan argued against implementation of such projects in a PPP mode, a source said.

According to sources, “Mr. Sreedharan had argued that it has not worked anywhere across the world and it will also not work in India and cited the example of Airport Express Metro Line, which was to be completed before Commonwealth Games and is still hanging fire.”

The source said, “In the meeting, Mr. Sreedharan referred to an incident of a metro rail project in the UK, where a private player pulled out its equity and later, the government had to take over.”

In its argument, the Plan panel said an equity investment of about Rs 1.6 lakh crore would be required to execute these projects in over 50 cities across India with a population of over one million. Read More

Source: TheHindu.com

Govt's R-day gift; 7 new cities in 6 states

What could be a better Republic Day gift to India than to have seven brand new cities across six states. The Union Government plans to spend around Rs 17,500-crore over the next five-years to set up seven brand new cities in six states, a senior Government official said.

It has planned to set up two new cities in Maharashtra, and one each in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the official said.

"The Government is planning to spend around Rs 2,500-crore for each city over the next five-years, which will be developed on around 540-square kilometres of area in six states. The cities will be developed with cutting-edge technology to provide all the necessary infrastructure," Joint Secretary (Industrial Policy and Promotion) of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Talleen Kumar, told reporters on the sidelines of the CII Partnership Summit.

This is a part of the Government''s target to develop 24 cities over the next 30-years. All these cities will be along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial belt, he said. Read More

Source: News.OneIndia.in

 

Garbage bins overflow in this 'black' city

City sanitation rankings released by Union ministry for urban development as per the National Sanitation Plan places this coastal city eighth among all cleanest cities in India. Mysore in Karnataka is the second cleanest city in the country with the honour of being the cleanest city going to Chandigarh. Yet, if one takes the benchmarks for solid waste management, the indicator values for Mangalore make dismal reading.

The city's score for household coverage of solid waste management services is 39.28 per cent (benchmark 100 per cent). City's efficiency of collection of municipal solid waste is 93.33%, extent of segregation of municipal solid waste 12.38%, extent of scientific disposal of municipal solid waste 12.86%, extent of cost recovery in solid waste management services 0.13% and extent of processing and treatment of solid waste 12%. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

The most polluting cities? Study finds surprises

Cities are often blamed for exacerbating climate change, but their emissions of greenhouse gases vary widely in some surprising ways, reports a new study of more than 100 cities in 33 countries.

Cities in Nepal, India and Bangladesh emit less than half a ton of carbon dioxide equivalent per person per year while the highest emitters --Rotterdam, Denver, Sydney, Washington, Minneapolis and Calgary, respectively -- emit more than 17 tons per capita, according to the study by the International Institute for Environment and Development, a London-based independent and non-profit group.

"Many cities have very low emissions, as do many city dwellers in even the most industrialized countries," lead author Daniel Hoornweg, an urban specialist at the World Bank, says in announcing the findings. He says poor residents in wealthy cities can have a relatively low carbon footprint by buying few goods and using little power. Read More

Source: Content.usatoday.com

Rural India gadget-savvy too: Gfk Nielsen

Indians living in rural areas are just about as gadget-savvy as those residing in cities, according to a study conducted by global market research firm Gfk Nielsen. The findings, based on an extensive audit of retail stores in November last year, reveal the huge potential of rural India, especially for the telecom sector, and may force telecom companies to increase their focus on villages and small towns.

The first-of-its-kind study found that 7% of all mobile phones sold in the rural areas were touch screen handsets as against 10% in urban areas. Rural customers beat their urban counterparts in the use of multiple SIM handsets as about 40% of all mobile phones sold in these areas had multiple SIM slots as against only 22% sold in the metros. Read More

Source: Economictimes.Indiatimes.com

Highway to the future

The urban landscape of India includes congested metropolitan cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata, on the one hand, and urban sprawls like Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, on the other. Hyderabad’s outer ring road is an attempt to decongest the city and plan for future development. It is the country’s largest single road project outside the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). Read More

Source: IndianExpress.com

Surinder Sud: Relay solutions for food prices

Local innovations by farmers to increase yields or reduce damage could go a long way in ensuring steady vegetable supplies to consumers

The recent spike in vegetable prices, due partly to erratic supplies, could well have been averted if the novel concept of “relay cropping” in vegetable farming had become popular.

This system allows growing three to seven crops of different vegetables on the same patch of land over a period to ensure a steady and regular flow of vegetables to markets.

This innovative approach, significantly, has been conceived and successfully put into practice by a 51-year-old Orissa

farmer, Hrushikesh Giri of village Gopalpur in Bhadrak district, who, incidentally, holds a post-graduate degree in Philosophy but has been practising farming for the last 35 years.

Under relay farming, two crops with different maturity periods are sown in a field to begin with. When the shorter duration crop is harvested, the other crop gets better space to flourish. Once the second crop begins inching closer to maturity, another crop is planted in between its rows. Likewise, the cycle is continued for subsequent crops. Read More

Source: Business-Standard.com

Motor Act to be amended to aid project materials transport

The Heavy Industry Department plans to amend the Motor Vehicles Act to facilitate hassle-free transportation of massive project materials anywhere in the country, a top official said today.

Talking to reporters, Department of Heavy Industry Secretary B S Meena said at present, companies like BHEL -- which manufactures heavy and huge power plant equipment -- face hurdles in the transportation of materials to sites for upcoming thermal and hydel projects.

The ministry had convened an interdisciplinary meeting recently to assess the difficulties and problems, Meena said.

Strategic recommendations have been presented to the Road Transport Ministry, National Highways Authority of India and others, enabling them to introduce certain amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act, he said.

He said the Road Transport Ministry has extended its support to the proposal, but before tabling the Bill in Parliament, some state governments have to revise the regulations. Read More

Source: Business-Standard.com

Environment ministry, industry forum to advice firms on green laws

The environment ministry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will set up a facilitation centre to advice small and medium enterprises (SME) on environmental rules and regulation, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said Monday.

"The environment ministry and FICCI will establish a compliance facilitation centre which will be a advisory service to the industries particularly for SME on compliance with the environmental rules, regulation, laws and standards," he said after a closed-door interaction with FICCI officials.

He said the centres may have a 50-50 partnership mode, similar to the one FICCI had with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).  Read More

Source: Economictimes.Indiatimes.com

Creating jobs for inclusive growth

India's economic performance over the last decade has been phenomenal and has surprised the world. Inching back to 9% GDP growth rate after experiencing only a slowdown rather than a recession in the worst global economic crisis in decades, being recognised as an emerging player in the new knowledge economy, home to ambitious firms beginning to transform themselves into successful MNCs, there is even talk of India becoming an economic superpower.

But then comes the reality check. We have more absolutely poor people than the 20 poorest countries of Africa. We have more people without access to clean toilets than with access to mobile phones . We have more people without electricity than the whole of Africa. We have more people without access to clean toilets than with access to mobile phones . We have more people without electricity than the whole of Africa Malnutrition and hunger are harsh realities warranting the quest for food security measures. There is the uneasy apprehension that growth may not yet be inclusive enough. Read More

Source: Economictimes.Indiatimes.com

 

Green policies hurting FDI,says RBI

The RBI has said that environment sensitive policies and procedural delays are hurting foreign direct investment.

The moderation in FDI inflows to India during April-November 2010 has been driven by sectors such as construction, mining and business services. A major reason for the decline in inward FDI is reported to have been the environment sensitive policies pursued, as manifested in the recent episodes in the mining sector, integrated township projects and construction of ports, which appear to have affected the investors sentiments, the RBI said The report adds that persistent procedural delays, land acquisition issues and availability of quality infrastructure have added to the environment related issues. These factors,which are more structural in nature, if addressed expeditiously, could raise the share of India in the projected FDI flow to EMEs in the near future, the RBI said. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

The Rough Ride Ahead For Young India

"AGING Germany mulls bill to silence ‘noisy’ kids", said an AFP news item the other day. Aging population is a major problem with most of the developed European countries. Germany, where just 14 per cent of the population is less than 14 years old, is intolerant of noisy kids. So the bill Germany plans to bring is in response to complaints from elderly people against children being children and as a result kindergartens are being denied planning permission or children centres are being asked to build noise reduction walls so as not to disturb locals, the report said. When the bill is passed such institutions will be disallowed in residential localities. A sea change from India where every residential colony proudly accommodates any number of at home kindergartens. Are we overstating our youth dividend?

India has 459 million in the age group 13-35, which is 45 per cent of our population. There are well researched articles in this issue which argue that India is over emphasising its youth advantage. Poor quality of education, high level of unemployment, wide spread illiteracy and still deepening disparity are undermining Indian Youth. Not many years ago, then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav invented Charvah Vidyalayas (vaguely translated as cattle shed schools) when he thought of spreading literacy-or was it to keep the poor tied to cattle rearing-as against the upmarket public schools coming up in all urban centres and even far off towns. Public schools in private hands have become a money mint. In elite schools a parent has to spare an average of Rs 30,000 per month per child. On the other side of the spectrum we boast of lakhs and lakhs of Ekal Vidyalayas with just one teacher, in remote villages where minimal levels of literacy is imparted. Then we have the mushrooming madrasas where children are forced to grow up in medieval mindset. All these categories put together, 333 million is the number of literate young Indians.

Happily, 62 per cent of the literate Indian youth live in villages, 40 per cent of the literate youth are OBCs as compared to 27 per cent belonging to general categories, 23 per cent SCs and 10 per cent are STs. According to a recent India Today survey, 98 minutes is the time spent by youth on TV every day, 44 minutes on magazines, 32 minutes on newspapers and 70 minutes on surfing the internet. Whereas 77 per cent of literate youth are interested in films and music, 72 per cent in news and current affairs, 59 per cent in religious and spiritual topics, 35 per cent in science and technology and 34 per cent in environmental pollution. These studies are all applicable for that segment which can afford the TV or internet. There is the other half living side by side untouched by all these.

Demographers say that the youth advantage for a nation is a once in the history opportunity. India’s own youth population in the age group of 15 to 25, which is 240 million today, is likely to go down to 231 million in the next ten years. Consequent on longer life expectancy, our old population will increase with the passage of time though it will take many centuries for India to arrive at the dismal picture of the West when we become intolerant to child noise.

Why are we talking about all this? Few years ago, celebrated American writer Thomas L Friedman (The World Is Flat) sketched a rosy picture of a seamless world order in the high noon of globalisation where outsourcing and homesourcing of jobs from the developed countries will change the landscape, rather life and thinking of the people of India. Friedman, enticingly predicted, in any case US will be benefiting from all this, and it will have no reason to complain since the profitability of US companies will go up and Indians are any way taking away mostly those jobs that the Americans find too lowly and low paid.

Indentured IT labour. Is it the goal we have for our youth? India is the cheap labour market of literate youth. It did not take too long for the big picture of the developed world’s patronising hegemony shrink. The great depression of 2008 has largely redefined the world order. A new book, The Power Of Place by Harm De Blij on the other hand argues; geography, destiny, globalisation’s rough landscape make the context, the place more relevant in determining the future of the people. "Earth may be a planet of shrinking functional distances, but it remains a world of staggering situational differences... From uneven distribution of natural resources to the unequal availability of opportunity, place remains a powerful arbitrator. Many hundreds of millions of farmers live their lives much as their distant ancestors did, still remote from the forces of globalization, children as well as adults still at high personal risks and great material disadvantage.

Tens of millions of habitants are as bound to their isolated abodes as their forefathers were...the overwhelming majority of (seven billion) world population-the myth of mass migration notwithstanding-will die very near the (habitat) they were born". Read More

Source: Organiser.org

Mantralaya to go paperless

Maharashtra's directorate of information and technology (DIT) will implement a paperless system of governance from next month. The state will gradually extend this form of governance to all departments of Mantralaya.

The system involves the use of information and technology solutions aimed at speedy and transparent decision-making process. The DIT has decided to undertake a pilot project by initiating this process in their department.

"It is going to be giant leap for the state." said an official. "Maharashtra aims to remain at the top of the list among all states as far as the use of IT for governance in India is concerned." Read More

Source: Timesofindia.Indiatimes.com

Pranab favours sector-skill councils

If India continues its high growth trajectory, it is all because of the national skill policy the country has formulated to meet the needs of the industry, said Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while inaugurating the 24th All India Builders’ Convention, a flagship event of the Builders Association of India (Southern Region) here on Sunday.

He said that the country needed sector-skill councils which, in turn, would take care of skill creation endeavours with proper tie-ups with various types of industries, based on the guidelines of the National Skill Development Corporation.

In another 10 years, the country might need 3.3 crore skilled workforce to handle different types of jobs and there should be a proper mechanism to meet this challenge, he noted.“It is necessary to bridge the large gaps in infrastructure projects, all for sustaining the high growth of the economy in the years to come,’’ he said and added, “The 12th Plan has the provision to carry out infrastructure projects worth `41 lakh crore.’’The Finance Minister urged the members of the Builders Association of India to take care of the housing deficits in the country and address the menace of urbanisation happening in an unplanned manner, as the next 25 years would see the urban population doubling. Read More

Source: Expressbuzz.com

Funds for Urban Poverty Alleviation Programmes

Planning Commission releases estimates of urban poor from time to time based on the national sample survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). As per the latest such estimates of NSSO (61^st Round) for the year 2004-2005, based on the Uniform Recall Period (URP) method, the estimated number of urban poor is 80.8 million which is 25.7% of the urban population of the country.

With a view to ameliorate the living conditions of the urban poor, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has been implementing an employment oriented Urban Poverty Alleviation Centrally sponsored scheme named Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), on all India basis, since 1.12.1997. The scheme, revised in 2009, strives to provide gainful employment to the urban unemployed and under employed poor, through provision of training for skill development and encouraging the setting up of employment ventures by the urban poor living below the poverty line. It has the following components:

(i) Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP) - targets individual urban poor for setting up of micro-enterprises,

(ii) Urban Women Self-help Programme (UWSP) - targets urban poor women self-help groups for setting up of group-enterprises and providing them assistance through a revolving fund for thrift & credit activities.

(ii) Skill Training for Employment Promotion amongst Urban Poor (STEP UP)- targets urban poor for imparting quality training so as to enhance their employability for self-employment or better salaried employment.

(iv) Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP)- seeks to assist urban poor by utilizing their labour for the construction of socially and economically useful public assets, in towns having population less than 5 lakhs as per 1991 census, and.

(v) Urban Community Development Network (UCDN)     - seeks to assist the urban poor in organizing themselves in self-managed community structures so as to gain collective strength to address the issues of poverty facing them and participate in the effective implementation of urban poverty alleviation programmes.

Central funds released and expenditure reported under Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), during the last three years are given at Annexure. Read More

Source: Pib.nic.in

Ramesh not in favour of blanket ban on use of plastic

Amid a debate on environmentalhazards caused by the use of plastic, Environment MinisterJairam Ramesh today disfavoured a blanket ban on it across thecountry but said it could be area specific.

"I don''t think India can afford to take a position onblanket ban on plastic all over the country. I am not infavour of a blanket ban on plastic all over the country," hetold reporters after a discussion with industrialists on thesubject organised here by FICCI.

However, he said there can be specific areas where theuse of plastic could be discouraged.

Ramesh said his Ministry is in the process ofnotifying the plastic waste management rules.

"We have the objective of minimising the environmentalhazards caused by the large scale disposal of plastic waste. Read More

Source: News.oneindia.in

City wants MCG to focus on infrastructure, not traffic

The Gurgaon Municipal Corporations eagerness in managing the city traffic has not gone down well with many residents. They say instead of doing its job and carrying out basic infrastructure work, the civic body is doing what ideally the traffic department should be doing.

Beginning this year, MCG has deputed 64 marshals in places like Rajiv Chowk, Civil Lines, Old and New Railway Road to manage the traffic and is paying the security firm Rs 9 lakh every month. Apart from the 64 marshals, there are also a few supervisors and observers and they have been provided with two cranes to tow away vehicles obstructing the traffic movement. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

Maha govt planning to make Mumbai intl fin centre: CM

The Maharashtra government is working with the central government to bring about legal and regulatory changes to make Mumbai an international financial centre, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here today.

"Mumbai ranks among the world's 10 leading financial centres. However, it is not an international financial centre in any way comparable to London, New York, Singapore or Dubai. We are working with the central government to bring about extensive legal and regulatory changes that would make this possible," Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said at a CII-organised event here.

Mumbai being a cosmopolitan city of India, is facing the challenge of increasing urbanisation and influx of a large number of people from the hinterland, he said.

"This is a huge challenge not only for the infrastructure (sector) but also for our plans to make Mumbai an international financial centre. The multi-billion dollar "Mumbai Makeover" plan of the state government presents tremendous opportunities for partnerships with private companies from both Indian as well as overseas, over the next few years," he said. Read More

Source: Business-Standard.com

Westernisation overstated, low level of education negates youth edge

Low level of education seems to negate, to a large extent, the youth advantage that is supposed to accrue to Indian economy. It also indicates that the talk that we hear about rapid westernisation of Indian youth is greatly over-stated. Young adults who have not studied beyond the Higher Secondary level are likely to be struggling for mere survival in the Indian economy of today; it is hardly likely for them to strive for and engage in consumerism of any kind

If we are to make use of our youth advantage, we shall have to find avenues for gainfully employing this large number of young people in activities that require little formal education and are available in the villages and small towns where more than 80 per cent of the young people live. Only sectors of economy that offer such possibilities are agriculture, agricultural processing and small-scale manufacturing. Growth in the latter of two of these is obviously dependent upon growth in the primary activity of agriculture. Read More

Source: Organiser.com

No Return to the Gold Standard

The biggest challenges facing the world in 2011 are not the most obvious, says World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick.

Over the past year, emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil have continued to drive economic growth, while the developed world, namely the United States and parts of Europe, have remained mired in debt and unemployment. In the lead-up to the World Economic Forum in Davos, NEWSWEEK's R. M. Schneiderman interviewed World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick about the future of the global economy.

What is the biggest challenge facing the developing world in 2011?
The biggest challenge facing most developing countries is the risk of a big boost in food prices. Food accounts for a large and increasingly volatile share of family budgets for poor and urban families. When prices of staple foods soar, poor countries and poor people bear the brunt. France's President Sarkozy, Chair of the G-8 and G-20 this year, has rightly identified this issue as a priority.
 
How can the globe assure food security in the face of rising prices?
There are two interrelated challenges. First, we need to increase food productivity and production in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and with small-holder farmers. To do so, we need to fix problems all along the "value chain": property rights; R&D for seeds and inputs; irrigation; fertilizer; agricultural extension; credit; rural infrastructure; storage; and connection to markets. The World Bank Group manages a Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, with contributions from six countries as of now and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to help promote investments in small-holder farmers. In 2011, I hope we can get more contributions. Separately, the World Bank Group is boosting investment in agriculture to about $6-8 billion a year through our lending and investment projects. Read More

Source: Newsweek.com

All's not well: Water management lessons to be learnt for free

It dries up my mouth every time I hear about Gurgaons rapidly falling water table. The demand for water in this city of industries and skyscrapers will only continue to grow in the future.

It is only recently that Gurgaon has begun large-scale construction. A larger volume of residential, commercial, industrial, and public service construction is still waiting to happen. One can expect this to continue for the next 25 years at least. As such, demand for water is poised to only increase.

The rapid development of Gurgaon from the erstwhile sleepy village into a modern city is not a new phenomenon. Like most other cities in India, Gurgaon is developing on agriculture land, its 300-feet-high buildings mushrooming from fertile land that once produced rich crops. Rainwater ponds and lakes provided the necessary water for agriculture. But, the major source of water for the crops again was groundwater, drawn from private wells dug in the fields. Large diesel-run pumps or powered motors withdrew water from these wells. Read More 

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

India second in world for natural disasters: UN

India ranks second in the world for natural disasters after China, a top UN official has said underlining that unplanned urbanisation and failure to address the issue of climate change pose a grave threat worldwide.

The two rapidly growing countries in the world, China and India, rank first and second in the number of reported natural disasters. While China witnessed 22 natural disasters, India came second with 16.

About 373 natural disasters killed over 296,800 people last year. The estimated costs of natural disasters in 2010, in which an earthquake in Haiti killed over 222,500 people and the Russian heat wave caused around 56,000 fatalities, is around $ 110 billion. Read More

Source: Ibnlive.in.com

Mangalore second cleanest city in State

Mangalore, with 57.34 per cent marks, is the second cleanest city in the State and the eighth cleanest in the country, according to a city sanitation ranking.

The ranking has been done as part of "Nirmal Shahar Puraskar", a reward scheme for cities achieving sanitation outcomes. However, according to a colour code ranking, the city gets into the "black" (for marks between 34 and 66) category, which means "it needs considerable improvement." The information was a part of a presentation made by Sneha, Senior Research Assistant, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad, and resource person at a "City Sanitation Taskforce Workshop" organised in the city on Monday.

The participants of the workshop were councillors and the organisers were from ASCI, the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, Directorate of Municipal Administration, Government of Karnataka and City Managers' Association, Karnataka.

In Karnataka, Mysore heads the list of top 10 cleanest cities with 70.65 marks out of 100. Read More

Source: Mangalorean.com

Urban housing needs strategy to meet demand: Pranab

The growth of India's economy would accelerate the pace of urbanisation, requiring a proper strategy to meet the demand for housing as well as quality urban services, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said Sunday.

Speaking at the 24th All India Builders Convention, Mukherjee said: "The sustained economic growth will double the population living in urban areas over the next 25 years. The urbanisation growth is in line with the global trend."

Stressing the need for a strategy to meet the demand for housing and services in urban areas, Mukherjee termed the housing shortage in urban centres as an opportunity for the construction sector. He however also said that the issue of meeting the demand is not just a commercial proposition but there is also a social angle to it. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

 

2.4 billion extra people, no more land: how will we feed the world in 2050?

Steve Connor reveals how scientists propose a major policy shift to tackle one of the great challenges of the 21st century

The finite resources of the Earth will be be stretched as never before in the coming 40 years because of the unprecedented challenge of feeding the world in 2050, leading scientists have concluded in a report to be published next week.

Food production will have to increase by between 70 and 100 per cent, while the area of land given over to agriculture will remain static, or even decrease as a result of land degradation and climate change. Meanwhile the global population is expected to rise from 6.8 billion at present to about 9.2 billion by mid-century.

The Government-appointed advisers are expected to warn that "business as usual" in terms of food production is not an option if mass famine is to be avoided, and to refer to the need for a second "green revolution", following the one that helped to feed the extra 3 billion people who have been added to the global population over the past 50 years.

In the hard-hitting report, commissioned by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, the scientists will warn that the era of cheap food is over, and that governments around the world must prepare to follow the leads of China and Brazil by investing heavily in research and the development of new agricultural techniques and practices. Read More

Source: Independent.co.uk

Enlarged Bric bloc to prioritise energy security, says India

Fast-growing India has developed an intensive focus on dealing with its energy security challenge, which has emerged as a constraint on the Asian giant’s industrial competitiveness, India’s Ministry of External Affairs joint secretary and spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told Engineering News Online this week.

In a briefing with South African journalists in New Dehli, Prakash said the country was strongly focused on increasing its energy capacity, as well as other infrastructure, such as roads, ports, airports and telecommunications, the lack of which was limiting the economy’s growth and development aspirations.

With a $1-trillion-plus economy, two-thirds of its population below the age of 30, 400-million of its citizens regarded as ‘middle class’, and accelerating urbanisation, the world’s second-fastest growing major economy has particular challenges on the energy front as strongly rising demand places strain on its physical infrastructure.

As part of the mid-term appraisal of the country’s eleventh five-year plan from 2007 to 2012, it is projected that an additional 62 374 MW of electricity capacity should be added, as opposed to an initial target of 78 700 MW. Read More

Source: Engineeringnews.co.za

Tougher norms to protect wildlife parks

India is finally making efforts to prevent unplanned urbanisation from choking wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has formulated new guidelines to speed up creation of eco sensitive zones, which will act as shock absorbers around sanctuaries and national parks.

The ministry has asked all states to set up a committee -- comprising the wildlife warden, an ecologist and a revenue department official of the area -- to suggest the requirement of an eco sensitive zone and its extent. The panel will also suggest the best methods to manage such zones and broad-based thematic activities to be included in the master plan for the area.

Many protected areas have already undergone tremendous development in close vicinity of their boundaries and some are actually located in an urban set up. It has, thus, been decided that the earlier procedure of keeping a 10-km buffer (from the boundaries of an eco fragile zone) may not always be possible. But in other cases, where sensitive corridors, connectivity and ecologically important patches — crucial for landscape linkages — are even beyond the 10-km width, these should be included in eco sensitive zones.

Defining the extent of eco sensitive zones around protected areas will be flexible and protected area-specific, say the new guidelines. While all states and union territories were asked to forward proposals to set up eco sensitive zones, only some like Haryana, Gujarat, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam and Goa have done so. Read More

Source: TribuneIndia.com

How can we feed the world and still save the planet?

Underinvestment and market failures have trapped many countries in a vicious cycle of low productivity and exposure to price hikes, says Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

 

Food has become subject to one of the sharpest global debates, with rising anxiety about how the world's growing population is going to feed itself. Increasingly, Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, is establishing himself as one of its key protagonists with an unapologetically radical agenda.

In London this week to give evidence to a UK parliamentary working group on food and agriculture, he explained the challenge he is putting to the donors and the international community.

Chronic underinvestment in agriculture over the last 20 years combined with trade liberalisation has trapped many developing countries in a vicious cycle of low agricultural productivity and dependence on cheap food imports, he argues. The one exacerbates the other as local farmers struggle, and fail, to get a decent price for their produce in competition with imports, which have often benefited from government subsidies.

Local farming goes into steep decline leading to migration to the cities. This is a serious market failure.

Faced with large hungry (and often jobless) urban populations, government policy is driven by the need to keep food cheap at all costs or risk political instability, such as the rioting seen recently in countries such as Algeria.

"In the short term, lower import tariffs to let in food ensure urban populations are fed, but in the long term it is a disaster because local farmers can't compete," says de Schutter, adding that cheap food imports make the country extremely vulnerable to price hikes in the global markets – such as those we are now seeing.

"Since the early 1990s, the food bills of developing countries have increased by five- or six-fold," says de Schutter. "This addiction to cheap food leads to balance-of-payments problems and then political instability. It deprives countries of their abilities to feed themselves." Read More

Source: Engineering.co.za

India sees greater private sector role in $1tr infrastructure vision

India will seek to double expenditure on economic and social infrastructure to about $1-trillion between 2012 and 2017, when compared with the $500-billion budgeted under the current five-year plan, running from 2007 to 2012.

Briefing South African journalists in New Dehli this week, India’s Ministry of External Affairs joint secretary and spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said that India was targeting to increase the proportion of infrastructure’s share of gross domestic product to 9,95%.

India’s Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Ahluwalia said that, while 30% of the investment in the current, or eleventh, plan period was projected to come from the private sector, this proportion could rise to 50% during the twelfth five-year-plan period.

He argued that the development of the country’s infrastructure could not be the responsibility of the public sector alone, especially given the scarcity of resources, which would need to be directed to areas such as education and health.

Infrastructure would be developed, therefore, through a combination of public investment and public-private partnerships.

About 300-million people lived in urban areas, of which about 150-million did not have access to services, and indications were that expansion into urban services would be significant. Read More

Source: Engineeringnews.co.za

Maharashtra govt nod to alter development rules for BRTS corridors in Pune

Deputy chief minister and district guardian minister, Ajit Pawar, has approved some major projects in Pimpri-Chinchwad area, including a fire centre at Moshi and changes in development rules for the bus rapid transport system (BRTS) feeder routes and corridors.

Pawar had called a special meeting of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which was attended by municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma, mayor Yogesh Behl, standing committee chairman Prashant Shitole and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) officials in Mumbai on Thursday.

Briefing the media, Behl said Pawar has given a green signal for constructing a fire station on MIDC land in Moshi. “He has directed immediate starting of the work on the project,” the mayor added.

Pawar also approved the changes in the development rules for the BRTS. The state government had approved the development rules for BRTS feeder routes and corridors, but these are complicated.

“The Pune chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India had requested changes in these rules and accordingly, Pawar has given the nod for the changes,” Behl added. Read More

Source: DNAIndia.com

Going public: A lesson from India

Dinesh Trivedi, India’s health and family welfare minister, and avowedly not a doctor, is on a roll. "If you want to be successful in India do not depend on government support. Bypass the system!" he announces from the podium, after likening the intervention he is seeking to a heart bypass. "If you want to save a life you sometimes have to do a bypass."

And if ever there was an ailing patient, the woefully inadequate Indian healthcare system he is alluding to is it.

Trivedi's call for private investment in India's healthcare system was issued to hundreds of high--profile members of the Indian diaspora at the Indian government’s annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas -- the Asian superpower's call for its departed children, and their children’s children in many cases, to give back to the motherland.

But when it comes to healthcare in India abstract discussions on giving back weren't enough. There was the knowledge of decades of underspending in the sector, even as India experienced phenomenal economic growth.

"Remember the Indian statistics are not just 9% gross domestic product growth," said global health expert Professor Prabhat Jha in an interview later. "The government revenue growth has averaged about 20%. They’re flush in cash."

State spending on healthcare
Government spending on the healthcare sector fell below 1% of GDP throughout the Nineties, reaching only 1.2% in recent years, according to research published by Jha. A further 4.8% of GDP is spent on health by individuals in the private sector. And a crippling 80% of that amount is paid by Indians upfront for medical emergencies, instead of contributing monthly to a pre-paid medical scheme.

Middle-class families become impoverished because of unexpected medical bills and poor families become utterly destitute. In addition to the 250-million Indians surviving on less that $1 a day, a further 37-million drop below the poverty line when catastrophic health expenditure is taken into account, according to Jha, research chair of health and development at the University of Toronto. "That’s more than the population of Canada." Read More

Source: Mail&GuardianOnline

Orissa Census in February-March

The second phase of operations of Census of India-2011 will be conducted in Orissa during February-March 2011. For undertaking the task of population enumeration, 80,551 enumerators have been appointed and they are undergoing training at the sub-district level.

The enumerators will canvass the household schedules during February 9-23 and the counting of homeless population will be done in the night of February 28. The reference moment of Census is 00:00 hours of March 1. The enumerators will revisit all the households during March 1-5 to take into account any death, birth or arrival of visitors since their last visit till the reference moment.

For taking up the Census operations, the entire geographical area of the state has been divided into 95259 enumeration blocks with an average population of 800. This includes 2968 slum blocks in 70 urban local bodies of the state. Care has been taken to ensure coverage of 100 per cent of the slum population.

As per the cascade of training programmes, four national trainers from Orissa were trained in Mumbai and they were engaged to train 28 master trainer facilitators at the state level. The master trainer facilitators trained 1897 master trainers at the district and municipal corporation levels. The master trainers trained 80551 enumerators and 13,686 supervisors at the sub-district level. Read More

Source: Business-Standard.com

 

To combat corruption

We need thorough revamp of urban policy and governance with focused attention on addressing the artificial, policy-induced scarcity in housing and real estate. The Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai, where notable worthies in the corridors of power are alleged to have usurped housing meant for war widows, is symptomatic of a glaring policy anomaly. 

The urban housing sector is hugely distorted, characterised as it is by a panoply of rigidities and short-sighted restrictions across the board. The fact of the matter is that rigid master plans, wholly restrictive attendant norms and summary zoning regulations limit the land available for housing in our urban centres, thereby veritably blocking growth and development in our cities. Hence the proclivity, even in seemingly high places, to cut corners and resort to underhand deals so as to corner housing and real estate that seem perennially in short supply. 
 
Such a state of affairs must change, from top to bottom, if we are to douse the raging fire of corrupt practices in urban housing. The way ahead is to substantially improve housing access, with forward-looking policy design and proper follow through.

Policymakers need to substantially increase floor area ratios (FARs) around central business districts in our main urban centres, and link them via high-speed mass transport corridors. It would open up scope for raising resources by, say, charging development fees linked to property rates. In Mumbai, for instance, an FAR increase from 1.3 to 4 in key commercial centres could fetch the government considerable resources for urban infrastructure investment and plough-back. Read More

Source: Economictimes.Indiatimes.com

Land acquisition: Mamata gets dose of her own medicine

Only a few years ago Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had used her intense protests against forcible land acquisition to revive her electoral fortunes in West Bengal. But now the railway minister seems to be getting a taste of her own medicine with political rivals in a tit-for-tat strategy agitating against her on the land acquisition issue and forcing her to scrap or hold back some of her dream projects.

The foundation-laying ceremony for a diesel multiple unit (DMU) coach factory, proposed to be set up at Sankrail in Howrah district, had to be cancelled early in January following intense anti-land acquisition protests.

Banerjee has announced that the factory would be set up elsewhere in the state, though she is yet to settle for an alternative location.

The village farmers, allegedly backed by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), launched the protests demanding increased compensation for their land and written assurances of jobs in the railways.

In a quirk of fate, Banerjee was forced to formally announce cancellation of the project Jan 13 - the day she held a public meeting at Hooghly district's Singur, the cradle of her anti-land acquisition protests in 2006-2008. Read More

Source: Sify.com

Revolutionising healthcare for the poor

An Indian doctor's mission to deliver low-cost hospitals could revolutionise the provision of healthcare in poorer countries

 

Dr Devi Shetty at work. Photograph: Rosalind Miller

This year heart disease overtook communicable diseases as the number one killer in India, mainly affecting breadwinners. More than 2 million Indians need, but cannot afford, heart surgery. That may be about to change.

While surveying the blueprint drawings of a new 300-bed speciality heart hospital in Mysore, Dr Devi Shetty announces that his facility will be completed within four to five months with a total investment of about $4m. Traditionally in India, such a hospital would cost nearer $30m and take around three years to build. Shetty's goal is for his low-cost model to make heart surgery accessible to the millions in need.

Originally trained as a cardiac surgeon in Britain's NHS, Shetty is famed as chairman and founder of the Narayana Hrudayalaya "health city" in Bengalooru, where open-heart surgery costs a fraction of what it does elsewhere in the world. By performing a high volume of operations in his 1,000-bed "heart factory", Shetty passes on the efficiency savings achieved to patients. He is pursuing a one-man mission to drive down the cost of hospital care. "Today, most diseases can be cured and if you cannot cure a patient, you can give them a meaningful life," he says. "But what percentage of people can afford it? If a solution is not affordable, it is not a solution."

In addition to offering low-cost surgery, he treats the most needy patients free of charge by subsidising their care through charging those who can pay a higher rate. He has also set up the Yeshasvini scheme, in which, for five rupees (about $1) per month, farmers in Karnataka state can insure themselves against healthcare expenses. The model is proving to be a vote-winner for politicians, and is being replicated across the country. Read More

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Designing the Future of Housing for India's Poorest

Micro Home Solutions is intent on bringing an interdisciplinary approach to low-income housing in Delhi, India--complete with sociologists, economists, urban planners, architects, and engineers. Challenges abound, including the fact that "there's no Hindi word for architecture."

 

The words "affordable housing" don't properly explain the work of Micro Home Solutions. The company, based in Delhi, India, does occupy that housing space, but its more of an interdisciplinary design services company for low-income urban dwellers, drawing upon the insights of sociologists, urban planners, architects, policy-makers, and engineers to help create a sustainable living ecosystem for some of the world's poorest residents. And they're beginning to catch the world's attention, as they have been semi-finalists and finalists in a number of competitions as of late, including Echoing Green and Ashoka Changemakers.

Founders Rakhi Mehra and Marco Ferrario are a husband and wife team who originally met while working with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and then their journeys took them to some interesting places before winding up back in South Asia. Mehra, a graduate of Oxford in economics, went onto pursue her MBA at Harvard, and Ferrario, originally from Italy, worked on commercial architecture projects throughout Europe and the United States. But as Mehra is a Delhi-native and her husband is practically "half-Indian," as she tells Fast Company, the opportunities to blend their expertise and passions in India were too enticing to pass up.

"India is urbanizing and finally responding, but there's a missing opportunity. We knew that an interdisciplinary solution was needed," says Mehra. "We saw very little institutional, interdisciplinary interaction. And meanwhile we found that the demand for housing in Delhi is diverse and fragmented." Read More

Draft CDPs ready for eight urban areas

After the roll out of the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for Bhubaneswar prepared by IIT-Kharagpur, the draft CDPs of eight more urban areas in the state- Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Talcher-Angul-Meramandali, Kalinganagar, Paradeep, Puri-Konark and Jharsuguda have been prepared.

"The draft CDPs of eight more urban areas have been prepared. There is a need to review the progress of these CDPs given the increasing scale of urbanization in the state. Technical committee and Steering committee meetings need to be convened to expedite the process of approval of these CDPs”, said Saurabh Garg, secretary (housing & urban development).

He said, the urbanization rate was the highest for Tamil Nadu at 53 per cent followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra, the rate being 44 per cent in both the states. In Orissa, the rate of urbanization is 18 per cent and this is expected to reach 24 per cent by 2030.

Garg was speaking at a workshop on 'Urban Development in Orissa: Challenges and Opportunities”, organized by the administrative reforms wing of the general administration department and the department of housing & urban development.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “CDPs are under preparation for eight cities in order to enable planned development of these cities in the future. Similarly, under the scheme called Integrated Housing for Slum Development, construction of over 12000 dwelling units for slum dwellers in 28 cities are under implementation. City sanitation plans are also on the anvil for eight pilot cities with a vision to make them free from open defecation.” Read More

Source: Business-Standard.com

Corporators oppose Kothrud land conversion

Corporators across party lines have opposed the state urban development department's (UDD) move to convert about 50 acres of land in Kothrud, which is marked as 'hill top hill slope zone' in the development plan of the city, to 'public/semi-public zone'.

"The state urban development department has no authority to make any changes in the Development Plan (DP) of the city without consultation with the general body of the PMC. The state government has earlier given an undertaking in the Bombay High Court in response to my earlier petition that it will not make any changes in the DP on its own," said independent corporator Ujwal Keskar on Thursday.

The state urban development department plans to use Kothrud land for construction of a vehicle testing track and laboratories for the Automotive Research Association of India. The department has invited suggestions and objections from citizens. The land at survey number 102 (part) Kothrud, owned by the forest department, was given to the ARAI a few years ago. "After consulting the director of town planning and after making necessary enquiries, the government is of the opinion that for granting permission to ARAI for laboratory building and vehicle testing track, it is necessary to delete the said land, animatedly 20 hectares (50 acres), from hill top hill slope zone and include it in public, semi-public zone to allow existing built up area of 24,265 sq.m. and proposed built up area of 35,435 sq.m.," the state UDD said last week. Read More

Source: TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

East to West: the Future of Water?

This year's "bible" for the global water industry - the 12th Water Yearbook - has highlighted a market shift away from the West, with services and technologies now being exported from China and Singapore. Lis Steadman looks at the findings and what the development of the BRIC cluster (Brazil, Russian, India and China) means for the European water giants.

There is now a continued shift in focus from West to East in the global water market. New players and countries are emerging on the scene and there has been a boom in the exportation of services and technologies from China and Singapore. As a result of the Westward shift, the five dominant forces of the water sector have subsided. These are a few of the headline findings from infrastructure

law firm Pinsent Masons' 12th Annual Water Yearbook, which set out to identify a number of key global trends in its scan of the sector. So what else was found?

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

On a macro scale, the book points to some unchanged trends such as industrialisation in the world's developing economies, which fuels urbanisation, particularly in Asia and Latin America. At the humanitarian level, while hailing the UN's resolution on water as a human right as a great step forward, the book also points out that the MDGs have a long way to go - a regrettable fact being identified by a growing number of experts in the water and sanitation field.

The UN itself believes that while the water element of the MDG will be met or even exceeded, the sanitation target is very likely to be missed. The book warns on both that "the economic crisis may create setbacks and progress is uneven across the goals, and the main cause of such unevenness appears to be the highly variable quality of governance".

Pinsent Masons' partner Mark Lane, who heads the company's water group, identifies a pressing need to re-launch the World Water Vision's target of universal access to water and sanitation by 2025 as it is clear that the water and sanitation targets for the 2015 MDGs will only be partially met.

"Much work needs to be done to convince people that investing in these assets and services makes good economic sense, especially in a recession," he says. Discussing the yearbook findings, he adds: "We started 13 years ago, and back 12 years ago when we published the first yearbook we did the whole world in 500 pages."

Since then, the market has become much more fragmented and many more local players have become involved, so the company decided that looking at the whole world in one issue was unmanageable, he explains. The book has therefore been split into two on the basis of looking one year at the EMEA countries (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and the next focusing the analysis on North and South America, and the Asia-Pacific region (the current issue).

"Because of the way the yearbook is configured, part one, The World of Water, is global and the company analysis of major players is global, so we get a global flow," Lane observes.

In terms of key messages he picks out "a development of more optimism than hitherto, clearly private participation in the water sector is alive and well and new players continue to emerge".

Private Sector Progress

Looking at the private sector participation (PSP) market, the rise in the number of people served by private players – 12% of the world's population, some 862 million people – is an increase of 60 million on last year. However this is not accompanied by an increasing rise in share by the 'big five' companies – Veolia, Suez, Agbar, RWE and Saur, whose dominance is now described as a "distant memory". These companies now hold 32% of the market compared to 71% in 2001.

In a trend identified last year, the Yearbook has pinpointed a narrowing gap between the 927 "top tier" companies, which cover 695.7 million people and the growing force of "second tier" companies, often local players, that now cover 54.5 million people. Read More

Source: Waterworld.com