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The India I discovered after traveling across it to spread knowledge on gravitational waves

astrokpj
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The India I discovered after traveling across it to spread knowledge on gravitational waves

India and its dreams can be fulfilled only by strengthening university research. This is where we need grand reforms.

Lecture

 

“Three of the five sockets in my office are not working. Do you really think we can build world’s most sensitive detector?” – Director of a Research Institute

Why I chose to lecture on this topic?

Exactly a year ago, on September 14, 2015, one of the grandest scientific instruments ever built, LIGO, whose team I am a part of, detected a signal that came from collision of black holes some 150 crore years ago. It took us about six months to be sure that this signal was exactly a phenomenon Albert Einstein had predicted 100 years – gravitational waves or in more trippy words, ‘ripples in the four dimensional spacetime fabric’ on which resides stars, galaxies and everything we call “our universe”. This is hailed as the discovery of the century, and a new chapter has since opened in mankind’s quest to understand the universe and its origins.

When we announced this discovery in February 2016, the first world leader to congratulate us was our Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. In a series of tweets, he also announced what scientists in my field were eagerly waiting for – the LIGO-India project. Picture with PM ModiA 16 sq. km. gravitational wave detector, and only third such in the world, this project was stuck in bureaucracy for years, and within days after Prime Minister’s tweets, the project got Union Cabinet approval. In what can be regarded by future historians as the largest science outreach by any government since moon-landing, the Prime Minister in his Mann Ki Baat discussed at length about the discovery of gravitational waves and India’s plans to invest in this new scientific field.

For a young scientist, this was a fairy tale moment! One of the most abstract scientific theories – Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, one of the most complicated instrument on earth – LIGO, and this was capturing interest of the top office of my country! When Prime Minister visited Washington DC in March 2016, India and the United States signed an MoU, and the LIGO-India project is now ranked as the highest S&T priority between the two nations. During the signing of MoU, the Prime Minister interacted with four of us LIGO scientist who were part of this discovery, and it was his suggestion that young scientists like us should visit more often the universities in India and inspire students to be part of such mega-science investment of our country.

A Bharat Bhraman For Gravitational Waves

My original plan was to hold a two-week long summer school at a national university, so we can invite about few hundred interested bachelors-masters students from across the country and the experts can give them mini-projects with them on astrophysics and experiment related to gravitational wave. Karan JaniBut sitting here in the US, I simply could not find funds or convince any Indian university to take a lead on this. So I decided to visit as many national universities, colleges, research institutes and high schools I possibly can in ~four weeks in India.

In this way, not only I reached out to almost 5000 students, and hopefully got them curious about gravitational waves, but also got to closely observe the scientific research environment and curriculum at all levels of universities (private, state, national), and every major research institute of the country. And being at this very grassroots level, discussing with students from canteens to pubs, with professors to deans to vice-chancellors to industry honchos, I am so convinced that the innovative solutions that India demands from her 65% youth populations, so that we can resolve our incredibly complex issues and make the world say Jai Hind, can happen only and only by strengthening research in colleges and universities (and not just national labs and institutes).

Think Beyond IITs & ISROs 

When I mean colleges and universities, I mean the one next door in your hometown. IITs, IIMs, IISERs are doing great. But that is not representative of entire India. This year, like every other year, ~88% of total JEE qualifiers were male, and with coaching fees for entrance exams soaring lakhs of rupees, it should not surprise your ‘elite’ institutes are really catering to only urban-centric folks. So we can’t be expecting them to solve water crisis in the villages. While in the universities – be it local, state or national –  enrolls your 65% population of India under age of 35. One of the senior professors at Delhi University mentioned to me, “In early 90s, the M.Sc students would be the English speaking youth from Stephen’s, Xavier’s or kids of bureaucrats. Today 75% of the entering class is from small towns and humble roots.” This to me seemed the proudest outcome of our democratic economic development. Now provide them with research opportunities, give them the chance to innovate during their Bachelors/Masters, and they will come up with solutions to problems that affected their day to day life, and of countless Indians (one day, this may help limit the ever increasing flux of funds spent on social welfare schemes).

On the other hand, the research institutes and national labs in India are profoundly disconnected with higher education. At one of country’s most elite research institute, I inquired why they don’t collaborate with the local state university. The answer was quite typical, “Haan toh humney kab naa bola?”. Yea sure, but you have an army at your main gate! Barely anyone in that city knew what research goes inside this facility. It infact took me 15 minutes to convince the guards that I was invited here to speak and not ‘just a curious citizen’. And such security beefing was purely bureaucratic than for national security! This to my surprise was rather common for every research institute. The public cannot easily enter the facility. We spent thousand of crores making Express Highways and metro trains, but not a single R&D outcome is gained from it if our national labs don’t open its doors to the interested youth.

While national research labs and institutes are supposed to work on priorities set by the government departments, the universities have the flexibility to foster more creative approach. And it’s not that our universities don’t do research. But, (a) it is not a norm beyond central universities, (b) university research resources are focused only for PhD students (c) heavy lack of facilities compared to research institutes (d) don’t have many collaborators (e) professors have insane teaching load (f) unnecessarily heavy coursework for graduate students! This is a preliminary list of issues, each of which has a history and justifications behind it. Though if you keep going on with status quo or incremental policy changes, our universities are going to become irrelevant in few decades. The massive online course moment has the world’s leading experts teaching semester long courses on every possible topic out there. With internet streaming now at its peak, and admission cut-offs reaching quantum limits, we will end up catering our youth resources to private online courses. The only way to keep universities relevant is by strengthening its research and innovation facilities.

Need for Grand Reforms In Research & Outreach

One of the questions I asked to every emeritus professor and higher ups in science bureaucracy that I had opportunity to interact, “Why couldn’t we predict importance of such megascience years ago, and in fact decades back when the a prototype of this detector was proposed?” This question is particularly important for young researchers like us who have to plan the career and also build human resources from this very instance to prepare for the next big scientific breakthrough. And if we don’t have a system in place, like the US has National Science Foundation, which funded LIGO research since 1980s, we will end up producing one more generation of frustrated Indian scientists whose very hard work is not seeing light for absolutely petty reasons. For the long term visionmap of making India the next science leader, we need to think beyond relying on wisdom of few eminent academic personalities and elite institutes. Only then research groups in universities will be able to take lead in initiating exciting new science in India.

Kids

During the interactions with the science bureaucracies, I learnt about so many other megascience projects of the scale comparable or beyond LIGO-India that our taxpayers funds are being invested in. But only if the students in the 10th grade social science class were aware of the experiments our scientists are conducting from the Indian Ocean to Ladakh that will help understand origin of earth, so many of these students will go on to enroll in undergraduate geology programs in colleges across the country!

After the Independence Day parade in my school in Vadodara, I asked the NCC cadets how many of them will like to one day join DRDO. To my jaw dropping surprise *they didn’t know what DRDO was!* And on a diametrically opposite instance, a farmer from a village with a population of just 450, travelled with his son for 3 hours one way to attend my public lecture. His son, Rahul, currently in 12th grade, mentioned that he first heard about LIGO-India project on All India Radio from the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat, and plans to join B.Sc Physics program. Our discovery was on the front page of New York Times to most national dailies, every major news channel reported it, every big university and city had public lectures on it, but none of that could have reached this Rahul. What reached to him was the very sincere attempt to convey a highly complex science, in a language that was familiar to the citizens, and by a leader whose stature vouched for the authenticity of this information. This should be a motivation in every single government department that invests in R&D to form a framework where students and their parents become aware of national opportunities beyond enrollment in typical engineering/medical colleges.

And some other important learning …

Out of the 20 academic institutions that I visited, not even dozen students from the ones I interacted were on Twitter! So probably a lot of us should reanalyze the amount of time being spent on trends and twitter wars, and may be just go out and concretely solve a real life issue. Also, for love of god, there is no intolerance anywhere in the Indian academia! If asked, I was always vocal about my positions on pseudoscience to ancient science, and everywhere the students and public at-large enjoyed the ‘orders of magnitude calculations’ to disapprove astrology. Everyone in my country can appreciate scientific temperament, you just have to present examples they can connect with.

While I was driving from Shantiniketan to Kolkata, there was suddenly a burst of rainfall. In the middle of the fields next to the highway, there was a woman worker who was holding a small plastic to protect herself from the rain. The rain must have went on for an hour. What must be going on in her mind at that instance, holding a plastic and seeing a puddle being formed around her? We cannot stand even few minutes of idleness without checking phone. She must be looking at the cars passing by too, dreaming that one day her children be traveling in that. There are billion dreams, of billion Indians, some want to detect black holes from India, while some simply desire basic human necessities. And there is one man whose every breath goes in making those billion dreams a reality. We live in truly blessed times.

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Karan Jani is a co-recipient of the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, a Senator Nunn Fellow on National Security and the Student Vice-President at the Georgia Institute of Technology. You can contact him on twitter @AstroKPJ.

 

After OpIndia report, NDTV withdraws Sagarmala petition. Read why.

OpIndia Staff
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On the 7th of September, our columnist Ashutosh Muglikar had revealed a dark secret of NDTV. An organisation which was claiming to be a media house, and slowly slithered into the dangerous territory of becoming an NGO which is blocking India’s developmental leap. The matter was largely unrpeorted by media for a long time, and we highlighted this.

NDTV, a media company, filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) making a “Direct Attack” on the Modi Government’s Sagar Mala plans. An Analysis of the proceedings together with news items threw some interesting details. NDTV in its petition has prayed for:

  • “stopping of work” on all new ports as an interim measure,
  • “civil and criminal action” be taken against authorities, governments and private companies
  • formulation of a “national coastal policy”
  • creation of a restoration fund
  • cumulative environmental, economic and social impact assessment

We asked some pertinent questions on this matter:

  1. How does a media company become an expert on environmental issues?
  2. On what basis did NDTV conclude that Governments deserve civil and criminal action for their “neglect, over-sight, and complicit actions”?
  3. Did NDTV submit any “reports” from “experts” to back their claims?
  4. Has NDTV challenged the Environmental impact assessment” as done by ministries?
  5. Is NGT empowered to direct formulation of “coastal policies”?
  6. Is NDTV’s demand for a blanket scrapping of the Sagarmala projects justified? Or does it reek of some obstructionist tactic?
  7. How is NDTV “empowered” under its Memorandum and Articles of Association” to take up “environmental issues”? A quick analysis of the Memorandum of Association of NDTV shows they have a vague power under Clause 3 (B) (32) to investigate value of any “asset” but it is still not clear if they can file a case or not.
  8. Are all the shareholders of the company aware of these antics of NDTV, which is clearly drifting away from its stated goals of being a media house?
  9. Any spend on legal and other fees on an activity which NDTV is basically not supposed to indulge in, is justified?
    Does NDTV itself being embroiled in numerous tax scandals, have the moral right to be pontificating on other issues?

The only tenuous link of a media company like NDTV to this NGO-esque action could have been their 2011 “Save The Coast” campaign which “highlighted” how developmental activities are hazardous to India’s coastline. But most of the above questions were extremely valid.

Now, on 16th September 2016, within 2 weeks of our scathing report, NDTV took a U-Turn.  According to the order passed by the NGT, NDTV had filed an application to withdraw the petition.

ngt-ndtv

What made NDTV change this stance suddenly? The stated reason is:

Applicant wishes to withdraw this Application with liberty to file a fresh Application after averring proper facts, grounds and relief that would squarely fall within the ambit and scope to Section 14 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010

NDTV claims that they now wish to withdraw the application, keeping a window open to file a fresh petition after verifying the facts and ensuring that the matter would fall within the ambit of NGT. So even if we go by this stated reason, does it mean NDTV had not in fact studied the facts before filing this application? Which means it was a premature move? Is this how they practice their journalism too? Writing reports and opinions before studying facts?This was one of the points we had raised in our original article revealing this petition.

The Sagarmala project was at a stage of infancy when NDTV went for the petition. Worse, they demanded a blanket scrapping of all the sub-projects on a flimsy ground. The Government had not even put out detailed plans. How and why had NDTV felt the urgent need to stall this project at such an early stage? This much they have admitted themselves that they had not done a thorough study. So what was the motive?

These are the stated reasons. The unstated reasons could well be legal and market driven. As mentioned in our questions, it was unclear whether NDTV’s Memorandum and Articles of Association empowered it to get into NGO mode. A violation of a company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association is a serious issue.

Secondly, as we had asked earlier, were the shareholders of NDTV, a public company, taken into confidence before NDTV departed from its publicly known business? Did any major shareholders apply pressure of NDTV to stop this anti-development petition once our report exposed NDTV?

Thirdly, the Sagarmala project will benefit practically every industry in India, and in turn Indians. Large corporates are also major sponsors of NDTV’s advertisements and various events. Did such corporates turn the screw on the loss-ridden NDTV and force their hand?

Whatever may be the reason, we must continue to remain vigilant. NDTV has kept the door open to come back and threaten Sagarmala again. Whether it is a face-saving escape route or a statement of intent is yet to be seen. But givens NDTV’s track record of being anti-India on many occasions, one cannot sleep in peace.

Delhi will not forgive Arvind Kejriwal and AAP for this

Gaurav
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Delhi will not forgive Arvind Kejriwal and AAP for this

Second time CM of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has been facing a torrid few weeks. Multiple issues have hit him and his party even as they are working to expand their footprint beyond Delhi. AAP, has been under attack from opposition parties, a section of the media, and even their own MLAs and disgruntled workers, who have been shown the door.

It is not as if AAP was immune from criticism before the past few weeks. There has been intense scrutiny of the various aspects of the party, the Government and its leaders. To begin, Kejriwal has always been attacked for his numerous U-Turns: Will never contest elections, will never take support of Congress, will never take “sarkari” accommodation, will not take security, will not take extravagant salaries etc etc.

Then came the criticism around his Governance. The Delhi Government’s Rs 526 crore budget for advertisements was scrutinised. The numerous full page ads all over India which could very well be in violation of guidelines set by Supreme Court were questioned. AAP’s tacit alliance with the Nitish-Lalu combine in Bihar also raised many eyebrows. Also his politicking and extracting of political mileage out of incidents such as Vemula’s death or the JNU episode.

There were some ministers sacked on allegations of corruption and forgery. Some like Gopal Rai were shunted from the Transport Ministry which is being investigated for corruption. The issue of the legality of the 21 parliamentary secretaries was recently decided by the courts, which came as a blow to AAP. Their disqualification is still a matter of debate and is pending with the Election Commission.

More recently AAP was in the dock for internal issues. AAP’s Punjab unit was in disarray as their convener was sacked for accepting cash in a sting video. AAP’s Women and Child Minister in Delhi was caught in a sex racket, which was aggravated by absurd defences. This opened a Pandora’s box as allegations after allegations surfaced of alleged misbehaviour of AAP leaders with women.

While all of the above are serious issues, an average voter may just ignore them. All said and done, these issues are found either in totality or in parts, in most Indian political parties. And most importantly, they have no bearing on the day-to-day life of an aam aadmi. His life is not affected by Kejriwal’s ad spree or a sex CD of a minister. But now, Kejriwal Government has got embroiled in an issue which has severely degraded the life of the common man.

Delhi is crumbling. Delhi’s roads are in pathetic condition, and are prone to floods. Sewage water overflowing in the capital city of the country is never a good sign. Just half an hour of rain brings Delhi to a complete halt. This problem does not only affect those using vehicles on the road. Such mismanaged dirty water is an ideal breeding ground for all sorts of pests. Perhaps this explains the sudden spurt in vector borne diseases in Delhi. These diseases like malaria, chikungunya and dengue, affect not only the upper middle class, but even hit the poorest of the poor in Delhi.

There has been a spike in the cases of Chikungunya in Delhi. Media reports suggest this is  the biggest outbreak of the mosquito-borne viral disease in the city. Delhi authorities reported 1,057 cases of chikungunya and 1,158 cases of the mosquito-borne Dengue this year with hospitals overflowing with patients complaining of fever and joint pains. At least 5 people have succumbed to these, and the number can increase.

Sure all of this isn’t AAP’s fault. There are multiple agencies at play. The Delhi Jal Board, which is under the AAP Government, is the authority responsible for planning, designing, and execution of water supply and wastewater management facilities. The Health Department, again with the AAP Government, is responsible for controlling of the spread of diseases and medical facilities. The local municipalities which are under other parties like the BJP must also take a share of the blame for not getting their act together. Oddly enough, Kejriwal has not been kind to his officers as well, giving terse warnings such as “‘Like it or not, we are here for 15 years”. Any CM would realise the fallacy of threatening the very bureaucrats who will actually execute all your work. To top it all, Delhi has an acrimonious relationship with the LG of Delhi, who for legal purposes, is the final authority in Delhi. And thus the blame-game has started.

This blame-game may interest some party-loyalists. BJP backers will blame the state government, AAP supporters will blame the MCD and the LG. But what will the common man say? What will the average Delhiite who is currently feeling abandoned say? Does he give a damn about all this?

He will naturally compare his situation today, to his condition a few years back, when AAP was non-existent. Kejriwal cannot claim to be in a unique position where the LG and the MCD are not of his choice. Chief Ministers of Delhi have always faced this quandary. Sheila Dikshit worked with opposition party appointees and delivered the goods. That too when her Government had nowhere near an absolutely thumping majority of 67 MLAs.

This brings us to the main distinguishing feature between Kejriwal’s Government and others: the AAP Government seems to be in a perennial state of war. The LG has been abused and ridiculed far too often. Ministers as well as the CM have written highly disrespectful letters to him. The MCD too has not been handled well. If only Kejriwal had read the constitution, he would have realised he had no choice but to work along with the LG, and not by constantly being at odds with him. Further, local municipalities are an essential authority for any state government across India, which must be taken into confidence, to ensure that the Government’s schemes reach the common man.

All this needs some back-pedalling, some compromises, some humility, some understanding. 67 MLAs do not give the right to Kejriwal or his Government to be brash, arrogant and confrontational. And with the latest health hazards in Delhi due to the spread of diseases, this attitude of the Kejriwal Government has been exposed.

When questions are asked of Kejriwal or his ministers, the answers have ranged from evasive to abusive. The CM is portraying himself as helpless, ministers are blaming the LG or the MCD, the Health minister is claiming deaths from chikungunya are a figment of imagination even while blaming the media for over-hyping the situation.

All this is leading to a very tragic yet hilarious situation. The health minister has been caught in an Odd-Even situation, saying “all is well” as well as “LG has messed up everything”. Any one statement can hold true:

Odd-Even
Odd-Even

Tweets of Manish Sisodia indicate that the Delhi Government was happy to claim credit for all the work done last year, but this year, they are looking for a scapegoat during Bakri-Eid festivities:

Sisodia's credit
Sisodia’s credit

Again all this is politicking, and if you tell this to that Delhiite infected by chikungunya, sleeping in the over-filled ward of a Delhi Government hospital, he would probably lose his cool. As a common man, he isn’t interested in the saas-bhau-esque squabbles of AAP with the LG. He doesn’t care who is responsible for what. He knows only one thing: One and half year ago he elected the strongest Government across India. This was formed by a party which claimed to be different. He gave the keys of Delhi to this party. He expected them to get things done.

He doesn’t care how they do it. They may have to compromise, beg, plead or even sleep with the enemies for it. But at the end of the day, he wants Delhi changed for the better. Sadly, that is not happening. While all authorities will be blamed, he will have no choice but to lay the lion’s share of the blame squarely at the feet of the state government, for failing to work with all the agencies, despite all the power. He doesn’t care if Kejriwal roams in business class or economy, he just doesn’t want to be bitten by a disease-spreading mosquito.

The latest victory of Left in JNU polls also reveals their biggest weakness

Abhishek Banerjee
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The latest victory of Left in JNU polls also reveals their biggest weakness

As yet another election in the Republic of JNU concludes with a huge victory for the Communists, the ‘right’ can continue with the air of arrogance (myself included) and downplay these developments as “light entertainment”. We can roll our eyes and choose to laugh at the doomed soldiers of the last red battalion holding fort on an ever shrinking island in a rapidly modernising society. After all, JNU is the punchline to so many jokes. The political landscape is somber enough. Do we really want another source of humor to go away?

Or we can be humble and choose to learn. The JNU student union may not be a huge focal point in the right-wing/BJP scheme of things, but it is the nerve center of the Indian left. With the BJP’s ever expanding footprint finally coming into direct conflict with red pockets in Bengal, Kerala and even Tripura, understanding what goes on at JNU can help size up the enemy.

Let me point this out very clearly: JNU takes in students from all across the country. The electorate in a university students body changes heavily every single year. In a scenario like this, the chances of having “permanent vote banks” and “legacy voters” are extremely slim. Now considering the fact that the extreme leftists make up a vanishingly small percentage of the overall Indian population, the chances of JNU students every year coming from this microscopic percentage are very slim.

But the extreme left has been winning in JNU for decades. This seems highly implausible without outright intimidation of incoming students by faculty or worse, some kind of funny business happening in the admissions process. This deserves a full investigation. That’s what makes the ABVP folks at JNU into heroes. The least we can do for them is learn from their experiences. Can you imagine what it must be like to put your entire career on the line and go into open revolt against the faculty at your university?

However, for me, the most interesting aspect of the JNUSU polls this year was the rise of a new student union called BAPSA (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association). It’s an extreme left wing group,  but it differs crucially from the “mainstream extreme left” in that it is led by Tribals and Dalits. The BAPSA made a scintillating debut, which had earlier pushed AISA and SFI to put up a joint fight to defeat the new entrant. No surprise that the extreme left winger who won the president post is one Mohit Pande, yet another ‘communist’ Brahmin who continues the tradition of upper caste males showing Dalits and Tribals the way of the light. For the record, no Dalit has become a member of the Communist Politburo in 50+ years. No Dalit is allowed to enter the temple of ‘progressive’ values.

But BAPSA exposed (again) a fatal weakness of the Communists and their cheerleaders in media and academia. The Dalits and Tribals that the Communists are fighting for are simply absent within their so called movement. They are absent, but not conspicuously absent. It is the job of the right wing to make that absence conspicuous. It is the job of the right wing to point out to the Dalits and Tribals that the Communists will accept them only as cannon fodder but never as Generals. The onus is on the right to offer a vibrant political platform and change the game of “Dalit politics” in the country.

Babasaheb Ambedkar was not a Communist, not even remotely so. He was neither a war criminal like Che Guevara nor a mass murderer like Stalin or Mao. Babasaheb was a brilliant economist and thinker. The onus is on the right to give Ambedkar the stature he truly deserves.

I cannot end this article without a comment on the intellectual bankruptcy of the left and Indian pseudo-secularism in general. Is there anyone who recognizes this person (image below)?

Kavita Krishnan during her JNU days

That’s Kavita Krishnan. The year is 1997. The documentary is “ek minute ka maun” (one minute of silence) in memory of a former JNUSU President called Chandrasekhar Prasad (Chandu). You can see the documentary here. I have never been to JNU, but being a political junkie, I have heard about “Chandu”. And what is Kavita Krishnan doing here in this video? Well, she has come to Bihar Niwas in Delhi along with a large group of students to protest against the murder of Chandu in Siwan in Bihar. Who is the man accused of the murder? It’s none other than Lalu’s infamous gangster MP Shahabuddin, who is now out on bail.

Their own “Chandu” belonged to AISF (the same union to which Kanhaiya belongs) and later to AISA (Kavita Krishnan’s group). And what were these shameless Communists doing when the same Shahabuddin was all set to walk out of jail inspecting a guard of honor by 400 SUVs? Well, the Communists were doing this:

Kanhaiya touches Lalu's feet
Poster-boy of JNU left Kanhaiya Kumar touching feet of Lalu Yadav, boss of Shahabuddin.

There you have it folks. In two photographs you can see the intellectual bankruptcy of the Indian left. And don’t blame the Communists alone. There’s Lalu Yadav, the child of Emergency, who is allied with Congress. Every single one of the Janata factions (with exception of BJP, of course) is currently allied with Congress. Born of opposition to Indira, united in support to Sonia.

One of the first acts of Nitish Kumar after being sworn in last year was to expunge from the Bihar government website the references to ill-treatment of Jai Prakash Narayan by Indira Gandhi. The Congress ordered it, Nitish carried it out. No eminent historian protested. A grand total of ZERO awards were returned in protest. The same Nitish Kumar, whose mentor George Fernandes had removed Sonia Gandhi’s photograph at the Constitution club. He would not stand to see the “lootera Nehru-Gandhi dynasty” (his words, not mine) celebrated.

This is where the left and the allied forces are exposed – they have not only compromised on their own self-respect, but they have failed to provide self-respect to the Dalits and Tribals. And that’s where the opportunity for the right lies.

Karnataka rivers issue – No winners here

Ullas
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Karnataka rivers issue – No winners here

While the national media continues to be in love with games played by Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi’s “khat”s, Karnataka is in a mess – political and agrarian. Few months ago, the states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra were embroiled in the demand for their shares of the Mahadayi river water. Now, the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, who have been at the loggerheads for ages, have resumed their demand for their share of the Cauvery water.

Let us get some context here. Cauvery serves southern Karnataka region, while Mahadayi serves north Karnataka. Struggles by farmers in both the areas are for the use of river water in specific periods of the year – during the traditional farming months. Having said that, these have remained issues in a normal monsoon year. However, this year passions have been ignited due to the shortage of rains and increased farmer suicides leading to agrarian distress.

While one can blame many governments – states and central – of the past, it is a fact that these issues need to be solved to soothe the uneasiness of people in the region. However, this is where the political class has failed miserably.

That Siddaramaiah government has been incompetent is well known. However, in these issues, they have been guilty of misleading the people. Before the Mahadayi issue boiled over, the Siddaramaiah government ministers gave statements early this year, that things are under control and enough water will be provided for the crops. In case of the Cauvery issue, Siddaramaiah government assured people that no water will be released this year due to the drought situation. However, the government did a spectacular U-turn in the Supreme Court, by volunteering to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. This, obviously, did not go well with the people in the farming community. This has led to 2 days of statewide bandhs and umpteen raasta rokos, train rokos and such means of protest.

One would expect the key opposition parties in Karnataka – BJP and JDS – to use this situation to win over the affected people or at least act as a strong opposition to the government. However, both these parties have been reduced to reacting to situations than proactively engaging with farmers. Needless to say all parties are facing the wrath of the people here.

The joker in the pack is Prime Minister Modi. CM Siddaramaiah has repeatedly deflected his responsibilities by blaming the situation on the historic mess (and he is partly right here) and also by writing letters to PM Modi to intervene in resolving these issues. On the river water front atleast, PM Modi is not winning many friends here. He (and/or his ministers) has not given any message or spoken on this topic whatsoever. The local media is left with no option than keep running Siddaramaiah’s letters on the loop. The message is slowly creeping in that Modi is not acting in a fair manner – that he isn’t asking his fellow party CMs in Goa and Maharasthra – to talk about Mahadayi water and neither does he show any courage in countering Amma of Tamil Nadu.

The local BJP leaders – BS Yedyurappa, Pralhad Joshi, CT Ravi and many others – are actively engaged in showcasing projects by the central government. But they are powerless in this entire Mahadayi and Cauvery situation. Other than staging customery protests and supporting farmers, there is nothing they can do. This does not auger well for the next Karnataka elections – where Congress is expected to be routed. JDS isn’t showing any signs of expanding beyond the southern Karnataka region. May be this has convinced BJP that people will vote for them for the lack of credible alternatives. Karnataka may well do that – but then BJP will have no option but to resolve the Mahadayi water dispute at least.

I would rather have preferred Modi take the lead now and then let the Karnataka CM work on bread and butter issues. Repeated calls for bandhs does not auger well for the commerce of the state. Needless to say, the daily labourers are the worst affected in such situations. When efforts are being done to revive the economy, helplessness cannot linger around in one of the economically largest states in the country. If state leaders and Modi, in particular, do not act fast this may turn contagious.

After praying for relief from defamation, Kejriwal threatens defamation against netizen

OpIndia Staff
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After praying for relief from defamation, Kejriwal threatens defamation against netizen

Arvind Kejriwal has the bad habit of making unsubstantiated claims. He has often spoken nonsense about several politicians and business people, and hence finds himself in the dock for defamation cases often. When Arun Jaitley had taken him to court, he had performed a U-Turn. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari too had taken Kejriwal to court for defamation.

In all of this, probably seeking immunity from all these court proceedings and thus the liecense to spout whatever he wants, Kejriwal had petitioned the Supreme Court of India to scrap defamation laws claiming that they are not needed as the Constitution imposes reasonable restriction on freedom of speech and expression.

Now in a fresh U-Turn, after being vehemently opposed to Criminal Defamation cases against himself, Kejriwal, via AAP IT cell chief Ankit Lal, has threatened to sue an ordinary twitter user with criminal defamation charges. He has further said in the legal notice that he will extract monetary and legal damages as well, if the social media user fails to comply with the notice.

It all started with some innocuous tweets by an “aam aadmi”, asking “Is it true” style questions, which have become a trademark of Arvind Kejriwal:


Most notably, Arvind Kejriwal had used this modus operandi, during the JNU debate, to spread a blatantly fake video, trying to pin the blame on ABVP. We had exposed him and his cabinet back then as well. Now, Kejriwal, who was against defamation proceedings, is using the trigger to shoot common people.

In the notice, Kejriwal’s credentials are mentioned as “holding very high repute”, across the world. It further demands an unconditional apology from the user, failing which he will be sued. The social media user in turn has replied to the notice, and it is quite hilarious. He first conducted the following Twitter poll:


And then replied with this:

The reply

It remains to be seen how Kejriwal’s legal team will respond, since now Kejriwal is the person suing, rather than the person being sued. Also, it must be seen whether Freedom of Speech activists will stand up and support the user, or will he be given the cold shoulder? It is possible that the user was being jocular even in his original tweet as it appears from his witty reply to the notice. But whatever be the intention, it has betrayed hypocritical behavior of AAP supremo, who argues against criminal defamation inside court and supports it outside

NDTV stops Sagarmala project – from making losses for shareholders to making losses for India

Ashutosh Muglikar
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Ministry of Home Affairs under Modi Government has issued Notices to 10,300+ NGOs. We have seen earlier how these NGOs obtain foreign funding and are actively involved in scuttling developmental projects at the behest of their foreign masters. Till date all opposition to any infrastructure or other projects was from NGOs. The media’s role was limited to reporting these cases. Apparently now Modi Govt has to fight even non-NGOs if they are to execute ambitious projects. Here is the story how an alleged media company “NDTV” is acting like an NGO.

History of Sagarmala Project:

We know that India enjoys enviable coastline of 7500 kms which touches upon 13 states and union territories and some islands. With India’s strategic location in the Asian Continent, there indeed is no doubt that a string of “pearls” or “sagarmala” would help India play a pivotal role in international trade. Every developed Country has ports which can handle huge capacities. Somehow India lags behind in port facilities in comparison to China or other nations.

Keeping this in mind Modi Government undertook the ambitious Sagarmala Project to deliver impact through over 150 projects which shall lead to an estimated annual logistics cost saving of 35,000 Crores! These projects are estimated to boost India’s merchandise exports to $110 Billion by 2025. It is further estimated that 1 crore new jobs out of which 40 lakhs will be direct employment shall be created from these projects.

The Cabinet approval for the project was given in March 2015. The Shipping Ministry is the nodal ministry which is implementing this ambitious project. Shipping Ministry also released the project reports which can be accessed here and a notice inviting comments from the stakeholders was also released with last date of submissions as 31st August 2016. The Ministry also formed a “Special Purpose Vehicle”  under the name and style of Sagarmala Development Company Limited which was incorporated on 31st August 2016.

NDTV Approaches NGT

Curiously, NDTV, a media company, filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) making a “Direct Attack” on the Modi Government’s Sagar Mala plans. An Analysis of the proceedings together with news items throws some interesting details. NDTV in its petition has prayed for:

  • “stopping of work” on all new ports as an interim measure,
  • “civil and criminal action” be taken against authorities, governments and private companies
  • formulation of a “national coastal policy”
  • creation of a restoration fund
  • cumulative environmental, economic and social impact assessment

A few quick questions:

  1. How does a media company become an expert on environmental issues?
  2. On what basis did NDTV conclude that Governments deserve civil and criminal action for their “neglect, over-sight, and complicit actions”?
  3. Did NDTV submit any “reports” from “experts” to back their claims?
  4. Has NDTV challenged the Environmental impact assessment” as done by ministries?
  5. Is NGT empowered to direct formulation of “coastal policies”?
  6. Is NDTV’s demand for a blanket scrapping of the Sagarmala projects justified? Or does it reek of some obstructionist tactic?
  7. How is NDTV “empowered” under its Memorandum and Articles of Association” to take up “environmental issues”? A quick analysis of the Memorandum of Association of NDTV shows they have a vague power under Clause 3 (B) (32) to investigate value of any “asset” but it is still not clear if they can file a case or not.
  8. Are all the shareholders of the company aware of these antics of NDTV, which is clearly drifting away from its stated goals of being a media house?
  9. Any spend on legal and other fees on an activity which NDTV is basically not supposed to indulge in, is justified?
  10. Does NDTV itself being embroiled in numerous tax scandals, have the moral right to be pontificating on other issues?

The only tenuous link of a media company like NDTV to this NGO-esque action can be their 2011 “Save The Coast” campaign which “highlighted” how developmental activities are hazardous to India’s coastline. But most of the above questions, still remain unanswered and valid.

Proceedings Before NGT

A quick glance at the proceedings before the National Green Tribunal show the following:

NDTV filed its petition in 2015 against the Ministry of Shipping, MoEF, and 11 States as well as Union Territories. Initially in an order dated 20th January 2016 the Bench ordered a bailable warrant against the Resident Commissioner of Daman and Diu at New Delhi which was subsequently cancelled. It imposed costs of INR 50,000 each on Maharashtra state and Gujarat State for non filing of replies. Maharashtra later complied with the order. The case, as per the orders, has not been taken up on “merits” as yet. In fact as per the latest order some respondent state has also challenged the time limit of filing this petition before NGT (6 months as per NGT Act,2010) which is pending. All in all the orders show that a flurry of activities is happening in this petition.

What is intriguing is that hardly any news channels or for that matter even NDTV published any articles on this until recently. In fact this is probably the first case where a media Company has taken up an “environmental issue” with the Courts. In this era of micro news, an action as this didn’t attract ANY attention?

Counter Views to NDTV Claims

It is pertinent to note that any project undertaken by the Government together with the assistance and partnership of State governments and private entities will not be implemented without proper studies. Amongst other things the government appoints independent experts to study environmental impact of projects. This EIA forms a very important part of the “project feasibility”. It is still not clear how NDTV has come to a conclusion that these projects are not feasible. It is clear that a single TV campaign will not give deep insights which government/private agencies undertake while deciding project feasibility. So did they carry out their own independent analysis? Which is that agency? Who paid for these reports? Why should report by NDTV be given weightage and not that by other agencies? Did NDTV provide its suggestions to the Ministry of Shipping on the draft plans they put forth for pubic comments?

“Stop Work” and its ill effects

Here is a small anecdote: while constructing an expressway between two cities, a group of environmentalists (pre NGT era) approached the High Court stating that the mountains which are to be cut are homes to a certain variety of “rats”. This delayed the project by 6 months causing monetary losses etc but nevertheless it was built. Today in 2016 these same “environmentalists” use the same highway to commute and the “rats” be dammed. None of these guys care for them anymore.

There indeed is no doubt that development should be sustainable and that both development and preservation of nature should be balanced. However going to Courts and challenging every power project, every mine, road port dam has become a quick and fast route to achieve fame.

It is clear that many “protests” are done at the behest of foreign hands/money and guidance. This not only hampers the economic activity it also leads to huge monetary losses. Take for example this Sagarmala project. While the Government has clearly put the  project reports in public domain the Petitioner NDTV has not clearly and specifically mentioned why and exactly how these projects are dangerous for the coast line. They haven’t even spelt out how NDTV as a media company is concerned with this issue in first place.

Now that we have a brand new NGO like NDTV out in open waging a war on a project which is ensuring capital flow, cost savings and 1 crore jobs, it is time for us citizens, for whom the projects are being executed, to rise up and ask them, what is your problem.

The implosion of AAP – churn or crash and burn?

Gaurav
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The implosion of AAP – churn or crash and burn?

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party is still in stages of infancy if we are to compare it with the other political parties in the fray. Less than 4 years into the game, AAP has racked up considerable successes in its repertoire. The biggest success of course is its unprecedented landslide victory in Delhi. In other places across the country, it hasn’t tasted much electoral success, but has been trying to position itself as the go-to party for someone who doesn’t want to vote for the BJP or the Congress.

Being Delhi centric, and owing to the friendly disposition of many top journalists towards Arvind Kejriwal, AAP has got more than its fair share of limelight. We have seen occasions where even PTA meetings have been glorified by “journalists” as a landmark moment in governance. Given the over-the-top positive acclaim received, AAP has also faced a higher level of barbs and attacks from its critics as well as opponents. Countless U-Turns, allegations of corruptions, frauds, donations scams, all have hit AAP. But all said and done, AAP has braved the fire from outside well.

Now, AAP is facing a different challenge. This time the enemy is within. We had last seen this when the founding fathers of AAP like Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were unceremoniously booted out of the party. At that time, they claimed they were unhappy with Kejriwal’s dictatorial attitude, while Kejriwal’s coterie suggested they had other grudges. It was in the end painted as an ego battle.

This time though, things are much worse. AAP has faced one of its toughest weeks in its short political existence. Their own leaders have been the reason for much of the discomfort and this time, one cannot dismiss it as mere ego wars.

It started in Punjab, where AAP’s state convenor Sucha Singh Chhotepur was allegedly caught in a sting operation, accepting some sort of bribe. If some rumours are to be believed, it was an inside job from within the AAP. This eventually led to Chhotepur being sacked. Chhotepur episode had a ripple effect in Punjab, the full impact of which is yet to be seen, but till now these are the scalps it has claimed:

Firstly Siddhu’s much touted entry into AAP did not materialise, partly because his demands were rejected, and also possibly because of the mess that AAP Punjab was in.

Secondly, AAP’s credibility was obviously damaged, since their top leader in Punjab was caught in a sting

Thirdly, Chhotepur caused many splits in AAP Punjab. Factions loyal to him have threatened to leave AAP, and already, 80% of AAP office bearers of Amritsar zone have quit citing “dictatorial behaviour” by party observers from outside Punjab.

As mentioned, the full extent of the damage is yet to be seen.

If Punjab was one big pile of mess, Delhi has been worse. Yet another AAP cabinet minister had to be sacked and this time for extremely embarrassing reasons. Women and Child Development Minister Sandeep Kumar was sacked after his sex videos with 3 different women emerged. It was also reported that he misused his official position to secure a US citizenship for his newly born son.

Although Kejriwal tried to limit the damage of Sandeep Kumar by sacking him before the news broke out, the aftermath has been more damaging. AAP leader Ashutosh brazenly defended Sandeep Kumar’s sexcapades by trying to pull down national icons like Nehru, Gandhi and Lohia among others. A former colonel and AAP MLA from Delhi, Sehrawat opened another can of worms by writing a scathing letter to Kejriwal claiming that women are being used duped and exploited in Punjab too. He even went on to name leaders like Sanjay Singh, Dilip Pandey and Durgesh Pathak. Singh now is considering filing a defamation case.

The other state where AAP was trying to grab a foothold was Goa. Even here it has been been weakened. A few months back 9  members of the Vasco Unit of AAP left the party alleging that the party had fallen prey to the real estate lobby. Just yesterday, 2 more AAP leaders and former activists quit Goa’s AAP unit, making very similar allegations. Local developments coupled with the national developments have resulted in a loss of momentum here too with AAP supporters openly lamenting their party’s downfall.

To top all of this, now Arvind Kejriwal’s mentor has come down hard on AAP and Kejriwal. He has said he is very angry and very disappointed at AAP and Arvind Kejriwal, because of all the scandals it has been embroiled in. Anna further said that he had warned Kejriwal about a dilution in quality thanks to his ultra-ambitious moves. This in fact the same as what Prashant Bhushan was saying when he too was on the verge of quitting.

In all of the above, there is no Modi hand. There is no Modi controlled LG or Modi controlled ACB, which is tormenting AAP and Kejriwal using fake allegations. This is no external element to this who can be called “Sanghi” or “paid media” or “bhakt”. There is no escaping this. And hence this is AAP’s most testing time.

If an analogy can be drawn, we can look at numerous tech start-ups in India who are now facing rough times. They started off with promise, innovative techniques which threatened to disrupt existing market forces. Valuations soared as a select few players backed them. The race for revenues began as all these startups tried to expand aggressively, scaling up operations. But the internal systems, practices, goals of many were not mature enough to handle such massive growth plans, resulting in an implosion. Many of these start-ups have now begun their way downhill, sacking many employees, and boasting of much lower valuations.

AAP too has gone wrong in the same way. It tried to expand its foot-print beyond Delhi too soon. Systems were not in place, and in order to expand, they had to compromise severely on the quality of its inductees. Traditional parties have undertaken years of struggle to reach their current status. They have toiled from the bottom-up, creating a strong cadre, making their stand on issues clear, winning local elections, then state elections and finally heading for the central level. AAP on the other hand is more interested in the flash-bang method which demands quick results. And it has gone very bad for them. The chickens are now coming to roost.

The question now facing us is this. Will this be the 2nd round churning from within the AAP, when all the unwanted elements will desert AAP, and AAP will continue its march ahead? Or will AAP this time lose its absolute core, and with it, its charm and charisma? Only time will tell, but this time, AAP only has it’s own self to blame.

Women’s Maternity Bill – Boon or Curse in the Career Ladder?

Yogini
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Women’s Maternity Bill – Boon or Curse in the Career Ladder?

Recently the Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Maternity Bill in the Indian Parliament.  The bill mandates that any private establishment with more than 10 employees will need to give six months maternity leave to women and every company with more than 50 employees must establish crèche facilities for children. Companies such as Microsoft and Flipkart have already begun providing such facilities for women to be able to retain talent for the long-term. While the Bill is seen as a welcome move by feminists groups it didn’t bring a smile to all the entrepreneurs including the incoming President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Executive Vice President of Apollo Hospitals, Ms. Shobhana Kamineni.

The Bill text is of six pages with very little information on why or how should this Act is expected be implemented by companies. The Bill in the current form may appear to be empowering women, and the Government hopes to increase women participation in work force with this Bill, but the reality may be far from it. Women employment is intrinsically linked to multiple gender issues. Following are some scenarios that can occur due to this Bill-

1. Small and Medium scale enterprises typically have 10-50+ employees with each employee doing specific important tasks. If an employee is to remain absent for 26 weeks the work would need to be allotted to someone who already is handling a responsibility. If the woman is in mid-managerial position there is a likelihood that a small enterprise doesn’t employ more than one or two managers of her skill sets. Absence for such a long period of time will impact the productivity of the company since seamless takeover and handover of responsibilities in such a small team doesn’t happen. During performance appraisal, long absence will definitely reflect on the percentage of pay raise. Already, many companies give a minimal 1% pay raise for absence due to pregnancy. In the same firm, if the lady is in the lower pool of talent and if there are larger number of women in the group, multiple people going on such long leaves will again impact the company’s salary budgets. Fresh graduate women may get hired with no pay disparity with their male counterpart but with progress of time pay disparity will develop due to large duration of absences.

2. Long maternity leave and transfer of responsibilities to other team members can create friction between members. Male employees may feel burdened with extra load of work while a female team member is away and still being paid. Gender sensitivity trainings cannot necessarily handle every type of hostility that can occur in such scenarios. Young female employees may be kept away from critical missions to avoid any delays or team friction impacts. There have been cases where women are kept on the bench in IT companies as they approach their maternity leave or are kept on it when they come back from the leave so that termination laws can be applied easily to fire them.

3. Long maternity leave may be the best answer to hold talent for large IT companies and multi-national companies which spend a good part of their budget on employee training programs. For these companies loss of talent due to personal issues is a high risk. But what happens to companies that require low skill or abundantly available skillsets in large numbers e.g. shopping mall attendants, large chain-store shop floor employees, security guards, customer service representatives, medical nurses and related personnel, data-entry operators? Large numbers of women are employed in these sectors. With such laws being placed, manpower servicing companies will shy away from hiring women as permanent employees. Permanent employees enjoy far better benefits like medical insurance, EPF and gratuity etc which a temporary employee may not get. A good example of companies using such tactics in the West is Walmart which is well known for lower number of permanent employees compared to its temporary hires. Larger number of temporary or part-time hires helps the company keep its employee benefits costs down and thereby lower their sale prices.

The below graph developed by Pew Research Center shows that more parental leave is linked to higher gender pay gap.  European countries with liberal parental leave policies have higher pay gaps between men and women in ages 30 to 34.

Leave-Wage gap link
Leave-Wage gap link

In earlier paragraphs I listed a few economic impacts of the law for companies and thereby salary of the female work force. The economic impact will affect social and cultural aspects of the Indian society too. Well educated women in order to rise in their career paths will tend to push the decision to have children further or have only one child. While one may feel such a forced decision will reduce the population growth in the long run such decisions will impact future generations and their social well-being.  To understand the situation one can look at Japan or some of the other ageing European countries with lower total fertility rates (TFR).  India has been a vibrant country and one main reason for it is the abundance of young generation through every decade.

The answer obviously does not lie in abolishing of maternity leave for women but in adopting a middle path. The decision to have children should not be a burden on the hiring agency or a trade-off for women. Parenting and baby rearing is not necessarily meant only for women. Men should and need to play a significant role in it. For this article, I tried to find out the status of paternity leave given by Multi-National Corporates to small scale companies- the answer varied from 2 days to two weeks post birth of the child. No amount of gender sensitivity workshops can bring in change in men’s perception of the work involved in child rearing unless they are also involved in it personally. It would be prudent to keep maternity leave to the current 14-16 weeks status and increase paternity leave for men. This would reduce the burden of career challenges due to child birth being faced by women and be shared by the working couple. If men are allowed to take a month or two from work when the baby is four months or above it will help the woman get back to work early. Any drawbacks a woman suffers in terms of reduced pay rise due to leave of absence will be reduced or shared equally by both.

Women empowerment does not mean you give more leave so that she can continue to deal with child rearing. It has to mean shared load.  As mentioned by Sheryl Sandeberg in her book “Lean In”,  women aren’t “maternal gatekeepers”. Child rearing has to become a shared responsibility and such laws do not help towards the goal. As the discussion on enhanced paternity leave is gaining prominence, Maneka Gandhi apparently has said “ such a legislation will have little impact in India, where men do not even avail their existing leave entitlements to share the responsibility of child care. Paternity leave can be considered only if, once the woman goes back to work after her 26 weeks of leave, we find that men are availing their sick leave for a month to take care of the child. Let me see how many men do that. I will be happy to give it but for a man, it will be just a holiday, he won’t do anything.”

Such denigration of males will not help in development of society on humanist principles. Firstly, it is wrong to casually pass off all males as being uninterested in child rearing. With rising awareness there are many men who would be keenly interested in child rearing activities.  Secondly,  sick leave rules in companies aren’t as straight forward as mentioned by the minister. Few companies will give sick leave if demanded in advance and nor will it be approved for a full one month unless a serious illness is involved. If a company has a defined paternity leave of five days there is every likelihood that the company will deny one month’s sick leave in advance for the new Father.

In the 1965 Daneil Patrick Moynihan published a report titled “ The Negro Family: The Case for National Action”. In this report he argued that the high rate of families headed by single mothers would greatly hinder progress of blacks toward economic and political equality. Based on this conclusion President Lyondon Johnson signed the War on Poverty Act which gave considerable economic package to single mothers.  Since then, the percentage of Black single mothers has gone up from 23% in 1965 to staggering 70% in 2016 while the poverty numbers have not reduced at the same rate.  There has been a significant breakdown in the social structure of the Black community in the past fifty years. While there may be several reasons for this breakdown the key take away for the Indian context is the aspect of effect of a law -that while being well meaning when one tries to alter the social structure with economic gains thrown in as a carrot it can affect the family fabric considerably.

Based on news reports of past weeks it seems Maneka Gandhi’s thought process in tabling the Women’s Maternity Bill has been- women participation in work force is low–> because they have children–> men are lousy selfish fathers–> ergo increase maternity leave. The conclusions are being poorly supported by a study conducted by NCW with very little industry input.

The social and economic structure of every country is different. While European countries and the USA have high percentage of women employment USA does not have strict laws for maternity leave. Most US Universities and private industry do not provide paid maternity leave. India has a large number of small to medium scale industries which employ more than 80 million people and contributes about 8% to GDP. Women are typically employed in the IT, Banking, Retail and Tourism sector in India which contribute about 70% of GDP.  It is essential to have a dialogue with these industries and work towards a favourable solution. A long paid maternity leave will increase the salary budget of a company and the only way for it to recover cost will be through increased sales price. In order to survive any company will want to sell its product at lower costs and can do so only if it reduces its internal costs. The first blow in such scenarios will obviously be women employees who might be potentially requiring paid leaves.

While it is true that “It takes a whole village to raise a child” the current Women’s Maternity Bill attempts to put the onus of social and psychological upbringing on the Mother and the financial responsibility on business enterprises . The decision of a couple to have a child should not necessarily burden the business entity or only the woman. A Legislative Bill should consider the impact of the rules on the complete society during the formation of the Bill even while favouring one section of the society.  It is necessary to learn from the debacles of those countries which already have liberal paid maternity leaves versus those that don’t and develop laws that will not create more problems for the women employee.

Why Are Delhi’s Roads Flooded? – Some Solutions

Gaurav Sansanwal
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Why Are Delhi’s Roads Flooded? – Some Solutions

For a government that has spent crores in advertising the apparent appreciation of its Mohalla Clinics, by a few news agencies from the United States (US), this remark by the visiting US Secretary of State, on the state of Delhi’s water-logged roads, should ring a bell:

 “You guys deserve an award for being able to get here today. I don’t know if you came in boats or amphibious vehicles of some kind. But I salute you.”

Mr. Kerry was speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). His motorcade was stuck in traffic for over two hours on Tuesday, and then again for over an hour, on Wednesday. Others- who happen to be our own citizens, did not have the luxury of outraging in front of a packed audience. Nearly all major, and minor roads of the city were severely flooded, leading to the break-down of vehicles, at various places. This has become a common occurrence during the ongoing monsoon season.

One would think that the rainfall must have been unprecedented, for such a situation to arise. But nothing can be farther from truth; for as of now, Delhi is still rain-deficit. So far in the season, from June 1 till August 30, the city has recorded 451 mm of rain, as against the normal average rainfall of 522.8 mm.[1] Torrential downpour like the one experienced yesterday is all but common in this season of shifting monsoon troughs. Handling this much of rain is a challenge that Indian cities are well aware of, given that Mumbai gets almost four times the average rainfall in Delhi, at 2,409 mm.

Who manages Delhi’s roads?

There are around 17 government agencies in Delhi, which are  involved in road, and drainage.[2] The five national highways in the city, for instance, fall under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). All roads more than 60 feet wide, are the responsibility of  the Public Works Department (PWD). In the unauthorised colonies and slums, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) is responsible. This leads to a case of overlapping jurisdiction. For example, a 20 km- long drain may fall under the jurisdiction of multiple agencies. This makes the task of fixing responsibility, difficult.

Solution: There is a need to transfer the management, and maintenance to a single authority, so that accountability can be fixed. The Delhi Chief Minister has done little to this end. While he fights everyone from the Lieutenant Governor to the Prime Minister on issues that politically matter to him, these kinds of issues are mostly absent from the discourse.

The difference between sewerage, and storm-water drains

While the sewerage system is used to carry liquid waste in closed pipelines (to treatment plants), the drainage system’s function is to carry rainwater in open drains, to Yamuna. According to Delhi Jal Board’s submission to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), only 55% of the city has a sewer connection. This means that the sewerage waste from the other 45 percent is dumped wherever possible, including the storm-water drains. Thus, sewer waste, and construction debris regularly enters the storm-water drains, further reducing their capacity to hold rainwater, which then leads to water-logging.

Solution: Around 1,750 unauthorised colonies lack a sewerage system. The promise of constructing sewers, is made before every election, by all political parties, but is soon forgotten. There is a need to escalate the construction. There is a further need to ensure that sewage is not dumped into the drains. A regular check of all sewers should be ensured, so that any such occurrence can be noted. The monitoring status should be clearly reflected online. A web-based application should be started, to ensure that citizens can blow the whistle, if need be.

Lack of funding by Government of Delhi

No specific mention was made in Delhi’s Budget, to the problem of water-logging, or drainage system. Only related mention was that of constructing sewerage in unauthorised colonies. No surprises there, for the politics of unauthorised colonies is an old ploy. A sum total of 300 crores was allotted for the same. Further, the budget of the entire Public Works Department is a mere 0.9%. And this includes all public works, including construction of new roads, flyovers, etc. Very little of this will be spent on maintenance, and redesign of storm-water drains. The NGT expert committee on the issue, argues that a massive funding of Rs 19,500 crore will be required, in order to fix the sewerage system itself, let alone the sum required for the drainage system. The IIT Delhi Professor who heads the panel argues that even if the government allocates Rs. 1,000 crore every year, the problem will end only in 20 years. Even so, by that time, there would be further cost escalation, and greater pressure, due to population growth. [3]

Solution: It will be a foolish mistake to believe that Delhi has sound public infrastructure. There is a need to augment the financial resources of the Public Works Department, or to transfer them to a new body that may be created, as proposed above. As for the sewerage system, clearly 300 crores is not enough. There is a need to raise money from the market, if government resources are limited. But first and foremost, there is a need to rationalise subsidies, and give up the policy of making Delhi a so-called ‘zero-tax’ city. The government needs to raise, and direct its resources, in a rational manner.

Government of Delhi’s neglect of the drainage system

A master plan for drainage, was to be prepared under the Delhi Master Plan of 2001. This has not been revised since 1981. Delhi’s population has grown tremendously. Weather patterns have changed too. Without a new plan, no improvement in policy is possible. A committee was setup for this purpose in 2005, but it did nothing until 2012. Work was then handed over to IIT Delhi. The committee is facing a data crunch. Delhi Government has provided only 80 percent of the data, and the work is hence, delayed.

Furthermore, Delhi’s drains are designed to cater to a maximum of only 25mm rain in an hour, whereas experts have suggested that the city needs drains, that can cater to a minimum of 62.5mm rain, during a 30-minute duration. [4]That Delhi’s sewerage system has not been designed for heavy rains is a fact that PWD Minister Satyendra Jain openly accepts, and yet does little to invest in their expansion. As per the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (2014), Delhi’s Flood Control Department has not conducted any topographical survey of Yamuna, since 2005. Without this data, dimensions for these drains cannot be planned. [5]

Solution: It is high time, the AAP government makes improving the drainage system, a priority. Most citizens will agree that traffic, and water-logging are one of Delhi’s biggest problems. Little has been done by our lawmakers to address the same. Believing that the Odd/Even rule was a policy in the direction, will be a mistake; for pollution was the driving factor, reduction in traffic was the unexpected outcome that they started boasting about. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has all the time in the world for ‘Modiji’, and drug abuse in Punjab, but none whatsoever for Delhi’s unique problems. Maybe this is because unlike the caste of Nitin Patel in Gujarat/religion of beef-eaters, etc., these issues are not a concern for him? Is it because considering the issues of ‘middle-class’, does not suit his politics? This has to change.

The blame game over de-siltation

The turf war is primarily between BJP’s Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and AAP-led Delhi Government. Recent media reports suggest that many large drains in the city including Najafgarh drain, Wazirpur Industrial Area-Azadpur Nallah, and Anand Parbat-Shastri Nagar-Sadar Bazar Nallah, are choked with garbage and silt. While MCD makes tall claims of having conducted de-siltation, what is also regularly seen is that the silt is often dumped in adjacent areas. It then makes its way back, during the next downpour. Besides, officials of Delhi Government have argued that a lot of silt has entered into the PWD drains, from the MCD ones- which are mostly low-stream.

Solution: Once again, the need of a unified authority to administer, and maintain drainage systems can be felt. The idea of better coordination between agencies is a farce. Till the time there are different agencies to look after maintenance, nothing will be change. The government can also look into the prospect of privatising the maintenance responsibility, and restricting its job to ensuring a strict vigil.

Reviving Delhi’s natural drains

Last year, a committee formed by NGT, surveyed the city using Delhi’s drainage map of 1976, and found 44 of its 201 natural drains, ‘missing’. Delhi had a network of storm-water drains, originating mainly from the Ridge, and feeding the Yamuna. Over time most of these have been turned into sewage drains. At many places, these natural drains have been filled up, to build shops, and parking lots. During the Commonwealth Games, for instance, portions of the South Delhi drain—called Kushak Nullah near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Sunehri Nullah near the CGO Complex—were covered to make parking lots for buses. [6]

Solution: There is a need to develop a detailed plan, to clear the unauthorised construction on these natural drains, and revitalize the area around them. These areas can be developed as tourism, and recreation points, in order to ensure that they are not ‘lost’ again. Such a step will go a long way in improving the drainage system.

[1] http://www.skymetweather.com/content/weather-news-and-analysis/monsoon-rains-drench-delhi-again-weather-goes-pleasant/

[2] http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/crores-go-down-the-drain-as-delhi-fails-to-fix-its-monsoon-mess/story-r0p7dN8D7I2eGs51hyOJ3N.html

[3] http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/almost-half-of-delhi-lacks-proper-drainage-system/story-gJEh13vpVQWQT8ZJbNCG2J.html

[4] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhis-drainage-desilting-and-flood-control-a-big-fraud-CAG/articleshow/37664866.cms

[5] http://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/no-topographical-survey-of-yamuna-from-2005-to-2011-cag/852751

[6] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3142441/Delhi-faces-widespread-waterlogging-construction-debris-block-vital-drains.html#ixzz4Ix3L4nJ3

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