Author: cprindia

Watch the full video of the workshop (above), where Rachna Mehra talks about the socialist pattern of planning, which inspired Nehru, and consequently influenced urban planning in the city of Faridabad after the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

In this talk, Mehra discusses the role of the state in envisaging an ‘ideal citizen’ by applying non-indigenous modes of planning, such as Clarence Perry’s ‘neighbourhood unit’, among other ideas. In particular, she looks at the dislocation and resettlement of the North West Frontier Refugees in Faridabad post partition, and how the city evolved into the ‘industrial state’ it is seen as today.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here, and.more information about the talk can be found on the event page.

How do large-scale development interventions induce cultural change? Watch the video (above) analysing this in the context of Jeevika, a World Bank-assisted poverty alleviation project targeted at women in Bihar.

In the first phase, the project substantially increased women’s autonomy and agency via a concerted effort to provide material and symbolic resources for disadvantaged women, and by creating new women-centred institutional structures. However, the expanded phase of the project was not as effective, and this presentation explores the reasons behind it.

Watch the full video (above) of author Harish Narasappa in conversation about his new book, ‘Rule of Law in India: A Quest for Reason’ with Ritin Rai.

The book envisages, inter alia, participatory lawmaking, just and certain laws, a bouquet of human rights, certainty and equality in the application of law, accountability to law, an impartial and non-arbitrary government, and an accessible and fair dispute resolution mechanism. This work’s primary goal is to understand and explain the obvious dichotomy that exists between theory and practice in India’s rule of law structure.

It discusses the contours of the rule of law in India, the values and aspirations in its evolution, and its meaning as understood by the various institutions, identifying reason as the primary element in the rule of law mechanism. It later examines the institutional, political, and social challenges to the concepts of equality and certainty, through which it evaluates the status of the rule of law in India.

Harish Narasappa is the founding partner of Samvad Partners, a pan-India law firm and co-founder of DAKSH, an NGO (Non Governmental Organisation). Ritin Rai practices independently in the courts and tribunals in New Delhi, with a focus on commercial and corporate disputes.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

The Parliamentary Committee, which is probing the government’s decision to demonetise high value notes, recently raised a number of questions before the RBI governor Urijit Patel, and has summoned him later this month. Simultaneously, the Supreme Court case challenging the notes ban, including its legality among other issues, is ongoing.

Against this backdrop, in the eighth episode (above) of CPR’s podcast ThoughtSpace, in-house legal expert and Fellow Dr Namita Wahi deconstructs the legality of demonetisation. Dr Wahi had earlier written about this issue in an article in ‘Economic Times’ here.

This is the third podcast  in a series on this subject, where the previous episodes explored economic fallouts and shared coping mechanisms of informal workers, and can be accessed at the dedicated playlist here.

In the run-up to the Union Budget 2017, Accountability Initiative (AI) at CPR, which tracks government budgetary allocation and related expenditure for key social sector schemes annually, both through analysing government data and corroborating it with ground surveys run by their field staff, shares their latest findings.

In a series of articles below, Yamini Aiyar, Avani Kapur and Abhishri Aggarwal break down the bottlenecks in fund-flows, which negatively impact implementation on the ground despite monies having been allocated, as well as provide scheme-specific budgetary (allocation, expenditure, government reported outputs & outcomes) analysis over 2016-17.

Complexity of fund-flows

• In Huffington Post, Yamini Aiyar explains why the money allocated by the union government fails to reach the ground, primarily due to the complex mechanism of fiscal transfer or fund-flow, which makes tracking and accountability very difficult.

The complexity of this mechanism of money-flow has been captured in the animated video (above).

• In a follow-up and related article, Abhishri Aggarwal analyses the lack of effective implementation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, as well as the need for a transparent, well-maintained monitoring system.

Social sector allocations

• In a second series of articles, in the Wire, Yamini Aiyar draws on AI’s budgetary analysis for 2016-17 to unpack and critique the government’s social policy approach. She explains how despite attempting to shift to an ‘empowerment’ approach in its welfare model, primarily through the mechanism of conditional cash transfers, health and education, in particular, ‘remain invisible in Modi’s social policy’.
• Yamini Aiyar and Avani Kapur further provide a detailed sectoral analysis, inlcuding key challenges faced, in a series of articles in Livemint on maternal and child health; Swachh Bharat Mission; Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan; and health-care.

The full series of budget briefs (2016-17) developed by AI on seven social sector schemes can be accessed at their website here.

Sustainable liquid and solid waste management systems safeguard the health of the community against diseases and infections, improving its physical and mental wellbeing. Since their introduction in 1954, rural sanitation programmes have evolved over the years and the latest iteration, Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), has been unprecedented in its focus, mandate and resource allocation towards meeting the goals of sustainable sanitation. Over its five-year run, its objective has expanded from the mere provision of a toilet facility to also include the institution of systems for Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) and prioritization of Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages for piped water supply schemes. For the former, the Mission has earmarked funds based on the size of the Gram Panchayat (GP), for example, INR 20 lakhs for GPs with 500 households and so forth. The latest Rural Sanitation Strategy, 2019-2029, further emphasizes these goals, along with those of ODF Sustainability.

In its response to the national thrust on access to a toilet facility under SBM-G, the state of Odisha made significant strides in augmenting coverage of individual toilets from 14% in 20112 to a purported universal coverage in 2019.3 The state now intends to establish SLWM systems for downstream management of liquid and solid waste – starting with issuing a state-level policy governing the subject – to leverage its current progress in the elimination of open defecation for sustainable sanitation outcomes. To inform such a policy of the onground situational needs, the Centre for Policy Research undertook a rapid assessment of the prevailing waste management landscape in three districts of the state. This report discusses the resulting findings relating to aspects ranging from community practices to the SLWM infrastructure capabilities existing in these regions.

KEY FINDINGS

Toilets increase, but quality flags

SBM-G rapidly enhanced the number of individual toilet facilities. Still, they lack in quality in many cases, especially among the constructions which involved external actors, such as NGOs, in the construction process.

Single pit, the singular winner

Single pits are the most commonly found on-site sanitation system, followed by twin pits and septic tanks. Functioning on the same principle as a twin pit, these, however, require mechanized emptying to be considered a safe technological option.

Twin pits, but only in name

Missing or inaccessible junction boxes, pits connected in series, and lack of user awareness regarding their maintenance, are holding back the potential of twin pits as the sustainable and affordable option in sanitation technology they have been envisioned as.

Infrastructure first, usage later

The predominance of single pits over twin pits, inadequate dissemination of user information dissemination concerning operation and maintenance (O&M), lack of associated services, viz. in-house water and desludging, and inadequate focus on behaviour change have led to low toilet usage.

Toilet usage, contamination or sanitation?

In a significant number of cases, households concomitantly rely on in-house borewells or handpumps located in the vicinity of toilet facilities. In these cases, factors such as the inherent vulnerability of the aquifer, a high water table, the proliferation of leaching pits, and unregulated setback between pits and wells have the potential to result in contamination of water supplies.

Greywater, but not in the backyard

In the absence of in-house water supply, communities usually perform chores such as bathing and washing at the water source, fetching and storing water at the premises only for drinking and cooking. The production and disposal of untreated greywater, therefore, needs addressing at both the household and settlement level.

Handpumps and borewells, unsanitary sites

In the absence of soak pits alongside handpumps and borewells, both public and private, the water stagnates at the site, creating an unhygienic environment susceptible to vector breeding.

Solid waste, the missing agenda point

Solid waste management is yet to be seen as a significant concern at the GP level. Organic waste is safely and productively managed at the household, while inorganics are dumped and/or burned. Centralized management systems are absent, with even dustbins at marketplaces a rarity.

Less agrarian, more plastic

The nature of the habitation dictates the type and quantity of waste generation, and the avenues available for recycling. The more urban habitations have greater penetration of FMCG products and in turn, generate more plastic waste – which the region is ill-prepared to handle.

Going forward, the state of Odisha should align its efforts for sustaining its ODF status with the key ascertained dimensions of toilet usage, viz. usable toilets accompanied by functional on-site sanitation (OSS) systems, reliable and convenient sources of water for toilet use, easy and affordable access to toilet maintenance services, and behaviour change. The universal access to and usage of a toilet facility is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the creation of clean and sanitized villages, protection of the health of communities, and the abatement and prevention of environmental pollution.

The state should account for variations in village characteristics, e.g. proximity to urban centres, nature of villages – whether more or less agrarian, socioeconomic variations at the settlement (hamlet) level, and also the household-level and community-level behaviours, in determining optimal solutions and strategies since they directly impact SLWM needs.

The full report can be accessed here.

By Arkaja Singh and Shubhagato Dasgupta

India’s continued focus on sanitation has resulted in increasing toilet coverage and disposal infrastructure: the Swachh Bharat Mission has reported an increase in toilet coverage from less than 40% to above 98% in the period from 2014 to 2019, while the total capacity of disposal infrastructure has increased from more than 4716 MLD (CPCB 2013) to 6190 MLD.¹ This effort is, however, undermined by the continued persistence of manual scavenging and unsafe sanitation work. It is estimated that five million people in India are engaged in sanitation work (that is, work relating to the cleaning and management of toilets and human excreta), of which two million are likely to be engaged in ‘high-risk’ work such as cleaning sewers and septic tanks.² Moreover, much of this sanitation work is performed in degrading and demeaning conditions, and for low wages and in insecure working conditions. These poor conditions reflect the continued indifference of the society at large, and an incomplete understanding on the policy side of what the sanitation challenge consists of. Crucially, workers (and the families of sanitation workers) remain trapped in circumstances in which they have to keep performing unsafe and humiliating sanitation work, in spite of the heavy price they have to pay for it. This is India’s foremost sanitation challenge; addressing this issue in a comprehensive manner should be the cornerstone of India’s next sanitation policy.

The term ‘manual scavenging’ in Indian law refers to the practice of manually carrying human excreta. In the historical context, this refers to the practice of removing excreta from dry latrines and railway lines – practices that were prohibited by the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, and sought to be eliminated through government investments in pour-flush toilets and rehabilitation schemes. The proliferation of modern sanitation technologies brought, in addition, new forms of manual scavenging work, which include manual and unsafe cleaning of drains, sewer lines, septic tanks and latrine pits. A new law in 2013 – the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 – covered this work too, and mandated a list of safety equipment to be provided in cases where manual entry into underground sewerage infrastructure was unavoidable. Needless to say, both old and new forms of manual scavenging work persist. In this note, we consider the issues and challenges of sanitation workers who deal with human excreta, and in the maintenance and management of sanitation infrastructure.

Sanitation workers bear the multiple stigma of offensive and unclean work, low wages and a highly dangerous form of employment that results in long-term health impairment and an unacceptably high chance of accidental death. Sanitation work in India has a long association with caste-based oppression. Almost all the sanitation workers who deal with human excreta are from certain Dalit castes and communities. Such work can also be extremely dangerous: excreta contained in enclosed spaces create a mix of poisonous gases (methane, hydrogen sulphide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen dioxide and traces of carbon monoxide) that can result in loss of consciousness and death. Safai Karamchari Andolan has recorded close to 2000 sanitation worker deaths, but experts believe that actual figures could be even higher if a complete count was possible.

High-risk sanitation work is also increasingly informalized. From recent reports of sanitation worker deaths, and our engagements with sanitation worker networks, we learn that the deceased workers often had no institutional relationship with the owner of the infrastructure, but were hired either by contractors responsible for infrastructure maintenance or on-the-spot for a specific job.³

Incomplete Policy and Strategy Thus Far

India’s policy attention to sanitation workers is heavily oriented towards rehabilitation of manual scavengers (by training them for alternative income generation), and some limited forms of compensation and welfare support (as mandated by the Supreme Court). And yet, the schemes for compensation and welfare have been severely underperforming.⁴ The findings of an ongoing study are that families of sanitation workers are unable to get meaningful training or financial support for alternative employment from government programmes designed for this purpose.

And yet, how does this square up with the high levels of investment in sanitation? India’s faulty metrics count toilets constructed, sewage pipelines laid, and treatment facilities constructed, but pay little attention to safety standards in design and maintenance. We have also ignored the service networks and workers who are expected to maintain this infrastructure. As a result, deaths of sanitation workers are being reported even from new and sophisticated treatment infrastructure – whether government-owned sewage networks, Sewage Treatment Plants, or on-site facilities owned by high-end hotels, malls and residential societies. On the other hand, more than half of India’s toilet users rely on septic tanks and leach pits for their waste disposal,⁵ but little attention is paid to safe design and maintenance norms for these tanks and pits. There is, for example, no technical reason why cleaning of household containment tanks should require manual entry – as the de-sludging of tanks is a relatively simple mechanical operation – and yet, deaths of workers during septic tank cleaning is reported with sickening regularity. It is even more ironic that many of these deaths are reported from India’s highly developed and urbanized towns and cities, where safer waste management practices could have easily been put in place.

India’s policy framework supports our selective inattention to sanitation work. While sanitation programmes and policy consider the question of sanitation work as an after-thought, if at all, issues of safety and dignity of the workers are left to a different ministry. All of the public investments and policy frameworks for sanitation are made by urban and rural development ministries, who keep no track of the impact these investments and policies have on sanitation workers. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which has no hand in planning and investments of sanitation infrastructure, is responsible for counting and identifying manual scavengers; it is allocated funds to provide for a few compensation, rehabilitation and welfare measures.

On the institutional side, there is a confusing mix of public and private roles: public authorities consider themselves responsible only for drainage and sewerage, leaving residents who use septic tanks and leach pits much to their own devices. And on their part, drains and sewers owned by the public authorities are often of poor technical specification. Mixing of storm water, sewage, debris, silt and solid waste further compromises the functioning of these drains and sewers, resulting in frequent blockages that require human intervention. On-site sanitation users meanwhile understand little of their on-site infrastructure, and usually rely on low-end informal cleaning services. This inattention is no doubt not accidental, but made possible by our collective social disregard for the lives of sanitation workers.

On the legal side too, municipal and environmental laws cover the sanitation and wastewater disposal – making no reference to sanitation work – whereas a different legal framework applies to manual scavenging. These latter laws address only the ‘employer’ of manual scavengers, but not the owner of unsafe infrastructure (except to the extent that they cover dry latrines). Moreover, in actual practice the laws become relevant only in case of the death of manual scavengers, and even then we do not know of a case of successful criminal prosecution under these laws. At present, no legal responsibility rests on owners of infrastructure – whether public agencies or private owners of septic tanks, pits and on-site treatment facilities – to ensure safe design and operations of their infrastructure. The legal responsibility for deaths, when they occur, is also easily passed on to intermediary contractors, especially when the owner is a public agency, corporate body or residential society.

What the Government Needs to Do

We suggest a new paradigm in which safe and dignified sanitation work is placed at the front and made the organizing principle around which the definition of ‘safe sanitation’ is rearticulated for future sanitation programmes. We also need to recognize that undoing several centuries of caste oppression and decades of policy neglect is not going to be an entirely technocratic exercise, but will require an actionable commitment from the government to eliminate all forms of demeaning and unsafe sanitation work.

Supporting the families of sanitation workers in transitioning out of manual scavenging and unsafe sanitation work is critical to this promise. Community activists stress that it is crucial for families to move out of sanitation work altogether, in order to escape the social stigma and caste identification that comes with sanitation work. For this it is not enough to offer small loans to make sanitation workers self-employed entrepreneurs, as current government programmes do, but to make comprehensive provisions for income security, dignity and education. Providing salaried employment or income-generating assets could help replace the lost income from manual scavenging work far more effectively than self-employment schemes, especially considering that sanitation workers tend to have no prior entrepreneurial exposure or business networks.

The problem of sanitation work itself is no less important, and for that, the voice of sanitation workers is crucial. Sanitation workers associations could be organized at city and state levels, and such sanitation workers’ groups must have a role in the formulation of sanitation policy, and in the planning and design of infrastructure. Sanitation workers groups also need to be involved in the implementation of welfare schemes, and in negotiating fair and dignified working conditions applicable to both public and private employers.

On the part of the government, the eradication of manual scavenging should be made a primary responsibility of local governments. They should be held responsible for: (i) ensuring the complete elimination of all forms of manual scavenging and unsafe sanitation work within their jurisdictional limits, and (ii) providing jobs, income support and welfare measures to help families break out of the cycle of manual scavenging and unsafe sanitation work.

To reflect this shift in paradigm in legal terms, we suggest that the same agency (ideally the local government) that is responsible for ensuring the elimination of manual scavenging and unsafe sanitation work is also funded to design and build its sanitation infrastructure. Much of this infrastructure is currently being designed, financed and built without focus on appropriate design features for its safe operation and keeping local conditions in mind. The local government (or other single-point agency) should also be responsible for ensuring that organized and mechanized sanitation services are available to replace low-grade and risky services in which the safety risk is borne by the workers themselves.

We also need clear legal recognition that the owners of infrastructure – whether local government, housing communities or individual residents – are responsible for ensuring that their infrastructure can be cleaned and maintained without putting workers into direct contact with excreta, or in unsafe conditions. This is especially important considering India’s heavy reliance on on-site sanitation infrastructure, septic tanks and leach pits, but also for on-site treatment facilities for real estate developments.

National and state governments need to be take charge of the policy shift, to ensure that local governments given the responsibility for delivery of infrastructure and services are also made legally and institutionally responsible for ensuring the complete elimination of manual scavenging and unsafe sanitation work. National and state governments also need to set up technical standards for safety in each element of sanitation infrastructure. In addition, they should see that local governments have the staff, capacity and funds to bring about this change. Finally, they should announce clear safety related targets and progressively monitor the transformation of the sanitation infrastructure and services to incorporate safety elements in partnership with representatives from sanitation workers’ groups and associations.

Other pieces as part of CPR’s policy document, ‘Policy Challenges – 2019-2024’ can be accessed below:

• The Future is Federal: Why Indian Foreign Policy Needs to Leverage its Border States by Nimmi Kurian
• Rethinking India’s Approach to International and Domestic Climate Policy by Navroz K Dubash and Lavanya Rajamani
• India’s Foreign Policy in an Uncertain World by Shyam Saran
• Need for a Comprehensive National Security Strategy by Shyam Saran
• A Clarion Call for Just Jobs: Addressing the Nation’s Employment Crisis by Sabina Dewan
• Time for Disruptive Foreign and National Security Policies by Bharat Karnad
• Multiply Urban ‘Growth Engines’, Encourage Migration to Reboot Economy by Mukta Naik
• Schooling is not Learning by Yamini Aiyar
• Clearing Our Air of Pollution: A Road Map for the Next Five Years by Santosh Harish, Shibani Ghosh and Navroz K Dubash
• Protecting Water while Providing Water to All: Need for Enabling Legislations by Philippe Cullet
• Interstate River Water Governance: Shift focus from conflict resolution to enabling cooperation by Srinivas Chokkakula
• Managing India-China Relations in a Changing Neighbourhood by Zorawar Daulet Singh
• Beyond Poles and Wires: How to Keep the Electrons Flowing? by Ashwini K Swain and Navroz K Dubash
• Regulatory Reforms to Address Environmental Non-Compliance by Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli
• The Numbers Game: Suggestions for Improving School Education Data by Kiran Bhatty
• Safeguarding the Fragile Ecology of the Himalayas by Shyam Saran

¹ CPCB, 2017.
² Dalberg Analysis, 2018, http://sanitationworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Phase-1-Understa…
³ There is no systematic evidence of the nature of employment of sanitation workers. In recent sanitation worker deaths in a sewage pumping station in Jahangirpuri owned by the Delhi Jal Board, in a private gated community in Moti Nagar, and in a Taj Vivanta hotel near Khan Market, all in Delhi, the workers were engaged on a monthly basis by contractors responsible for maintaining the infrastructure. On the other hand, workers who died cleaning sanitation infrastructure in Lajpat Nagar, Dabri and Lok Nayak Hospital were freelance workers who were hired for a job-fee for a specific assignment. (Sources: multiple newspaper reports, interviews).
⁴ Accountability Initiative, ‘Budget Briefs: Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), 2017-18’ (New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research, 2018), https://accountabilityindia.in/sites/default/files/pdf_files/Self%20Empl….
⁵ Toilet waste could be disposed through a sewer network of closed, specially designed pipes that carry toilet waste along with other wastewater to treatment facilities. It could also be managed through on-site solutions – by evacuating it from household septic tanks or leach pits from time to time (de-sludging operations) and carrying it in specially designed trucks to treatment facilities; or using various technologies that provide on-site treatment. It is also often handled suboptimally, through open drains and water channels, or through a mix of sewage pipes, open drains and on-site containment systems.

By Shyam Saran

The states of India which share the Himalayas are also its principal sentinels. Adaptation to climate change must become an integral part of their development strategies. The special vulnerabilities of this ecologically fragile region need to be recognized, as much as its rich natural resources in terms of forests, water wealth, biodiversity and tourism potential. While a number of long-term measures are included as part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, 2008, several key and urgent interventions are vital to prevent the further degradation of the Himalayan ecology and to preserve their life-sustaining role for millions of our citizens. This includes those residing not only in the Himalayan states, but also in the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is the perennial rivers arising from the snow mountains that sustain livelihoods in the plains. The new government must prioritize the safeguarding of the fragile ecology of the Himalayas among the issues requiring urgent attention.

Sustainable Urbanization in Mountain Habitats
The cities in the Himalayan mountainous zones are increasing in size and number. They exhibit the same degradation that plagues our cities in the plains: growing dumps of garbage and plastic, untreated sewerage, chronic water shortages, unplanned urban growth, and heavy pollution from increasing vehicular traffic. This phenomenon will only exacerbate the impact of climate change. The following immediate interventions by all the concerned states, supported by the Union government, are necessary:

(i) Town planning and adoption of architectural norms
Given the ecological fragility of mountainous areas, it is imperative to halt the unplanned growth of new settlements. Instead, there should be consolidation of existing urban settlements to be governed through land-use planning incorporated in a municipal master plan. These designated settlements would be provided with all basic urban facilities, such as water supply, waste disposal and power, before further civilian growth is permitted. State authorities will prescribe regulations taking into account the particularities of the local ecosystem, including seismic vulnerability, the need to respect local aesthetics and harmony with nature, and the optimum population load the settlement can sustain, given the availability of water and power. Consolidation of urban settlements would also preclude the need to construct a larger number of road links to a multiplicity of destinations, which would cause further damage to the fragile ecology.

There are 12 Himalayan towns included in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), which could serve as models in this regard.

Further action points may include:

(a) Municipal by-laws to be amended, wherever required, to prohibit construction activity in areas falling in hazard zones or across alignments of natural springs, water sources and watersheds near urban settlements. There will be strict enforcement of these by-laws, including through imposition of heavy penalties and compulsory demolition of illegal structures.

(b) The National Building Code will be revised by the central government, in consultation with the concerned state governments, to take into account the specific requirements of urban settlements in the Himalayan zone, including recommendations on the use of local materials and local architectural practices.

(c) The state governments concerned will set up state-level urban arts councils, under relevant legislation, to oversee the implementation of the National Building Code for mountain areas and of respective master plans for designated urban settlements.

(d) The compulsory use of solar water heaters, rainwater harvesting and appropriate sanitation facilities will be incorporated in the National Building Code and municipal by-laws in the concerned states.

(e) Construction activity will be prohibited in catchment areas of cities, including along mountain lakes and other water bodies. Their feeder channels will also be kept free of building activity.

In order to enable these decisions to be implemented urgently, it is necessary to draw up, as soon as possible, a comprehensive state-wide inventory of such water resources and their channels, which could then be declared fully protected zones.

(ii) Solid waste management
The following policy directives could be considered:

(a) The use of plastic bags should be banned in all hill towns and villages. This has been done with commendable success in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

(b) Potable local water, certified by a designated state authority, may be provided through all commercial outlets, such as local shops and restaurants. This would  discourage the use of bottled water, which adds to toxic plastic litter in hill towns and along trekking routes. This has been done successfully in Leh and promotes local employment. More recently, the use of water ATMs to dispense clean drinking water at affordable rates is being popularized and would be especially suitable in hill towns, pilgrim centres and tourist locations.

(c) Each state must establish facilities for the composting of biodegradable household waste and recycling, and reuse of other types of waste. This may be done through public-private partnership wherever feasible. This will be followed by amendments to municipal by-laws that make the segregation of household waste mandatory, to be accompanied by a focused awareness and public education campaign.

(d) An appropriate state tax or levy on all major commodities using plastic and/or non-biodegradable packaging that enter hill towns must be explored. This will create incentives to manufacturers of these goods to use/develop environmentally friendly packaging.

Promotion of Sustainable Pilgrimage

The following measures to promote the healthy and sustainable development of religious pilgrimage to the many sacred and holy sites scattered all over the Himalayas may be considered:

(i) A comprehensive inventory of key pilgrimage sites in each state would be drawn up, which would include analyses of the ecological capacity of each site, based on its location and fragility. The Union government will assist in this exercise, which would be carried out by multidisciplinary teams including engineers, scientists, ecologists, cultural anthropologists and respected NGOs.

(ii) In advance of the results of the above exercise,  a plan must be developed to harmonize the inflow of pilgrims with the local environment’s capacity to cater to the needs of pilgrims. These include the sources of several Himalayan rivers, sacred lakes and forest groves. The selected sites would be listed through public consultation and consensus, and publicly announced. There may also be restrictions on the months of the year when these sites would remain open, to allow recovery of the ecology during the off-season, or on the numbers of visitors. Uttarakhand, for instance, has recently issued guidelines restricting the daily number of pilgrims to the Gangotri glacier (Gaumukh) to 150. In this context, plans to allow year-long access to high-altitude pilgrimage sites at Badrinath and Kedarnath should be abandoned.

(iii) The construction of roads should be prohibited beyond at least 10 km from protected pilgrim sites, thereby creating a much-needed ecological and spiritual buffer zone round these sites. These areas, like national parks and sanctuaries, could be maintained as special areas with minimal human interference, respecting the pristine nature of these sites. Where there are existing roads within the 10-km buffer, vehicular traffic should be allowed only beyond this limit.

(iv) Each designated pilgrimage site should have a declared buffer zone where development activity will be carefully regulated. Local communities residing in or around these sites must be given a role in the management of the buffer zone and encouraged to benefit from pilgrimage activities through providing various services to pilgrims. This has been tried out with some success in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala.

(v) At all entry points to designated buffer zones, pilgrims will be advised to take back all waste, in particular non-degradable items. Provision may be made to sell them waste collection bags, which could be made by local communities using local   materials. Such waste may be collected and sorted out at special collection points outside the buffer zone, for disposal. A fee may be charged for the same.

Commercial and Adventure Tourism
The measures listed for regulation of pilgrim traffic in the Himalayan zone would also apply, to a large extent, to the promotion of ecologically sustainable tourism in the Himalayan region as a whole. The following interventions may also be considered:

(i) Homestead tourism could be promoted in this area and commercial hotel tourism of the three- to five-star variety discouraged or prohibited. Local communities will be encouraged and enabled to provide homestead-based tourist facilities, through a package of incentives and capacity building. The successful experience with homestead tourism in Ladakh is a good example.

(ii) Each state will set up a homestead tourism audit and certification agency to promote standardized and quality practices in designated tourism zones. These would include key environmental guidelines, such as the use of solar energy, use of organic produce, recycling of waste, cleanliness and hygiene, courtesy, knowledge of local culture and landscape, among others. This will also help educate tourists about the importance of safeguarding the Himalayan ecology.

(iii) Recognizing the adverse impact on Himalayan ecology of unrestrained expansion in vehicular traffic, each state should impose an entry tax for vehicles entering important hill towns. A similar tourism tax or trekking charge may be levied for all ecologically fragile zones. The proceeds from such taxes should be used for creating better facilities (for example, clean toilets, tourist shelters) and for benefiting local communities.

(iv) Parking fees for private vehicles in hill markets and hill towns need to be raised substantially to discourage such traffic, thereby reducing both congestion and pollution. Each hill town will designate the central parts of the town as walking areas, with access provided by pollution-free electric or CNG buses.

Green Road Construction
Roads are the lifeline of this remote and inaccessible region. However, the construction of roads must fully take into account the environmental fragility of the region. The concerned state governments must consider promulgating, as soon as possible, the following guidelines for road construction in hill areas.

(i) Environmental Impact Assessment should be made mandatory for the construction of all state and national highways, and expressways of more than 5 km length, including in the extension and widening of existing roads. This will not apply to inter-village roads.

(ii) Road construction must provide for the treatment of hill slope instabilities resulting from road cutting, cross drainage works and culverts, using bio-engineering and other appropriate technologies. Cost estimates for road construction in these areas should henceforth include estimates on this account.

(iii) Plans for road construction must provide for disposal of debris from construction sites at suitable and identified locations, so as to avoid ecological damage and scarring of the landscape. Proposals for road construction must henceforth include cost estimates in this regard.

(iv) Hot mix plants must only be set up at least 2 km away from settlements. These sites should have a minimum open area of 200 sq metres and should be already devoid of vegetation.

(v) All hill roads must provide adequate roadside drains and, wherever possible, be connected to the natural drainage system of the area.

(vi) Alignment of proposed roads should avoid fault zones and historically landslide-prone zones. Where this may not be possible, adequate measures must be taken to minimize associated risks, in consultation with experts.

Water Security
The importance of the Himalayas as a natural storehouse and source of water must be acknowledged fully. The region is already under water stress, with the drying up or blockage of many water sources and natural springs. The following immediate actions are necessary:

(i) Each Himalayan state must initiate a state-wide programme for rejuvenation of Himalayan springs and protection of high-altitude lakes.

(ii) The government must provide legislative protection for mountain lakes, natural springs and key water sources, and prohibit construction activities along these water bodies.

(iii) Relevant bodies should inventorize mountain springs (active and dormant) and also carry out detailed geological mapping to identify spring recharge zones.

Building Environmental Awareness
(i) Local festivals and fairs must be utilized to spread environmental awareness, with the protection of the environment being linked to local cultures and festivals.

(ii) Central and state governments must together organize an annual festival of the Himalayas to celebrate local cultures, which demonstrate ways of sustainable living for resilient societies in harmony with the pristine nature of the Himalayas. This will also expose the rest of the country to the importance of the Himalayas in India’s national life.

Safeguarding the Himalayas: A National Endeavour
There are grave concerns about the challenge the country faces from the impact of climate change on the fragile and life-sustaining ecology of the Himalayas. This spectacular mountain chain is inextricably linked with India’s civilizational ethos and the spiritual and cultural sensibility of our people. It is necessary to initiate and develop a truly national endeavour to safeguard the pristine ecology of the Himalayas. A coordinated approach between the Union and state governments in the Himalayan states is imperative if we are to successfully meet this challenge. It is in this spirit that the prime minister should convene a meeting of the chief ministers of the Himalayan states. The deliberations at the meeting, and the adoption of certain urgent and specific guidelines and decisions, would be the first step in formulating a comprehensive and ambitious national mission for sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem. The prime minister and the chief ministers should meet annually to exchange views, share experiences, review progress and evolve practical and effective measures to make this national mission a success.

Other pieces as part of CPR’s policy document, ‘Policy Challenges – 2019-2024’ can be accessed below:

• The Future is Federal: Why Indian Foreign Policy Needs to Leverage its Border States by Nimmi Kurian
• Rethinking India’s Approach to International and Domestic Climate Policy by Navroz K Dubash and Lavanya Rajamani
• India’s Foreign Policy in an Uncertain World by Shyam Saran
• Need for a Comprehensive National Security Strategy by Shyam Saran
• A Clarion Call for Just Jobs: Addressing the Nation’s Employment Crisis by Sabina Dewan
• Time for Disruptive Foreign and National Security Policies by Bharat Karnad
• Multiply Urban ‘Growth Engines’, Encourage Migration to Reboot Economy by Mukta Naik
• Schooling is not Learning by Yamini Aiyar
• Clearing Our Air of Pollution: A Road Map for the Next Five Years by Santosh Harish, Shibani Ghosh and Navroz K Dubash
• Protecting Water while Providing Water to All: Need for Enabling Legislations by Philippe Cullet
• Interstate River Water Governance: Shift focus from conflict resolution to enabling cooperation by Srinivas Chokkakula
• Managing India-China Relations in a Changing Neighbourhood by Zorawar Daulet Singh
• Beyond Poles and Wires: How to Keep the Electrons Flowing? by Ashwini K Swain and Navroz K Dubash
• Regulatory Reforms to Address Environmental Non-Compliance by Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli
• The Numbers Game: Suggestions for Improving School Education Data by Kiran Bhatty
• Safe and Dignified Sanitation Work: India’s Foremost Sanitation Challenge by Arkaja Singh and Shubhagato Dasgupta
• Female Labour Force Participation: Asking Better Questions by Neelanjan Sircar