Friday, October 3, 2014

"Making India" Swach !

The idea of Swach Bharath is definitely a positive one. Before we bask in the goodness of the new political agenda, why don't we ask some fundamental questions about the term "Swach". Will holding brooms solve any issues ? Littering has been an age old habit - the difference we have is in the type of material we litter. In olden times we littered banana leaves while travelling by train that added more nutrition into the soil. Today we litter aluminum foils that wrap chapathis or kurkure / lays packets that can never be recycled ! 

The core issues lie in manufacturing, toxic waste disposal, packaging , toxic industries in close proximity to our food and water sources (forests, rivers and agricultural land). Can a govt who has shown such amazing speed in clearing industrial projects think of stopping a process that would be hard on the mass producing industries ? Below are my humble views working in waste management at the urban level.

Swach Bharath should be about enforcement of existing laws that would instill "right behaviour" in the mass producing industries. Can the new Govt  bend the industry to bring in targets for waste reduction at a policy level for every Industry segment ? Can there be targets set for every big city to reduce their dependency on landfills ? 

1. STOP industries dumping toxic effluents into the Gangas and Cauveries of this country.

2. STOP category A toxic industries coming up in the ECO Fragile areas - all over Western ghats, all over Himalayas ; close proximity to forests, rivers, lakes and any natural body

3. STOP giving permission to start new landfills and reduce burden on existing ones

4. Ban all plastic covers from all shops, irrespective of microns. Start with malls first and then move to smaller vendors. 

5.Ban tetrapacks that are energy intensive to recycle

6.Stop the Kurukures, lays manufactures of India packing in 3 layer packaging that is impossible to recycle 

7.Stop sanitary pad makers remove the plastic lining that junks the rivers, streams and water bodies . Promote groups like Eco Femme as womens' collective in villages .

8. Ask all cellphone industry to start a unit for "REPAIR" which is cost effective for consumers. Provide incentive for sending old phones to recycling units

9. STOP manufacturing CFL and promote LEDs

10. Enforce medical waste handling for every hospital that is given permission to operate

 11. Start eWaste and Medical waste recycling facility in every town. Provide more dry waste collection centres.

12. Give permission to open up food joints/ greater than 200 sized apartments / malls only with a biogas implementation. Old food joints should be charged penalty for not implementing wet waste handling at source. 

13. SHUT down polluting industries causing human and animal health issues

and the list goes on..

Fundamentally when we allow "make in India" , the foreign companies MUST cater to the environmental laws of this country so that we do not have another Union Carbide or Plachimada repeating.  "Swach " must start in the minds of the politicians in ensuring the intentions are truly "pro people" - " people" means those from the lowest strata of this country and not the high profile industries of this country.

 Let the Pourakarmikas hold the brooms .  The govt can ensure they are paid well for handling what the ministers cannot do. Ministers SHOULD go beyond the brooms and ensure atleast the list above is catered to in every nook and corner of India.