Rain Water Harvesting – Complete Coverage
*Note:- This article provides for a step by step guide on how any individual or a group can go for rain water harvesting and what is the correct way to go about it.All most all of us know what is rain water harvesting is, hence instead of writing an article on rain water harvesting itself, we tried to give it an utilitarian prospect.If you know how to do it , then you know better than the other person who only knows what it is .
What is RWH?
Rain water harvesting is collection and storage of rain water that runs off from roof tops, parks, roads, open grounds, etc. This water run off can be either stored or recharged into the ground water. A rainwater harvesting systems consists of the following components:
- catchment from where water is captured and stored or recharged,
- conveyance system that carries the water harvested from the catchment to the storage/recharge zone,
- first flush that is used to flush out the first spell of rain,
- filter used to remove pollutants,
- storage tanks and/or various recharge structures.
Why RWH?
Rain may soon be the only source of clean water. Rainwater harvesting systems use the principle of conserving rainwater where it falls and have the following benefits:
1)Helps meet ever increasing demand of water.
2)Improves quality and quantity of groundwater.
3)Reduces flooding.
Where Can it be done ?
1)Individual homes
2)Colonies
3)Apartments
I4)nstitutions
5)Schools/colleges/universities
6)Clubs
7)Hospitals
8)Industries
9)Slums
Everywhere……the potential for rainwater harvesting is huge
How to do it :-
Step 1- Information Collection
A)Types, area and location of catchment:-
Different types of catchments are to be marked on the site plan. The collection efficiency of a particular catchment will be determined by the fact whether the catchment will be paved, unpaved or roof.
Area of the catchments
The amount of rainfall that will be collected will depend directly on the area of the catchment-the larger the area, the more the water. The area from where water would be collected will be arrived at by multiplying the length by the breadth of this space under the roof.
Location of the catchments
The quality of water that will be collected from the catchment will depend on the location of the catchment. Roof catchment provides the best quality of water. In areas where the catchments are open to contamination or are chemically treated then the water must be treated before being used for any purpose. Care must be taken when harvesting water from industrial areas.
| Type of catchments | Possible contamination |
| Industrial areas | Toxic materials such as oil, grease, heavy metals |
| Roads, highways, parking areas | Oil, grease, dust |
| Agricultural areas, lawns, gardens | Pesticides, fertilisers, silt |
B)Rainfall
There are four types of rainfall information:-
The annual average rainfall: Will give an overall picture of the total amount of water that can be collected.
The pattern of rainfall over different months: Will tell you when the rainfall is available – is it available most of the year or only during a certain part of the year.
Number of rainy days: Will give an indication to decide whether to store the rainwater or to recharge it. If most of the rainfall comes only in a short span of time, then it is better to recharge the aquifer.
The peak rainfall intensity: Will give an indication to design the size of the storage or recharge structure. The sizing will be based on how much water will need to be stored or recharged during the most intense spell of rain.
C)Geological and hydrogeological data
For systems where the harvested rainwater will be used to recharge the aquifer, selection of site is important. Information must be collected on the following:-
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| Soil | Poor or well sorted sand or gravel, fine sand, silt, loam, layered or unweathered clay | Sand, sandy loam and loamy sand soils have high infiltration rates. Silty loam or loam has moderate infiltration rates and clayey soils or consolidated rocks have low infiltration rates. |
| Rocks | Fractured or massive rocks, sandstone, limestone | Hard massive rocks are conducive to recharge |
| Aquifer | Confined or unconfined, perched, thickness of aquifer | The aquifer should be unconfined and must have good hydraulic conductivity as well as transmissivity so that the water that is recharged is quickly spread horizontally to prevent a water mound forming below the surface. |
| Depth of water table | Shallow or deep water table zones | The aquifer must not be at shallow depths and should be at least 8-10 metres below the ground level. |
The size of the water harvesting structure is determined by two factors – how much is needed and how much is available.
- Quantity of water currently used: This will give the total water demand and an indication of what portion of this total water need can be met from rainwater harvesting.
- Per capita water demand: In case one cannot find out the exact amount of water used, one can find out the number of persons and multiply this with the per capita norm for water supply to arrive at the total water demand.
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Water demand during the driest period: This is to estimate the most essential quantum of water needed during the driest period so that plans can be made for rainwater harvesting to meet this minimum need.
E. Legislation and incentives
Today many state governments and city municipalities have passed laws that make it mandatory for existing or new buildings to have rainwater harvesting systems. At the same time, there are also many incentives to motivate people to take up rainwater harvesting.
Step 2 -Study Site Plan
Once all the relevant information has been collected, the next step is to study the site plan:
- From the site plan find out the space available for water harvesting structures. This will determine the size and location of the structures.
- Note the number and location of existing rain water pipes, outlets/spouts.
- Find out if there are any defunct or existing borewells, swimming pool, water storage tanks that can be used for storing the harvested water. In a colony delineate all the open spaces from where water can be harvested as well as stored.
- Determine the natural drainage, slope and location of storm water drains. This will help to lay out the conveyance pipes along the natural drainage patterns. This is particularly important while planning for a large complex or colony.
- Mark the location of plumbing (water and sewage) and electrical lines in the site. Care must be taken to avoid plumbing and electrical lines while constructing the water harvesting structures. In case of project in public places this becomes even more important that underground sewer, water supply and other such cables and lines are not inadvertently destroyed.
- Other information such as the existence and location of generator room, compost pit, waste dump etc also need to be taken into account.
- The water harvesting structures should be as close as possible to the source and use of water.
Step 3 -Calculate Water harvesting potential and demand
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| There is some loss of water due to evaporation or absorption by catchment surfaces and other kinds of losses. The runoff coefficent of a catchment gives you the proportion of the rainwater that can be harvested from the total rainfall. | ||||||
Step 4 -Decide number , type and capacity of structure
Storage, recharge or both: The decision about whether to make storage or recharge structures depends on a number of factors as explained in table below:
| Parameter | Type/condition | Recommended structure |
| Nature of aquifer | Impermeable, non-porous, non-homogeneous, hard rock area | Storage |
| Depth of groundwater table | More than 8 metres | Recharge and storage |
| Nature of terrain | Hilly, rocky or undulating | Storage |
| Uniform or flat, alluvial and sedimentary | Recharge and storage | |
| Nature of soil | Alluvial, sandy, loamy soils, gravel, silty, with boulders or small stones (kankar) | Recharge and storage |
| Clayey soil | Storage | |
| Nature of geological formation | Massive rocks (such as the Deccan trap) | Storage |
| Fractured, faulted or folded rocks, or comprises of weathered, jointed or fissured rocks | Recharge and storage | |
| Nature of rainfall and monsoon | Number of rainy days are more, bimodal monsoon, not intensive, uniformly distributed | Storage |
| Unimodal monsoon, rainfall available only for a few months | Recharge and storage |
Number of structures: The number of tanks will depend on the site conditions, which includes the position and location of the down pipes, the layout of the building, the size of the storage tank, the slope of the roof, the budget and the space available.
Capacity of storage tanks: Those will depend on the type of monsoon, bi-modal or uni-modal, number of rainy days, total demand and the rainfall intensity. If the rainy days are more, a smaller tank is sufficient as the tank can get frequently filled. The size will also depend on the demand and the total rainfall. Where the rainfall intensity is greater, the size will increase.
Location of structures: The location of structures will depend on the layout, the slope, the presence of other services and pipes and proximity to point of use.
Filtration and treatment: The type of filtration method used will depend on the use of the rainwater. If the harvested rainwater is going to be used for toilet or irrigation, then minimal filtration (with sand, gravel) is required to ensure that the water does not contain solid and toxic contaminants. On the other hand, when the water is to be used for drinking, then the level of treatment or filtration should be of high level.
Step 5-Start the Project
After all the above steps are complete, it is necessary to measure the financial requirement and funding but that differs on a case by case basis and hence must be dealt at project level.
Defense Procurement Policy,2016 :-
Background :-
The Defence Procurement Policy 2016 made public this week is a step forward in increasing the participation of India’s private sector in military manufacturing. It replaces the last DPP unveiled in 2013, and has several recommendations for improving indigenous procurement. The DPP, the governing manual for all defence procurement, was part of a set of military reforms undertaken to address the many deficiencies noticed during the 1999 Kargil war. Since the first one in 2002, the DPP has been revised periodically.
Features:-
The new policy places the highest preference to a newly incorporated procurement class called ‘Buy Indian-IDDM’, with IDDM denoting Indigenous Designed Developed and Manufactured. This category refers to procurement from an Indian vendor, products that are indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 40 per cent local content, or products having 60 per cent indigenous content if not designed and developed within the country.
The policy has also liberalised the threshold for offset liabilities for foreign vendors — now the obligation to invest at least 30 per cent of the contract value in India will kick in at Rs.2,000 crore, a significant increase from the previous Rs.300-crore mark. The policy lays stress on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and on “Make in India”. A 10 per cent weightage has been introduced for superior technology, instead of selecting the lowest bidder only in financial terms.
New Rules on Bio-medical waste management:-
The key highlights of the new notification:-
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The new rule mandates a bar code system for bags and containers containing bio-medical waste, which is a good move as this will restrict the entry of waste in the illegal recycling market. It will also be beneficial to rag-pickers and people dealing with infected solid plastic waste and working in the recycling industries, respectively.
- The purview of the new rules has been expanded to include vaccination camps, blood donation camps, surgical camps and other healthcare activities
- The new rules have reduced the categorization of waste from 10 to four. This will ease the waste segregation process at the source of generation
- A ministry statement said that under the new rules, bedded hospitals will get automatic authorisation while there would be a one-time authorisation for non-bedded hospitals.
- New Rules mandate pre-treatment of lab waste, blood samples, laboratory waste, microbiological waste and blood bags through disinfection or sterilisation on-site in the manner as prescribed by WHO or NACO.
- Under the new Rules, use of chlorinated plastic bags, gloves and blood bags will be phased out within two years. This will be a good step if implemented within the stipulated time of two years as burning of chlorinated plastics often leads to emission of dioxin-furan, a Persistent Organic Pollutant (PoP) that has the potential to cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.
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The new Rules ask for training and regular immunization of all healthcare workers. It needs delineation of proper responsibility of the stakeholders else the issue does not get addressed
Do You Know
1) A newspaper is easily torn vertically but not horizontally. Why is it so?
Ans-
Paper is either `hand-made’ or `machine-made’. The machine used for making paper could be either a cylinder machine or fourdrinier. Newsprint is invariably made on a Fourdrinier.
Tearing strength (`Internal tearing resistance’) is the average force, in grams, required to tear a single sheet of paper under standardized conditions. The fibre orientation in a sheet of paper determines the tearing strength of the paper. If the orientation is at random, the tearing strength will be almost the same in all the directions. This is the case in `hand-made’ and `cylinder-made’ papers.
On the other hand, if the orientation is in one direction, the tear strength will be a minimum along that direction and a maximum along the cross (perpendicular) direction. This is the case in `fourdrinier-made’ paper.
In the case of a paper made on the fourdrinier — essentially, a long continuous wire screen — the fibre orientation is mainly along the direction of travel on the machine, that is, in the machine direction. Hence, in the machine direction, the tear is obtained just by separating the felted fibres, without any significant cutting of the fibres.
But, in the cross direction, the `tear’ is obtained mainly by cutting the fibres. Therefore, a much greater force, vis-�-vis the first case, would be needed.
Thus, a paper is easily torn `vertically’ (in the machine direction) but not `horizontally’ (in the cross direction). Contrastingly, paper is generally stronger (greater tensile strength) in the machine direction than in the cross direction.
2) What is the difference between bacteria and virus?
Ans :-
| Bacteria | Virus | |
|---|---|---|
| Ribosomes | Present | Absent |
| Cell wall | Peptidoglycan / Lipopolysaccharide | No cell wall. Protein coat present instead. |
| Living attributes | Living organism | Opinions differ on whether viruses are a form of life or organic structures that interact with living organisms. |
| Introduction (from Wikipedia) | Bacteria constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a number of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. | A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms. |
| Nucleus | No | No |
| Reproduction | Fission- a form of asexual reproduction | Invades a host cell and takes over the cell causing it to make copies of the viral DNA/RNA. Destroys the host cell releasing new viruses. |
| Number of cells | Unicellular; one cell | No cells; not living |
| Structures | DNA and RNA floating freely in cytoplasm. Has cell wall and cell membrane. | DNA or RNA enclosed inside a coat of protein. |
| Treatment | Antibiotics | Vaccines prevent the spread and antiviral medications help to slow reproduction but can not stop it completely. |
| Enzymes | Yes | Yes, in some |
| Virulence | Yes | Yes |
| Infection | Localized | Systemic |
| Benefits | Some bacteria are beneficial (e.g. certain bacteria are required in the gut) | Viruses are not beneficial. However, a particular virus may be able to destroy brain tumors (see references). Viruses can be useful in genetic engineering. |
| Size | Larger (1000nm) | Smaller (20 – 400nm) |
3)Why do eyes produce tears when tear gas is used?
Ans-
Tear gas, in the form of CN (chlorocetophenone) or CS (chlorobenzylidemalononitrile) is often used for law enforcement. Today, CS has largely replaced CN and is probably the most widely used tear gas internationally. The tear gas is either launched in the form of grenades or aerosol cans so that the liquid becomes an aerosol.
Both CN and CS are skin irritants — they irritate mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs, and cause tearing, sneezing, coughing. The more moisture on our body, the faster the acid is created and tissues are damaged, causing pain. When it is contacted with moist eyes, it affects mucous membranes which initiates glands to shed more tears.
4)Why is fire hot?
Ans-
Chemical reactions can be either exothermic (heat liberation or endothermic (heat absorption). Oxidation reactions are exothermic and reduction reactions are endothermic. Combustion is an oxidation reaction and hence is exothermic.
All liquid, solid, and gaseous fuels contain any one of the three combustibles constituents viz. carbon, hydrogen and sulphur. When a fuel is burnt the heat liberated makes the products of combustion hot.
The products of combustion are carbon dioxide, water vapour and sulphur dioxide. Along with these, the unused oxygen in the atmospheric air supplied for combustion and also the entire quantity of nitrogen which is the major constituent in the air are also heated. That is why fire is hot.
5)Why does our hair change its colour as we age ?
Ans-
Hairs are the appendages of the skin generated from the epidermal layer. Hair is a made up of Keratin a highly insoluble and mechanically stable fibrous protein. This Keratin is not only found in hairs but also in the skin. Actually Keratin is produced from the Keratinisation zone of the epidermis, which is the outer most layer of the skin. In the skin it provides water proofing quality.
The Keratin is generally pigmented. It is intensively pigmented in the hair. The dark black colour of the hair is due to the presence of high concentration of melanin pigments in it. The skin colour is also due to the presence of this pigment in the keratinocytes. The Keratin gets its melanin pigments from melanocytes, which are found in the inner layer of the epidermis, which is found just beneath the keratinizing layer. The melanocytes have long processes which extent between and under the cells of the epidermis. The melanin granules formed in the melanocytes pass along their branches and are secreted at their tips. The granules are subsequently engulfed by the keratinocytes, which make up 90 per cent of the epidermal cells.
Melanin is a protein like polymer of the amino acid tyrocin. In its biosynthesis tyrocin is converted in to dihydroxy phenyl alanine (DHPA) by oxidative enzymes amongst which tyrocin is particularly important. Then a series of reactions take place during which polymerisation occurs to form the final melanoprotein.
The hair grows only from the keratinocytes of the germinal matrix of the hair follicle. This germinal matrix lies in the proximal enlargement of the root hair, called the hair bulb. The hair shaft, which projects from the surface, consists of an inner medulla, an intermediate cortex and an outer cuticle. All these parts are made up of cornified cells. The medulla is composed of polyhedral cells; the cortex consists of elongated cells with inner lumen. These cells are united to form flattened fusiform fibers. The lumens of these cells contain pigmented granules in dark hair and air space in white hair.
The development of white hairs because of the absence of melanin pigments, may be due to the absence of one or more enzymes, necessary for the DHPA path way. It will lead to the failure of melanin accumulation in the keratinocytes, found in the hair bulb, from which hair is growing. Usually such physiological disorder occurs in the old age, which results in the growing of gray and white hairs in the body.
6) Why does a ship sinks more during the day than at night?
Ans-
The phenomenon of floating is governed by the property known as density. Less dense substances float over more dense liquids. Density of substances is alterable by temperature. It decreases with the increase of temperature. Water has maximum density at 4oC (note that water at 0oC, that is ice, is less dense and hence floats) namely, 1000 kg/m3.
Density of water also changes with the amount of dissolved substances present in it. Density of sea water at 14oC is 1026.00 kg/m3; but it is only 999.27 kg/m3 for pure water. It is well known that bathers can float in “Dead Sea.” This is because of its extreme salinity. The salt content of it is 25 per cent. That means dead sea is seven times as salty as the ocean. Ships will sink to a more depth when they enter from ocean into river water and vice versa.
During the day, temperature of sea water is greater and hence density is lower. Hence ship sinks more in the water in the day.
7) How can we test the purity of honey?
Ans-
A cotton wick dipped in pure honey when lighted with a matchstick burns and shows the purity of honey. If adulterated, the presence of water will not allow the honey to burn, If it does, it will produce a cracking sound. Generally honey is adulterated by adding a syrup of jaggery. Pure honey does not dissolve in water but impure honey dissolves. So to test it mix a spoon of honey in a cup of water and find out whether it dissolves to check its purity.
8) What is artificial blood?
Ans- A blood substitute (also called artificial blood or blood surrogates) is a substance used to mimic and fulfill some functions of biological blood. It aims to provide an alternative to blood transfusion, which is transferring blood or blood-based products from one person into another.While true blood serves many different functions, artificial blood is designed for the sole purpose of transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide throughout the body. Depending on the type of artificial blood, it can be produced in different ways using synthetic production, chemical isolation, or recombinant biochemical technology.
Recent Posts
- Items provided through FPS
- The scale of rations
- The price of items distributed through FPS across states.
- Kyoto Protocol of 2001
- Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) as well as REDD+ mechanisms proposed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- United Nations-mandated Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG)
- Paris Agreement
- Carbon Neutrality
- multistrata agroforestry,
- afforestation,
- tree intercropping,
- biomass production,
- regenerative agriculture,
- conservation agriculture,
- farmland restoration,
- silvopasture,
- tropical-staple tree,
- intercropping,
- bamboo and indigenous tree–based land management.
Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.
Consider this hypothetical situation: Rajalakshmi, from a remote Karnataka village spots a business opportunity.
She knows that flowers, discarded in the thousands by temples can be handcrafted into incense sticks.
She wants to find a market for the product and hopefully, employ some people to help her. Soon enough though, she discovers that starting a business is a herculean task for a person like her.
There is a laborious process of rules and regulations to go through, bribes to pay on the way and no actual means to transport her product to its market.
After making her first batch of agarbathis and taking it to Bengaluru by bus, she decides the venture is not easy and gives up.
On the flipside of this is a young entrepreneur in Bengaluru. Let’s call him Deepak. He wants to start an internet-based business selling sustainably made agarbathis.
He has no trouble getting investors and to mobilise supply chains. His paperwork is over in a matter of days and his business is set up quickly and ready to grow.
Never mind that the business is built on aggregation of small sellers who will not see half the profit .
Is this scenario really all that hypothetical or emblematic of how we think about entrepreneurship in India?
Between our national obsession with unicorns on one side and glorifying the person running a pakora stall for survival as an example of viable entrepreneurship on the other, is the middle ground in entrepreneurship—a space that should have seen millions of thriving small and medium businesses, but remains so sparsely occupied that you could almost miss it.
If we are to achieve meaningful economic growth in our country, we need to incorporate, in our national conversation on entrepreneurship, ways of addressing the missing middle.
Spread out across India’s small towns and cities, this is a class of entrepreneurs that have been hit by a triple wave over the last five years, buffeted first by the inadvertent fallout of demonetization, being unprepared for GST, and then by the endless pain of the covid-19 pandemic.
As we finally appear to be reaching some level of normality, now is the opportune time to identify the kind of industries that make up this layer, the opportunities they should be afforded, and the best ways to scale up their functioning in the shortest time frame.
But, why pay so much attention to these industries when we should be celebrating, as we do, our booming startup space?
It is indeed true that India has the third largest number of unicorns in the world now, adding 42 in 2021 alone. Braving all the disruptions of the pandemic, it was a year in which Indian startups raised $24.1 billion in equity investments, according to a NASSCOM-Zinnov report last year.
However, this is a story of lopsided growth.
The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, and Mumbai together claim three-fourths of these startup deals while emerging hubs like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Jaipur account for the rest.
This leap in the startup space has created 6.6 lakh direct jobs and a few million indirect jobs. Is that good enough for a country that sends 12 million fresh graduates to its workforce every year?
It doesn’t even make a dent on arguably our biggest unemployment in recent history—in April 2020 when the country shutdown to battle covid-19.
Technology-intensive start-ups are constrained in their ability to create jobs—and hybrid work models and artificial intelligence (AI) have further accelerated unemployment.
What we need to focus on, therefore, is the labour-intensive micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME). Here, we begin to get to a definitional notion of what we called the mundane middle and the problems it currently faces.
India has an estimated 63 million enterprises. But, out of 100 companies, 95 are micro enterprises—employing less than five people, four are small to medium and barely one is large.
The questions to ask are: why are Indian MSMEs failing to grow from micro to small and medium and then be spurred on to make the leap into large companies?
At the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), we have advocated for a National Mission for Mass Entrepreneurship, the need for which is more pronounced now than ever before.
Whenever India has worked to achieve a significant economic milestone in a limited span of time, it has worked best in mission mode. Think of the Green Revolution or Operation Flood.
From across various states, there are enough examples of approaches that work to catalyse mass entrepreneurship.
The introduction of entrepreneurship mindset curriculum (EMC) in schools through alliance mode of working by a number of agencies has shown significant improvement in academic and life outcomes.
Through creative teaching methods, students are encouraged to inculcate 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and leadership which are not only foundational for entrepreneurship but essential to thrive in our complex world.
Udhyam Learning Foundation has been involved with the Government of Delhi since 2018 to help young people across over 1,000 schools to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
One pilot programme introduced the concept of ‘seed money’ and saw 41 students turn their ideas into profit-making ventures. Other programmes teach qualities like grit and resourcefulness.
If you think these are isolated examples, consider some larger data trends.
The Observer Research Foundation and The World Economic Forum released the Young India and Work: A Survey of Youth Aspirations in 2018.
When asked which type of work arrangement they prefer, 49% of the youth surveyed said they prefer a job in the public sector.
However, 38% selected self-employment as an entrepreneur as their ideal type of job. The spirit of entrepreneurship is latent and waiting to be unleashed.
The same can be said for building networks of successful women entrepreneurs—so crucial when the participation of women in the Indian economy has declined to an abysmal 20%.
The majority of India’s 63 million firms are informal —fewer than 20% are registered for GST.
Research shows that companies that start out as formal enterprises become two-three times more productive than a similar informal business.
So why do firms prefer to be informal? In most cases, it’s because of the sheer cost and difficulty of complying with the different regulations.
We have academia and non-profits working as ecosystem enablers providing insights and evidence-based models for growth. We have large private corporations and philanthropic and funding agencies ready to invest.
It should be in the scope of a National Mass Entrepreneurship Mission to bring all of them together to work in mission mode so that the gap between thought leadership and action can finally be bridged.
Heat wave is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to human body when exposed. Often times, it is defined based on the temperature thresholds over a region in terms of actual temperature or its departure from normal.
Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 400C or more for Plains and at least 300C or more for Hilly regions.
a) Based on Departure from Normal
Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.50C to 6.40C
Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.40C
b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature
Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 450C
Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥470C
If above criteria met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological sub-division for at least two consecutive days and it declared on the second day
It is occurring mainly during March to June and in some rare cases even in July. The peak month of the heat wave over India is May.
Heat wave generally occurs over plains of northwest India, Central, East & north Peninsular India during March to June.
It covers Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra & Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.
Sometimes it occurs over Tamilnadu & Kerala also.
Heat waves adversely affect human and animal lives.
However, maximum temperatures more than 45°C observed mainly over Rajasthan and Vidarbha region in month of May.
a. Transportation / Prevalence of hot dry air over a region (There should be a region of warm dry air and appropriate flow pattern for transporting hot air over the region).
b. Absence of moisture in the upper atmosphere (As the presence of moisture restricts the temperature rise).
c. The sky should be practically cloudless (To allow maximum insulation over the region).
d. Large amplitude anti-cyclonic flow over the area.
Heat waves generally develop over Northwest India and spread gradually eastwards & southwards but not westwards (since the prevailing winds during the season are westerly to northwesterly).
The health impacts of Heat Waves typically involve dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. The signs and symptoms are as follows:
1. Heat Cramps: Ederna (swelling) and Syncope (Fainting) generally accompanied by fever below 39*C i.e.102*F.
2. Heat Exhaustion: Fatigue, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and sweating.
3. Heat Stoke: Body temperatures of 40*C i.e. 104*F or more along with delirium, seizures or coma. This is a potential fatal condition.
Norman Borlaug and MS Swaminathan in a wheat field in north India in March 1964
Political independence does not have much meaning without economic independence.
One of the important indicators of economic independence is self-sufficiency in food grain production.
The overall food grain scenario in India has undergone a drastic transformation in the last 75 years.
India was a food-deficit country on the eve of Independence. It had to import foodgrains to feed its people.
The situation became more acute during the 1960s. The imported food had to be sent to households within the shortest possible time.
The situation was referred to as ‘ship to mouth’.
Presently, Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns are overflowing with food grain stocks and the Union government is unable to ensure remunerative price to the farmers for their produce.
This transformation, however, was not smooth.
In the 1960s, it was disgraceful, but unavoidable for the Prime Minister of India to go to foreign countries with a begging bowl.
To avoid such situations, the government motivated agricultural scientists to make India self-sufficient in food grain production.
As a result, high-yield varieties (HYV) were developed. The combination of seeds, water and fertiliser gave a boost to food grain production in the country which is generally referred to as the Green Revolution.
The impact of the Green Revolution, however, was confined to a few areas like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh in the north and (unified) Andhra Pradesh in the south.
Most of the remaining areas were deficit in food grain production.
Therefore the Union government had to procure food grain from surplus states to distribute it among deficit ones.
At the time, farmers in the surplus states viewed procurement as a tax as they were prevented from selling their surplus foodgrains at high prices in the deficit states.
As production of food grains increased, there was decentralisation of procurement. State governments were permitted to procure grain to meet their requirement.
The distribution of food grains was left to the concerned state governments.
Kerala, for instance, was totally a deficit state and had to adopt a distribution policy which was almost universal in nature.
Some states adopted a vigorous public distribution system (PDS) policy.
It is not out of place to narrate an interesting incident regarding food grain distribution in Andhra Pradesh. The Government of Andhra Pradesh in the early 1980s implemented a highly subsidised rice scheme under which poor households were given five kilograms of rice per person per month, subject to a ceiling of 25 kilograms at Rs 2 per kg. The state government required two million tonnes of rice to implement the scheme. But it received only on one million tonne from the Union government.
The state government had to purchase another million tonne of rice from rice millers in the state at a negotiated price, which was higher than the procurement price offered by the Centre, but lower than the open market price.
A large number of studies have revealed that many poor households have been excluded from the PDS network, while many undeserving households have managed to get benefits from it.
Various policy measures have been implemented to streamline PDS. A revamped PDS was introduced in 1992 to make food grain easily accessible to people in tribal and hilly areas, by providing relatively higher subsidies.
Targeted PDS was launched in 1997 to focus on households below the poverty line (BPL).
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was introduced to cover the poorest of the poor.
Annapoorna Scheme was introduced in 2001 to distribute 10 kg of food grains free of cost to destitutes above the age of 65 years.
In 2013, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) was passed by Parliament to expand and legalise the entitlement.
Conventionally, a card holder has to go to a particular fair price shop (FPS) and that particular shop has to be open when s/he visits it. Stock must be available in the shop. The card holder should also have sufficient time to stand in the queue to purchase his quota. The card holder has to put with rough treatment at the hands of a FPS dealer.
These problems do not exist once ration cards become smart cards. A card holder can go to any shop which is open and has available stocks. In short, the scheme has become card holder-friendly and curbed the monopoly power of the FPS dealer. Some states other than Chhattisgarh are also trying to introduce such a scheme on an experimental basis.
More recently, the Government of India has introduced a scheme called ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ which enables migrant labourers to purchase rations from the place where they reside. In August 2021, it was operational in 34 states and Union territories.
The intentions of the scheme are good but there are some hurdles in its implementation which need to be addressed. These problems arise on account of variation in:
It is not clear whether a migrant labourer gets items provided in his/her native state or those in the state s/he has migrated to and what prices will s/he be able to purchase them.
The Centre must learn lessons from the experiences of different countries in order to make PDS sustainable in the long-run.
For instance, Sri Lanka recently shifted to organic manure from chemical fertiliser without required planning. Consequently, it had to face an acute food shortage due to a shortage of organic manure.
Some analysts have cautioned against excessive dependence on chemical fertiliser.
Phosphorus is an important input in the production of chemical fertiliser and about 70-80 per cent of known resources of phosphorus are available only in Morocco.
There is possibility that Morocco may manipulate the price of phosphorus.
Providing excessive subsidies and unemployment relief may make people dependent, as in the case of Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
It is better to teach a person how to catch a fish rather than give free fish to him / her.
Hence, the government should give the right amount of subsidy to deserving people.
The government has to increase livestock as in the case of Uruguay to make the food basket broad-based and nutritious. It has to see to it that the organic content in the soil is adequate, in order to make cultivation environmentally-friendly and sustainable in the long-run.
In short, India has transformed from a food-deficit state to a food-surplus one 75 years after independence. However, the government must adopt environmental-friendly measures to sustain this achievement.
Agroforestry is an intentional integration of trees on farmland.
Globally, it is practised by 1.2 billion people on 10 per cent area of total agricultural lands (over 1 billion hectares).
It is widely popular as ‘a low hanging fruit’ due to its multifarious tangible and intangible benefits.
The net carbon sequestered in agroforestry is 11.35 tonnes of carbon per ha
A panacea for global issues such as climate change, land degradation, pollution and food security, agroforestry is highlighted as a key strategy to fulfil several targets:
In 2017, a New York Times bestseller Project Drawdown published by 200 scientists around the world with a goal of reversing climate change, came up with the most plausible 100 solutions to slash–down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Out of these 100 solutions, 11 strategies were highlighted under the umbrella of agroforestry such as:-
Nowadays, tree-based farming in India is considered a silver bullet to cure all issues.
It was promoted under the Green India mission of 2001, six out of eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and National Agroforestry and Bamboo Mission (NABM), 2017 to bring a third of the geographical area under tree cover and offsetting GHG emissions.
These long-term attempts by the Government of India have helped enhance the agroforestry area to 13.75 million hectares.
The net carbon sequestered in agroforestry is 11.35 tonnes of carbon per ha and carbon sequestration potential is 0.35 tonnes of carbon per ha per year at the country level, according to the Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi.
India will reduce an additional 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 by increasing tree cover. This extra tree cover could be achieved through agroforestry systems because of their ability to withstand minimum inputs under extreme situations.
Here are some examples which portray the role of agroforestry in achieving at least nine out of the 17 SDGs through sustainable food production, ecosystem services and economic benefits:
SDG 1 — No Poverty: Almost 736 million people still live in extreme poverty. Diversification through integrating trees in agriculture unlocks the treasure to provide multifunctional benefits.
Studies carried out in 2003 in the arid regions of India reported a 10-15 per cent increase in crop yield with Prosopis cineraria (khejari). Adoption of agroforestry increases income & production by reducing the cost of input & production.
SDG 2 — Zero hunger: Tree-based systems provide food and monetary returns. Traditional agroforestry systems like Prosopis cineraria and Madhuca longifolia (Mahua) provide edible returns during drought years known as “lifeline to the poor people”.
Studies showed that 26-50 per cent of households involved in tree products collection and selling act as a coping strategy to deal with hunger.
SDG 3 — Good health and well-being: Human wellbeing and health are depicted through the extent of healthy ecosystems and services they provide.
Agroforestry contributes increased access to diverse nutritious food, supply of medicine, clean air and reduces heat stress.
Vegetative buffers can filter airstreams of particulates by removing dust, gas, microbial constituents and heavy metals.
SDG 5 — Gender equality: Throughout the world around 3 billion people depend on firewood for cooking.
In this, women are the main collectors and it brings drudgery and health issues.
A study from India stated that almost 374 hours per year are spent by women for collection of firewood. Growing trees nearby provides easy access to firewood and diverts time to productive purposes.
SDG 6 — Clean Water and Sanitation: Water is probably the most vital resource for our survival. The inherent capacity of trees offers hydrological regulation as evapotranspiration recharges atmospheric moisture for rainfall; enhanced soil infiltration recharges groundwater; obstructs sediment flow; rainwater filtration by accumulation of heavy metals.
An extensive study in 35 nations published in 2017 concluded that 30 per cent of tree cover in watersheds resulted in improved sanitisation and reduced diarrheal disease.
SDG 7 — Affordable & Clean Energy: Wood fuels are the only source of energy to billions of poverty-stricken people.
Though trees are substitutes of natural forests, modern technologies in the form of biofuels, ethanol, electricity generation and dendro-biomass sources are truly affordable and clean.
Ideal agroforestry models possess fast-growing, high coppicing, higher calorific value and short rotation (2-3 years) characteristics and provide biomass of 200-400 tonnes per ha.
SDG 12 — Responsible consumption and production: The production of agricultural and wood-based commodities on a sustainable basis without depleting natural resources and as low as external inputs (chemical fertilisers and pesticides) to reduce the ecological footprints.
SDG 13 — Climate action: Globally, agricultural production accounts for up to 24 per cent of GHG emissions from around 22.2 million square km of agricultural area, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
A 2016 study depicted that conversion of agricultural land to agroforestry sequesters about 27.2± 13.5 tonnes CO2 equivalent per ha per year after establishment of systems.
Trees on farmland mitigate 109.34 million tonnes CO2 equivalent annually from 15.31 million ha, according to a 2017 report. This may offset a third of the total GHG emissions from the agriculture sector of India.
SDG 15 — Life on Land: Agroforestry ‘mimics the forest ecosystem’ to contribute conservation of flora and faunas, creating corridors, buffers to existing reserves and multi-functional landscapes.
Delivery of ecosystem services of trees regulates life on land. A one-hectare area of homegardens in Kerala was found to have 992 trees from 66 species belonging to 31 families, a recent study showed.
The report of the World Agroforestry Centre highlighted those 22 countries that have registered agroforestry as a key strategy in achieving their unconditional national contributions.
Recently, the Government of India has allocated significant financial support for promotion of agroforestry at grassroot level to make the Indian economy as carbon neutral. This makes agroforestry a low-hanging fruit to achieve the global goals.