The state of Uttarakhand has got its first Ramsar Site—a wetland of international importance. The Asan Conservation Reserve, located on the banks of River Yamuna in Garhwal region in Dehradun district, was designated as the Ramsar Site. The nearest town or population centre of this Conservation Reserve about 8 kms away, at Herbertpur. It falls under the Indo-Gangetic monsoon forest wetlands category, based on the categorisation by Hussain and Dey Roy (ZSI 2003).Asan Conservation Reserve—a human-made wetland cleared five out of the nine criteria needed to be declared a Ramsar Site and get identified as a Wetland of International Importance. The criteria cleared are rare species and threatened ecological communities, biological diversity, support during critical life cycle stage or in adverse conditions, more than one per cent waterbird population and fish spawning grounds. This wetland, primarily a freshwater system, has been created by the Asan reservoir. It is a perennial habitat and is fed by the river Asan and smaller discharge channels of river Yamuna.
A notified Conservation Reserve
Asan wetland is a 444 ha portion running along the Asan River, stretching to the confluence with the Yamuna River. It is also a conservation reserve, a protected area that typically acts as a buffer or a connector. Asan, therefore, serves as a migration corridor between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests in the region. The Uttarakhand Government had notified Asan as a conservation reserve under Section 36A of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Asan River, originating at Chandrabani in the foothills of the Shivalik hills, flows for about 40 kms before merging with the Yamuna at Dhalipur. The unique feature of this river is that unlike other rivers which flow north to south, it flows in a west to east direction. The reservoir remains filled throughout the year, fed by the Asan river and several other minor channels in a perennial manner.
Fauna Diversity
The damming of the river and consequent siltation above the dam wall has created favourable habitat for avian species. It supports 330 species of birds that include even endangered vulture species such as red-headed vulture and white-rumped vulture. Some of the other bird species that can be sited in this wetlands are Ruddy shelduck, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Painted Stork and Bar-headed Goose. The ecosystem, which includes grasses and trees, supports many wintering birds, particularly waterbirds. It is therefore aptly described as the ‘paradise of wintering birds.’
Besides birds, the Asan reserve also supports 49 fish species, which includes the endangered Putitor mahseer.
What are Ramsar Sites?
Ramsar Sites are a list of wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands adopted on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The Convention on Wetlands came into force for India on February 1, 1982. There are over 2,000 “Ramsar Sites” on the territories of over 160 Contracting Parties across the world. As of October 2020, India has 39 Ramsar sites—third highest in Asia and the highest in South Asia.
In general, wetlands provide many ecological services, including clean water, flood abatement, wildlife habitat, recreation, tourism, fishing and groundwater recharge. Countries where wetlands are designated as the Ramsar Sites, agree to establish and oversee a management framework aimed at conserving the wetland and ensuring its wise use. Ramsar Convention defines the ‘wise use’ of wetlands as ‘the maintenance of their ecological character, achieved through the implementation of ecosystem approaches, within the context of sustainable development’. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has also notified the new Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules 2017. This is also known as the Wetlands rules in which ‘wise use’ has been appropriately defined. The Rule has outlined permitted and not-permitted activities in the notified wetlands, including the Ramsar Sites. Wise use allows local people to practise sustainable agriculture, fishing, forestry and tourism using the available renewable resources. In a nutshell, wise use emphasises the sustainable management of these ecosystems by humans which is compatible with conservation. Besides, the Ramsar tag gives international importance to a wetland, which increases its publicity and brings prestige and prominence. In this way, it encourages sustainable tourism and uplifts the life of the local community.
Ramsar Sites in India
Ramsar sites are wetlands considered to be of international importance. The Ramsar convention, an international body, forms the basis for identification of such wetlands. The international treaty came into effect in 1971 after identifying the first such wetland at the Ramsar city of Iran. The Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
- Wular Lake, Jammu& Kashmir
Freshwater Lake
18,900 ha
Largest freshwater lake of river Jhelum Basin. Provides flood protection to Kashmir Valley.
- Hokera, Jammu&Kashmir
Freshwater marsh
1,375 haHaven for water birds
- Surisnsar-Mansar Lakes, Jammu & Kashmir
Freshwater lake
350 ha
Wildlife sanctuary and a sacred site supporting several species of high conservation value
- Tsomoriri, Jammu & Kashmir
Freshwater-saline lake
12,000 ha
Breeding ground for endangered black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) and bar-headed geese (Anser indicus)
- Chandertal, Himachal Pradesh
Freshwater lake
49 ha
Natural habitat to rare flora and fauna species of alphine region
- Pong Dam lake, Himachal Pradesh
Reservoir
15,662 ha
The Maharana Pratap Sagar created by Pong Dam supports highly diverse waterbird habitats
- Kanjili, Punjab
Impounded stream
183 ha
Storage area for irrigation.
- Harike Lake, Punjab
Reservoir
4,100 ha
It is the main source of water for Indira Gandhi that irrigates Rajasthan.
- Ropar, Punjab
Freshwater lake
1,365 ha
Important bird watching and boating site.
- Renuka, Himachal Pradesh
Freshwater Lake
20 ha
A natural wetland with freshwater springs
- Sambhar Lake
Saline lake
24,000 ha
Second largest breeding ground for flamingos in India
- Keoladeo National Park (KNP), Rajasthan
Freshwater swamps
2,873 ha
Known as the Bharatpur bird sanctuary, also a world heritage site.
- Upper Ganga River (Brijghat to Narora Stretch)
River stretch
26,590 ha
Ganga river dolphin, crocodile and otters are some of the mammalian species found here.
- Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary, Gujarat
Freshwater lake
4,100 ha
Largest wetland bird sanctuary in Gujarat with around 250 species of water birds
- Bhoj Wetland, Madhya Pradesh
Reservvoir
3,201 ha
Main source of water for Bhopal City
16. Deepor Beel, Assam
Freshwater lake
4,000 ha
Supports high concentration of migratory waterbird
17. Loktak Lake, Manipur
Freshwater marsh
26,600 ha
The only known natural habitat for Manipur brow-antlered deer
18. Rudrasagar lake, Tripura
Freshwater lake
240 ha
Ideal habitat for riverine fish species
19. East Kolkata Wetlands, West Bengal
Sewage fed fish ponds
12,500 ha
These wetlands treat the city’s sewage and provides for fish and vegetables
20. Bhitarkanika Mangroves, Odisha
Mangrove swamps
65,000 ha
Home to endangered salt water crocodiles and Gahirmatha beach is the largest known Olive Ridley sea turtle nestling in the world.
21. Chilika, Odisha
Lagoon
1,16,500 ha
One of the only two lagoons with population of Irrawaddy dolphins. Its rich fishery resources sustains 0.2 million fishers
.
22. Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh
Freshwarer lake
90,100 ha
Acts as a flood balancing reservoir and was once known for its spot-billed pelicans sighting.
23. Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu
Coastal swamps and salt pans
38,500 ha
Supports high diversity of water bird
24. Vembanad-Kol, Kerala
Floodplain estuary complex
1,51,250 ha
Known for backwater tourism and rich source of live and sub-fossil clam deposits.
25. Ashtamudi, Kerala
Estuary
61,400 ha
A palm shaped estuary with eight branches, gateway to the backwaters of Kerala.
26. Sashthamkotta Lake, Kerala
Freshwater lake
373 ha
Source of drinking water for half a million people in Kollam City and its suburbs.
- Sundarban Wetland, West Bengal
The largest mangrove forest in the world that encompasses hundreds of islands and a maze of rivers, rivulets and creeks
423,000 ha
Constitutes over 60 per cent of India’s total mangrove forest area and includes 90 per cent of the Indian mangrove species.
- Nandur Madhameshwar, Maharashtra
Lakes, marshes and riparian forest
1437 ha
Formed by shallow backwaters of Nandur Madhmeshwar dam and is also a bird sanctuary.
- Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve, Punjab
A mosaic of natural marshes, aquaculture ponds and agricultural wetlands
343.9 ha
A community-managed wetland, which provides food for people and supports local biodiversity.
- Samaspur Bird Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh
Perennial lowland marsh
799 ha
Six connected lakes are heavily dependent on monsoon rains and harbours threatened bird species.
- Parvati Agra Bird Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh
A permanent freshwater environment consisting of two oxbow lakes
722 ha
Roosting and breeding sites with over 100,000 birds and a refuge for some of India’s threatened vulture species.
- Sarsai Nawar Jheel, Uttar Pradesh
A permanent marsh
161 ha
An example of co-habitation of humans and wildlife and sustaining the vulnerable Sarus crane.
- Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab
A human-made reservoir
116 ha
Supports abundant flora and fauna including Indian pangolin, Egyptian vulture and the leopard.
- Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh
A shallow marshland
225 ha
Known as a haven for birds, with 25,000 waterbirds regularly recorded.
- Sandi Bird Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh
A freshwater marsh
308.5 ha
A typical Indo-Gangetic plains wetlands and a habitat for waterfowl with over 40,000 individuals counted in 2018.
- Beas Conservation Reserve, Punjab
A stretch of the Beas River
6428.9 ha
Dotted with islands, sand bars and braided channels creating a complex environment supporting substantial biodiversity and hosts the only known population in India of the endangered Indus river dolphin.
- Saman Bird Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh
A seasonal oxbow lake on the Ganges floodplain
526.3 ha
A wintering site for many migrants including the greylag goose.
- Asan Conservation Reserve, Uttarakhand
A stretch of the Asan River running down to its confluence with the Yamuna River
444.4 ha
Supports 330 species of birds including red-headed vulture, white-rumped vulture and Baer’s pochard
- Kabartal Wetland, Bihar
Also known as Kanwar Jheel located in the Indo-Gangetic plains
2,620 ha
An important stopover along the Central Asian Flyway.
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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.