On the night of 22 September 1914, Madras city was winding up another hectic day. Since the disturbances of World War 1 had not affected South India, days and nights were peaceful and as any other day, the city was getting ready for a night’s slumber, downing its lights one by one. At 9.45 pm, a ship, ‘The Swan of the East,’ slipped in stealthy and dropped anchor at the harbor.
A few minutes later, the peace of the night was shattered by the roar of cannons that aimed for British oil tanks erected on the harbor. The attack was lethal, precise and swift and in minutes, about 10 lakh liters of kerosene stocked in the tankers burst into flames lighting up Madras city as if it was mid day. SMS Emden had struck Madras!
On that fateful day, Madras had a providential escape, thanks to winds that were blowing out to the sea. Shaken by the boldness of the attack that challenged the British naval might, the people of Madras shuddered at the thought that SMS Emden had hit their city; the same ship that is believed to have caused maximum damage to its enemies in the history of naval warfare.
Even though the ship had not aimed for other parts of the city and the few shots that fell elsewhere were those that had missed their targets, the attack prompted an exodus from the city. By then, Emden had entered into the coastal waters of Kerala. It hung around the Minicoy Islands in Lakshwadeep from October 15 for five days and during that time sank five British vessels. However, enemy sailors were not left to die on the seas. A ship that was carrying sugarcane from Sri Lanka to New York, St Egbert, was captured by SMS Emden and all the enemy sailors, about 350 of them, were sent home to Kochi Harbor on it. Perhaps, inspired by this audacious impunity of SMS Emden in the waters of Kerala, ‘Emanden’ which means gigantic, huge or even demonic, became local parlance.
Meanwhile, stories began to circulate about the exploits of SMS Emden and especially about the second officer in charge of the ship, presumed to be Chempaka Raman Pillai. It is believed that the city of Madras was spared a more destructive fate because Raman Pillai was in command.
An English lady wrote during that time that some German sailors who had alighted at Kochi from St Egbert had dined at a Jew’s house. It is believed that one of them was Chempaka Raman Pillai, a man who wanted to create an anti-British army and redeem India from British rule. The attack by SMS Emden was reportedly part of the plan. Tamil Nadu still remembers the unexpected attack on the night of 22 September 1914, and stories about Raman Pillai’s exploits still do the rounds.
Eight years ago, chief minister Karunanidhi had unveiled a statue of Chempaka Raman Pillai at the Gandhi Mandapam Campus in Chennai. Kerala, however, has long forgotten the patriot, except for the word, ‘Emandan,’ which itself has lost its real meaning and continues to be used as a cheap mimicry on the valor of the man and his sincere designs for independent India.
Who was Chempaka Raman Pillai and how did he reach Germany?
There was once a small home at the same spot where the AG’s office is now situated, near the secretariat, in Thiruvananthapuram. There the family of Raman Pillai, alias Venkidi, used to stay. While studying in Model School, he rallied against the British and shouted ‘Jai Hind’ in the school campus. Fearing retribution, the frightened principal called in the police. A constable, Chinnaswami Pillai, was sent to investigate the misdemeanor of the erring kid. It turned out that Venkidi was the son of Chinnaswami Pillai.
During that time, British botanist, Sir Walter Strickland, was camping at Thiruvananthapuram and he had come to study butterflies that were found in the Western Ghats. Here, he met a boy who had presented a paper in a well-known science journal about the ability of spiders to change their color. Strickland was impressed by the skills of the 18-year boy, T. Padmanabha Pillai and took him to Europe for further studies. Along with him, his close friend and neighbor, Chempaka Raman Pillai was also taken to Europe.
Raman Pillai continued his education in Austria and went on to complete his diploma in engineering. He also graduated in public governance and economics and had a grasp over 12 languages. He lived for 20 years in Germany working in German companies in various roles. According to his wife, Lakshmibhai, he had everything to live like a king. However, his destiny would lead him to entirely different and less-fanciful circumstances in life; circumstances that could perhaps be called cruel and unfortunate.
The Emden connection
As per official records, Pillai was not aboard SMS Emden during the two months the ship was traversing the Indian Ocean. He was, as per records, involved in hectic parleys with politicians and like-minded revolutionaries. However, his wife has corroborated the assumption that Pillai had indeed alighted from SMS Emden at Kochi. With or without Pillai, the German ship must have received ample support from Indian revolutionaries. Memoirs of SMS Emden’s first officer, Lt Hellmuth von Mücke, points to this possibility.
After touching the British-Indian waters, SMS Emden had looked to depart via the Indonesian coast. Dr Douwes Dekker, an exiled freedom fighter, remembers that he had extended support to Raman Pillai to attack British India. Even the British Intelligence has gone on records saying that a ‘prominent Indian revolutionary’ had met the German ambassador to Switzerland to appraise him about the plans and strategies of Indian revolutionaries. Raman Pillai is also believed to have been close to the German emperor, according to ornithologist Salim Ali, who had mentioned his meeting with Pillai in Germany in his autobiography.
The plan to attack British India
Pillai formed a group of international pro-Indians in Switzerland, which had taken a neutral stance during the First World War. A publication, ‘Pro India’, was also launched in German and English. He partnered with Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (Chatto), brother of Sarojini Naidu, for the endeavors. John Wellinger, who was in control of the British spy network in those times, is believed to have sent a team under his deputy, ‘R,’ to finish off the revolutionaries. Pillai and Chatto however escaped to Berlin. R turned out to be the famous novelist Somerset Maugham and he later created many characters in his novels based on the life of Indian revolutionaries.
In Berlin, Chatto and Pillai were in the company of many Indian revolutionaries operating under the Indian Independence League. Keralites among them were novelist C.V. Raman Pillai’s nephew A.R. Pillai; A.C. Nanu Nambiar, son of short-story writer, Vengayil Kunjiraman Nair; and T Padmanabha Pillai, whom Chempaka Raman Pillai had accompanied earlier to Europe. Chatto and Raman Pillai (Chempak) formed the Chatto-Chempak Berlin Committee. It received support from other revolutionaries. They decided to mobilize money and weapons on Indian shores.
With the aim of driving out the British and establishing a socialist democracy in India, Pillai travelled across Europe, Asia and German colonies in Africa, incognito. The German foreign office offered money and support and many revolutionaries including, Padmanabha Pillai, returned to India to direct the war against the British.
A vessel was arranged to drop off weapons at Java, which was the closest war-neutral region near India. It was agreed that a German war ship would drop off the weapons there. Narendranath Bhattacharya was sent to receive the weapons. However, the ship did not come and the plan did not materialize. Bhattacharya later went to Moscow, changed his name to M.N. Roy and formed the Indian Communist Party with his foreigner wife.
Raman Pillai wanted to attack British India from the north-western side of Kashmir. For that he sourced support from rebel forces in Turkey and highly placed officials under the Emir of Afghanistan. The Emir was however against providing any support while his close relatives and allies agreed to provide financial help for the movement.
On July 31, 1914, Raman Pillai formed the Indian National Voluntary Corps and urged war on British India. He called on all Indians, especially Muslims and Sikhs, to fight for India. He also sent emissaries to Japan and China to forge alliances. All these activities led to the notion that he was in SMS Emden when it struck Chennai.
Swami Vivekananda’s brother, Bhupendranath Dutta, was sent to Russia to garner support for the cause. Two members were also sent to talk to US leaders. Pillai started a military camp in Mesopotamia and formed a provisional government in Kabul to look after Indian affairs when revolution would start. Raman Pillai was to handle foreign affairs of the new government.
However, all the grand plans came to nought when Germany was defeated in World War 1. In 1919, Pillai went to Germany. The Russian revolution that happened two years earlier saw many leaders, including Chatto, leaving for Russia. Chatto was later unceremoniously executed by Stalin’s army. M.N. Roy quit Marxism, pained at the cruelty perpetuated by Stalin.
Raman Pillai continued to work in a German company, but kept his efforts for Indian independence alive. He directed an exhibition of Indian products in Germany in 1924. In 1930, he became the Berlin representative of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. He was the only non-white in the National People’s Party that supported the Nazis.
The squabble with Hitler
Raman Pillai initially enjoyed a cordial relationship with Hitler, whose prominence was rising. However, during a press meet on August 10, 1931, Hitler said that if non-Aryan Indians were ruled by the British, it is their fate. This irritated Pillai. The same year on December 4, Hitler said, “Britain losing India would not augur well for any nation, including Germany.”
Miffed at Hitler taking sides with the British, Raman Pillai wrote to him thus, “You seem to attribute more importance to the color of the skin than blood. Our skins may be dark; not our hearts.”
Raman Pillai gave a deadline for Hitler to withdraw his statement and apologize. Hitler sent his secretary to Pillai to apologize, but also expressed his irritation at being attributed with a black heart. Raman Pillai retorted that Indians would tell the truth even in the face of death. One day after the deadline set by Pillai, Hitler expressed his regret for his comments; the rift between the two leaders thus developed into a complete breakdown of relations that would never be mended. In January 1933, Hitler became chancellor and in June he became an autocrat usurping power and establishing his unquestioned influence over Germany.
Nazis soon raided and arrogated Pillai’s house in Berlin. He was also manhandled and bundled out from his dwelling. He moved to Italy for treatment where it was found that blood had clotted in his brain. By that time, he did not have the financial means to afford good treatment required for his cure. His end came on May 28, 1934, in an ordinary nursing home in Italy. His wife lamented that a man who was brave enough to defy Hitler in his own land had died, unceremoniously, a broken man.
A patriot forgotten
In his autobiography, Bhagat Singh’s uncle and freedom fighter Sardar Ajith Singh had written that when Subhash Chandra Bose visited Vienna, he had visited Raman Pillai. Chempaka Raman Pillai was instrumental in inspiring Netaji to start an army and had even founded the INV before the INA was formed. However, nothing remains as a token of respect to that patriot in his own motherland. There is a statue of Netaji at Thiruvananthapuram near University Stadium. The ‘Jai Hind’ inscribed on the statue, a term coined by Raman Pillai, is all that remains that may remind us of this man who died for his nation. The clarion call that inspired many to take up arms against the British now ironically echoes the level of ingratitude his own people have for him.
The tragic death of Pillai’s widow
Lakshmibhai returned to Mumbai in 1935 with the ashes of her husband. His last wish was to return to India in a warship that flew the Indian flag. Lakshmibhai had to wait for another 32 years for that wish to be fulfilled. On September 17, 1966, INS Delhi set sail from Mumbai with Pillai’s ashes and reached Kochi on the 19th. From there it went to Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari where Lakshmibhai met with her husband’s family and stayed with them for some time and then returned to Mumbai. She died in 1972. How her end came was reported by acclaimed journalist P.K. Ravindranath.
According to Ravindranath’s account, Lakshmibhai met him in 1969 and told him that she had a set of documents related to Pillai. She demanded Rs 1.5 lakh for the papers, using which he proposed to write a biography. Since he did not have the money, the plan was shelved.
Lakshmibhai was from Satara in Maharashtra and was taken to Russia by a missionary who was her stepfather. During the Russian revolution, he sought refuge in Berlin with her and that is where she met Pillai. After Pillai’s death, she ensured that Pillai’s documents did not fall in the hands of the Nazis and brought them home. She lived in constant fear that she would be jailed by the British. After Indian independence, she was allotted a flat by Morarji Desai at Church Gate in Mumbai. She lived there alone with none to help her. One day, Ravindranath was summoned by Lakshmibhai. She was weak and unwell, and said that she could not move about, but did not care to have the fruits and food that he had brought for her. She also rejected Ravindranath’s offer to arrange food three times a day.
On December 1972, Ravindranath was called by the staff of St George Hospital to identify a dead body; Lakshmibhai had died mainly due to starvation. Ravindranath identified the frail body of the wife of India’s unsung revolutionary. Her famished fingers still clenched 17 keys; she had protected her husband’s documents to her last breath.
Ravindranath immediately requested the Maharashtra CM to transfer the documents to the National Archives. Her house was soon cordoned off and in January 1973, the documents were safely transferred to the National Archives. Let us hope someone would study the documents and come out with more information throwing light on the life of Chempaka Raman Pillai.
Most of the Keralite comrades of Pillai in Berlin had returned to India during the war in order to lead an uprising against the British rule. A.R. Pillai could set foot in India only 12 years after the start of the war. He, however, was under the constant surveillance of the British secret services.
Padmanabha Pillai, who reached Thiruvananthapuram, secured a job as a curator using his contacts with the royal family. He, however, continued his political activities and his scientific pursuits. On one of his official tours, he went to the University of Bern to present a paper on his studies on frogs. On his way back, he disappeared and only his coat was retrieved from the beaches of Thailand. His belongings were later collected by his relatives from Colombo. After his father-in-law burned all his papers fearing retribution from the British, Padmanabha Pillai ceased to exist in the annals of the Indian revolutionary movement.
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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.
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.