• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Rain shortfall has kept Delhi’s air ‘poor’ for most of summer

The Delhi government last month formulated a 14-point action plan to combat air pollution during summer Delhi has seen more ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ days than ‘moderate’ or satisfactory’ days since March this year, as experts said that air pollution is not more a winter-specific problem and called for a year-round action plan to tackle air pollution in the city. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data from March 1 to May 11 shows Delhi recorded a total of 55 ‘poor’, 1 ‘very poor’, 16 ‘moderate’ and no ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’ air quality days. In comparison, there were 35 ‘poor’ days and just three ‘very poor’ days during the same period last year. An air quality index (AQI) of 0-50 is termed ‘good’, 51-100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 is ‘moderate’, 201-300 is ‘poor’ and 301-400 is ‘very poor’. The last time Delhi recorded ‘satisfactory’ day was when the AQI fell to 92 on February 27, as a result of rain across the city. Delhi’s AQI was 156 (moderate) on Wednesday, with strong surface winds from Cyclone Asani helping Delhi’s air quality. However, the AQI is forecast to return to the ‘poor’ category by the weekend, owing to a return of dry and dusty westerly winds. Between February 16 and May 10, Delhi’s average PM 2.5 concentration was 100 micrograms per cubic metre -- 2.5 times higher than the national annual safe limit for PM 2.5 (40 micrograms per cubic metre) and 20 times the WHO limit of 5 micrograms per cubic metre -- as per CPCB’s real-time data analysed by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). In comparison, the average PM 2.5 concentration last winter was 197 micrograms per cubic metre (15 October till 15 February). S.N Tripathi, a professor at IIT Kanpur and steering committee member of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), said dust has been a primary factor behind pollution, and attributed it to the absence rainfall, and other sources including emissions from coal-based power plants and farm fires which begun across Punjab and Haryana following the rabi harvest season. “This indicates the need to once again identify sources and until that is done, immediate or long-term action cannot be taken. The primary problem for Delhi has been re-suspended dust, but also dust particles transported from other states, particularly from Rajasthan. With power problems also common, coal-based power plants are running at a high capacity and the high PM 2.5 concentration over Delhi indicates combustion is a factor, which could be partially from farm fires and some localised burning, such as garbage burning or landfill fires,” he said, adding that there is a need for a one-year study of pollution sources. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, said that though pollution level is half the winter level, the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels are still fairly high, especially considering that this is despite better meteorological conditions in summer. “As the lower layer of the atmosphere is warmer and lighter in summer compared to winter, air can easily rise upwards and disperse pollution. The intensity of summer pollution is lower than winter and shows higher influence of dust but these levels are still beyond the safe limits and indicates the need for sustained action,” said Roychowdhury, stating that while emergency-level measures are needed during winters, the summer and monsoon months need to be utilised to continue pollution control efforts and to scale up systematic changes, such as emission control from vehicles, industries, waste burning and dust sources. “We don’t need reactive measures alone during the winters, but sustained action through the year to meet clean air targets.” She also suggested holding regular meetings during the summer months as well, allowing for agencies to plan and take action based on the air quality. Only last week, the sub-committee on the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) met after a period of nearly three months, asking for Delhi and NCR states to intensify certain Grap measures including dust control activities such as mechanised sweeping, enforcement of dust control measures at construction sites and speedy redressal of pollution-related complaints. The sub-committee last met on February 16, 2022, prior to the review meeting on May 4. Farm fires a problem in summers too While crop burning has been a prominent source of pollution for Delhi in winters, largely occurring between October 15 and November 15, the rabi harvest season causes a similar action from farmers across Punjab and Haryana. As per Nasa’s VIIRS satellite data, analysed by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), 14,957 farm fires have been reported in Punjab and 4,592 fires in Haryana between March 1 and May this year. For Punjab, this is the highest corresponding count in at least five years, with 6,392 fires recorded last year and 5,585 fires in 2018. For Haryana too, this figure is the highest in at least five years and is close to last year’s count of 4,461 fires during the same period. The magnitude of rabi fires usually pales in comparison to the kharif ones. This is because unlike paddy residue, wheat residue is widely used as animal fodder,” said LS Kurinji, Programme Associate at CEEW, adding that while favourable meteorological conditions are at play during the summers, this can still impact air quality to an extent. “The higher mixing height and faster wind speed during summers can provide adequate ventilation, but it is still harmful and shows it is critical to act now to have a safer winter,” she added. A Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) official said the Delhi government has launched a 14-point summer action plan from April 12 to focus on different sources of pollution, including anti-dust and anti-open burning campaigns. “The real-time source apportionment study for Delhi is also on track and we can expect data on the various sources of pollution from the end of July onwards,” said the official.

• Finance and Accounts

CBI names “promoters of NGO Omidyar” in FIR

A year after the U.S.-based philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network was placed on a watch list by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), restricting all foreign donations from the firm, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named the “promoters of NGO Omidyar” in a First Information Report (FIR) filed on May 10. The case pertains to alleged connivance of MHA officials and private consultants in facilitating illegal clearances to NGOs under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. The FIR names 36 accused persons. The list of accused mentions “promoters of NGO Omidyar,” without specifics. Under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), it is mandatory for NGOs to get clearance to receive foreign funds. Omidyar has invested in prominent news websites such as Newslaundry, Scroll and The Ken and provided grants to think tanks, institutions and advocacy groups such as the Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR), Ashoka University and Centre for Policy Research, among others. According to Omidyar’s website, it supported NITI Aayog during the design phase of National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) by supporting a team for the Program Management Unit (PMU), led by IDinsight, and Development Data Lab. The FIR alleges that on April 24, Devesh Chandra Mishra, a resident of Delhi contacted FCRA official Tushar Kanti Roy “for clearing of permission for receiving foreign remittance worth ₹3 crore as donation for an NGO namely Omidyar”. The accused official assured him of arranging the permission but “demanded 10% of the total remittance as bribe”. Mishra told the official that “the promoters of NGO Omidyar were ready to pay ₹5 lakh”. Finally, the official is said to have demanded at least 7% of the foreign donation in bribe stating that he had to give money to others as well. The public relation firm handling Omidyar’s account did not respond to The Hindu’s e-mail request for a comment on the CBI’s allegation. The MHA has identified at least three consultants who were offering various services pertaining to the FCRA to NGOs. The alleged racket in connivance with former and present MHA officials was running for the past six months. On Tuesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 40 locations across India. Explaining the modus operandi, a senior government official said, “The consultants were found offering facilitation services to the NGOs for renewal of their registration for a fee. They obtained information from the Ministry officials on where the NGO’s file was stuck in the system. They contacted the said NGO and offered speedy renewal against a fee.” The official said the smaller NGOs were being charged ₹2 lakh each while there was a different rate list for the bigger associations that could go up to ₹15 lakh. The racket was exposed when one of the NGOs that was approached by the consultants complained to the Ministry officials. The website of one of the consultants under the CBI’s scanner — Shaurya Business Solutions Pvt Ltd — has a separate section on the FCRA, offering services such as renewal of registration, filing annual returns and even fresh registration. None of the phone numbers listed on the website were reachable when The Hindu called on Wednesday. The “about us” section of the website said, “We are a team of professionals including chartered accountants, company secretaries, lawyers, cost accountants, MBAs who possess expertise across a wide range of business needs. We provide various services online as well as offline as per your requirement.” The FCRA registration of several thousand NGOs are up for renewal since 2021, a process that has been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry has given several extensions due to the slow renewal process, with the latest deadline revised to June 30. This is not the first time the FCRA division has come under cloud on corruption charges. In 2016, on the MHA’s complaint, the CBI had raided the residence of a Home Ministry official Anand Joshi for his alleged role in corrupt practices. The accused issued a notice arbitrarily to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in November 2015. A CBI official said that Mr. Joshi came under scanner after he arbitrarily issued standard questionnaires to a few NGOs, the first step to probe foreign funds violations under the FCRA. The MHA in 2016 switched to an online renewal system for FCRA-registered NGOs to reduce human interface after several NGOs complained of bribes sought by officials to renew their registration. The renewals are done every five years. The FCRA registration of nearly 6,000 NGOs had ceased to be valid from January 1 as the MHA refused to renew their application or the NGOs did not apply for registration. There were 16,890 FCRA-registered NGOs as on May 10, down from over 22,000 on December 31, 2021.

• Urban Lab

“We have to adapt to heat waves by changing how we function during summer”: Environmentalist Avikal Somvanshi

Once upon a time in Delhi, even when summer day temperatures hovered over 40 degrees C, the city would cool down considerably after sunset, bringing the minimum temperature in the range of mid 20 degrees C. But what we have seen during the recent spate of heat waves is not even remotely reminiscent of that. Today, the city does not cool down after sunset: the heat exhaust from millions of air conditioners in residences and offices and central air conditioning in commercial and institutional spaces raises minimum temperature to or above 30 degrees C. According to Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager of Sustainable Cities Programme of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), power demand in the capital was 4336 MW in April 2022, almost double the demand for the same month in 2020. “Heat waves have already become a seasonable event and we have no choice but to adapt to them,” says Somvanshi, who was closely associated with the preparation, in 2018, of the union government’s effort to draft an India Cooling Action Plan. It gave him an opportunity to include some of the lessons he had learnt over the years about climate, design habitat, homes and city. Somvanshi’s first brush with “environmentalist politics” happened in 2007, when as a student of architecture at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, he participated in a summer school programme at the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). But the “awakening moment” for him was while working at Auroville in Puducherry. The “sustainable” house he had built there for himself using bamboo all but got blown away with the first strong breeze. The realisation that people have to adjust their lifestyle and their perception of comfort to their homes made the architect start looking at buildings, energy efficiency and design. “We were clear it had to be more about adaptive thermal comfort, and not just about thermal comfort which is air conditioning,” says Somvanshi about his work on the cooling action plan, which recommended an “adaptive thermal comfort standard” of 28-32 degrees. He rues that the India Cooling Action Plan, released by the Union Environment Minister in 2019 is gathering dust. As are the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)’s Emergency Action Plans on dealing with heat waves .One of these pertains to reserving hospital beds for patients with heat stroke. Given the IMD’s forecast for a very hot May, Citizen Matters decided to interview Avikal Somanshi to learn more about his ideas and recommendations on how to cope with heat waves. Excerpts from the interview: What kind of heat waves are we likely to witness in May-June? They are likely to be dry with low humidity levels. These dry heat waves are common during May-June, but their current spells in April are unusual. What will be its impact on people? Instances of heat-stroke are common during these heat waves with low humidity. High heat makes working outdoors during daytime dangerous. But given the fact that the night temperature is still dropping below 28 degrees C, people are getting some reprieve to recover from the daytime heat exposure. How can deterioration of air quality from heat waves be minimised? Heat waves do impact air quality but not in the way we see during winter in Delhi. The more direct impact of heat waves is increased formation of surface ozone pollution. Surface ozone formation takes place when oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds (VOC) react with oxygen in the air and this reaction requires sunlight and heat to happen. If all other variables are equal, such as the level of precursor emissions — emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), and sulphur dioxide (SO2) in greenhouse gas inventories—in the air and wind speed and direction, more surface ozone will form as the environment becomes sunnier and hotter. During heat waves, these environmental conditions are met and this leads to a spike in surface ozone pollution. This is a major public health concern as surface ozone is highly toxic and can lead to severe health outcomes even from short term (one hour) exposure. Rising deaths The aggregated data available from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2000-2014 notes that Heat Stroke causes more deaths than due to “cold exposure”. Only lighting and earthquakes killed more people than heat stroke during 2000-14. NCRB’s annual publication “Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India” for 2019 attributed 1,274 deaths to heat stroke and 796 in 2019. The number for heat stroke deaths came down to 530 in 2020, most possibly due to hard lockdowns during the summer of 2020. The most deaths due to heat stroke are reported from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, UP, Bihar, and Maharashtra. Older adults are among the most vulnerable to extreme heat events. Many physiological, psychological, and socioeconomic factors contribute to this danger. Older adults are more likely to be in poor health, to be less mobile and more isolated, to be more sensitive to high heat, and to live on reduced incomes. Young children tend to be more susceptible to extreme heat due to their small size. Children’s more rapid breathing rates relative to body size, time spent outdoors, and their developing respiratory systems raise the chances of aggravated asthma and other lung diseases caused by ozone air pollution and smog, which usually increases during heat waves. Populations with low-income are at greater risk of heat-related illnesses due to poor housing conditions and small living spaces, and inadequate resources to find alternative shelter during a heat wave. People who spend their working hours outdoors are more prone to conditions such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. They have higher exposures to ozone air pollution and heat stress, especially if work tasks involve heavy exertion. People in poor health, including people with chronic conditions, disabilities, mobility constraints, and those taking certain medications, are vulnerable to extreme temperatures. People with diabetes, physical impairments and cognitive deficits are especially at risk during heat waves. What lessons can we learn from the way our ancestors dealt with heat waves? Culturally, most regions in India had developed their own practices to safeguard themselves from the impact of heat waves. The practice of afternoon siestas are effective in reducing heat exposure. The practice of consuming nimbu pani, sugarcane juice, aam panna, bel sherbet, and many such hydrating and cooling drinks helps the body fight the heat. Even meals during summer used to be altered to include vegetables and recipes which helped the body to manage heat better. One of the most important aspects of dealing with heat waves was the building designs which shielded the indoors from the sun and the dry winds. A wisdom which has been lost in modern building designs. Modern buildings are heat magnets instead of being a shelter from heat. Buildings made of concrete and glass especially trap heat and makes it almost impossible to live inside these buildings without using ACs. These ACs produce heat exhaust that is dumped right outside leading to more outdoor heat. As part of climate change, will heat waves become a regular feature in the near future? Heat waves have already become a seasonal event and are predicted to get worse in coming years thanks to climate change. We have no option but to adapt to these heat waves. And to do so we will have to change how we function during summer. Hydrating and cooling drinks Hydrating and cooling drinks helps the body fight the heat. Representational image/Pixabay CC0 This means changing school calendars and office timings, and not just these. We need to start rethinking what we are eating. Our food habits will help our body to handle heat better. Farmers will have to shift to more heat resistant crops that can be grown with relative ease in this new climate. Similarly, we need to redesign our homes, offices, shops etc. We need to bring back the traditional wisdom of shading our windows and catching the cool breeze that made the homes of our ancestors comfortable. We also need to rethink the idea of being comfortable. Wearing a three-piece suit during summer for the sake of fashion or corporate look is blatantly stupid. Similarly, freezing down one’s room to an extent that one needs to wear a shawl or blanket during summer is not comfortable. In fact, it makes the outdoors hotter. Is there anything positive about heat waves? Heat waves don’t have any positive spin in my understanding of the issue.

• Renewable Energy

Floating solar: a small but vital role for India’s sunrise sector

Floating solar plants were never part of India’s plans to reach 100 GW of solar power by the end of this year. But the benefits are becoming clearer and numbers are on the rise. India’s G20 presidency next year offers a “golden opportunity” to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies, environment minister Bhupender Yadav told reporters on April 26 in a meeting with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This year is a litmus test for progress, representing a deadline for India’s renewable energy target of 175 gigawatts. While floating solar photovoltaic (FSPV) was not originally envisaged as part of the mix, which only included terrestrial and rooftop solar, it has emerged as a small but not insignificant catalyst for the figures. floating solar Binh Thuan, Viet Nam Floating solar ready for take-off Read now → Read now → Despite later including large hydropower in the renewable category to help meet the target of 175 GW, which originally included only small hydropower, India is still set to miss the goal, with 156.6 GW of utility-scale renewables as of March 2022, plus an estimated 11 GW of rooftop solar. The shortfall, due mostly to the slow development of rooftop solar, highlights the need to further diversify India’s portfolio of green energy sources. An alternative to terrestrial solar India’s journey with floating solar began in 2014 when it was approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in Kolkata. S P Gon Chaudhuri, a veteran of the country’s renewable energy sector, told The Third Pole: “The organisation tasked with implementing this project was NBIRT [the NB Institute for Rural Technology], of which I was chairman at the time.” Once the project was completed, “officials from organisations such as the World Bank visited the site and examined how a floating solar plant is set up, how it works”, Chaudhuri recalls. “Basically, it was a study centre.” Plants in Punjab, Kerala, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu followed, among others. India’s reservoirs cover 18,000 square kilometres with the potential to support 280 GW of floating solar, according to a report by think tank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). High costs and design challenges are still holding back the deployment of the new technology, which as of November 2021 had an estimated cumulative installed capacity of just 2.7 megawatts, making it little more than a pilot project. However, according to the think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), India now has about 170 MW of operational floating solar capacity and another 1.8 GW under different stages of development. The steep increase, a CEEW spokesperson explained, is due to the fact that the first plants deployed were small, and India has only started implementing large-scale floating solar in recent years. Terrestrial solar PV is land-intensive, and the TERI report recommends exploring alternatives such as floating solar to keep pace with India’s national target of 100 GW of additional solar capacity by the end of 2030. The state of Maharashtra, the authors say, has the most potential and could generate 57.9 GW on 3,173 sq km of its reservoirs’ surfaces. “The FSPV addition is small in relation to the entire market for solar energy, but it could be a viable alternative for speeding up solar power deployment in India,” a 2021 study by researchers at Effat University in Saudi Arabia stated. Floating solar milestones Recent developments in the floating solar space hint at the sector’s promise. In August last year, government-owned NTPC, India’s largest integrated energy company, commissioned a 25 MW project on the reservoir of its Simhadri thermal power station, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The plant has the potential to generate electricity from over 100,000 solar PV modules, which could light around 7,000 households and avoid the emission of at least 46,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year over its lifespan. In January 2022, the state-owned hydropower corporation NHPC signed a deal with a developer in the eastern state of Odisha to build a 500 MW floating solar plant. It will initially invest over INR 20 billion (USD 261 million) in 300 MW-worth of floating solar projects. The project will help the state to meet its renewable energy generation targets, besides creating investment and employment opportunities. On March 10, 2022, Tamil Nadu’s chief minister MK Stalin inaugurated India’s largest floating solar power plant, which was constructed at a cost of INR 1.5 billion (USD 19.6 million). Scarce land, more water Most Indian states lack land, but have enough water for FSPV. Installing solar on water can increase the panels’ efficiency due to lower temperatures that prevent overheating, Chaudhuri explained. Manu Srivastava, commissioner for new and renewable energy with the government of Madhya Pradesh, said: “When we start looking for a piece of land, it isn’t easy. In places with a lot of land, there are too many projects and hence, transmission is a challenge… Floating solar addresses so many problems.” Avnish Shukla is executive engineer at Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd, a joint venture that has commissioned solar projects in Madhya Pradesh. Shukla told The Third Pole that a 600 MW floating solar plant in the state of Madhya Pradesh will be commissioned by August 2023, likely to be one of the largest in the world. Shukla said that solar projects often occupy barren land, not used by agriculture, industry or people. “Since there is scarcity of such a type of land, we face trouble… In such a scenario, water bodies are perfect. Moreover, water will evaporate if we do not use it to install solar panels [to reflect the sun’s rays].” Vinay Rustagi, the managing director of Bridge to India, a renewable energy consultancy, pointed out that some floating solar sites that are located near hydropower projects or in thermal plant reservoirs already have ready access to their transmission infrastructure. Falling costs Ground-based installations still form 93.1 per cent of India’s grid-connected solar PV, according to a 2020 report by TERI. Utility-scale solar costs fell 84 per cent between 2010 and 2018, making large-scale solar cheaper in India than anywhere else. According to Chaudhuri, the cost of setting up a floating solar plant is currently INR 50-60 million (USD650,000-780,000) per MW, while conventional land-based solar projects cost the equivalent of USD 520,000 per MW, a difference that explains the slow take-off of the technology. However, he said, floaters and maintenance are becoming more cost-effective. “India needs to meet certain targets it has committed to by 2030, which means states need to adopt more such [floating solar] plants, as they do not have so much land to spare,” he said. According to Srivastava, transporting the lightweight but big floaters the panels sit on can be a challenge. However, these are low-tech components, so manufacturing plants installed near the development site could bring costs down further. Floating solar projects do require longer due to the need for more detailed assessments of sites’ hydrography and water-bed topography. Furthermore, both the capital and operating costs are slightly higher due to the more complex design and risks of working in water, Srivastava added. Rustagi, however, said the local governments and municipal agencies in charge of most inland water bodies must push for them. Binit Das, deputy renewable energy programme manager at New Delhi think tank the Centre for Science and Environment, agreed but said there are other, more technical hurdles to overcome: “The solar floating system needs to hold solar panels on the water for over 25 years, so the racking system needs to be highly resistant to corrosion, must have a long lifespan and high load capacity.” He added: “Since this is a relatively new solar power technology, it requires specialised solar power equipment and more niche solar panel installation knowledge.”

• Renewable Energy

Floating solar: A small but vital role for India’s sunrise sector

Floating solar plants were never part of India’s plans to reach 100 GW of solar power by the end of this year. But the benefits are becoming clearer and numbers are on the rise India’s G20 presidency next year offers a “golden opportunity” to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies, environment minister Bhupender Yadav told reporters on 26 April in a meeting with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This year is a litmus test for progress, representing a deadline for India’s renewable energy target of 175 gigawatts. While floating solar photovoltaic (FSPV) was not originally envisaged as part of the mix, which only included terrestrial and rooftop solar, it has emerged as a small but not insignificant catalyst for the figures. Despite later including large hydropower in the renewable category to help meet the target of 175 GW, which originally included only small hydropower, India is still set to miss the goal, with 156.6 GW of utility-scale renewables as of March 2022, plus an estimated 11 GW of rooftop solar. The shortfall, due mostly to the slow development of rooftop solar, highlights the need to further diversify India’s portfolio of green energy sources. An alternative to terrestrial solar India’s journey with floating solar began in 2014 when it was approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in Kolkata. S P Gon Chaudhuri, a veteran of the country’s renewable energy sector, told The Third Pole: “The organisation tasked with implementing this project was NBIRT [the NB Institute for Rural Technology], of which I was chairman at the time.” Once the project was completed, “officials from organisations such as the World Bank visited the site and examined how a floating solar plant is set up, how it works”, Chaudhuri recalls. “Basically, it was a study centre.” Plants in Punjab, Kerala, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu followed, among others. India’s reservoirs cover 18,000 square kilometres with the potential to support 280 GW of floating solar, according to a report by think tank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). High costs and design challenges are still holding back the deployment of the new technology, which as of November 2021 had an estimated cumulative installed capacity of just 2.7 megawatts, making it little more than a pilot project. Floating solar addresses so many problems Manu Srivastava, commissioner for new and renewable energy with the government of Madhya Pradesh However, according to the think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), India now has about 170 MW of operational floating solar capacity and another 1.8 GW under different stages of development. The steep increase, a CEEW spokesperson explained, is due to the fact that the first plants deployed were small, and India has only started implementing large-scale floating solar in recent years. Terrestrial solar PV is land-intensive, and the TERI report recommends exploring alternatives such as floating solar to keep pace with India’s national target of 100 GW of additional solar capacity by the end of 2030. The state of Maharashtra, the authors say, has the most potential and could generate 57.9 GW on 3,173 sq km of its reservoirs’ surfaces. “The FSPV addition is small in relation to the entire market for solar energy, but it could be a viable alternative for speeding up solar power deployment in India,” a 2021 study by researchers at Effat University in Saudi Arabia stated. Floating solar milestones Recent developments in the floating solar space hint at the sector’s promise. In August last year, government-owned NTPC, India’s largest integrated energy company, commissioned a 25 MW project on the reservoir of its Simhadri thermal power station, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The plant has the potential to generate electricity from over 100,000 solar PV modules, which could light around 7,000 households and avoid the emission of at least 46,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year over its lifespan. Workers install solar panels on the roof of a metro station, Amlan Mathur RecommendedRooftop solar: The missing piece of India’s renewable ambitions In January 2022, the state-owned hydropower corporation NHPC signed a deal with a developer in the eastern state of Odisha to build a 500 MW floating solar plant. It will initially invest over INR 20 billion (USD 261 million) in 300 MW-worth of floating solar projects. The project will help the state to meet its renewable energy generation targets, besides creating investment and employment opportunities. On 10 March 2022, Tamil Nadu’s chief minister MK Stalin inaugurated India’s largest floating solar power plant, which was constructed at a cost of INR 1.5 billion (USD 19.6 million). Scarce land, more water Most Indian states lack land, but have enough water for FSPV. Installing solar on water can increase the panels’ efficiency due to lower temperatures that prevent overheating, Chaudhuri explained. Manu Srivastava, commissioner for new and renewable energy with the government of Madhya Pradesh, said: “When we start looking for a piece of land, it isn’t easy. In places with a lot of land, there are too many projects and hence, transmission is a challenge… Floating solar addresses so many problems.” Avnish Shukla is executive engineer at Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd, a joint venture that has commissioned solar projects in Madhya Pradesh. Shukla told The Third Pole that a 600 MW floating solar plant in the state of Madhya Pradesh will be commissioned by August 2023, likely to be one of the largest in the world. Shukla said that solar projects often occupy barren land, not used by agriculture, industry or people. “Since there is scarcity of such a type of land, we face trouble… In such a scenario, water bodies are perfect. Moreover, water will evaporate if we do not use it to install solar panels [to reflect the sun’s rays].” Vinay Rustagi, the managing director of Bridge to India, a renewable energy consultancy, pointed out that some floating solar sites that are located near hydropower projects or in thermal plant reservoirs already have ready access to their transmission infrastructure. Falling costs Ground-based installations still form 93.1% of India’s grid-connected solar PV, according to a 2020 report by TERI. Utility-scale solar costs fell 84% between 2010 and 2018, making large-scale solar cheaper in India than anywhere else. According to Chaudhuri, the cost of setting up a floating solar plant is currently INR 50-60 million (USD650,000-780,000) per MW, while conventional land-based solar projects cost the equivalent of USD 520,000 per MW, a difference that explains the slow take-off of the technology. However, he said, floaters and maintenance are becoming more cost-effective. “India needs to meet certain targets it has committed to by 2030, which means states need to adopt more such [floating solar] plants, as they do not have so much land to spare,” he said. According to Srivastava, transporting the lightweight but big floaters the panels sit on can be a challenge. However, these are low-tech components, so manufacturing plants installed near the development site could bring costs down further. Solar panels in Zanskar, Ladakh, India RecommendedThe promises and pitfalls of India’s plan for a global grid Floating solar projects do require longer due to the need for more detailed assessments of sites’ hydrography and water-bed topography. Furthermore, both the capital and operating costs are slightly higher due to the more complex design and risks of working in water, Srivastava added. Rustagi, however, said the local governments and municipal agencies in charge of most inland water bodies must push for them. Binit Das, deputy renewable energy programme manager at New Delhi think tank the Centre for Science and Environment, agreed but said there are other, more technical hurdles to overcome: “The solar floating system needs to hold solar panels on the water for over 25 years, so the racking system needs to be highly resistant to corrosion, must have a long lifespan and high load capacity.” He added: “Since this is a relatively new solar power technology, it requires specialised solar power equipment and more niche solar panel installation knowledge.”

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Around 78% of India’s e-waste is not being collected or disposed by the government

Untreated solid waste, e-waste must be getting dumped in open spaces and water bodies, say experts Only 22.7 per cent of the e-waste out of the total 10,14,961.21 tonnes generated in 2019-20 in India was collected, dismantled, and recycled or disposed off. This e-waste is comprised of 21 types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) notified Under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016. In 2018-19, about 21.35 per cent of the total generated e-waste was handled, collected, dismantled, and recycled in India, while in 2017-18 this percentage was just 9.79 per cent. The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 extend the responsibility to producers to manage a system of e-waste collection, storage, transportation, and environmentally sound dismantling and recycling through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) authorisation. The rules also promote and encourage the establishment of an efficient e-waste collection mechanism. However, the data show that not even 25 per cent of the e-waste generated is being managed properly. Experts say that like untreated solid waste, e-waste must be getting dumped in open spaces and water bodies. Under 2016 rules, provisions have been made for the dismantling and recycling of e-waste. The dismantlers and recyclers have to obtain authorisation from concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) or Pollution Control Committees (PCCs). The concerned SPCB or PCC grants authorisation after ensuring that the dismantlers and recyclers have the dismantling and recycling facilities as per the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Limited dismantlers and recyclers The data provided by the Ministry of Environment show there are 468 authorised dismantlers/recyclers in 22 States having a processing capacity of 13,85,932.22 metric tonnes per annum. Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana are among the States that have a bigger capacity to dismantle and recycle e-waste. Maharashtra has the highest number (116) of authorised dismantlers and recyclers. The number of limited dismantlers and recyclers and their concentration in urban areas is a major cause for concern. This is one of the reasons that all e-waste generated is not handled properly. Role of urban local bodies E-waste is anything with a plug, electric cord, or battery (including electrical and electronic equipment) from toasters to toothbrushes, smartphones, fridges, laptops, and LED televisions that have reached the end of their life, as well as the components that make up this end-of-life products The report titled ‘Waste-Wise Cities: Best Practices in Municipal Solid Waste Management’ by NITI Aayog and Centre for Science and Environment, published last year, states that the use of electrical and electronic equipment has witnessed explosive growth and so is e-waste. The UN has termed this phenomenon a “tsunami” of e-waste. The report highlights that e-waste typically does not feature in the list of municipal solid waste and therefore not a direct mandate for the cities to collect, transport, and manage. “However, looking at its exponential growth, it is now time to rethink the policy framework and recognise the city government as one of the key institutions to spearhead e-waste management,” the report mentioned.

• Sustainable Habitat

How Fares the PMAY (U)? Taking Stock of India’s National Housing Programme

Across India’s burgeoning cities, the supply of affordable homes is highly inadequate to keep pace with the growing need; as a result, slums and other informally built areas, where living conditions are extremely poor, have grown. In 2015 the Indian government implemented a national housing programme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban) or PMAY (U) to bridge the gap in affordable housing. This report evaluates the progress of PMAY (U), and finds that the mission has accomplished only 50 percent of its goal of providing housing for all by 2022. The report outlines the administrative and socio-economic impediments to the programme’s success. Introduction Large numbers of city dwellers in India are unable to live in proper houses for two related reasons: insufficient income to buy or rent them, and the shortage of affordable homes.[a] Urban spaces, however, continue to attract denizens because of the livelihood opportunities that they presumably bring. These individuals or families then put together whatever money they can afford, to build for themselves some form of shelter in the unplanned areas of the city. This has led to the emergence of slums and informal residential colonies in Indian cities. As these residences are unauthorised, government agencies often do not provide them basic amenities, and living conditions are left substandard. The last census in 2011 had found that over 65 million people, or about 5 percent of India’s total population, lived in slums; this number is 17 percent of the country’s urban population.[1] States with the largest slum population (above 28 percent) are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. In some hill states, notably Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram, slums are a relatively recent phenomenon, emerging only in the 2011 census count. As for specific cities, Greater Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, Greater Mumbai, Vijayawada, and Meerut[2] had the biggest slum populations of over 40 percent. Reliable data on the number of people living in unauthorised colonies is not available. According to some estimates, 25-30 percent of Delhi’s population live in such colonies.[3] Many other poor people live in public areas, such as pavements, without a roof over their heads. Government agencies have historically taken a lenient view of the growth of unplanned (or informal) living areas. While authorities conduct evictions, these are mostly done when the area comes in the way of a development project or has been deemed palpably unsafe. Poor families have largely been allowed to reside wherever they built their homes. Indeed, with the growing recognition that every individual has the right to choose to live in the city if they wish to, many such areas have been given authorised status, and subsequently upgraded. Numerous housing programmes for people living in informal areas have also been launched. Following the 2011 census, in 2012, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation estimated that urban India needed 18.78 million more dwelling units.[4] Of this total, 95 percent was for the economically weaker section (EWS) and lower-income group (LIG) categories. A later estimate in 2014 by the same ministry, by then called Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), set the housing demand at 11.22 million dwelling units.[5] The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban) [PMAY (U)] the following year to provide housing for all by 2022. The scheme sought to be an expanded version of a programme already in operation under the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. PMAY (U) is being implemented in the following four ways:[6] (i) In-situ slum redevelopment (ISSR): This consists of existing slums being replaced by new, liveable houses at the same spot. The Centre provides assistance of up to INR 100,000 per house. Private developers, selected through an open and transparent bidding process, are encouraged to design and execute redevelopment projects in consultation with slum dwellers. Incentives have been offered to generate interest among private developers and to make projects financially viable. These include permitting them additional floor area ratio and floor space index, providing transferable development rights, and free sale of some houses in the market to cross-subsidise the projects. Upon completion of work, houses have to be allotted to eligible slum dwellers in a transparent manner. (ii) Credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS): This scheme is targeted at EWS, LIG and middle-income groups (MIG). People from these groups are eligible for interest subsidies of 3-6.5 percent on housing loans up to INR 1.2 million from financial institutions, the loan being repayable over a maximum of 20 years. The money received can be utilised to buy a house, build one’s own house, or improve/enhance an existing dwelling. Only houses with carpet area between 30 and 200 sq m are eligible. The conditions include giving preference to disadvantaged sections such as manual scavengers, women, persons belonging to scheduled castes (SC)/scheduled tribes (ST)/other backward classes (OBC), minorities, persons with disabilities, and transgenders. (iii) Affordable housing in partnership (AHP): Under this component, the Centre offers financial assistance of INR 150,000 to buyers for each EWS house constructed as part of a housing project. The projects can be undertaken by states/UTs through their own agencies or in partnership with the private sector, and can include houses for various income categories. However, to be eligible, the housing project has to comprise at least 250 houses, reserving 35 percent of them for the EWS category. Once again, preference for such assistance is given to persons with disabilities, single women, senior citizens, persons belonging to SC/ST/OBC categories, minorities, and transgenders. (iv) Beneficiary-led individual new house construction/enhancement (BLC-N/BLC-E): People belonging to EWS categories, wishing to construct new houses or enhance existing ones themselves, and who have not availed of the benefits of PMAY (U) under any other category, can apply for central government assistance of up to INR 150,000 per house. They need to submit land/property documents providing proof of ownership of the land on which they intend to construct. Funds are released to bank accounts of eligible applicants through direct benefit transfer (DBT). The agencies in states/UTs which build the affordable housing colonies get central assistance, both in constructing houses and providing basic civic infrastructure such as water supply, sanitation, roads, and electricity. The PMAY (U) guidelines require states/UTs to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Centre, conduct housing demand surveys (based on discussions with local representatives), and prepare proposals, plans of action, annual implementation plans, and detailed project reports. PMAY (U) is accompanied by a technology sub-mission (TSM) to ensure adoption of modern, innovative, and green technologies and building material in house construction. Given the varying geo-climatic zones in the country, the TSM allows deploying disaster-resistant technologies. With the regular migration of people from rural to urban centres, and the reverse migration crisis seen following the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns, an Affordable Rental Housing Complex (ARHC) scheme was also launched by the government in July 2020. It is a sub-scheme of the PMAY (U) targeted at EWS, LIGs, SCs, STs, OBCs, women, persons with disabilities, and minorities. Under the initiative, existing government housing stock lying vacant (about 88, 236 houses to date)[7] will be made available to migrants at affordable rents. The scheme also provides for construction, operation and maintenance of ARHCs by public and private entities. PMAY (U): A Status Report This report evaluates the progress of PMAY (U), and its implementation experience, reviewing national, state, and city-level data on houses sanctioned and constructed, and financial assistance offered by the Centre to states and cities. An attempt has also been made to understand the nature of affordable housing initiatives undertaken in the proposed ‘smart cities’ of India. An appraisal of the physical and financial progress of PMAY (U) reveals the following: As of 21 February 2022, 11.46 million houses had been sanctioned in urban areas across the country, for which INR 1,228.98 billion was released. Of these, 9.36 million houses have been ‘grounded’ (i.e. work has begun), and 5.51 million, or less than one-half the houses sanctioned, have been completed. Houses sanctioned, grounded, and completed under the four different components of the scheme are shown in Table 1. The data shows significant achievements under the ISSR component, while the AHP and BLC initiatives have moved slower. It is also noted that the maximum number of houses have been constructed or enhanced under the BLC component. Table 1: Houses Sanctioned, Grounded and Completed under PMAY (U), All-India Source: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 2022.[8] Note: * Number of beneficiaries; includes 0.61 million MIG and 1.22 million EWS/LIG; **based on a demand survey. Among UTs, the number of houses sanctioned under the PMAY in urban areas has ranged from 603 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to 48,777 in Jammu and Kashmir. Among states, the smallest number was in Goa – 3,520 units – and the largest, 2.04 million, in Andhra Pradesh. In each of the three states of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, over a million houses were sanctioned. On house completion rates among UTs, the cities of Chandigarh and Delhi have recorded the highest, exceeding several times the number of houses sanctioned. But that is because houses sanctioned under earlier schemes, which could not be completed then, have also been included. They are followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) and Daman and Diu (DD) with 70 percent completion. Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands has the lowest completion rate among UTs – a bare 7.3 percent. Among states – excluding the northeast – Goa, Telangana, Kerala, and Gujarat have been the best performers, recording over 70 percent completion. The lowest rates were in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, with less than 30 percent of sanctioned houses completed. In the northeast, sanctioned houses were between 628 (Sikkim) and 168,106 (Assam). Tripura and Sikkim have reported over 50-percent completion, while in Manipur and Mizoram, the rate is a mere 13 percent. (See Figure 1) Figure 1: PMAY (U) House Completion Rates in States and UTs Source: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 2022.[9] PMAY (U) in Smart Cities PMAY (U) guidelines mandate the convergence of the scheme with other ongoing urban development initiatives to utilise resources judiciously and achieve maximum societal benefits. The smart cities mission statement includes the following provisions for housing of the poor:[10] The core infrastructure elements should include affordable housing. Of the total housing provided in greenfield areas, at least 15 percent should be in the affordable housing category. Be it redevelopment or greenfield development, at least 80 percent of buildings should be made energy-efficient. A total of 2.37 million houses were sanctioned under PMAY (U) in the 100 proposed smart cities, of which 1.4 million houses, or nearly 60 percent, have been completed. The number of houses sanctioned has varied from a low 63 in Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) to 256,093 in Ahmedabad. No houses were sanctioned for Atal Nagar (Chhattisgarh), Kavaratti (Lakshadweep), and New Town, Kolkata. The highest numbers (133,376 to 256,093) have been sanctioned for Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Surat, and Pune. In 13 of the 100 cities, all the houses sanctioned have been completed; in another eight, the completion rate is above 80 percent. There are 55 cities in the 40-80 percent completion category (see Figure 2). The completion rate is below 40 percent in 21 cities, including three where it is below 10 percent – Imphal, Port Blair, and Solapur. Figure 2: PMAY (U) House Completion Rates in Proposed Smart Cities Source: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 2022.[11] In all, 143 affordable housing projects were proposed under the smart cities mission at a cost of INR 180 billion.[12] – 9 percent of the total investment of INR 2,050 billion committed under the mission. Of these projects, 38.38 percent are completed, and work is underway on a similar proportion. However, work is yet to begin on nearly one-fourth of the projects (see Figure 3). Figure 3: Physical Progress of Affordable Housing Projects in Proposed Smart Cities s Source: Elets News Network, June 7, 2021. The PMAY (U) projects in smart cities relate to slum rehabilitation and redevelopment, EWS/LIG flats, working women’s hostels, night shelters, and affordable rental housing complexes (see Figure 4). Some representative projects in Surat, Tumakuru (Karnataka) and Bhubaneswar are described in the following paragraphs. Surat In 2017-20, 208 flats were built in the Magob area of Surat for EWS families, with the cost of construction, around INR 150 million, shared between the Centre and the state government.[13] Two apartment blocks of 13 floors were developed. Each unit has an area of 30-40 sq m – with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom – and was sold to EWS families at INR 300,000-500,000. Common facilities include parking area, LED street lights, lifts, fire fighting equipment, rainwater harvesting facility, wastewater treatment facility, organic waste converter, and piped natural gas line.[14] Affordable rental housing for migrant workers has also been built in Surat. The demand for rented homes is high as the city’s textile and diamond industries attract a large number of workers from other states. The need for secure accommodation for such workers was felt acutely during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, when migrants were unable – since their wages had stopped – to pay house rent and many were asked by their landlords to vacate their homes. Under this scheme, unoccupied government houses are given to private firms for renovation and subsequent use for rental housing. A total of 393 one-BHK (bedroom-hall-kitchen) flats of size 32 sq m, previously constructed by the State Urban Development Authority (SUDA) in 2014 in the Sachin area of the city, have been made available at rents of INR 3,500 – 4,000 per month.[15] The private firm has to pay INR 180 million to SUDA over 25 years.[16] Tumakuru In this city, land under slums has been redeveloped as a planned residential complex. The newly constructed houses were given to slum residents at zero cost.[17] Bhubaneswar A three-storey social equity centre has been built in the city centre with the support of the Odisha government. It offers rental housing to construction workers and homeless persons. The city’s municipality has also set up a shelter for mendicants, with a 100-bed capacity.[18] Figure 4 provides more details.[19] Figure 4: Affordable Housing in the Proposed Smart Cities Sources: (i) mapsofindia.com; (ii) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, December 2021.[20] Achievements and Shortcomings of PMAY (U) Houses are being constructed and delivered to EWS and other needy communities. Women’s empowerment is being stressed as it is the woman of the family who is given house ownership rights. The financial support provided is enabling people to purchase, construct or improve their houses. Residential facilities are also being created for migrant workers, working women, and homeless people. Among all urban initiatives, such as the metro rail network in different cities, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) which provides basic urban services, the overall smart cities project, the Swachh Bharat (Sanitation for All) Mission and others, the PMAY (U) has received the highest budgetary allocation from the Centre in the last three years. In Budget 2022-23, for example, INR 280 billion has been allocated. This is 36.57 percent of the total budgetary allocation by [21] A few cities are ‘building green’, laying stress on incorporating smart features into their house designs, as well using sustainable building materials.[b] The Surat project for EWS, for instance, has included sustainable management of water, sustainable sanitation, and power-saving devices. However, such examples are rare. In most cases, buildings are still being built in the traditional way without any provision to monitor energy and water consumption, or sustainable management of liquid and solid waste. Nor are annual audits conducted to measure building performance. An independent assessment claimed that not even 5 percent of the total built environment in the country is green.[22] The goal of Housing for All (HFA) by 2022 is far from achieved. Less than one-half of the houses sanctioned under PMAY (U) had been completed by February 2022. House completion rates depend greatly on release of central financial assistance, as well as the beneficiaries’ economic condition (since the latter too must contribute). Thus, it is no surprise that states and UTs lagging behind in receipt of sanctioned funds – such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram, Manipur, and A&N Islands, which have received less than 44 percent of the sanctioned assistance[23] – have recorded the lowest rates.Other common institutional deficiencies that hamper the completion of projects include delayed approvals, restrictive development norms, high cost of construction, inadequate technical capacity of implementing agencies, and failure to mainstream low-cost technologies.[24] With the BLC (N) and BLC (E) components of the PMAY (U), central funds were often delayed because municipalities failed to submit fund utilisation certificates, which is usually caused by the beneficiaries’ inability to continue building or improving construction. The Covid-19-induced lockdown saw many families’ incomes fall steeply, and they were unable to contribute their share towards house construction.In Maharashtra, for example, constructing a new unit costs around INR 450,000-650,000 (land cost is separate). Central assistance up to INR 150,000 is available, but the remaining cost has to be borne by the beneficiary. With beneficiary income dropping, many projects have remained incomplete; it is not rare to find dwellings where walls have been raised, but the roof could not be laid.[25] In some places, relocation has affected beneficiaries adversely. In congested cities, for instance, vacant land to build PMAY (U) houses is not available in the core areas; housing projects for the poor have to be in peripheral areas. These areas often lack essential social/economic/physical infrastructure and services, and are poorly connected to the city centre.In Ahmedabad, for example,[26] slum dwellers near the Sabarmati River have been relocated at Odhav, at the eastern periphery of the city. With few public transportation options available, their reduced mobility makes it difficult for them to continue with their work, however informal. Thus many did not relocate to their new homes, which remain unoccupied. Limited availability of vacant land in cities has been an important reason for the slow progress of the scheme. This issue is being dealt with by the government in various ways: (i) PMAY (U) guidelines require states/UTs to earmark land for affordable housing in their master plans; (ii) construction agencies need to reserve land/flats for EWS in housing projects; (iii) vacant land available at the periphery of cities is being acquired using the model of land pooling; (iv) existing government housing stock lying vacant is being made available to the migrant population on rental basis; (v) existing built-up informal areas are being improved through in-situ rehabilitation for optimal utilisation of land; and (vi) small format housing is being promoted. Such measures are proving beneficial, as observed in Bhubaneswar, Surat, and Tumakuru. Private sector participation in affordable housing projects has been lower than expected, despite the incentives offered – such as stamp duty exemption, reduced GST, and granting of additional development rights. According to one assessment, private developers are unhappy with capping of bid costs and house sale prices by public authorities.[27] Conclusion This evaluation of the PMAY (U)’s performance reveals that progress is being affected by various administrative and socio-economic constraints, key of which are the following: delays in fund release by the Centre, and in project approval; infrastructure and service deficiencies in new EWS housing areas; difficulties in attracting private developers for affordable housing projects; private builders violating the pre-condition of reserving houses for EWS in affordable housing projects; public/private builders’ non-compliance with green building norms/green building audit measures in new housing areas; low affordability among a large number of people; difficulties in providing houses/giving housing loans to EWS due to their inability to furnish required documents, such as identity card, proof of income, tax returns; sale of houses by some beneficiaries after obtaining possession. The early resolution of these problems will help bridge the housing demand and supply gap, and prevent proliferation of informal housing areas in India’s urban spaces. Rumi Aijaz is Senior Fellow at ORF. Endnotes [a]The Indian government has not set any price ceiling for a house to qualify as ‘affordable’. The eligibility criteria for an ‘affordable’ dwelling in the PMAY (U) scheme are as follows: (i) EWS and LIG houses constructed for the poor and other needy communities living in slums and informal areas; (ii) EWS and LIG houses having a maximum carpet area of 30 sq m and 60 sq m respectively, along with basic infrastructure and services; and (iii) Buyers must be households having an annual income of no more than INR 300,000 (for EWS homes) and no more than INR 600,000 (for LIG homes) (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Housing for All Mission Scheme Guidelines). [b]Green buildings use less water, optimise energy efficiency, conserve natural resources, generate less waste, and provide healthier living spaces (Indian Green Building Council, “Green Building and Sustainable Architecture in India”). [1] Census of India, Primary Census Abstract for Slum, New Delhi: Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, 2013. [2] “Population Enumeration Data (Final Population),” Primary Census Abstract Data for Slum (India & States/UTs – Town level), Excel Format, 2011. [3] “Centre grants ownership rights to people in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies,” National Herald, October 23, 2019. [4] Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Report of the Technical Group on Urban Housing Shortage (2012-2017), New Delhi: Government of India, 2012. [5] MoHUA, “PMAY (U) Achievement (provisional),” as on February 21, 2022. [6] MoHUA, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Housing for All Mission Scheme Guidelines, New Delhi: Government of India, 2021. [7] Press Information Bureau, “Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package,” July 29, 2021. [8] MoHUA, “PMAY (U) Achievement (provisional)” [9] MoHUA, “PMAY (U) – Housing for All, State-wise Progress since 2014,” as on February 21, 2022. [10] Ministry of Urban Development, Smart Cities Mission Statement and Guidelines, New Delhi: Government of India, 2012. [11] MoHUA, “City wise details of PMAY (U),” as on February 21, 2022. [12] Elets News Network, “Smart Cities Mission brings together diverse government schemes on affordable housing under one roof,” June 7, 2021. [13] “Affordable housing (PMAY) EWS II – 208,” Surat Smart City. [14] “Construction of 208 DUs of EWS type at TP 19 (Parvat Magob), FP 112 under PMAY,” A2ZProperty.in. [15] Kamal Saiyed, “SUDA to provide around 400 houses on rent to migrant workers,” The Indian Express, February 4, 2021. [16] “Surat sets up first affordable housing for migrant workers,” The Hindu, November 13, 2020. [17] MoHUA, Smart Cities Mission Monthly Bulletin, Issue # 6, September 1, 2021. [18] “BMC conducts vaccination drive at beggar’s home & social equity centre in Bhubaneswar,” Odisha News Tune, June 5, 2021. [19] “PMAY (U) – Glimpses of Progress,”. [20] MoHUA, “Dashboard,”. [21] MoHUA, “Notes on Demand for Grants, 2022-23 – Demand No. 60”. [22] Manisha Natarajan, “A pale green habitat,” The Indian Express, July 20, 2021. [23] MoHUA, “PMAY (U) – Housing for All, State-wise Progress since 2014” [24] Elets News Network, “Smart Cities Mission brings together diverse government schemes on affordable housing under one roof” [25] Atikh Rashid, “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana subsidy delayed, thousands of beneficiaries forced to live in shanties or half-finished houses,” The Indian Express, October 10, 2020. [26] Rumi Aijaz, “Social Marginalisation in Urban India and the Role of the State,” ORF Issue Brief No. 118, December 2015, Observer Research Foundation. [27] Anumita Roychowdhury, Rajneesh Sareen and Mitashi Singh, “Beyond the Four Walls of PMAY: Resource Efficiency, Thermal Comfort, and Liveability in the Affordable Housing Sector,” Policy Brief, 2020, Centre for Science and Environment.

• Sustainable Food Systems

CSE Report flags poor state of organic fertiliser, biofertiliser sector in India

Context Drastic reduction in the production of organic fertilisers observed in India in 2020-21 when compared to the data of 2017-18. Background What are organic fertilisers? Organic fertilizerscomprise a variety of plant-derived materials that range from fresh or dried plant material to animal manures and litters to agricultural by-products. What are the benefits of using organic fertilisers? Helps improve the Soil Structure: Because of the organic matter present in organic fertilizer, soil structure is improved and as a result the soil’s ability to hold onto water and nutrients increases. Microbes Thrive Synthetic fertilizer consists of chemical molecules without carbon. These molecules can sometimes be disruptive and are not accessible to microbes. Organic fertilizers are rich in organic matter, which helps microbes thrive. Organic fertilizer contains carbon as part of its chemical makeup; and it is the carbon, along with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that feeds microbes and enables them to make nutrients available for plants in a naturally occurring biological process. Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Synthetic fertilizers runoff into our waterways harming marine life and water quality. Organic fertilizers do not run off as easily (if at all) and are associated with soil structure. It has been observed that organic fertilizer also increases species biodiversity by 30% compared with synthetic fertilizer. Reduces the use of Fertilizers and Pesticides Although organic fertilizer can be more costly than synthetic, it can reduce the need for pesticides and the overall nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium requirements. Because of the reductions, organic fertilizer can be cost neutral and sometimes a cost savings. Plant Damage Threat Avoided Some synthetic fertilizers can cause plant damage to leaves and roots. This is less likely with organic fertilizers. What are the Disadvantages of Using Organic Fertilizers? Not All Products Are Created Equally Not all products are created equally and many organic products produce inconsistent results. Nutrient Levels Are Low The level of nutrients present in organic fertilizer is often low. In addition, the nutrients are usually complexed in organic chemical structure; this means using organic fertilizer may not produce the pop of colour seen with a chemical fertilizer. DIY Compost is a Complicated Procedure Creating an organic compost is a messy and complicated process that often leads to an inconsistent product and end-result. Production of Organic Fertilisers in India: Making compost out of agriculture, animal and plant waste has been practised in India for a long period of time. Today though we are seeing a new era of organic fertilizers which are made using modern technologies and machineries. India, at this point of time, is the biggest producer of organic fertilizer in the world. Though the production of the same in the last few years has gone down drastically. Karnataka alone produces 94% of organic fertilisers in India. What the reasons for reduction of organic fertilisers in India? Farmers in India have become habitual of using inorganic fertilisers and making them shift towards the use of organic fertilisers is the biggest hurdle. Inorganic fertilisers have a history of giving bumper harvest since the time of Green Revolution and hence farmers in India continue to use them ignoring their ill-effects. Resources allotted by the Indian and state governments for manufacturing, distribution and promotion of organic fertilizers are miniscule when compared to the overall allocation made to the Agricultural sector. Data of companies through whom state governments procure organic fertilisers is opaque and hence tracing them and enquiring about the quality of their product is difficult. Stakeholders indicate widespread corruption and faulty tender process in such procurements. Farmers do not get good results because of such poor quality products and lose confidence in organic and bio-inputs available in the market. Not many companies today are operating in this sector and hence low competition is leading to sub-standard products being available in the market. Quality control infrastructure is poor. Many states do not have their own testing laboratories. Way forward Way forward: Promoting the use of organic fertilisers amongst farmers is of utmost importance. Farmers must be made to realise about the agricultural and environmental impact that indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers have. Union and states governments need to allocate more financial resources to the manufacturing and promotion of organic fertilisers. Procurement and distribution of organic fertilisers should be left to be done by local self-government bodies which could ensure transparency in the process. Mains Question Q1. Organic food export can transform Indian economy. Discuss the challenges faced by organic farming in India. What policy measures are needed to overcome them? Q2. Sri Lanka’s experiment with Organic Farming has raised questions on its efficacy. In light of this statement, discuss the future of organic farming in India.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

What do we do with Chennai’s legacy waste?

Legacy waste in Chennai’s dumpyards has become a ticking time-bomb making headlines over the years. The latest in a long line of incidents at Chennai’s dumpyards was a fire that broke out in Perungudi in the last week of April. The blaze spread across 15 acres and took four days for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Fire and Rescue Services and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) to put out. While much is talked about waste management and the source segregation of household waste, such incidents bring into sharp focus the scale of legacy waste at the dumpyards in the city and how little success there has been in tackling it. Status of Chennnai’s dumpyards At present garbage generated in Chennai is dumped at two dumpyards – Kodungaiyur, spread over 269 acres, and Perungudi, spread over 200 acres. With both the landfills being in use for almost three to four decades, 2,400 to 2,800 metric tonnes of waste is being disposed of at each site daily. In 1985, the civic body started dumping 20 tonnes of waste per day in Kodungaiyur and in 1989 the first sewage treatment plant (STP) was built on the fodder farm land. These combined factors started the destruction of the original pulpannai (turf) in the area. In a matter of years, the lush green pulpannai had turned into a brown hill of garbage. Similarly, the dumping of waste in Perungudi has had a profound effect on the ecologically sensitive Palikkaranai Marshland found nearby. The marshland has shrunk in size to 300 heactares from the original 8000 hectares, in part due to the spread of encroachments including the dumping site. The estimated volume of legacy waste at present in the Perungudi dumpyard is 30.60 lakh cubic metres, while the Kodungaiyur dumpyard has around 64 lakh cubic metres of legacy waste. chennai dumpyard With improper source segregation, more waste gets added to the dumpyards daily. Pic: Aruna Natarajan Legacy waste a source of pollution According to a study from the Centre for Science and Environment titled ‘Clean it right – Dumpsite management in India’, waste in dumpsites gradually decomposes by a combination of biological, chemical and physical processes. During the process of decomposition, two major emissions of primary concern – leachate and landfill gas which affect the environment in the following ways Leachate is polluted water that emerges at the base of dumpsite waste. It is formed in two ways. Rainwater landing on the waste flows over and through the waste and soluble substances are dissolved in the water. Also, some of the decomposition reactions in the waste produce liquid that is acidic. Some substances, such as toxic metals, tend to dissolve more easily in acids, making the final leachate more harmful. Leachate enters watercourses and may be consumed by humans in drinking water, for domestic purposes or irrigation, exposing users to these pollutants. Dumpsites in general receive mixed waste. The process of decomposition creates anaerobic conditions due to the presence of plastic and other large-surface-area materials. These anaerobic conditions lead to the formation of landfill gas, comprising a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. Methane is known to be more potent as a heat-trapping gas. It is also flammable with slight exposure to flame or high temperatures. In extreme cases, the gas can build up in a landfill and explode, with risk of devastation. Biomining, the solution with pitfalls An oft cited solution to the mammoth task of clearing legacy waste in cities is biomining. Biomining is the process of using microorganisms to extract materials of economic interest from legacy waste. The prime process, however, is to recover soil from decomposed mixed waste. In other words, biomining is a process by which previously dumped waste is dug up after loosening by harrowing and then processed to recover valuable recyclable scrap while also recovering landfill space. The end product, likely to be soil, is rid of toxic materials and hence becomes reusable. Removal of legacy waste is a herculean task. “It is not only a mixture of waste that is dumped there. For every two layers of legacy waste, debris from construction and demolition waste has been used to compact because there was a need for something to hold the waste together so that the waste does not dissipate. It could not be dug open or unearthed that easily,” said Dr Jayshree Vencatesan, Managing Trustee of Care Earth. Citing the surveys conducted by Care Earth since 2002 in Perungudi, she pointed out the medical wastes also continue to be dumped there. “Physical removal of such wastes is not going to help. Projects like biomining are being done under the assumption that the land is flat. In the case of Perungudi, we still do not know how much of the waste has sunk into the marshland,” she noted. With biomining, the useful inorganic waste in the dumps will be sent to recycling centres, while the organic part of the soil will be used for agriculture or creating manure. Explaining how the plastic in legacy waste gets inseparably mixed, Satyarupa Shekhar, Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator for Break Free From Plastic, said “Plastic is scientifically established to degrade very quickly. It basically does not biodegrade but breaks into smaller particles and gets mixed with all the materials. The problem with biomining is the assumption that we are removing all the plastic from the waste. The organic part of the soil, which is assumed to be free of toxic plastic substances, is used for gardening and farming. End of the day, these plastic substances enter our food system and also the bloodstream.” Akin to how the soil becomes unusable despite biomining, citing a 2019 study conducted by Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), she said that groundwater around Kodungaiyur dump site has been highly contaminated. “The problem with legacy waste is that it makes the soil and water completely unusable,” she said. The inorganic waste which cannot be recycled, is either sent to cement plants or used in projects like ‘waste to energy conversion’ in which the waste is incinerated. The cement plants require good quality waste. A monitoring mechanism on how the toxic mixed wastes are handled at cement plants is the need of the hour. The problem with incinerators in India is the substandard technology, said Dharmesh Shah, Advisor at Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE). “In addition to the emission, the larger question is what would we do with the ash after burning them? The ash is also very toxic and we will need a place to dump it again. What happened in Delhi is that the Okhla dumpyard was cleared, the waste was incinerated and ash was again dumped at the same site. This only led to air pollution,” he said. Commenting on ‘waste to energy’ projects, he said, “It is just another term for incineration and it is going to have the same impact as incineration.” What after biomining? In a bid to remove the legacy waste and reclaim the marsh land, biomining works are underway in Perungudi. Meanwhile, waste characterisation study, a hydrogeological study to compute the flooding potential at the site, a baseline environmental study to determine presence of heavy metals and toxic substances in the soil, water and air and a socio-economic survey are soon to be conducted in Kodungaiyur prior to biomining, said a corporation official. According to recent news reports, following the biomining works which are underway in Perungudi, an eco-park or a forest is likely to come up following the reclamation. “My worst fear is that the local body would plant saplings and convert it into a park. The Pallikaranai marshland has two unique features – the unique hydrology which is partly saline and partly fresh waste and the second, as a result of such unique hydrology the marshland has a wide diversity of habitats. It serves as home to 114 flora and 223 fauna species. Plantation on this land will make it a single habitat area which will attract only a few sets of birds. This could also have other ecological consequences,” she said. When asked if the marsh land could retain its original shape after the biomining process, she said that it is impossible and is gone forever. S Janakarajan, Professor of Economics (Retired) from the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS, Adyar), commented that natural hydrology could be retained after reclamation but it will not happen overnight. “It is going to take a very, very long time,” he said. Need for Circular Economy While dealing with the legacy waste is by itself a huge task, thousands of tonnes of fresh waste which remain unsegregated despite the attempts to implement decentralised waste management systems, also pose a huge challenge and further complicate the process. A sanitary worker, S Balakrishnanan from Zone 9, who has been working on contract basis for over a decade, said that though there are different bins used for collecting bio-degradable and non-biodegradable wastes and even when residents segregate the household wastes at source level, the wastes are later mixed together and taken to dumpyards without being processed. “Similarly, the compactor vehicles, which are mostly used only at night times, carry the mixed garbage from the bins straight to the dumpyards at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi,” he added. “‘Use and throw’ has become the habit of urban citizens. In particular the middle and upper middle-class population have been intoxicated in a way with increasing habits of consumerism. They are decently employed people. They earn money and they spend. Who handles all the waste they generate? The answer is obvious”, said Janakarajan, stressing that every individual should take ownership of their garbage and ‘see through their own waste’. “I would consider all the garbage as a resource and put it in a circular economy where by-products like manure could be made. Unless a product is processed from purchase to end through a circular economy, it could not be called solid waste management,” he said. While some people argue that manufacturers should not use plastic. They are selling only because there are consumers who buy the product. Though the onus is on both the ends, people should have some sort of mechanism to protest against such sales, he added. Decentralised infra must be in place The Solid Waste Management Rules are very clear. It mandates source segregation and decentralised waste management systems. However, municipal corporations have not been able to implement it effectively. “Even when all the waste generated is segregated into separate streams, there are few categories like low quality plastics which could not be recycled. We need policy level decisions to eliminate such waste,” Dharmesh said. Pointing out examples from Bangalore and Pune, he added that unless a decentralised infrastructure is in place, biomining will only be yet another fancy project where crores of money is dumped in. “Not only in Chennai but also across the country and globe, solid waste management contracts are being given only for waste collection and disposal. When contracts are worded that way, it only means that the contractor should collect the waste from the houses and dump it in a specified location. The contracts should rather include scientific processing of all kinds of waste,” said Satyarupa Jayshree suggested that multidisciplinary experts should be roped in to deal with legacy waste as even a margin of error could have irrecoverable impacts on the environment. Vamsi Shankar Kapilavai, Senior Researcher who heads projects in Solid Waste Management with Citizen Consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) said that the companies should come up with ‘reuse and refill’ initiatives, while the residents should ensure source segregation. He also added that the reclaimed land in areas near the Pallikaranai marshland should not be used for anything. It should be left as marsh land which will help in retaining the effects of climate change naturally in the long run. Responding to the critiques on source segregation, a corporation official said that the civic body is implementing the source segregation strictly now and is aimed at preventing at least 1,000 metric tonnes of organic wastes from reaching the dumpsites. Meanwhile, the GCC has also announced that a sum of Rs 100 per day would be levied as fine on each household that fails to segregate the wastes at source level. A sum of Rs 13.85 lakh fine has been collected in April from 573 persons for dumping the household and construction waste in public places. Speaking on the legacy waste management, the officials also assured that the biomining in Perungudi is done with caution following all the rules and the biomining in Kodungaiyur would be carried out after the aforementioned studies.

• Sustainable Food Systems

Kein Palmöl mehr aus Indonesien, neues Enzym zersetzt Plastik in wenigen Tagen und lebende Zäune fürs Klima

seit Wochen leiden die Bewohner Indiens und Pakistans unter extremster Hitze – die Temperaturen stiegen in den vergangenen Tagen auf bis zu 47,5 Grad Celsius. Im indischen Bundesstaat Maharashtra wurden seit Ende März 25 hitzebedingte Todesfälle registriert. Das hat es laut dortigen Behörden seit fünf Jahren nicht mehr gegeben. Auch liegen die Zahlen wahrscheinlich höher, weil Indien nicht zuverlässig alle Toten erfasst. Vor allem die immer geringer werdenden Abstände zwischen den Hitzewellen bereiten Experten Sorge. Bevor der Klimawandel sich bemerkbar machte, erlebten die Menschen in der Region ein solches Wetterereignis etwa einmal in 50 Jahren. Inzwischen kommt es etwa alle vier Jahre vor, wie unter anderem der Bayerische Rundfunk berichtet. Die Umweltschützerin Sunita Narain leitet in Delhi das Centre for Science and Environment, eine Agentur für ökologisches Unternehmensrating. Mit Zeit Online hat sie über die Energiekrise und über die Ungerechtigkeiten in der internationalen Klimapolitik gesprochen. In Bezug auf Indiens Abhängigkeit von Kohlestrom sagt sie: „Aus Europa kriege ich immer wieder denselben Vorwurf zu hören, immer geht es um unsere Kohle. Wir sollen jetzt ein Problem lösen, das nicht wir verursacht haben, sondern die Weltgemeinschaft, vor allem der Westen. Aber was tut der Westen denn selbst? Deutschland will jetzt Gasterminals bauen. Die EU hat Gas erst vor Kurzem zu sauberer Energie erklärt.“ Mit diesem Lesetipp starten wir in den Dienstag – und natürlich mit unserer Presseschau. Angenehme Lektüre!

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Mountains of shame

The Ghazipur and Bhalswa fires posed a big challenge to the Delhi Fire Service. The firemen found it slippery to climb the mountains and reach the fire spots. After watching Ghazipur and Bhalswa garbage dumps on fire, Delhi’ites now know what happens to garbage, once it leaves their homes. They thought they threw out just a small pack of waste every day. The recent fires at the garbage dumps brought home the fact that small packs of household waste added up to millions of tonnes of garbage, and formed mountains of sorts on Delhi’s border. Ghazipur in East Delhi, Bhalswa in North Delhi, and Okhla in South Delhi are now getting identified more with their massive garbage dumps than anything else. Seen from a distance, these dumps can pass off as mountains from the Himalayan or Aravalli ranges. In fact, they are called ‘Mountains of Shame’ as they pollute the air with their stench and particles of waste, all year round and represent Delhi’s failure to safely dispose of its garbage. The Ghazipur and Bhalswa fires posed a big challenge to the Delhi Fire Service. The firemen found it slippery to climb the mountains and reach the fire spots. The mountains had unlimited methane deposits under their layers to sustain the fires. As the acrid smoke rose and reached nearby localities, schools were shut. In residential areas, there was no comfort inside or outside homes. The garbage mountains are producing stinks even without fires and this can be felt miles away. Should one lower car windows while driving past Ghazipur or Bhalswa, one cannot get over the feeling of nausea for miles. Even quickly shutting the windows or switching on the car air conditioner does not help. It’s a wonder that civic officials passing through the areas never suffered the pollution or felt inspired to inform their seniors about the horrific environment in the area. There is no dearth of studies on the management of municipal solid waste to rectify the situation. In December 2021, government think-tank Niti-Aayog and the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) published a report on “Waste-Wise Cities” and narrated the cities’ “Best Practices in Municipal Solid Waste Management.” The civic authorities can benefit from the work done under the centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission. This mission is now in its second phase and aims to make cities garbage free with efficient waste source segregation, hundred percent door-to-door collection, and complete remedial treatment of the waste material. The authorities will have to quickly adapt and adapt systems that suit Delhi. Thirty percent of Indian urban waste still remains unprocessed. Why should one proceeding to Chandigarh or Shimla for a holiday be first forced to breathe in the dirty air from the Bhalswa dump? Those travelling to Indirapuram and other areas of Ghaziabad from Nizamuddin Bridge have to face the same problem from the Ghazipur dump. Increasing consumerism has to take the major blame. A few decades back, everybody carried periodic purchases of foodgrains and lentils in paper or cloth bags. There were no plastic bags to throw away. Now everything is available in plastic bags, not just ready-to-eat snacks. Even fruits and vegetables are brought home in thin plastic carry-bags, in spite of repeated announcements of the ban on their use. All these packing materials add up to huge household waste. Indian cities today generate between 1.30 lakh and 1.50 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of municipal solid waste every day or roughly 50 million MT per year. At the current rate, this can jump to 125 million MT a year by 2031! Delhi is a big consumer. Waste processing will be easier if it is segregated as per rules. But if the city goes on throwing into waste bins, as much as it consumes, it cannot expect the existing mountains of garbage to disappear from its border; in fact, their number can only go up!

• Sustainable Food Systems

Indian Soils Extremely Deficient in Nutrients

According to a CSE report, 27 states and UTs had nitrogen deficiency in 90% of the samples. The levels of organic carbon and macronutrients in Indian soils are either “very low”, “low” or “medium”. According to a recent Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report, about 85% of soil samples are deficient in organic carbon. Of these samples, about 15% contain very low levels of organic carbon, 49% contain low levels of organic carbon and 21% contain medium levels of organic carbon. Similarly, 97% of the samples are deficient in nitrogen—out of these, 45% of the samples show very low levels of nitrogen, 36% low levels of nitrogen and 16% medium levels of nitrogen. The report found that 83% of the samples are deficient in phosphorus—17% reveal very low levels of phosphorus, 31% reveal low levels and 35% medium levels. About 71% of the samples are deficient in potassium. Of these samples, about 5% have very low levels of potassium, 14% low levels and 52% medium levels. Indian soils are also deficient in micronutrients with more samples showing deficit in boron, iron, sulphur and zinc and a lesser number in copper and manganese. As per the Soil Health Card scheme, initiated by the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare in 2014-15, the soil is considered deficient in macronutrients, like nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphorus and potassium if the levels of these macronutrients in the soil are “very low”, “low” or “medium” and sufficient if the levels of the macronutrients are “high” or “very high”. Similarly, soils containing less than the prescribed level of a micronutrient—boron, copper, iron, manganese, sulphur and zinc, etc.—are considered deficient and soils containing equal to or more than the prescribed levels of micronutrients are considered sufficient. Deficiency in Indian Soils According to the report, organic carbon deficiency is widespread across the country—24 states and Union Territories (UTs) have, at least, half of their soil samples deficient in organic carbon. Out of these, seven states have more than 90% deficient samples. Haryana’s soils are the most deficient in organic carbon, followed by those of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Nitrogen deficiency is also widespread and severe—32 states and UTs have nitrogen deficiency in at, least, half of their soil samples. Of these, 27 states and UTs have more than 90% deficient samples. Fifteen states and UTs have nitrogen deficiency in almost all of their samples—Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The report highlighted that replenishment of nutrients is crucial if crop production is to continue in the long run. “Recycling of organic matter or biomass can be done through the application of organic fertilisers and practices like growing green manure crops or mulching,” the report stated. “Some other practices that help regain nutrients include crop rotation, inter-cropping and mixed cropping. Biofertilisers can enable nutrient mobilisation and solubilisation in soil. Chemical-based fertilisers directly provide nutrients to the soil.”

• Sustainable Food Systems

Indian Soils Extremely Deficient in Nutrients

The levels of organic carbon and macronutrients in Indian soils are either “very low”, “low” or “medium”. According to a recent Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report, about 85% of soil samples are deficient in organic carbon. Of these samples, about 15% contain very low levels of organic carbon, 49% contain low levels of organic carbon and 21% contain medium levels of organic carbon. Similarly, 97% of the samples are deficient in nitrogen—out of these, 45% of the samples show very low levels of nitrogen, 36% low levels of nitrogen and 16% medium levels of nitrogen. The report found that 83% of the samples are deficient in phosphorus—17% reveal very low levels of phosphorus, 31% reveal low levels and 35% medium levels. About 71% of the samples are deficient in potassium. Of these samples, about 5% have very low levels of potassium, 14% low levels and 52% medium levels. Indian soils are also deficient in micronutrients with more samples showing deficit in boron, iron, sulphur and zinc and a lesser number in copper and manganese. As per the Soil Health Card scheme, initiated by the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare in 2014-15, the soil is considered deficient in macronutrients, like nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphorus and potassium if the levels of these macronutrients in the soil are “very low”, “low” or “medium” and sufficient if the levels of the macronutrients are “high” or “very high”. Similarly, soils containing less than the prescribed level of a micronutrient—boron, copper, iron, manganese, sulphur and zinc, etc.—are considered deficient and soils containing equal to or more than the prescribed levels of micronutrients are considered sufficient. Deficiency in Indian Soils According to the report, organic carbon deficiency is widespread across the country—24 states and Union Territories (UTs) have, at least, half of their soil samples deficient in organic carbon. Out of these, seven states have more than 90% deficient samples. Haryana’s soils are the most deficient in organic carbon, followed by those of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Nitrogen deficiency is also widespread and severe—32 states and UTs have nitrogen deficiency in at, least, half of their soil samples. Of these, 27 states and UTs have more than 90% deficient samples. Fifteen states and UTs have nitrogen deficiency in almost all of their samples—Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The report highlighted that replenishment of nutrients is crucial if crop production is to continue in the long run. “Recycling of organic matter or biomass can be done through the application of organic fertilisers and practices like growing green manure crops or mulching,” the report stated. “Some other practices that help regain nutrients include crop rotation, inter-cropping and mixed cropping. Biofertilisers can enable nutrient mobilisation and solubilisation in soil. Chemical-based fertilisers directly provide nutrients to the soil.”

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

In Delhi, heatwave pushes ozone levels past safe limit

According to DPCC data for the last week of April (April 24-30), temperatures shot up to 43-47°C in parts of Delhi (against a normal average of around 38°C during the period), with locations such as Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) Stadium, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, Nehru Nagar, Mandir Marg, RK Puram and Narela all breaching the eight-hour ozone limit of 100 micrograms per cubic metre six out of the seven days. With mercury in the National Capital Region (NCR) rising earlier than usual this year and roads choking with vehicles, the level of ground-level ozone, a highly reactive gas that can be particularly dangerous to those suffering from asthma and respiratory conditions, is on the rise and has already breached permissible standards at several spots across the city, data from Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) shows. The gas is formed as a result of a mixture of heat and gases such as oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds, largely occurring during the day in areas where there is traffic congestion or the presence of several industries. According to DPCC data for the last week of April (April 24-30), temperatures shot up to 43-47°C in parts of Delhi (against a normal average of around 38°C during the period), with locations such as Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) Stadium, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, Nehru Nagar, Mandir Marg, RK Puram and Narela all breaching the eight-hour ozone limit of 100 micrograms per cubic metre six out of the seven days. At Mundka, a busy industrial area, it breached the eight-hour limit on five of the seven days, while at Aurobindo Marg, where traffic congestion is an issue, it failed to meet the standards on three of the seven days. During this period, the highest eight-hourly values were recorded at JLN stadium, where it touched 199.8 micrograms per cubic metre, followed by the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range (188.4) -- both nearly two times the safe limit. Unlike PM2.5, PM 10 or NO2 which have 24-hour standards, ozone levels are measured by eight-hour standards and one-hour standards, largely owing to how dangerous the gas can be in a short span of time. While the eight-hour standard of ozone is 100 micrograms per cubic metre, the hourly standard is 180 micrograms per cubic metre. DPCC data shows the gas’s hourly values touched 251 micrograms per cubic metre at JLN stadium during the last week of April close to noon every day when there is substantial traffic and the temperature is high. At Nehru Nagar, next to Lajpat Nagar, it reached 238 micrograms per cubic metre, primarily due to the traffic. According to experts, while the levels of PM2.5 (particulate matter with diameters of 2.5 microns) and PM10 (suspended coarse particulate matter, either solid or liquid, with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less) may reduce, dangerous gases can still pollute the air, with ozone generally becoming the lead pollutant on those days. “Ozone levels are highest on days when there are clear skies, and if the level of particulate matter is low, the sun’s heat penetrates deeper into the atmosphere, reacting with oxides of nitrogen to form ozone,” said Dipankar Saha, former head of the Central Pollution Control Board’s air laboratory. He added that ozone levels are likely to increase further in May and June, when the heat peaks. A study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) last year found that high levels of ozone have become a year-round problem for Delhi — particularly during the summers. Tanushree Ganguly, programme lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said since emissions from vehicles are a significant source of NOx, there is a need to focus on the vehicular sector to reduce ozone levels, which will also aid in the reduction of particulate matter. “Multiple spots, including Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Chandni Chowk, Patparganj, Narela and Jahangirpuri, reported ozone concentrations higher than the permissible 180 µg/m3 over the last few days,” said Ganguly.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Delhi: Dangers above & down under as groundwater toxic near landfills

NEW DELHI: The groundwater near the landfill sites — Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla — and the engineered sanitary landfill at Bawana continues to be contaminated. Delhi Pollution Control Committee, which had collected samples from 4-5 sites near each landfill site in December last year, found that total dissolved solids (TDS), calcium, sulphate and magnesium levels were beyond the desirable limit. Experts said consumption of water with a high TDS level for longer periods could be harmful for health. Richa Singh, programme officer, municipal solid waste, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, “High levels of TDS are caused due to the presence of potassium, chloride and sodium and toxic ions in larger amounts. Consumption of water with elevated amounts of TDS for longer periods will expose the body to various chemicals and toxins. It may cause chronic health conditions like cancer, liver, kidney failures, nervous system disorders, weaken immunity and may also cause birth defects in the newborns. This occurs because suspended solids act as a substrate to carry the disease causing agents.” “Testing of these samples for the presence of heavy metals is necessary because that can also contribute in imparting toxicity and high TDS to groundwater,” added Singh. The DPCC report showed that though the desired TDS limit for drinking water was 500 mg/l, it was up to four times higher at some sites. For instance, TDS was 2,170 mg/l at the fish market near Ghazipur landfill site and 2,160 at Bhalswa Dairy. Apart from TDS, sulphate and manganese were also higher at most sites. The DPCC report stated that sulphate level was highest at Sanoth village, Bawana (884 mg/l) and Bhalswa Janta Colony (826 mg/l) as against the desired limit of 200 mg/l. Some sites near Bawana landfill site had magnesium levels within the desired range of 30 mg/l. However, magnesium levels were higher at all sampled sites near Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. Some sites did not meet the criteria of desired limit of chloride and hardness levels. According to experts, the primary source of contamination in groundwater is unsegregated waste at the landfill sites leaching into the soil. Shashank Shekhar, professor, department of geology, Delhi University, said, “The observed high level of major irons like calcium, magnesium, etc in groundwater in close proximity to landfill site may be attributed to leachate to the landfill site, which enter and contaminate the groundwater within its vicinity. Further investigation with regards to ammonia and nitrate is desired to confirm the groundwater quality in its vicinity.” “It has also been observed that these landfill sites have crossed their carrying capacity and it should have been proposed a long time ago that further dumping of garbage in them would pollute the groundwater systems and have an undesirable environmental impact in the vicinity. It is desired that the government look for alternate sites or process the waste in a scientific way to adhere to environmental laws,” added Shekhar.

• Down To Earth

Scorching April heat flags climate ABYSS

Global warming seems to have jumped out of academic conference rooms and doomsday predictions of climate activists to bite much of north and central India and Pakistan. Global warming seems to have jumped out of academic conference rooms and doomsday predictions of climate activists to bite much of north and central India and Pakistan. April saw scorching heat conditions, which according to the Indian Metrological Department (IMD), was the most intense in 122 years. The heat wave has enveloped over 1.5bn people across borders, and governments are worried at the toll it has taken on lives and crops. Banda in East UP logged a record high of 47.4 degree C on April 29, while several regions including Allahabad, and Gurugram in the national capital region and Chandrapur in central India have all crossed 46-deg C mark. An assessment by the Centre for Science and Environment said the heat wave started around March 11 and has enveloped as many as 11 states. In Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, temperatures are close to 50 deg C, unknown in this period of the year. Work is at a standstill as people don’t leave their homes; and frequent power and water supply breakdowns have made things worse. ADVERTISEMENT Disruptions are widespread in India too. Many schools have been closed and power outages have become common as thermal power plants are not able to cope with the 9% spike in power demand. One of the reasons is coal supply to 108 of the 173 thermal plants are critically low. As much as 75% of India’s power is still sourced from coal-fired plants, and the Railways rushing coal cargo to these plants has led to the cancellation of 1,100 passenger trains till the end of May. Local weather systems fail The immediate reasons, according to weather experts, for the above-normal heat conditions is the lack of what they call ‘western disturbances’ in the north-west region of the Indian subcontinent. These low pressure ‘disturbances’ create light rainfall and thundershowers keeping the summer heat in check. However, the 4 episodes or ‘western disturbances’ this year between March and April, were low grade and not enough to bring down temperatures substantially this year. D Sivananda Pai of Kottayam-based Institute for Climate Change Studies said periodic ‘anti-cyclones’ over western parts of Rajasthan in March exacerbated the situation. Anticyclones cause hot and dry weather by sinking winds around high-pressure systems. The ongoing heatwave has taken a toll on the rural economy. In the north-western states, especially Punjab and Haryana, wheat crop yields have dropped by over 50% in areas experiencing extreme temperatures. From Himachal Pradesh in India to Baluchistan’s Mustang district, fruit crops, especially apple and peach orchards, have been decimated. Apple trees bore blooms nearly a month in advance, and then withered away with the heat without bearing fruit. Global warming playing out Though local weather systems have been responsible for the intense April heat, there is no doubt it is the long-term impact of Climate Change and Global Warming that is playing out. The UN Study by the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published this February, looks at the causes, impact and solutions to climate change; and is a lucid analysis of how a warmer world is endangering all the living things on Earth. The report explains how extreme weather events linked to climate change like floods and heatwaves are hitting humans and other species much harder than previous assessments indicated.Between 2010 and 2020, 15 times more people died from floods, droughts and storms in very vulnerable regions including parts of Africa, South Asia and Central and South America, than in other parts of the world. Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s minister for climate, told ‘The Guardian’ of UK that the heatwave was melting glaciers in the north of the country at extraordinary speed, and that thousands were at risk of being caught in flash floods. She also said that the sizzling temperatures were not only impacting crops but water supply as well. “Our big dams are at dead level right now, and sources of water are scarce,” she said. The positive side of the IPCC report is that it still holds out a window of opportunity that, if the world’s government’s and civic leaders act in time to keep global warming within 1.5 deg C of pre-industrial 1850 levels, there is hope for reversing the trend. For this greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2025 and then fall 43% by 2030 to touch 2019 levels. To lower emissions, the age of fossil fuels must end. Coal use must drop 95% by 2050 on 2019 levels, oil by 60% and gas 45%to meet the 1.5°C goal, says Jan Christoph Minx, one of the authors of the IPCC report. Unfortunately, governments including the India’s, are not doing enough. But then that is another story. Record-high temperatures Banda in East UP logged a record high of 47.4o C on April 29, while several regions including Allahabad, Gurugram in the NCR and Chandrapur in central India have all crossed the 46o C mark. In Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, temperatures are close to 50o C. 50% In north-western states, especially Punjab and Haryana, wheat yields have dropped by over 50% in areas experiencing extreme temperatures