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Cse In News

Delays take a toll, RFID Phase-II a non-starter

Delays take a toll, RFID Phase-II a non-starter New Delhi: With the end of the year 2020, over 80% of the project execution period of the second phase of the RFID project, which involves installing this facility for collection of toll and other charges at 111 border points, has also lapsed. The erstwhile Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) had submitted a report in Supreme Court informing that Phase-II of the project would be completed between September 2020 and January 2021. On August 14, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the nodal agency of the project, had announced that all toll plazas would get handheld devices to read RFID chips by November and infrastructure would be installed at the remaining 111 border points by January 2021. A senior corporation official said the deadline had been breached. “Under Phase-II, based on the Supreme Court’s order dated August 10, 2020, 10 more toll points were to be equipped with boom barriers and RFID infrastructure, while handheld devices were to be made available at 101 toll points. The matter is still in the consultation phase,” the official added. The 10 additional borders included Kundli-2, Loni Main, New Seemapuri, Chander Nagar, New Kondli, Noida Major, Pul Prahladpur, Bajghera, Dhansa and Jahroda. The same thing was reiterated in the budget proposal delivered by the commissioner on December 7, 2020. Another official added that the proposal to spend Rs 36 crore on the expansion of the project had not been approved by the standing committee in various meetings. The dissolution of EPCA had further raised a question mark on the future of the project. Explaining the rationale behind expansion of the project, officials stated that diversion of vehicles to other border points and old polluting vehicles trying to enter from non-RFID border points could reduce the gains made through the project. In their outgoing letter to the Union environment minister, EPCA members Sunita Narain and Bhure Lal had mentioned that expansion of the RFID project was one of the key works that needed to be expedited and implemented through the new air quality commission. In the meanwhile, the ongoing protest by farmers against the three central agri laws has resulted in a large chunk of traffic shifting away from the 13 major entry points to the capital that are RFID-compliant. The first phase of the project was executed at these 13 toll plazas, which received 85% of the city’s incoming commercial traffic. The cashless transaction was started on September 13, 2019.

Fighting pollution with smog towers tall order

Fighting pollution with smog towers tall order New Delhi: After Anand Vihar and Connaught Place, anti-smog towers are likely to be installed as part of the Central Vista project. While Supreme Court has directed for anti-smog guns to be used during the construction phase, a tower will be needed for the vista once it is complete. Though ambitious, the anti-smog tower concept is largely untested with no global studies to back its efficacy. Experts said while a pilot project could be launched to determine the impact of such towers, the cost to maintain and run them, coupled with the cost of “purifying” a relatively limited and open area, outweighed the benefits. Currently, Delhi has three mini air-purifying towers installed by BJP MP Gautam Gambhir, but an analysis by Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has found that 25 lakh such towers would be required to purify the city’s air. Tanushree Ganguly, programme associate, CEEW, said the funds being spent on these towers could be used elsewhere. Attention, in particular, was required towards thermal power plants. “Such unproven technologies shouldn’t be encouraged. The focus should instead be on ensuring that thermal power plants around Delhi comply with the emission norms notified in 2015. Also, the funds could be better utilised on an augmented and reliable transit system and scientific management of waste. Cutting down emissions is the only way to tackle air pollution,” she added. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, at Centre for Science and Environment said there was no data to support the fact that anti-smog towers could clean up outdoor ambient air. She stressed on the need for adapting better dust-control practices seen worldwide. “Detailed guidelines to control dust generated through construction and demolition and cheaper practices from abroad can be brought in,” she added. To simulate the Rs 20 crore anti-smog tower at Connaught Place, CEEW carried out an experiment using an air purifier in a balcony as a “small-scale” version of the tower. The experiment measured readings within 12 feet of the device and found that while ambient air quality dropped by 20-25 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3), the impact was reduced when measured away from the flow of the air. Ambient air quality returned to normal as soon as the device was turned off. CEEW’s analysis points towards the need for considerably altering the size of the device to make any significant impact to the surrounding air. Under normal circumstances, it was not likely to reduce to breathable limits from Delhi’s normal ambient PM2.5 readings of 120 µg/m3. Karthik Ganesan, fellow at CEEW, who conducted the experiment, said PM2.5 readings that were 80-89 µg/m3 came down to 55-65 µg/m3 in the flow of the air. However, readings were as high as 75 µg/m3 away from the flow of air. “This means the impact was very short-lived. For sustained impact, people need to be in the vicinity of air purifiers for consistent periods. At a commercial space, where people dip in and out, the impact would be minimal,” he added.

आवरण कथाः अभिशाप और उम्मीदें

आवरण कथाः अभिशाप और उम्मीदें महामारी हो या जलवायु परिवर्तन से पैदा होने वाली मौसम की आपदाएं, कुदरत ने अपनी तकलीफ बयान कर दी है, पहले ही बहुत देर हो चुकी है, कम से कम अब हमें इस बर्बादी को दुरुस्त करना ही होगा मुझे कहना ही होगा कि साल 2020 हमारे जीवनकाल का सबसे उथल-पुथलकारी, सबसे विनाशकारी और बुरे अर्थों में सबसे बदलावकारी साल था. इस संकट की कोई पूर्व मिसाल नहीं है—ऐसा कोई शास्त्र नहीं है जो सरकारों को बताता हो कि क्या करना है, अर्थव्यवस्थाओं को कैसे बंद करना है और उन्हें कब खोलना है. यह वायरस रूप बदलता है, यह पशु से इनसानों में कूदा है; यह अत्यंत घातक है क्योंकि लगता है कि यह अपने को छिपाने के नए-नए तरीके खोज लेता है—कोई लक्षण न होते हुए भी हम इसके संक्रमण के वाहक हो सकते हैं.</p> हम जब 2020 में दाखिल हुए, तब उन विभीषिकाओं का लेशमात्र संकेत नहीं था जो दुनिया का इंतजार कर रही थीं. चीन के वुहान में कुछ हो रहा था लेकिन हममें से कइयों ने उस पर गौर ही नहीं किया. हमारी स्क्रीन पर तो कुछ और ही चिंताजनक नजारा था—ऑस्ट्रेलिया की विशाल पट्टियों में फैलती, लोगों और वन्यजीवों को हताहत करती और घरों को बर्बाद करती झाड़ियों की आग. इस आग की तीव्रता का रिश्ता जलवायु परिवर्तन से था क्योंकि ये ज्वालाएं ऊष्मा के उन बढ़ते स्तरों से पैदा हुई थीं जिन्होंने धरती को सुखाकर आग के गोले में बदल दिया था. लंबे सूखे के साथ मिलकर इसने धधकती आग के लिए आदर्श जमीन तैयार कर दी.</p> मगर जब विभिन्न देशों का ध्यान इस आग पर लगा हुआ था, दुनिया के हमारे हिस्से में कहीं ज्यादा बदतर मानवीय त्रासदी घटित हो रही थी. जनवरी आते-आते टिड्डियों के विशाल झुंड राजस्थान और गुजरात के मैदानों पर धावा बोल चुके थे. उन्होंने फसल चट करके किसानों की रोजी-रोटी तहस-नहस कर दीं. इस हमले का भारी पैमाना और तीव्रता भी जलवायु परिवर्तन से जुड़ा था: असामान्य बारिश, चक्रवात की घटनाओं और फिर अरब प्रायद्वीप, पूर्वी अफ्रीका और भारत के पश्चिमी राज्यों के रेगिस्तानों में सामान्य से लंबे मॉनसून ने कई गुना संततियां उत्पन्न करने वाले इस जीव के लिए प्रजनन की उर्वर जमीन तैयार कर दी. नतीजतन टिड्डियों की विनाशकारी बाढ़ आ गई, जिसे अक्सर अकाल की पूर्वसूचना की तरह देखा जाता है क्योंकि यह कीट नजर में आने वाली सब चीजें खा जाता है मध्य मार्च आते-आते कोविड-19 के संकट ने दस्तक दी और लॉकडाउन का ऐलान कर दिया गया. भारत के लॉकडाउन का पहला दौर अप्रैल मध्य में खत्म हो गया और जब इसे 3 मई और फिर महीने के आखिर तक बढ़ाया गया, तब ऐसा लगा कि यह बीमारी बस अब अपने अंत के नजदीक है. मगर इस तबाही भरे साल के दिसंबर के आखिर में जब मैं ये पंक्तियां लिख रही हूं, हम नए साल में इस तरह दाखिल हो रहे हैं कि हमारे पास उम्मीद और प्रार्थना के सिवा ज्यादा कुछ नहीं है.</p> फिर मई में हम एक मानवीय संकट से दोचार हुए, जब हजारों भूखे और लाचार लोग अपने काम की जगहों को छोड़कर गांवों में अपने घरों के लिए निकल पड़े, क्योंकि अर्थव्यवस्था धराशायी हो चुकी थी और उनके पास गुजारे के लिए पैसे नहीं बचे थे. हमने देखा कि किस तरह हमारे शहर के अदृश्य लोग बेगाने हो गए, जो अपना खून-पसीना देकर हमारी सुख-सुविधाओं के लिए बेहद जरूरी वस्तुओं और सेवाओं का उत्पादन और निर्माण करते हैं, उन्होंने अपनी जान गंवाईं, क्योंकि वे रेल की पटरियों पर सो गए और रेल उनके ऊपर से गुजर गई या ट्रकों के नीचे कुचले गए. मैं यह इसलिए लिख रही हूं क्योंकि हमें यह भूलना नहीं चाहिए, हमें इन तस्वीरों को अपने दिलोदिमाग से मिटने नहीं देना चाहिए. हमारी दुनिया में इतना सब घट चुका है. हमें कतई नहीं भूलना चाहिए जून की 1 तारीख को जब पहले अनलॉक की घोषणा हुई, खोलने का उतावलापन बढ़ा. ठीक भी था क्योंकि अर्थव्यवस्था चरमरा चुकी थी और सबसे बदतरीन मार दिहाड़ी मजदूरों पर पड़ी थी, जिनके पास काम-धंधे नहीं थे ताकि खाना या कोई भी चीज खरीद पाएं. सरकार के राहत पैकेज स्वागत योग्य तो थे पर इस संकट के आगे बेहद थोड़े थे. फिर इन बीते छह महीनों में ज्यों-ज्यों हम कामकाज खोलते थे, हमें फिर-फिर बंद करना पड़ता था, क्योंकि संक्रमण की संख्या बढ़ जाती थी. लॉकडाउन के लिए शहरों, राज्यों की सीमाएं बंद थीं. हरेक त्योहार के साथ, जब हर्षोल्लास आना चाहिए था, संक्रमण की संख्या बढ़ जाती थी. पूरे साल यही होता रहा और मैं बेखटके कह सकती हूं कि अब थकान हावी हो चुकी है. हम जानते हैं कि बाहर वायरस मंडरा रहा है लेकिन अब हम उम्मीद करते हैं नए साल में वैक्सीन आ जाएगी जो हमें हमारा पुराना सामान्य जीवन चमत्कारिक ढंग से लौटा देगी बीते साल की घटनाओं का अकेला यही लेखा-जोखा नहीं है. लॉकडाउन के दौरान ही मई में तीव्र चक्रवाती तूफान भारत के पूर्वी हिस्से से टकराया, जिसने जिंदगियां और संपत्तियां तबाह कर दीं. फिर निसर्ग पश्चिमी हिस्से से आ टकराया और तभी से चक्रवाती हलचल और महासागरों में गहरे दबाव के कारण बार-बार हो रही भारी बारिश ने दक्षिण और पूर्वी भारत के कई हिस्सों को परेशान कर दिया है.</p> कोविड-19 के बदतरीन महीनों के दौरान हमारे देश के विभिन्न हिस्सों में बाढ़ आई. ये सारी अलग-अलग घटनाएं जलवायु परिवर्तन से जुड़ी हैं, यह तो अब निर्विवाद है ही. आज हम जो देख रहे हैं, वह बढ़ती बारंबारता और तीव्रता से आ रहे चक्रवाती तूफानों तथा अचानक और प्रचंड बारिशों का नतीजा है. मौसम की यह उथल-पुथल जो कोविड-19 की उथल-पुथल जितनी ही बुरी है, धरती और समुद्र के तापमान में आए बदलावों से पैदा हुई है. इससे विनाश की शक्ति और घटनाओं की आकस्मिकता भी बढ़ रही है मौसम से जुड़ी ये तमाम घटनाएं अब प्राकृतिक या सामान्य नहीं रह गई हैं. जो बात साफ है वह यह कि हम दोहरा झटका झेल रहे हैं. एक तरफ हम अपनी धरती और अपने जल संसाधनों के साथ बदइंतजामी कर रहे हैं जिससे हमें और ज्यादा सूखे और बाढ़ झेलने पड़ रहे हैं तो दूसरी तरफ जलवायु परिवर्तन इस संकट को और ज्यादा बिगाड़ रहा है. यह तब है जब हम जानते हैं कि इन घटनाओं के नतीजे और भी बदतर हैं क्योंकि यह विकास के फायदों को और लोगों की जिंदगियां बेहतर बनाने के लिए बुनियादी ढांचों के निर्माण में किए गए बरसों के निवेश को अकारथ कर देता है. जैसा कि हम अमेरिका से लेकर भारत तक दुनिया भर में हो रही उथल-पुथल से देख सकते हैं, दूसरों के मुकाबले इस वायरस की ज्यादा मार गरीबों पर पड़ी है. उन्होंने दो बार तकलीफ भुगती है; एक बार तो इसलिए कि उन्होंने संक्रमण की वजह से जान गंवाईं और फिर इसलिए कि उन्होंने आजीविकाएं गंवाईं एक और हकीकत भी है जो कोविड-19 ने हमारे सामने उघाड़कर रख दी है. इस बीमारी के फैलने और बढ़ने की सबसे ज्यादा संभावना उन जगहों पर है जहां शहरी सुविधाएं नहीं हैं, जहां भीड़ भरी बस्तियां हैं, जहां सुरक्षित पानी की आपूर्ति और साफ-सफाई नाकाफी है और लोगों के पास सुरक्षित रहने का कोई तरीका नहीं है. इस संकट ने हमारी दुनिया की गैरबराबरी और गहरे विभाजनों को बहुत बढ़ाकर हमारे सामने रख दिया है.</p> कोविड-19 कुदरत के साथ हमारे लगातार बदतर होते जाते मनूहस रिश्ते का भी नतीजा है. एक तरफ, हम अपने खाने-पीने की चीजों में अनेक रसायन और विषैले तत्व डाल रहे हैं. इससे खाना पोषण ही नहीं बल्कि बीमारी का स्रोत बन रहा है. पशुओं और यहां तक कि फसलों में भी ऐंटीबायोटिक डाले जा रहे हैं—रोग नियंत्रण के लिए ही नहीं, बल्कि उन्हें ज्यादा उगाने, उनका वजन बढ़ाने के लिए भी, ताकि कारोबार में मुनाफा हो. नतीजतन, इनसान के जिंदा रहने के लिए जरूरी दवाइयों के प्रति प्रतिरोध बढ़ता जा रहा है. साथ ही, हम अपने खाने-पीने की चीजें ऐसे तरीकों से उगा रहे हैं जिनसे बीमारियों के बढऩे में मदद मिलती है—औद्योगिक खेत जो लंबाई में जुड़े होते हैं, तेजी से संक्रमण का स्रोत बनते जा रहे हैं. पशुओं और इनसानों की बस्तियों के बीच इस तरह सरहदों के टूटने के नतीजतन ऐसे और भी प्रकोप झेलने होंगे. यह संक्रमण को और भी घनघोर ढंग से संक्रामक बना देगा यह साल एक विकट चेतावनी भी देता है—हम देख रहे हैं कि हम क्या हैं, वर्षों का वह गंवाया हुआ वक्त, जब हम सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य में निवेश और ज्यादा समतामूलक समाज का निर्माण कर सकते थे जिसमें गरीबों को दोगुनी मार नहीं झेलनी पड़ती. जलवायु परिवर्तन और आज हमारी आंखों में आंखें डालकर घूर रहे हर दूसरे मुद्दे के साथ भी ऐसा ही है. समस्या के वजूद को ही नकारने में बहुत सारा वक्त बर्बाद किया जा चुका है. वक्त की विलासिता अब हमारे पास नहीं है. मेरी पीढ़ी ने अपना विशेषाधिकार फिजूल में गंवा दिया.</p> अब हमें वाकई अपनी दुनिया की सामूहिक लाचारगी के बारे में सोचना चाहिए. सबसे बलशाली नेता, सबसे हाइ-टेक वैज्ञानिक प्रतिष्ठान और सबसे ताकतवर आर्थिक शूरवीर, सबको मुकाबले के लिए अपना जोड़ीदार इस दीन-हीन वायरस में मिला. इससे हमें विनम्र बनना चाहिए और सोचना चाहिए कि हमें क्या अलग ढंग से करने की जरूरत है. लेकिन मुझे शक है कि यहीं हम गलती करेंगे.</p> हमारी वैश्वीकृत दुनिया का सबसे अहम मुद्दा है कोविड-19 के जवाब में हमारी प्रतिक्रिया, और अगली विश्वव्यापी आपातस्थिति—जलवायु परिवर्तन—के लिए इसका क्या मतलब है. हमें पता था कि हमें एक साथ मिलकर कदम उठाने चाहिए थे और हमने नहीं उठाए चीन ने पर्याप्त तेजी से जानकारियां साझा नहीं कीं, वायरस ने देश से बाहर आकर संक्रमण फैला दिया; विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन (डब्ल्यूएचओ) ने पर्याप्त फुर्ती से कदम नहीं उठाए, या हो सकता है उसकी आवाज की इतनी भी इज्जत न हो कि उसे सुना जाता. संयुक्त राष्ट्र सुरक्षा परिषद ने हफ्तों तक बैठक ही नहीं बुलाई और जब बुलाई भी तो बस हल्की बुदबुदाहट के साथ खत्म हो गई बात सिर्फ चीन और डब्ल्यूएचओ की ही नहीं है—इस संकट में हरेक देश ने दिखा दिया कि इस गला-काट दुनिया में वह बस अपने लिए ही है. यह तब और रसातल में पहुंच गया जब देशों ने दूसरों के रक्षा उपकरणों की नकल तैयार की, मास्क और गाउनों की जमाखोरी की जबकि स्वास्थ्यकर्मियों को इनकी जरूरत थी, चिकित्सा आपूर्तियों के लिए एक दूसरे से होड़ की और इसको लेकर लड़े कि वैक्सीन पहले कौन बनाएगा. आज जब वैक्सीन सामने है, मुद्दा यह नहीं है कि इसका सबसे पास पहुंचना पक्का करने के लिए दुनिया कैसे काम कर सकती है. एक बार फिर मुद्दा यह है कि देश इसकी जमाखोरी करके अपने लोगों की हिफाजत कैसे करेंगे, यह भूलकर कि जब तक पूरी दुनिया को वायरस से सुरक्षित नहीं किया जाता है तब तक महामारी जाएगी नहीं.</p> यह सोचकर तब और भी डर लगता है जब हम जानते हैं कि कोरोना वायरस महामारी अंतरनिर्भर वैश्वीकृत दुनिया का नतीजा है. यह भी साफ है कि हम सिर्फ उतने ही मजबूत हैं जितनी हमारी सबसे मजबूत कड़ी है. हम जीतेंगे नहीं जब तक कि हम यह लड़ाई साथ मिलकर नहीं लड़ते. इसी तरह, जलवायु परिवर्तन को भी वैश्विक नेतृत्व की दरकार है. एक देश उत्सर्जन करता रहता है तो बाकी देशों की कार्रवाइयां नाकारा हो सकती हैं. अगर हम चाहते हैं कि सब कदम उठाएं तो हमें सहयोग पर आधारित सहमति तैयार करनी होगी, ऐसी सहमति जिसमें आखिरी शक्चस, आखिरी देश को अपने विकास का अधिकार हो. लेकिन यह भी साफ है कि इस साल हमने इतने बड़े पैमाने पर अव्यवस्था और उथल-पुथल देखी है कि जिसकी हमने कभी कल्पना भी नहीं की थी. लिहाजा अब हमें कुदरत के साथ अपने टूटे हुए रिश्ते को जोड़ने के लिए उतने ही बड़े पैमाने पर काम करने की जरूरत है. भविष्य हमारे अपने हाथ में है. कुदरत अपना दर्द बयान कर चुकी है. अब हमें पलटकर उससे नरमी से बात करनी चाहिए. 2021: क्या बदलना ही चाहिए फिर नए साल का एजेंडा यह है. बदलाव के चार छोटे मगर अहम निशान हैं जिन्हें हमें नए साल में आगे बढ़ाना ही चाहिए. पहला, अमेरिका में नेतृत्व बदल रहा है. डोनाल्ड ट्रंप के जाने और जो बाइडन-कमला हैरिस के आने का मतलब यह है कि जलवायु परिवर्तन वापस वैश्विक एजेंडे पर होगा. बाइडन-हैरिस कह चुके हैं कि अमेरिका उस पेरिस समझौते में फिर शामिल होगा, जिस पर 2015 में दस्तखत हुए थे और जिसके तहत अनेक देश उत्सर्जनों में कटौती करने को राजी हुए हैं. यह बड़ी बात है, पर पर्याप्त बड़ी नहीं. यह बात दिमाग में रखना जरूरी है कि अमेरिका को सस्ती ऊर्जा की लत पड़ गई है जो अब कोयले के बजाए शेल गैस है और वह पेरिस समझौते के तहत छोटा-मोटा लक्ष्य भी पूरा नहीं करेगा. फिर भी, अमेरिका अब पराया नहीं रह जाएगा, 2021 में वह जलवायु परिवर्तन पर चर्चा के लिए शिखर मेज पर लौट आएगा. यह अहम है क्योंकि वक्त हमारे हाथ से निकला जा रहा है.</p> दूसरा, नीले आसमान और स्वच्छ फेफड़ों का एजेंडा है. 2020 में लॉकडाउन का विडंबना से भरा एक फायदा यह हुआ कि हमारे शहरों की वायु गुणवत्ता में सुधार आया; यह कुछ ऐसा था कि मानो प्रकृति अपनी जगह फिर हासिल कर रही थी. मगर यह भी सच है कि यह भारी आर्थिक कीमत पर आया. लिहाजा हमें पक्का करना होगा कि अर्थव्यवस्था को आगे बढ़ाते हुए स्वच्छ हवा बनाए रखने के लिए सब कुछ किया जाए—ऊर्जा से परिवहन तक में आमूल बदलाव किया जाए तीसरा और सबसे अहम, उत्पादन का सवाल है. शहर छोड़कर भागने वाले कामगारों ने हमें बताया कि उनके रहने और काम करने की स्थितियां भयावह थीं. यह वैश्विक आर्थिक समस्या का मर्म है क्योंकि 'उत्पादन' वहां ले जाया गया है जहां श्रम और पर्यावरण की लागत कम रखी जा सके. यह साल हमें बताता है कि भविष्य अलहदा होना चाहिए और भले ही उत्पादन की लागत बढ़ जाए तथा खपत घट जाए, लेकिन आगे का रास्ता यही होना चाहिए. अवसर भी इसी में निहित हैं—लचीलापन और ग्रामीण अर्थव्यवस्था में निवेश आखिर में, अंतरनिर्भरता का प्रश्न है. महामारी के इस साल ने हमें यह तो दिखा ही दिया कि वायरस ने हमारी दुनिया की गैरबराबरियों को तीखा कर दिया है. मगर इसने हमें यह भी सिखाया है कि भविष्य अलहदा होना ही चाहिए. बिल्कुल अलहदा. यही 2020 का श्राप है और यही 2021 की संभावना है सुनीता नारायण, सेंटर फॉर साइंस ऐंड एन्वायरनमेंट की डायरेक्टर जनरल हैं

प्रधान संपादक की कलम से

प्रधान संपादक की कलम से कहा जाता है कि भविष्य वर्तमान का उन्नयन नहीं बल्कि उसका आमंत्रण है. आइए आमंत्रण को स्वीकार करें और इस संकट में दुनिया भर के देशों की तरफ से दिखाई गई फुर्ती, जोश-खरोश और नई-नई चीजें करने के हौसले के साथ दुनिया को बेहतर जगह बनाएं इस नई दुनिया का रूप-रंग क्या होगा और 2021 के गर्भ में हमारे लिए क्या छिपा है? हमने 10 विशेषज्ञों से भविष्य में झांकने के लिए कहा. हमारा यह विशेष अंक, जिसे मैनेजिंग एडिटर काइ फ्रीज ने संजोया है, स्वास्थ्य, अर्थव्यवस्था, पर्यावरण, मनोरंजन, राजनीति और राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा के बड़े रुझानों पर उनकी भविष्यवाणियां प्रस्तुत कर रहा है. महामारी की हमारी सबसे बड़ी सीख स्वास्थ्य सेवाओं से जुड़ी है. विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन की मुख्य वैज्ञानिक सौम्या स्वामीनाथन का कहना है कि भारत को स्वास्थ्य में अपना निवेश जीडीपी के 1.5 फीसद से बढ़ाकर कम से कम 2.5 फीसद पर लाने जरूरत है. उसे प्राथमिक स्वास्थ्य केंद्रों की व्यवस्था को मजबूत, अच्छी स्वास्थ्य सेवाएं देने के लिए डिजिटल औजारों और टेक्नोलॉजी का इस्तेमाल और अलग से जन स्वास्थ्य काडर खड़ा करना होगा. वे यह भी कहती हैं कि ऊपर से नीचे दिए जाने वाले फरमान कुछ ही वक्त के लिए कारगर होते हैं और धारावी की मिसाल बताती है कि समुदायों को समाधान का हिस्सा बनाना होगा सरकार की सबसे बड़ी प्राथमिकता इस साल भारत की अर्थव्यवस्था में नई जान फूंकना होगी. दुनिया की बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्थाओं में सबसे बुरी मार हमारी अर्थव्यवस्था को सहनी पड़ी है. कृषि को छोड़कर अर्थव्यवस्था के चार अहम इंजन—घरेलू खपत, सरकारी खर्च, निजी निवेश और निर्यात—लड़खड़ा रहे हैं. सरकार को अर्थव्यवस्था की सेहत फिर से चुस्त-दुरुस्त बनाने की अपनी कोशिशें बढ़ानी होंगी, खासकर जब वैश्विक अर्थव्यवस्था गिरावट के दौर में है. एपीएसी स्ट्रैटजी के सह-प्रमुख नीलकंठ मिश्र को लगता है कि मजबूत नीतिगत उपायों के बावजूद चीन को छोड़कर बाकी वैश्विक अर्थव्यवस्था के 2022 तक कोविड से पहले के स्तर पर लौटने की उम्मीद नहीं है. कोलंबिया युनिवर्सिटी के प्रोफेसर अरविंद पानगड़िया सरकार की आमदनी बढ़ाने की गरज से पीएसयू को आक्रामक ढंग से निजी हाथों में सौंपने के लिए विनिवेश मंत्रालय बनाने की और ग्रामीण तथा शहरी गरीबों को जीडीपी के 1-2 फीसदी के दायरे में नकद सहायता देने की सिफारिश करते हैं.</p> एशिया रिसर्च इंस्टीट्यूट में प्रतिष्ठित फेलो किशोर महबूबानी मानते हैं कि 21वीं सदी का 'ग्रेट गेम' सैन्य मुकाबले के बजाय आर्थिक है और भारत को हाशिये पर इंतजार करने की बजाय आरसीईपी सरीखे वैश्विक समूहों में हिस्सेदार होना चाहिए. उनकी दलील है कि प्रतिस्पर्धा छोटे वक्त में रचनात्मक विनाश लेकिन लंबी अवधि में आर्थिक मजबूती की ओर ले जाती है. अगर आप दुनिया में कूटनीतिक दबदबा चाहते हैं तो आपको आर्थिक बाहुबल तैयार करना चाहिए.</p> बीते हुए साल का एक ज्यादा स्वागतयोग्य बदलाव यह था कि अपने शहरों के पूरी तरह ठप पड़ने के दौरान हम सबने स्वच्छ हवा में सांस ली. यह चेतावनी थी: पर्यावरण की अनदेखी करके हम खुद को ही खतरे में डालते हैं. क्या जलवायु परिवर्तन अगली चेतावनी हो सकती है? डोनाल्ड ट्रंप के जाने और राष्ट्रपति जो बाइडन के आने का मतलब है कि अमेरिका 2015 के पेरिस समझौते में फिर शामिल होगा और उत्सर्जन कम करने में जुटेगा. पर्यावरणविद सुनीता नारायण देशों से आग्रह कर रही हैं कि ऊर्जा से लेकर परिवहन बदलाव तक तमाम क्षेत्रों में स्वच्छ हवा के फायदे पक्के करें.</p> भारत के राजनैतिक फलक पर नजर डालते हुए ग्रुप एडिटोरियल डायरेक्टर (पब्लिशिंग) राज चेंगप्पा कह रहे हैं कि 2021 मध्य-दक्षिण विचाराधारात्मक रुख की ओर कदम बढ़ाता दिखाई देगा, जिसमें क्षेत्रीय और जातिगत ताकतों की बजाए जनकल्याणकारी नीतियों और पूंजीवाद के अनूठे मेल के साथ राष्ट्रीय पहचान, गौरव और सुरक्षा जैसे पहलू हावी रहते हैं. ऐसा और भी होगा, अगर भाजपा जल्द ही होने जा रहा पश्चिम बंगाल का विधानसभा चुनाव जीत लेती है. दूसरी तरफ, अगर ममता बनर्जी फिर से मुख्यमंत्री चुनी जाती हैं, तो वे 2024 में भाजपा का मुकाबला करने के लिए विपक्षी गठबंधन की अगुआई करने की कतार में होंगी.</p> सीनियर एडवोकेट संजय हेगड़े हमारे गणराज्य की दशा-दिशा पर आलोचनात्मक नजर डालते हुए कह रहे हैं कि संसद की चुप्पी के कारण सार्वजनिक विमर्श सड़कों पर आ गया लगता है. सरकार और उसके आलोचकों को एक-दूसरे पर चीखना बंद कर नई शुरुआत करनी चाहिए. हुक्मरानों और नागरिकों को एक दूसरे को अपनी एकतरफा बात सुनाने के बजाय एक दूसरे के साथ संवाद के रास्ते पर लौटना होगा. हमें कम नाराज देश होने की जरूरत है. वे उम्मीद करते हैं कि 2021 नई तैयारी और संवाद का साल होगा महामारी के चलते मीडिया और मनोरंजन की दुनिया में बलात् एक क्रांति घटी. फेडरेशन ऑफ इंडियन चैंबर्स ऑफ कॉमर्स ऐंड इंडस्ट्री (फिक्की) के प्रेसीडेंट उदय शंकर लिखते हैं कि 'मीडिया महज सृजनात्मक उद्यम बजाए टेक्नोलॉजी चालित सृजनात्मक उद्यम में बदल गया है'. वे कहते हैं कि इस क्षेत्र का भविष्य उद्यमियों की एक नई पीढ़ी रचेगी जो कंटेंट और टेक्नोलॉजी दोनों में निवेश करेगी.</p> लेखक और पत्रकार फरीद जकरिया अपनी बेस्टसेलिंग किताब टेन लेसंस फॉर ए पोस्ट-पैंडेमिक वर्ल्ड का सार पेश करते हुए हमें 2021 के लिए पांच बड़े सबक बता रहे हैं: जनता को महामारी सरीखे झटकों से बचाने की जरूरत है; गैरबराबरी और बदतर होगी; कोविड-19 डिजिटल क्रांति को तेज कर देगा; वैश्वीकरण खत्म न होगा, बस थोड़ा ठहरेगा और शायद यह हमें चीन पर अत्यधिक निर्भरता से अलगाव की तरफ ले जा सकता है; और उत्तर-अमेरिकी दुनिया चीन के दबदबे वाली नहीं, बहुपक्षीय दुनिया होगी. अलबत्ता चीन रणनीतिक चुनौतियां पेश कर रहा है और यह भारत से बेहतर कौन जानता है, जो सरहदों पर लड़ाकू चीन से निबट रहा है. एग्जीक्यूटिव एडिटर संदीप उन्नीथन बता रहे हैं कि चीन और पाकिस्तान को रोकने के लिए भारतीय सेना को बजट पर भारी दबाव के बावजूद सुधारों को अंजाम देने और अपनी युद्ध मशीन आधुनिक बनाने की जरूरत है. कहा जाता है कि भविष्य वर्तमान का उन्नयन नहीं बल्कि उसका आमंत्रण है. आइए आमंत्रण को स्वीकार करें और इस संकट में दुनिया भर के देशों की तरफ से दिखाई गई फुर्ती, जोश-खरोश और नई-नई चीजें करने के हौसले के साथ दुनिया को बेहतर जगह बनाएं.

The nature of food

The nature of food Since the release of our investigation into the adulteration of honey, we have received textbook responses - possibly what is discussed and taught in business schools across the world, writes Narain Sunita Narain Why honey? Why bees? Because this army of nature is crucial for the productivity of our food system and the honey they make works for our well-being and health. This much we know. But what we ignore is just how quickly we can lose this gift of nature. Since the release of our investigation into the adulteration of honey, we have received textbook responses — possibly what is discussed and taught in business schools across the world. The first step is to deny; in this case, honey-processing companies are crying foul, saying we have it wrong. Step two is to discredit us with slander, and hope something sticks; then to use scientific jugglery to confuse consumers. In this case, companies are putting out erroneous test reports and innuendoes about our tests being inaccurate. The third step in the textbook is to spend big time on building an alternative narrative that their products are clean and safe, and, in this, use “good science” to convolute things. Remember when the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) investigated pesticide contamination in colas — soft drinks — the two big companies had hired top actors from Bollywood to wear laboratory coats to convince us that all was well. This time also, men in white coats are telling consumers that products are safe because they are tested for purity. What they do not say is that the tests are the problem; our study showed that Chinese and now Indian companies have designed syrups that can bypass the Indian stipulated tests. But with this massive spend they hope our voice will be drowned out. The fourth line of attack is more nuanced — it has evolved since the cola wars. Now, companies do not file cases against us directly; they threaten, they intimidate, but they do not take us to court. Instead, they work from within — use their muscle power in the corridors that matter — to work up an attack. But this has not worked in the past, and we believe it will not work this time either. In the case of the colas, the joint parliamentary committee (JPC), set up to investigate us (the whistle-blower) and not the company, ruled in our favour. We believe that this time around, the government, including the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), will — based on our reports and the need to ensure the safety of this health food — ensure that action is taken to stop this adulteration. There is too much at stake here. We all know this. But there is another reason — bees. The fact is bees are a harbinger species — they indicate the health of our food system. Without bees, there will be no food as we know it. Bees are critical for productivity because they pollinate plants. It is widely understood that 90 per cent of flowering plants need bees to spread their pollen; most of the crops we eat need bees — from oilseeds like mustard to apple and citrus and many legumes. Bees have also been warning us of the toxicity and overuse of pesticides — bee colony collapse is now widely understood to be the result of neonicotinoid (neonics) pesticides — a class of toxins that have been designed to hit the nerve cells of insects. “Saving America’s Pollinators” is a piece of legislation introduced in the US Congress. In May this year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency banned 12 types of neonicsproducts. But other classes of toxins still continue to be used and bees are the indicator species — they tell us how we are poisoning our food and our environment. Then of course there is the question of the food production system. Our investigation started because the price of raw honey had crashed, and this at a time when honey consumption has increased manifold. Beekeepers are losing business and closing shop. This should worry us as their livelihood is linked to our food. But that’s not all. The fact is modern beekeeping — an industrial-scale activity — also needs to be discussed. First, there is the issue of biodiversity of bees. The European Union (EU) — a champion of biodiversity conservation in the world — defines its honey as produced by Apis mellifera. In other words, no other bee can produce the honey that is sold as honey in the EU. What then does this do to the biodiversity of bees? In India, we have Apiscerana (Indian honeybee) or Apisdorsata (rock bee). If the honey of these cannot be harvested, if these species are not encouraged, and, do not thrive, what then? There is also the big question of what we mean by cultivation and processing. In most cases, honey is “processed” — it is heated and vacuum-dried — to remove pathogens and to extend shelf life. The safety and purity standards are made to work for this type of processed honey. But does this then work for the honey that is truly honey by its definition — brought by nature’s army and eaten by us in its purest form? But then how will big industry survive? Can it scale up its production and meet the needs of millions across the world? The question fundamentally, is not then just about the adulteration of honey — that it is — but it is more. It is about the “nature” of the business of future food.

World needs greater diversity in its climate action champions

Greta Thunberg turned 18 on Sunday, but it feels as though the world’s most influential climate change activist has been around for so long that the news is hard to process. Thunberg’s story is inspiring for so many reasons (let us not forget she has Asperger syndrome). If, by the time you become eligible to vote, you have already been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, inspired millions of people to take part in a global climate strike and crossed the Atlantic upwind in a yacht to deliver an address at the UN climate action summit, what is the plan for the rest of your life? So perhaps, if we concede that the pressures of global celebrity are also a strain on someone so young, the most positive way of framing the story of Thunberg’s meteoric rise onto the world stage, which began in August 2018, when she sat on a solo school strike outside the Swedish parliament, is to think of her support base. Thunberg is the unlikely face of the only major global movement for change in which the youth have a voice proportionate to their demographic size and stake in the outcome. A number of major studies (such as a 2019 22-country survey of 10,000 people aged 18 to 25 by Amnesty International) show that, globally, young people are far more likely to think of climate change as the greatest issue of our age and to demand immediate and radical action by governments and institutions, which is our only hope of slowing climate change to manageable levels. Further, Thunberg’s rallying call for climate strikes — a phrase that has now entered the popular consciousness — is a continuation of the long tradition of nonviolent mass civil resistance that has produced so much transformative change in the last century. Of course, one can respectfully disagree with Thunberg on some of her stances, arguing that, as a young adult raised in the developed world, she does not appreciate the complexity of the trade-offs between environmental action and economic growth. Thunberg has herself admitted that, partly because of her neurodevelopmental disorder, “I see the world in black and white, and I don’t like compromising.” Thankfully, then, the second-most prominent global personality on climate change is almost the polar opposite of Thunberg. At 94, the legendary British naturalist and television personality David Attenborough was born not just in a different century to Thunberg but, scientifically speaking, in a different age. “I arrived in this world during a period geologists call the Holocene and I will leave it — as will every one of us alive today — in the Anthropocene, the time of humans,” Attenborough wrote in his recent book “A Life on Our Planet.” He adds that this new period “could prove to be uniquely brief in geological history and one that ends in the ultimate disappearance of human civilization.” The message is a sobering one but, unlike Thunberg, the tone is not strident: It is the sound of experience rather than innocence. And, as a naturalist and wildlife expert, Attenborough comes to climate change from a different starting point. His concern for its potential effects on the human race come folded into a larger appeal for us to protect the world’s astonishing biodiversity. Why are the global faces of the movement invariably white and Western, with others consigned to the realm of the ‘local’? Chandrahas Choudhury Indeed, some critics have accused Attenborough of facing up to the realities of climate change far too late in his immensely influential television programs (he admits to only being fully convinced of the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change in 2004). And, as someone who has flown several million miles over the last 50 years to capture the diversity of life on earth (Thunberg, in contrast, refuses to take any flights), Attenborough probably has a larger carbon footprint than anyone alive. Even so, persuasion and change come in many different packages and who can deny that the climate action movement needs a moderate, courteous, authoritative voice like Attenborough’s. He is someone who can show us what is at stake by reminding us of our place in the entire web of life, and in so doing allow us to transcend the selfish anthropocentric perspective that created the climate crisis in the first place and continues to perpetuate it. On the subject of climate action, then, one might see Thunberg and Attenborough as two different kinds of shepherd of the human flock — they even met (virtually) for a 2019 show on BBC Radio 4. But even if we accept the huge credibility and legitimacy of this odd and inspiring pair, we must still confront some other unsettling questions about the politics of climate change activism today. Why are the global faces of the movement invariably white and Western, with climate activists from India and the Middle East, Africa and South America predictably consigned to the realm of the “local?” What does it say about the world’s media, and even ourselves, that we pay a different kind of attention to Thunberg and Attenborough than we do to the longstanding climate activism and wisdom of Wangari Maathai and Sunita Narain? Do we have ears for the indigenous Brazilian climate activist Artemisa Xakriaba or the young Ugandan Vanessa Nakate (who last year found herself cropped out of a group photo of herself and four other youth climate activists, including Thunberg, by the media agency the Associated Press)? If we are to make a success of climate action in the coming decades, when the climate-aware youth of today turn into world leaders, we will have to embrace a more diverse set of voices than Attenborough and Thunberg, diverse as they themselves are.

World needs greater diversity in its climate action champions

World needs greater diversity in its climate action champions Greta Thunberg turned 18 on Sunday, but it feels as though the world’s most influential climate change activist has been around for so long that the news is hard to process. Thunberg’s story is inspiring for so many reasons (let us not forget she has Asperger syndrome). If, by the time you become eligible to vote, you have already been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, inspired millions of people to take part in a global climate strike and crossed the Atlantic upwind in a yacht to deliver an address at the UN climate action summit, what is the plan for the rest of your life? So perhaps, if we concede that the pressures of global celebrity are also a strain on someone so young, the most positive way of framing the story of Thunberg’s meteoric rise onto the world stage, which began in August 2018, when she sat on a solo school strike outside the Swedish parliament, is to think of her support base. Thunberg is the unlikely face of the only major global movement for change in which the youth have a voice proportionate to their demographic size and stake in the outcome. A number of major studies (such as a 2019 22-country survey of 10,000 people aged 18 to 25 by Amnesty International) show that, globally, young people are far more likely to think of climate change as the greatest issue of our age and to demand immediate and radical action by governments and institutions, which is our only hope of slowing climate change to manageable levels. Further, Thunberg’s rallying call for climate strikes — a phrase that has now entered the popular consciousness — is a continuation of the long tradition of nonviolent mass civil resistance that has produced so much transformative change in the last century. Of course, one can respectfully disagree with Thunberg on some of her stances, arguing that, as a young adult raised in the developed world, she does not appreciate the complexity of the trade-offs between environmental action and economic growth. Thunberg has herself admitted that, partly because of her neurodevelopmental disorder, “I see the world in black and white, and I don’t like compromising.” Thankfully, then, the second-most prominent global personality on climate change is almost the polar opposite of Thunberg. At 94, the legendary British naturalist and television personality David Attenborough was born not just in a different century to Thunberg but, scientifically speaking, in a different age. “I arrived in this world during a period geologists call the Holocene and I will leave it — as will every one of us alive today — in the Anthropocene, the time of humans,” Attenborough wrote in his recent book “A Life on Our Planet.” He adds that this new period “could prove to be uniquely brief in geological history and one that ends in the ultimate disappearance of human civilization.” The message is a sobering one but, unlike Thunberg, the tone is not strident: It is the sound of experience rather than innocence. And, as a naturalist and wildlife expert, Attenborough comes to climate change from a different starting point. His concern for its potential effects on the human race come folded into a larger appeal for us to protect the world’s astonishing biodiversity. Why are the global faces of the movement invariably white and Western, with others consigned to the realm of the ‘local’? Chandrahas Choudhury Indeed, some critics have accused Attenborough of facing up to the realities of climate change far too late in his immensely influential television programs (he admits to only being fully convinced of the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change in 2004). And, as someone who has flown several million miles over the last 50 years to capture the diversity of life on earth (Thunberg, in contrast, refuses to take any flights), Attenborough probably has a larger carbon footprint than anyone alive. Even so, persuasion and change come in many different packages and who can deny that the climate action movement needs a moderate, courteous, authoritative voice like Attenborough’s. He is someone who can show us what is at stake by reminding us of our place in the entire web of life, and in so doing allow us to transcend the selfish anthropocentric perspective that created the climate crisis in the first place and continues to perpetuate it. On the subject of climate action, then, one might see Thunberg and Attenborough as two different kinds of shepherd of the human flock — they even met (virtually) for a 2019 show on BBC Radio 4. But even if we accept the huge credibility and legitimacy of this odd and inspiring pair, we must still confront some other unsettling questions about the politics of climate change activism today. Why are the global faces of the movement invariably white and Western, with climate activists from India and the Middle East, Africa and South America predictably consigned to the realm of the “local?” What does it say about the world’s media, and even ourselves, that we pay a different kind of attention to Thunberg and Attenborough than we do to the longstanding climate activism and wisdom of Wangari Maathai and Sunita Narain? Do we have ears for the indigenous Brazilian climate activist Artemisa Xakriaba or the young Ugandan Vanessa Nakate (who last year found herself cropped out of a group photo of herself and four other youth climate activists, including Thunberg, by the media agency the Associated Press)? If we are to make a success of climate action in the coming decades, when the climate-aware youth of today turn into world leaders, we will have to embrace a more diverse set of voices than Attenborough and Thunberg, diverse as they themselves are.

Environment | The curse and the promise: Sunita Narain

Environment | The curse and the promise: Sunita Narain Be it the pandemic or climate change-induced weather disasters, nature has spoken. There is no time left, we need to fix what is broken. The year 2020 was, I dare say, the most tumultuous, the most catastrophic and the most defining year of our lifetime. This crisis has no precedent—there is no rulebook that tells governments what to do, how to shut down economies and when to re-open them. The virus is a mutant, it jumped from its animal host to humans; it is pernicious because it seems to find new ways to hide itself—we can be asymptomatic and yet be a carrier of infection. We slipped into 2020 without any indication of the horrors that awaited the world. Something was happening in Wuhan in China but not many of us noted it. What was on our screens was another worrying sight—bushfires scorching vast swathes of Australia, killing people, wildlife and destroying homes. The intensity of the fires had links to climate change, as these infernos were caused by increasing levels of heat, which had dried the ground and turned it into a tinderbox. This, combined with the prolonged drought, made it an ideal ground for the blaze. But even as international attention focused on the fires, there was a much worse human tragedy playing out in our part of the world. By January, vast hordes of locusts had invaded the fields of Rajasthan and Gujarat, devouring crops and destroying farmers’ livelihoods. The sheer scale and intensity of this attack were also linked to climate change: unusual rains, cyclonic events and then extended monsoons in the deserts of the Arabian peninsula, east Africa and in western Indian states had created ideal breeding grounds for this critter that procreates exponentially. This, then, had led to this devastating locust upsurge, which is often seen to be a precursor to famine as the insects eat everything in sight. By mid-March, the Covid-19 crisis had hit home and a lockdown was ann­ounced. The first phase of India’s lockdown ended in mid-April and it seemed when it was extended till May 3 and then end of the month, that the end of the disease was within reach. But as I write this in end-December of this fateful year, we are going into the new year with hope and prayer but not much else. Then, in May, we saw a humanitarian crisis when thousands of hungry, helpless people fled their place of work—the economy had collapsed and they had run out of money—to go home to their villages. We saw how the invisible of our city, the people who provided labour, produced goods and services so crucial for our well-being, were turned to outcasts. Thrown under the bus, literally, losing their lives because they slept on railway tracks and a train ran over them, or a truck mowed them down. I write this because we must not forget, we must now allow these images to be erased from our hearts and minds. All this has happened in our world. We must not forget. On June 1, when the first unlock was announced, the rush was to open up. Rightly so, as the economy was on its knees, with the worst hit being the daily wagers who had no jobs to pay for food or anything. The government’s relief packages, however welcome, are hardly sufficient to manage the distress. But then in the past six months, as we opened up, we had to shut again and again as caseloads increased. Different cities, different state boundaries were closed for lockdown; some for weekends, some for a few days. Every festival, which should have brought cheer, led to increased caseloads. All this has been the year, and now I can safely say that fatigue has set in. We know that the virus is out there, but we now hope that in the new year, there will be the vaccine that brings us a miracle return of the old normal. But this is not the only recount of the year’s events. In May, during the lockdown, the eastern side of India was hit by a super-cyclonic storm, Amphan, which devastated lives and property. Then Nisarga hit the western side and, since then, repeatedly heavy rains because of cyclonic activity and deep depressions in the oceans have bludgeoned many parts of southern and eastern India. During the worst months of Covid-19, we had many waves of floods hit different parts of the country. That these disparate events are linked to climate change is incontrovertible. What we are seeing today is the result of increased frequency and intensity of cyclones and variable and extreme rain events. This weather disruption, which is as bad as the Covid-19 disruption, is caused by changes in temperatures on land and on the sea. This is adding to the force of destruction and the unpredictability of the event. All these weather-related events are not natural or normal anymore. What is clear is that we face a double whammy. On the one hand, we are mismanaging our land and our water resources, which is making us more prone to drought or flood and, on the other hand, climate change is exacerbating the distress. This, when we know the aftermath of these events is worse because it takes away the development dividend and the years of investment in building infrastructure to improve the lives of people. As we can see from upheavals across the world—from India to the US—it is the poor (black or brown) who have been disproportionately hit by the virus. They have suffered twice; once because they lost lives to the contagion, and again because they lost livelihoods. There is also the other reality that Covid-19 has thrown at us. The places where the disease is most likely to breed is where there are no urban services, where settlements are overcrowded, where safe water supply and sanitation is inadequate and people have no way to stay safe. This crisis has amplified the inequity and deep divisions in our world. Covid-19 is also the result of our progressively worsening dystopian relationship with nature. On the one hand, we are pushing every kind of chemical and toxin into our food. This is making food a source of disease, not just nutrition. Antibiotics are being shoved into animals and even crops—not for disease control but to make them grow more, put on weight so that business profits. As a result, resistance to drugs needed for human survival is on the rise. Simultaneously, we are growing our food in ways that favour disease growth—industrial farms, which are vertically integrated, are fast becoming the source of contagion. This breaking of the boundaries between animal and human habitats will lead to more such outbreaks. And this, in a world that is even more interconnected and globalised, will make the infection wildly contagious. This year also serves a stark reminder—we are seeing what we are, the years of lost time when we could have invested in public health and building a more equitable society where the poor are not doubly hit. It is the same with climate change and every other issue that stares us down today. Too much time has been wasted in denial of the problem, in not getting our act together or acting at the speed and scale that is needed. We do not have the luxury of time anymore. My generation has squandered the privilege away. Now what we should really be thinking about is the collective vulnerability of our world. The most macho leaders, the most high-tech scientific establishments and most mighty economic prowess have all met their match in this lowly virus. It should make us humble and think about what we need to do differently. But this is, I suspect, where we will err. The most critical issue of our globalised world is our response to Covid-19 and what this means for the next planetary emergency—climate change. We knew we should have acted together and we did not. China did not share information quickly enough, the virus moved out of the country and spread infection; the World Health Organization (WHO) did not act swiftly enough, or maybe its voice was not respected enough to be heeded. The UN Security Council did not meet for weeks and, when it did, it just whimpered and died. It’s not just about China and the WHO—each country has shown in this crisis that it is for itself in this dog-eat-dog world. It has reached depths where countries pirated the others’ protective equipment, hoarded masks and gowns that were needed for healthcare workers, competed for medical supplies and sparred about who would first make the vaccine. Today, when the vaccine is on the horizon, the issue is not how the world will work together to ensure that everyone has access. No, it is again about how countries will hoard and protect their people, forgetting that unless the world is protected from the virus, this pandemic will not go away. It is frightening to think of this when we know that the coronavirus pandemic is an outcome of an interdependent globalised world. It is also clear that we are only as strong as our strongest link. We will not win this unless we win it together. Similarly, climate change needs global leadership: if one country continues to emit, then all the actions of the rest could be negated. But if we want everyone to act, then we must build a cooperative agreement, one in which the last person, the last country has its right to development. But what is also clear is that in this year, we have seen disorder and disruption at a scale that we never imagined. So, now we need the same scale to fix what is broken in our relationship with Nature. The future, like never before, is in our hands. Nature has spoken. Now we should speak gently back to her. 2021: What must change This, then, is the agenda for the year ahead. There are signs of change—small, but significant—that we must build on in the year to come. First, there is the change of leadership in the US. The exit of Donald Trump and the entry of Joe Biden-Kamala Harris means that climate change is back on the global agenda. Biden-Harris have said that the US will rejoin the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 under which all countries have agreed to undertake emission reductions. This is big, but not big enough. It is important to keep in mind that the US remains addicted to cheap energy—now shale gas, instead of coal—and that it will not even meet the insignificant target under the Paris Agreement. But still, the US will no longer be an outlier, it will be back on the high table to discuss climate change action in 2021. This is crucial as we are running out of time. Second is the agenda for blue skies and clear lungs. In 2020, one ironic benefit of the lockdown was the improvement in air quality in our cities; it was almost as if nature was reclaiming her space. But it is also a fact that this improvement came at huge economic cost and is not sustainable. Therefore, going forward we need to ensure that we can do everything—from energy to mobility transformation—to keep the benefits of clean air, even as we move the economy forward. Third, and most critical, is the question of work and production. The workers who fled the city told us that it was inhospitable, that their living and working conditions were appalling. This is the core of the global economic problem, as ‘production’ has moved to where the cost of labour and environment can be discounted. But this pandemic year tells us that the future must be different, and even if this increases the cost of production and decreases consumption, it must be the way going forward. This is also where the real opportunity lies—investment in rural economies to build resilience and livelihoods. In this age of climate change risk, this is where the real action must be. Finally, there is the question of interdependence. This pandemic year has shown us how the virus has exacerbated the inequities in our world. But it also teaches us that the future must be different. Very different. This, then, is the curse of 2020, and the promise of 2021. Sunita Narain is director-general, Centre for Science and Environment

From the Editor-in-Chief

From the Editor-in-Chief After the world witnessed a disastrous 2020 plagued by Covid-19, India Today Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie talks about his hopes for 2021. What are the contours of this new world and, more importantly, what does 2021 have in store for us? We asked 10 experts to do some crystal-gazing. If 2020 was the year that changed everything, 2021 begins with many questions about what lies ahead. We are trapped between a pandemic that is still raging in many parts of the world and the promise of a post-pandemic world with the launch of several Covid-19 vaccines. This is a hopeful beginning for the new year, especially with two vaccines cleared for use in India. As we know, the vaccine is not a cure for Covid-19, only a means to slow the spread of the virus. It will be at least two years before a large percentage of the global population is vaccinated. We are, therefore, now in a twilight zone with the pandemic. What are the contours of this new world and, more importantly, what does 2021 have in store for us? We asked 10 experts to do some crystal-gazing. Our special issue, ‘The Rebirth’, curated by Managing Editor Kai Friese, carries their forecasts on the big trends in health, economy, environment, entertainment, politics and national security. Among our biggest learnings from the pandemic have been those in healthcare. Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, argues that India needs to hike its investment in health from 1.5 per cent of the GDP to at least 2.5 per cent. It needs to strengthen the system of primary healthcare centres, use digital tools and technologies to deliver quality healthcare services and raise a separate public health cadre. She also says top-down orders work only for a while and, citing the example of Dharavi, says communities need to be part of the solution. The government’s biggest priority this year will be to revive India’s economy, the worst-hit among the world’s big economies. Barring agriculture, the four vital engines of the economy—domestic consumption, government expenditure, private investment and exports—are sputtering. The government will need to step up its efforts to nurse the economy back to health in the face of a global economic slump. Neelkanth Mishra, co-head, APAC Strategy, Credit Suisse, feels that despite strong policy measures, the global economy, barring China, is not expected to return to pre-Covid levels until 2022. Professor Arvind Panagriya of Columbia University recommends the setting up of a disinvestment ministry for aggressive privatisation of PSUs to shore up the government finances and give cash transfers to the rural and urban poor to the tune of 1-2 per cent of the GDP. Kishore Mahbubani, distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute, believes that the ‘great game’ in the 21st century is an economic rather than military contest and makes a case for India to enter and participate in global groupings like the RCEP rather than waiting on the sidelines. Competition, he argues, leads to short-term creative destruction but long-term economic strength. If you want diplomatic clout in the world, you need to build your economic muscle. One of the more welcome changes in the year gone by was the clean air we all breathed when our cities were locked down. It was a warning: we neglect the environment only at our own peril. Could climate change be the next wake-up call? The exit of Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s entry means the US will now rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement to undertake emission reductions. Environmentalist Sunita Narain urges nations to ensure clean air benefits in areas ranging from energy to mobility transformation. Group Editorial Director (Publishing) Raj Chengappa surveys India’s political landscape and argues that 2021 would see a move towards a centre-right ideological position in which national identity, pride and security dominate, combined with the unique blend of welfarism and capitalism, rather than regional and caste forces. This would be especially so if the BJP wins the upcoming West Bengal assembly poll. On the other hand, if Mamata Banerjee is re-elected chief minister, she will be in line to head an Opposition coalition to take on the BJP in 2024. January 13, 2020 cover Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde takes a critical look at the state of our Republic. Silence in Parliament, he says, seems to have shifted public discourse to the streets. The government and its critics need to stop shouting at each other and make fresh beginnings. Rulers and citizens need to go back to talking to each other rather than at each other. We need to be a less angry nation, and 2021, he hopes, will be the year for resets and dialogue. With the pandemic, an enforced revolution took place in the media and entertainment space. Uday Shankar, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), writes that ‘media morphed from being a creative-only enterprise to a tech-driven creative enterprise’. He says this sector’s future will be scripted by a new generation of entrepreneurs who invest in both content and technology. Author and journalist Fareed Zakaria distils his bestselling book Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World to give us five broad learnings for 2021: the public need to be cushioned against shocks like the pandemic; inequality will worsen; Covid-19 will accelerate the digital revolution; globalisation will not die, just pause and it can perhaps lead to decoupling from excessive dependence on China; and the post-American world won’t be one dominated by China but a multilateral world. However, China presents strategic challenges, and no one knows this better than India, which is dealing with a belligerent Beijing on its borders. Executive Editor Sandeep Unnithan explains how despite a budgetary squeeze, the Indian military needs to reform and modernise its war machine to deter China and its ally Pakistan. As the saying goes, the future is not an upgrade of the present but an invitation. Let’s accept that invitation and, with the dynamism, energy and innovation that nations across the globe have shown in this crisis, make the world a better place.

New sugar mills to come up in Gurdaspur, Batala

Chandigarh: The Punjab cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said on Thursday that two new sugar mills would soon be set up at Batala and Gurdaspur and the detailed project reports for these projects have been prepared. The minister also made it clear that the state cooperative sugar mills would soon clear the outstanding dues of cane growers, amounting to nearly Rs 150 crore. He said the state government was expecting the release of Rs 60.31 crore pertaining to the cooperative sugar mills of Punjab by the central government and the payment of cane growers will be released by January 13. He also said the state government was also focusing on increasing the area under sugarcane production. He added that the department would soon be providing complex fertilizer to farmers through Markfed and its tender has already been floated. The cabinet minister also shared that consequent to the Markfed manufactured Sohna brand honey clearing all quality parameters of the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE), its demand has witnessed 10-fold increase. Randhawa said the process pertaining to the merger of the District Central Coopertaive Banks (DCCBs) with the Punjab State Cooperative Banks (PSCBs) was in the final stages and this initiative would result in the strengthening of the cooperative sector banks. The minister said another flagship project of Milkfed in the form of Verka mega dairy at Bassi Pathana having two lakh litres per day capacity was expected to be completed by June 30. He also added that due to the high standard being followed while manufacturing the products, the Milkfed sales have been up by 32%. Randhawa also shared that a demand survey was underway for floating a housing scheme for providing flats in Mohali to the employees of cooperative departments and institutions besides journalists in the state through Housefed. Recounting various achievements of his department in the past one year, Randhawa said the capacity of Bhogpur cooperative sugar mills witnessed expansion from 1,000 TCD to 3,000 TCD with 15 MW co-generation plant by shifting of plant and machinery of closed sugar mill at Faridkot and addition of new boiler, power turbine and other equipments having latest technology at an estimated project cost of Rs 109.07 crore. The project work was completed in November 2020.

Pocket-pinch worry as diesel hits new high

Pocket-pinch worry as diesel hits new high Kolkata: The diesel price in Kolkata on Thursday breached records to touch Rs 77.96 per litre. Since diesel runs transport vehicles like buses and goods vehicles and even goods trains, there is a possibility of imminent rise in prices of commodities across categories. This is the second such record spike of diesel price after 2018. On October 16, 2018, the diesel price rose to Rs 77.59 per litre. Thereafter, it kept plunging steadily because of successive dips in international crude oil price. International oil prices have bounced back with heightened human activities in the post-lockdown period. The crude was trading at $50.96 per barrel on Wednesday, compared to $19.9 a barrel in April when several nations went into lockdown to curb the pandemic, said a senior IOC officer. The fossil fuel price varies from state to state. Central and state taxes and dealers’ commissions are added to the refinery gate price to arrive at the retail price, explained a oil marketing company (OMC) official. This spike is going to hit the goods and passenger transportation in the city hard. Already both state transport undertaking (STU) and private bus operators have scaled down their operations due to non-viability. “Unless the fare is immediately revised, the entire bus transit system will go moribund. After a point, it will be next to impossible to revive the system,” said Tapan Bandyopadhyay, secretary, joint council of bus syndicates. “Kolkata has a robust bus transit system. This was the reason why the share of private vehicles is low in the city. But the absence of buses underlines a great danger. It will force passengers to lean towards private vehicles, which will mean more traffic snarls, more choking of road intersections and more pollution,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment, and a transportation expert. The impact of the fuel price hike on the goods transportation sector is higher. “A spike in diesel price will increase the transportation cost of every commodity — from vegetables to electronic spare parts. The entire country’s transport system runs on diesel. If the government keeps withdrawing subsidy on diesel, the crucial balance will be lost,” said Subhas Chandra Bose, president, West Bengal Federation of Truck Operators’ Associations. Internationally, diesel is priced slightly higher than petrol because of its higher cost of production. In India, diesel remained subsidized for a long time. Now, diesel attracts lower tax than petrol and the former’s price has been lower for several years.

Be honey wise, not sugar foolish. If you've turned to the natural sweetener to boost your immunity in the pandemic, we've got a list for you

Be honey wise, not sugar foolish. If you've turned to the natural sweetener to boost your immunity in the pandemic, we've got a list for you The lockdown seemed all about fads, but if there is one trend that households throughout the world picked up during the pandemic, it was that of cooking, eating, and drinking healthy. 'Building immunity' became a nationwide obsession, as we all reached for our grandmothers’ recipes and elders’ age-old advice on reverting to organic food. Processed sugar has been a perennial villain for the lifestyle-disease-stricken humanity, so no wonder honey, the natural sweetener, too, made a sweet return. Recommended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, honey-and-pepper is considered an effective home remedy for the virus season. The consumption of honey not only grew in India, but stoked interest among South Korean, Japanese and Australian buyers. However, it wasn’t too late before the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reported that major Indian brands selling honey were using Chinese sugar. Upon using the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, several Indian honey brands detected high levels of modified sugar syrups, which were going unidentified in the tests conducted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The honey-and-pepper we were consuming was more of sugar and spice. It has become essential for one and all to recognise the true potentials of raw honey and make an effort to switch to healthier variants of it. Raw honey collected from beehives is produced naturally by worker bees using nectar they collect from flowers in the region. This process distinguishes honey from one region to another; thereby guaranteeing a unique taste, scent, and color to its honey consumers. Unlike the commercial honey stocked in our supermarkets and grocery stores, unfiltered honey is high on antioxidants, enzymes, and minerals. Often heated and pasteurized on various levels, commercial honey, on the other hand, loses all its essential components and gets sold only for its glucose, fructose, and added preservatives. To ensure that your next bottle or jar of honey is naturally produced and harvested, you might want to consider switching to local businesses that promote traditional beekeeping methods and work towards providing a healthy and medicinal variant of it. Some of the local honey types that you can find around India are: Eucalyptus Honey Originated from the flowers of eucalyptus trees, the honey has a strong aftertaste of menthol. It is made without using preservatives and artificial colours and has a shelf life of 540 days. Usually recognised for its products in Australia, Under The Mango Tree along with other Indian companies, source this honey from beekeepers from plantations in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and their neighbouring areas. Eucalyptus is also recommended during a cold or a headache for its medicinal qualities.

India-China Hydropower Battle: Who Will Win?

India-China Hydropower Battle: Who Will Win? Despite these concerns, India has a lot of potential when it comes to renewables, especially hydropower. As per the Centre for Science and Environment, the North East has the potential to switch to 100% renewable. The year 2020 saw multiple instances of standoff between China and India, primarily in the Leh-Laddakh region. The two countries have had a stream of differences on border issues, including the North East, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh. There is speculation that the fight now has gone beyond the actual battlefield to energy infrastructure and water supply, with hydropower at the forefront. Recently, China announced it is working on a massive hydropower project as a part of its 14th Five Year Plan (2021-25) in Medog county of Tibet. In the last week of November 2020, the president of Power Construction Corporation of China, which is a Chinese government-owned company, announced plans to develop a hydroelectric project of mammoth proportions of up to 60 Gigawatts (GW). This project will be executed on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river, commonly known as the Brahmaputra river in India. China says the project will help the country realize its goal of reaching a carbon emission peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. They claim this project is three times bigger than the existing three gorges dam project. The Chinese government says this will push their energy economy towards renewables, helping make it a green energy nation. Despite China's claims, some experts are of the view that this is hydropower and water supply warfare, while some others say the timing of this project amidst standoff period is a mere coincidence. Whatever may be the agenda, this project challenges the water security of India, given that India lies downstream of the Bhramaputra river, where this project will be executed. It will also have a profound impact on the Himalayan ecosystem. Presently, there is a competition for the development of hydropower sector in the Himalayas between the two countries. China already has numerous power plants in operation, namely, Yamdrok Hydropower Station, Pangduo Hydropower Station, Zhikong Hydropower station, etc. All these projects were executed at the upstream or middle stream of Bhramaputra river. The latest dam to be executed at Medong is the first downstream river project by China. The Five-Year Plan of China speaks about the "Great Bend" in Bhramaputra river at Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, where the river falls spectacularly by 2,000 metres and turns sharply into Arunachal Pradesh. Given the proximity to Indian border, it is required Indian border forces stay vigil. In response to Chinese aggression, India has constructed its own set of hydro power projects. Many hydropower plants already in operation along the Bhramaputra, like Subansiri Lower Dam, Ranganadi Dam, Rangit Dam, Diband Dam, etc. Over the last 20 years, both China and India have worked significantly to build hydropower projects, potentially resulting in 21st-century hydro-energy warfare. Why are the two countries resorting to alternative avenues of competition, over and above the existing standoff at the border areas? In political science, we have a term called "political dilemma", that is, there is distrust between countries due to lack of transparency. This happens when the two countries are uncertain about the weapon generating potential of the other, and reporting of ammunition deployment in vulnerable areas. Such a situation results in a mutual lack of faith and scepticism. As a result, both countries try to increase their power through other domains. The case of India-China standoff is materializing across domains, one of which is hydro-electricity, which the countries have clubbed with national security. For instance, it is speculated that China has already completed 11 out of 55 projects that are planned in the Tibetan region. India too is taking the initiative to catch up with China's numbers. In addition to the energy-centric geopolitical tensions, these projects also have a cascading impact on the environment. The Brahmaputra river flows through rugged Himalayan topography, which is ecologically vulnerable and seismically active. The last major earthquake in that region was not long ago in 2015 Nepal, causing 9000 deaths and massive infrastructure damage. The region is thus highly vulnerable to earthquakes, with the next major one potentially taking place anytime. Also, a large number of Hydropower plants are based on the run of the river system, that is, the flowing river system is used to generate electricity. Interrupting the natural flow of water to generate energy can have a devastating impact, which then serves as a major contributing factor to earthquakes and landslides. Dams constructed in the region can cause landslides/ glacial slides, as well as dam-induced earthquakes, which is, incidentally one of the leading causes of man-made earthquakes. The deforestation to create dams also acts as a contributing factor.

Gasping for Air

Gasping for Air India lost 1.4 per cent of its GDP due to premature deaths and morbidity linked to pollution. The Lancet had collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation while crafting this report. Covid- 19, air pollution, power plants, public health, It would be less than appropriate to engage in a discourse on which of the two is more lethal. Yet figures for 2019, published recently in the reputed journal of science, The Lancet, are direly unnerving. It must be more than a little shocking to learn that air pollution resulted in 11 times the number of deaths around the world that year than the Covid- 19 pandemic in 2020. An enormous responsibility thus devolves on the pollution control authorities not merely to tackle the burning of stubble, as in north India, the bursting of crackers in Kolkata and other parts of the country during Diwali or for that matter the presence of noxious coal-fired power plants. Two years ago, the deaths on account of pollution had outnumbered the country’s Covid casualties this year by a substantial margin. The report states that 16.7 lakh people died due to pollution in 2019, much more than the 1.5 lakh claimed by Covid in 2020. In addition, India lost 1.4 per cent of its GDP due to premature deaths and morbidity linked to pollution. The Lancet had collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation while crafting this report. The report makes it clear that while public health authorities must combat the virus, they need to do more, much more, to tackle pollution which can only be addressed by the vaccine of development. This must be an unnerving thought on the first anniversary, so to speak, of Covid-19. As the world debates the efficacy of the corona vaccine, there is no such medical antidote against pollution. According to the medical fraternity, “air pollution has clearly emerged as one of the biggest killers in India. There is a long-drawn collective battle against it. A couple of doses of vaccine cannot prevent it. Covid-19 has occupied the lion’s share of our mindspace.” In the reckoning of the Centre for Science and Environment, pollution is particularly acute across the Indo-Gangetic plain. And then the stern caveat seemingly riveted to West Bengal ~ “Bengal being at the tail-end of the plain needs proactive steps to speed up action on transport, clean fuels in industry, clean power plants, waste management and biomass burning across the state.” Sad to reflect that West Bengal has failed on every parameter. Not wholly unrelated is what health authorities call an “alarming rise in non-smoking patients” basically because of indoor and outdoor pollution. “This is a bigger epidemic but currently going unnoticed because of our current obsession with Covid-19.” Such obsessions may seem to be a very humane response. While indoor pollution caused 64 per cent fewer deaths over the past two decades, outdoor pollution more than made up. Overall, the very real threat of air pollution needs to be addressed urgently.