Panel Discussion over Styrene chemical leak from
CNN News 18 : CSE Spokes Person : Sunita Narain Program Name - News 07-May-2020 Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE Panel Discussion over Styrene chemical leak from polymers factory
CNN News 18 : CSE Spokes Person : Sunita Narain Program Name - News 07-May-2020 Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE Panel Discussion over Styrene chemical leak from polymers factory
Experts recommend a social distance of at least six feet between people, as well as reducing physical contact, to minimise the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid- 19). The Central Road Research Institute’s (CSIR-CRRI) recommendations for the safe use of public transport, once the nationwide lockdown is lifted, include limiting the number of passengers in buses and separate gates for boarding and alighting Metro coaches. The guidelines, to be shared with all state governments and ministries in the central government, also propose creating a partition between the driver’s seat and the back seat in taxis using a plastic sheet, a dynamic display showing the number of available seats in Metro trains and buses, and earmarking the waiting area in stations, among others. The guidelines also propose painting additional zebra crossings at each intersection to ensure pedestrians crossing on to opposite sides do not come in contact with each other. Transport experts at CSIR-CRRI say these moves will help manage crowds, ensure the presence adequate transport infrastructure to discourage people from using private vehicles, encourage pedestrians and cyclists to ensure social distancing. Experts recommend a social distance of at least six feet between people, as well as reducing physical contact, to minimise the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid- 19). Hindustantimes Satish Chandra, director CSIR-CRRI, said, “The biggest challenge is crowd management in public transport so that social distancing is effectively implemented. As only 50% occupancy is allowed in public transport currently, there is a need to immediately enhance the capacity and also manage the demand by ensuring staggered office timings.” If this is not done, Chandra said, a lot of public transport users might switch to private vehicles to protect themselves from contracting Covid-19. Public transport services have been shut in the national capital since March 23, two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. Officials said the Delhi government is working a plan to ensure social distancing in public transport once the lockdown is lifted and public transport resumes. “We are working on a plan to decide how we will reopen public transport. We will also have to work out a plan to sanitise public transport,” a senior Delhi transport official said. Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said public transport may resume soon, and that the Central government was formulating guidelines for the same. Officials of the Delhi Metro, the Capital’s transport lifeline, said the organisation would follow guidelines framed by the Union and state governments. Anuj Dayal, executive director, corporate communication, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, “We will follow all guidelines set by the government while framing advisories for passengers. Additionally, models adopted by metro systems across the world are also being studied to ensure that the resumption of services is smooth, convenient and safe for Delhi Metro’s commuters.” With schools shut and inter-state movement banned, experts said a lot of private buses, including chartered buses, are currently unused. “These buses can be made part of the public transport system to help meet the increase in demand, ensure quality by observing social distancing measures, and discourage people from shifting to private vehicles. Staggered office timings and better workfrom- home norms will also be helpful,” said E Madhu, head, transport planning division, CSIR-CRRI. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director transport at the Centre for Science and Environment, said Delhi could easily induct the unused buses into its public transport fleet. “The Delhi government has used private buses during the odd-even scheme. They just have to build on it. Though these are testing times, it is an opportunity to address the issue of overcrowding in public transport,” Roychowdhury said. “Pre-booking travel time slots in buses and Metros will help manage crowds,” Madhu said. The guidelines recommend that the existing seating arrangements be changed in e-rickshaws, which are an essential part of the city’s last-mile connectivity mechanism. The CRRI recommends that e-rickshaw passengers not face each other and that the number of people who travel together in one vehicle be limited. To reduce the load on public transport systems, the guidelines suggest short trips be encouraged and infrastructure provided for cycle-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, bicycles and pedestrians. Rowchowdhury asked that plans be prepared to improve local infrastructure for travel over short distances. “With bollards and paint, we can create more space for pedestrians on the road and ensure their safety. People can make these trips either by walking or cycling. This will bring down the load on public transport.” Experts also pointed to innovative public transport systems other countries had adopted. Amit Bhatt, director transport, WRI India, said, “Bogota, the capital of Colombia, has converted 100km of streets into cycle lanes to reduce the load on its bus systems. Mexico City is planning to quadruple its cycle network to reduce the pressure on its metro. Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is creating cycle lanes as a safe alternative for the commute as the city has seen a 90% drop in public transport use,” Bhatt said.
More than 1.3 billion people in India remain confined at home since the imposition of a national lockdown on March 25 to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is tough for anyone, it is especially so for those living in Asia's largest slum－Dharavi－in Mumbai, the country's financial capital. The city's slums are home to an estimated 65 percent of the population of about 12 million in Mumbai's inner-city area. Spread over 2.1 square kilometers, Dharavi is home to more than 700,000 people. Shahid Jameel, a virologist and CEO of the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, an independent charity organization based in New Delhi that funds health and biomedical sciences research, said: "We have advised people to keep 6 feet, or 1.8 meters, apart, but how is that possible in urban slums? These are places to watch. I am really worried." As in many other parts of the world, schools and colleges are closed, exams have been suspended, courts and most offices and factories are shut, and nearly all forms of transportation have been halted. Only doctors, nurses, healthcare support employees and those working to keep essential services running are allowed out of their homes－but under strict safety protocols. Sunita Narain, director-general of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, said there is no rulebook to tell governments what to do, how to shut down economies, and when to reopen them. "COVID-19 is the most tumultuous, most catastrophic and the most defining epoch of our lifetime. One cannot think of anything else that has happened with such speed－from the end of December, when the first cases were reported in China, to now," she said.
Pritika Singh says she was always inquisitive as a child. Having little access to Google and the internet she would read anything she came across, even ingredients on packaging to understand what the product was made of. In 2013, as a postgraduate student of biotechnology at the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in Punjab, Pritika learnt that most skincare products contain toxic chemicals that are harmful in the long-term. In fact, a study conducted by public interest research and advocacy organisation Centre for Science and Environment, based in Delhi, revealed that fairness creams and lipsticks, contain metallic elements like mercury which is ‘universally recognised as toxic’. Pritika was then working on her Master’s thesis related to causes of breast cancer that was published on Taylor and Francis. “People were feeding something so toxic to their skins just to look beautiful. As a conscious user, I could not find any natural product that catered to my requirements,” she says. Pritika later joined cosmetic research and development teams at corporate organisations like Vestige and was not satisfied with their practices. Additionally, Pritika says one has to follow orders at work and cannot question why certain contents were being added. “I decided to put my foot down by starting my own skincare line where I could use my knowledge and research to provide natural products suited to different skin types. I believe one should not have to choose between health and beauty. Beauty should be without any compromises,” she says. Tvakh Also Read Why this woman entrepreneur decided to start up in the luxury bath and beauty business Founded in 2016, Tvakh is a natural hair and skin care products startup that is tapping into the natural cosmetics market that is valued at $833.4 million in India. The market is further expected to grow annually at 6.6 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) till 2023. A natural solution Pritika is happiest when she is formulating products under her brand Tvakh, inspired by the Sanskrit word tvacha, meaning skin. She started with aloe vera gel from kitchen. She shared the product with a distributor of L'Oréal, who referred her to Cleopatra, one of the biggest beauty parlours in Chandigarh who made a bulk order of 50 kg of aloe vera gel. Pritika used her mother’s biggest vessel and made five batches of 10 kg each and used the money to expand her business. Soon, she got a manufacturing licence, bought a machine that cost Rs 1 lakh and shifted to a bigger space, and gradually started designing her label and product line. "I made five products, a very basic website, and posted them online, and my first order came from Mumbai. Sending my first shampoo was the happiest moment as an entrepreneur," she recalls. Operating on the dual model of B2B and B2C, the startup counts on Biopharmecia, Aurel Biolife, Mascon Healthcare, and Dr Sajja’s among its clients. The skin and hair care products, priced between Rs 350 and Rs 1200, are also available on ecommerce platforms like Amazon and on its own website. She hopes to expand the brand’s online B2C presence soon. Started with an initial investment of Rs 6 lakh, the startup clocked one crore in revenue in the financial year 2017 to 2018. Pritika expects revenues to reach Rs 10 crore this year. Apart from spending on basic necessities, the entrepreneur never took a salary from the startup for two years till 2018 when she got married. With increasing positive cases of COVID-19 in India, Pritika says sales for hand sanitisers has skyrocketed. Since March 2020, the startup has gone from supplying only to some parts of Punjab to other states like Assam, Kerala, and Delhi. Sign up for Newsletters Check out our popular newsletters and subscribe Dropdown Also Read This IIT-Kharagpur alum gave up investment banking to launch a night skincare brand Through word-of-mouth Being previously associated with cosmetic companies, Prtitika says she had the access to the right network of suppliers. Although Pritika hails from a family of entrepreneurs, she lacked experience but hugely benefitted from her father’s support and expertise. Her initial challenges included sourcing skilled labour and training them on the processes, right from packaging, research as well as production. However, at the core of the business, Pritika believes, lies delivery on promise of product quality. “Although I have the right technique and knowledge and I can explain what my products are, how are they going to trust my company? The only way to gain this trust to deliver on any amount of order promised and slowly build the loyalty,” she says. “The rest is taken care of through word-ofmouth. Also, there is no element of marketing better and organic than a client’s words of praise for a product,” she adds.
Pollution levels in Delhi remained in the ‘satisfactory’ zone on Monday even as many government and private offices opened with a third of their staff on the first day of the two-week exit from the lockdown, because of which there was increased activity and traffic presence in the city. Experts said it will take some time to analyse the impact of resumption of activity on the pollution levels. High wind speed and frequent spells of rain will, however, help keep pollution in check for the rest of the week. According to Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) bulletin released at 9pm, the average air quality index (AQI) on Monday was 90 ( in the ‘satisfactory’ zone). At 93, the AQI on Sunday was also in the ‘satisfactory’ zone. The last time Delhi experienced ‘satisfactory’ air quality was on April 27 when the index was recorded at 89. “Pollution levels in the city during the lockdown period have mostly fluctuated between ‘moderate’ and ‘satisfactory levels, mainly because of no traffic movement or activity, apart from the good weather and frequent rainfall. Since it was just the first day of relaxations coming into effect, any impact on overall pollution levels will only be reflected late night or tomorrow (Tuesday) morning,” a senior CPCB official, who did not wish to be named, said. The official said an increase in the number of vehicles on roads may degrade air quality. But good wind speed expected over the next two days is likely to mitigate the detrimental effects. According to scientists at India Meteorological Department (IMD), on Sunday evening the wind speed went up to 58 kmph, the highest for Delhi this summer. The high wind speed and rainfall helped push the air quality from ‘moderate’ to ‘satisfactory’. “The air quality is likely to improve further on Tuesday, with the wind speed expected to go up to 40-50 kmph between Monday night and Tuesday morning. Delhi has had six western disturbances in April, as against the usual three to four, resulting in frequent thunderstorms and rainfall. We are expecting another western disturbance to hit northwestern India between May 10 and May 12 and it will result in rain and gusty winds,” Kuldeep Srivastava, head, IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, said. According to experts, since Monday was just the first day of more private vehicles plying on roads and economic activity slowly starting to pick up, the impact of the emissions will take a while to reflect in the pollution levels. “So far we don’t know the quantum of the vehicles plying on the roads. Any significant increase in the traffic will impact NOx levels and there will be some impact on PM 2.5 levels as well. But we will need to analyse data for at least a week to establish a trend,” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said. Roychowdhury said that so far, the prominent pollutant in the air was PM 10 (mainly generated from dust) because intrusion of dust is higher during summers. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the union government’s air quality monitoring and forecasting wing, air quality may improve to ‘good’ level by Tuesday. “Rainfall has resulted in washing out of pollutants and air quality is expected to improve over the next two days,” its bulletin said.
Seit Ende März leben in Indien 1,3 Milliarden Menschen im verordneten Lockdown. In Neu-Delhi, einer der schmutzigsten Städte der Welt, ist der Smog zurückgegangen, der Himmel ist blau, die Flüsse klar, die Vögel laut. Ein Aufatmen mit Ablaufdatum. Die Vögel in Neu-Delhi erwachen früh am Morgen: Papageien, Hornvögel und Wiedehopfe sitzen auf Ästen mit knallgrünen Blättern. Schwarzmilane kreisen in der warmen Brise. In de Hauptstadt von Indien klingt es seit Wochen wie in einem Vogelkäfig. Nur mit dem Unterschied, dass jetzt die Menschen gefangen sind. In Indien gilt eine absolute Ausgangssperre, die Vögel allerdings können einfach über die Barrikaden und Absperrungen hinwegfliegen. Ein blauer Himmel mit vereinzelten Schäfchenwolken über einem sehr grünen Park mit vielen Laubbäumen. (Silke Diettrich / ARD-Studio Neu-Delhi)Blauer Himmel und Schäfchenwolken über Neu- Delhi: Normalerweise liegt eine dicke Smogschicht über der Stadt. (Silke Diettrich / ARD-Studio Neu-Delhi) Der Verkehr ist hier sonst so laut, dass die Vögel kaum zu hören sind. Kinder und Jugendliche hier haben fast noch nie Schäfchenwolken gesehen, selten einen Sternenhimmel. Denn seit vielen Jahren liegt eine so dicke Glocke über ihren Köpfen, dass sie fast ohne mit den Augen zwinkern zu müssen, in die Sonne schauen können. Die Großstädte versinken in einem milchigen Gelb, die Blätter der Pflanzen leuchten meist nicht mehr. Umgeben von einer dicken Staubschicht werden sie fahl und grau. Von den weltweit 30 Städten mit der dreckigsten Luft, liegen 22 in Indien. Autos, Fabriken, Baustellen stehen still Und nun, seit fast sechs Wochen, steht fast alles still, was mit den Menschen hier zu tun hat: Autos, Fabriken, Baustellen. Die Ausgangssperre habe uns nun direkt vor Augen geführt, wie schnell die Werte der Luftverschmutzung nach unten sinken könnten, sagt die Forschungsdirektorin vom Zentrum für Wissenschaft und Umwelt, Anumita Roy Chowdhury. „Natürlich willst du nicht von so einem Katastrophenfall abhängig sein, um die Umweltverschmutzung zu verringern“, sagt sie. „Aber durch diesen Notstand sind wir gezwungen, wichtige Veränderung vorzunehmen. Und nun ist die Frage, ob wir auch nach der Pandemie diese systematischen Veränderungen auf unser Leben ableiten können. Ein Beispiel wäre, dass wir nicht mehr so viel mit dem Auto fahren, weil wir ein neues Verhältnis dazu bekommen, wie wir unseren Arbeitsplatz definieren.“ Denn auch in Neu-Delhi arbeiten nun unzählige Leute von zu Hause aus, vor allem die aus der Mittel- und Oberschicht. Fast jeden Tag schauen sie bei ihrem Smartphone auf die Luft-Qualitäts-App. In der Regel ist dort ein Emoji zu sehen, in dunkel-braun-rot, das je nach Luftwerten eine Atemschutzmaske oder sogar eine Gasmaske trägt. Die Adjektive zur Luft darunter lauten: ungesund, oder stark gesundheitsgefährdend. Nicht so in den letzten sechs Wochen, zum ersten Mal lacht das Emoji mehrere Tage am Stück, ist grün oder gelb. Die Luft: gut bis mittelmäßig. Das hat es noch nie gegeben in den letzten Jahren. Aber nicht nur die Qualität der Luft hat sich hier in Neu-Delhi verbessert. Eine helle männliche Steinfigur mit langen Haaren und Rauschebart sitzt im Schneidersitz in einem Gewässer. (Silke Diettrich / ARD-Studio Neu-Delhi)Die Wasserqualität im Fluss Yamuna ist schon nach zwei Wochen Ausgangssperre besser geworden. (Silke Diettrich / ARD-Studio Neu-Delhi) In den sozialen Netzwerken haben Userinnen und User aus Neu-Delhi Videos und Fotos gepostet von der Yamuna. Das ist der Fluss, der durch die Hauptstadt fließt. Blau und an einigen Stellen sogar so klar, dass der Sand auf dem Boden zu sehen ist. Normalerweise ist der Fluss schlammig braun, in der Trockenzeit gleicht eher einer Kloake, Metanblasen wippen dann auf einer tiefschwarzen Brühe. Also haben wir den Test gemacht und sind einfach mal ans Flussufer gefahren. Die ersten Stichproben sind ernüchternd: Es riecht wie immer leicht faulig, der Fluss ist schwarz, und dicke Schaumwolken wackeln auf der Wasseroberfläche. „Wir Menschen sind schuld daran, dass alles verseucht ist“ Durch Zufall treffen wir hier auf den Gesundheitsminister von Neu-Delhi, Satyender Jain. Auch er will sich ein reales Bild von der Situation verschaffen: „Die Wasserqualität hat sich im Vergleich zu vorher schon verbessert“, sagt Jain, „weil kaum jemand derzeit in der gewerblichen Wirtschaft arbeitet und die, ja leider, meistens ihr Dreckwasser einfach ohne es zu reinigen in den Fluss abgeleitet hatte. Die Ausgangssperre führt uns eines ganz deutlich vor Augen: Wir Menschen tragen die Schuld daran, dass alles verseucht ist. Die Natur fordert gerade ihr Leben zurück.“ Viele Menschen in Neu-Delhi, wie auf der ganzen Welt, fürchten gerade direkt um ihr Leben, durch den Ausbruch des Coronavirus. In Indien sind bislang weniger als 40.000 Menschen positiv darauf getestet worden. Aber es werden im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern auch deutlich weniger Tests durchgeführt. Die Ärzte in den Krankenhäusern allerdings sagen, dass derzeit sehr viel weniger Menschen mit Atemwegsproblemen als sonst in die Kliniken kommen. Das dürfte natürlich auch damit zu tun haben, dass es eine komplette Ausgangssperre gibt und viele Menschen die Krankenhäuser vermeiden wollen. Enorm verbesserte Luftqualität Aber die Luftwerte haben sich im ganzen Land enorm verbessert. Um 50, an einigen Stellen sogar um 70 Prozent, hat sich die Luftverschmutzung verringert, das zeigen auch Aufnahmen von der NASA. Die Menschen in Indien können also an vielen Orten derzeit besser atmen und dennoch halten viele die Luft an: Weil die Zahlen der Coronainfizierten noch steigen. Und auch die Todesfälle, die derzeit offiziell noch bei weit unter 2000 liegen. Durch die Folgen der Luftverschmutzung, so sagen es Umweltwissenschaftler, würden in Indien im Jahr mehr als eine Million Menschen sterben. | May 5, 2020
What is clear is that this joy of nature has come at enormous and unacceptable human cost to millions in the world Sunita Narain On April 22, when the world celebrated Earth Day, we were (and still are) in the midst of the grimmest reminder of nature’s revenge as Covid-19 shut down our economies. However, it is also a fact that today Delhi’s smog has cleared; the air is simply sublime — we can see the blue skies and the birds are just loving it. Their sounds have taken up the silence of the car horns. In all our cities — across the world — as we lock down to deal with this mutant virus, which is killing people and making our world tragic and horrendous, it seems almost that nature is reclaiming her space. There is news of how rivers in Indian cities — earlier called sewage canals and dead because of zero oxygen levels — are bouncing back, practically beaming with life and fresh water. There are images of lions — from the neighbouring forests — venturing out and sunning themselves in the port lands of Junagarh in Gujarat; or civet strolling in the street of a small town in Kerala; many more vibrant flamingos making their way to the salt pans of coastal India; dolphins dancing in the waters. I could go on. But what is clear is that this joy of nature has come at enormous and unacceptable human cost to millions in the world, who have lost their loved ones to the virus or are seeing their livelihoods collapse. I can say with absolute conviction that this is not the way we want to clean our air or our water, however desperately we need this to happen. But what we should remember are two things — for post- Covid-19 times. One, that we did momentarily get this smell of what clean air, clean rivers, and exuberant nature means; we must value it. We must remember this time as the way we want it to be when our lungs can inhale and exhale without stress of toxins. But two, most importantly, we must remember that at the current levels of pollution, it took as much as shutting down everything to get blue skies. Yes, this is what it will take. So, when in winter in Delhi we have smog days again, we must remember that cleaning up will mean taking all vehicles off the road — not play odd and even with a few cars absent. It will mean shutting down all day-to-day businesses so that no trucks need to come into our cities. In this last month, truck movement is down from 4,000 to fewer than 400 per day. It will mean shutting down all industries — not just a few here and there — so that there is just no combustion at all. It means stop to all construction. Everything that makes up life and livelihood. This is how we got from black, smoggy skies to blue skies and clear lungs. I say this not because this is what we must do in winter. This lockdown, I hope, we never have to repeat as these are the darkest days in human history. But I say this, because, if we want to have clear skies then we will have to move heaven and earth to get much more done so that we can have livelihoods and also our right to breathe. No more doing bits and little pieces of stuff, which always keeps us behind the curve. We need to be aggressive about what we do and how fast we get there. This is something again that these terrible Covid-19 times should teach us — we do not want to be in this situation again. So, what will it take to clean our air — to keep it as pristine as the lockdown days when the lockdown is over and behind us. First, it will mean realising that we need to get vehicles, not people, off the road. It means fast-tracking everything we can do so that we move people, not cars, at speed, convenience, and safety — public transport will have to take into account concerns about personal hygiene and goals so that in the next few years (yes, so quickly) we can upgrade our systems so that 70-80 per cent of the daily commute is through high-speed or lowemission transportation — from trains to bicycles. Second, it means not shutting down but shifting all industry — lock, stock and barrel — to clean fuel. Start with natural gas and then ramp up with all combustion moving to electricity from much cleaner power generation. Today, it is the price of natural gas and not its availability that is the obstacle to this transition, as gas competes with the dirtiest and cheapest of fuels, coal. But if the government was to include natural gas in goods and services tax (GST) — I am not talking about all petroleum fuels, only natural gas — it would turn the tables on coal. Currently coal or other such dirty fuels are included in GST and have much lower taxation than cleaner fuels. So, we can do this. But it again needs to be thought about as the big solution — something that can be done fast and at scale. I could go on. But the bottom line is scale and speed. In these Covid-19 times we have seen disorder and disruption at scale that we never thought would happen in our lifetime. So, now we need the same to fix what is broken in our relationship with nature. This then is the biggest challenge of the coming days. Will we do things differently, recognising what Covid-19 has brought to light? Or will we want to rebuild our economies with more smoke and more pollution because we need speed and scale to get back on our feet? The future, like never before, is in our hands. Nature has spoken. Now we should speak gently back to her. Tread lightly on earth.
NDTV India : CSE Spokes Person : Sunita Narain Program Name - Special Programme 02-May-2020 In a conversation with Sunita Narain, Director General over The Cycle of Chang
NDTV India : CSE Spokes Person : Sunita Narain Program Name - Special Programme 02-May-2020 In a conversation with Sunita Narain, Director General over The Cycle of Chang
Merdeka.com - India memperpanjang lockdown untuk menghentikan penyebaran virus corona dengan menutup sekolah, kantor, industri, alat transportasi, dan memaksa orang-orang tetap di rumah. Bonus dampak dari kebijakan ini adalah udara yang lebih bersih, padahal India adalah negara keenam dari 10 negara paling tercemar di dunia. "Ini adalah perubahan yang sangat besar, ”kata Kunal Chopra, yang menderita bronkitis kronis, dilansir dari Alarabiya, Rabu (29/4). Biasanya Chopra mengawali harinya dengan suntikan dan inhaler. "Udara jauh lebih segar dan masalah pernapasanku membaik," ujarnya. Berdasarkan laporan Aliansi Global Kesehatan dan Polusi pada Desember 2019, India bertanggung jawab atas kematian lebih dari 2 juta orang akibat polusi udara. Pada 25 Maret, hari pertama lockdown, tingkat rata-rata PM 2,5 menurun 22 persen dan nitrogen dioksida - yang berasal dari pembakaran bahan bakar fosil - turun 15 persen, menurut data polusi udara yang dianalisis oleh Pusat Penelitian Energi dan Udara bersih. "Ini adalah masa yang luar biasa," kata Direktur Eksekutif Pusat Sains dan Lingkungan, Anumita Roychowdhury, Pusat Sains dan Lingkungan adalah sebuah organisasi penelitian dan advokasi di New Delhi. Dia mengaitkan penurunan polusi udara dengan berkurangnya volume kendaraan di jalan, aktivitas konstruksi, dan penutupan pabrik. "Orang lebih rentan selama pandemi di daerah dengan polusi tinggi," katanya. "Paru-paru dan hati kita sudah terganggu, dan kita tidak bisa melawan virus." India telah melaporkan hampir 20.000 kasus Covid-19 dan lebih dari 600 kematian. Lockdown yang rencananya akan dicabut pada 3 Mei juga berdampak pada sungai yang menjadi lebih bersih. Gambar-gambar perairan jernih Gangga yang murni, sungai terpanjang di India yang dianggap suci oleh umat Hindu, dengan antusias dibagikan di media sosial beberapa pekan setelah lockdown. Badan pemantau polusi India mengatakan jernihnya air sungai membuatnya layak digunakan untuk mandi di beberapa daerah, menurut alat pemantau real time yang ditempatkan di sepanjang sungai yang memiliki panjang 2.575 kilometer (1.600 mil) itu. Sebuah analisis baru-baru ini oleh Badan Pengendalian Pencemaran Delhi menemukan, kualitas Sungai Yamuna yang mengalir di sepanjang New Delhi juga meningkat selama lockdown. Laporan itu mengutip itu penurunan limpasan dari 28 klaster industri dan lebih sedikit sampah. “Lockdown telah memperjelas apa sebenarnya sumber utama pencemaran,” kata pegiat lingkungan hidup dan pendiri Swecha, Vimlendu Jha. Swechha, sebuah organisasi nonpemerintah yang membantu kaum muda memerangi perubahan iklim. "Limbah dipaksa masuk ke badan sungai kami, dan itulah alasan utama mengapa sungai kami hitam." Jha dan para ahli lainnya memperingatkan kondisi membaiknya kualitas lingkungan bisa berlaku singkat karena pemerintah pada akhirnya mencabut lockdown dan aktivitas ekonomi yang merajalela berlanjut. April 30, 2020
The primary concern for most parents revolves around the junk snacks that children consume in between meals. As per a study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2016, 93% of children between the age group of 9-17 eat packaged food. Ever wondered why it’s so difficult to convince your little one to eat a bowl of fruits or vegetables? Give them a pack of chips and they devour it in minutes whereas a plate of fresh food requires some bit of pushing and nagging. As the saying ‘Old Habits Die Hard’, the food habits or an eating routine that a child cultivates can carry over to adulthood. Therefore, it’s important for children to develop nutrient rich eating habits right from a very young age. The immediate next question that arises is how do children develop eating habits? As a parent, how can you play a role in this? It’s a no brainer that children learn from what they observe, hear and experience. A parent’s first responsibility in cultivating good eating habits is to walk the talk. Be a healthy eating role model for your little one. If you want your kid to eat broccoli, make sure you are eating them too. If you want them to stop munching on chips, make sure you don’t get them or replace it with something nutritious and equally tasty. Let’s be honest here and accept that children don’t care whether something is healthy or not. They will eat food that’s tasty, may be colourful or packaged in an exciting manner. As a parent, you have to take that extra step to ensure that healthy food can be tasty, colourful and exciting. The primary concern for most parents revolves around the junk snacks that children consume in between meals. As per a study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2016, 93% of children between the age group of 9-17 eat packaged food. The study also showed that 56% of the children consume packaged sweet products like chocolates and ice-creams more than twice a week and 53% consume packaged salty food like chips. Children today end up consuming snacks that are not suitable for their age and in quantities that are not ideal for a snack. There’s no doubt that all parents want their children to eat healthy food. However, with busy lifestyles and increasing double income households, it’s difficult for parents to ensure balanced meals and healthy snacks every time. This is where healthy and nutrition rich snacks can help ease the burden on parents. Buying snacks for children? Two important pointers! Parents have to keep two key things in mind while buying snacks for children Age appropriate packaged food: A quick stop at the supermarket can result in a number of snack packs that are mostly unhealthy. Most of these are typically meant for grownups, are highly processed, contain high levels of salt and sugar. Growing children have different nutrition requirements. All packaged snacks are not bad or unhealthy. Choose snacks that are appropriate for their age, are made with natural ingredients, contain optimum levels of sugar and salt. In short, be sure you understand everything that’s written on the nutrition label. Quantity of snacks: A snack should never replace a meal. Therefore, the quantity of a snack should be such that it gives them the required nutrients in between meals. It’s unfortunate that we have to categorize our food as healthy and unhealthy. Healthy diet must be a given. Food that’s low in nutrition not only impacts children physically but it does mentally as well. Children develop taste preferences early on. Introduce them to vegetables, fruits and balanced meals right from the start. Never force them or punish them for not wanting to eat. Play the long term game, slowly and steadily introduce them to healthy food in a fun way. If you want your child to have healthy food, make sure you are eating healthy too.
How architecture and design can evolve to make sense in a post-pandemic world It’s no doubt that the coronavirus has come with a new set of learnings. Apart from raising environmental awareness, the pandemic has raised several questions about the shape of our cities, the spatial planning of our homes, and the layout of our neighbourhoods. With social distancing likely to be the norm over the near future, we need to analyse how a city’s design impacts health, social mobility and disease control, among other things. And how, in the coming months, India’s dense cities need to adapt. And quickly. We speak to urban design experts and an anthropologist for their recommendations. URBAN DESIGN Siddhartha Benninger, Project Planner Centre for Development Studies and Activities, Pune Good urban design has always been a necessity, but it needs data and feedback loops. For most cities, the data is not really structured for planning and research. Our Quantified Cities Movement (QCM) was created to ask relevant planning questions and facilitate data collection. Powered by a mobile application called iNagrik (the Android version will be out in a month), a realtime online mapping system, and a dashboard that is linked to the app’s uploads, QCM encourages citizens to report various situations linked to qualityof- life indicators (walkability, bus stop surveys, feedback on roads, etc) through the app. Once the lockdown ends, we aim to continue enabling young citizens to collect data on various such indicators including, but not limited to, the incidence of diseases at Pune’s hospitals and clinics. This is to assist the city in carrying out ‘passive disease surveillance’. The data is crucial for identifying better urban management protocols and evolving a better built environment. The changes I’d like to see: 1. City densities ranging between 400 and 600 persons per hectare (this number can increase based on facilities and services available, but I would advise against it) 2. Sanitation facilities and safety information at bus and metro stops, rail stations, inside buses and trains, in public toilets, other public spaces 3. Wider footpaths and walkable streets so that people don’t crowd together on narrow footpaths. 4. An upgrade to health facilities HOUSING Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi The emergency has reinforced the fact that housing policies and interventions will have to change in the post-pandemic period. In order to ensure liveability and comfort in homes across income classes, projects will have to consider several factors: building typology, resource efficiency, common services related to water, energy, and waste, locational aspects, connectivity, urban greenery, etc. We now need comprehensive guidelines and mandates on material and architectural design to reduce airconditioned hours for energy savings, optimise access to daylight, and maintain humidity, wind and temperature standards inside structures. Designs must integrate adequate green spaces that allow mutual shading of buildings and reduce heat load and heat island effect in the immediate neighbourhood. Locations should be earmarked in master plans to improve area advantages, transport connectivity of affordable housing and self-constructed settlements. This will reduce economic and social costs of living. It’s also important to understand that lowincome groups construct their own homes; providing them with technical knowledge and professional help is needed. This will enable them to build airy and bright spaces. Professional architects and planners have come together to provide design support and training to the self-constructed settlements of Dharavi and Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai, and Mangolpuri in New Delhi. This initiative must be taken forward in other cities. MOBILITY Aswathy Dilip, Senior Programme Manager, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Chennai In all Indian cities, formal and informal public transport — including rail, bus and auto-rickshaws — are the backbone of mobility. In Mumbai, a whopping 12 million+ trips are made daily on buses and sub-urban rail — 65% of the city’s motorised trips. So, as we resume activities, these modes will need strategic planning to be efficient as before. They can become hotspots for transmission if they get too crowded. Under these challenging conditions, cities across the world are radically re-imagining the allocation of street space to promote sustainable mobility that is resilient to future shocks and equitable. Earlier this month, in Bogota, South America, 76 km of temporary cycle lanes were added (to its 550 km cycling network) along the Transmilenio, the city’s BRT routes. Berlin is using tapes and mobile markers to create quick ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes and has listed cycle service shops as an essential service. Milan plans to encourage walking and cycling with low-cost temporary cycle lanes, new widened sidewalks, reducing speed limits to 30 kph, etc. To ensure physical distancing in shopping districts, London and Dublin are widening sidewalks with temporary cones. Due to the severe heat and the absence of safe infrastructure, cycling has not been popular in Indian cities. However, with a surge in cycling groups, this could be the golden opportunity for cities to embrace cycling. Cities like Chennai and Pune have created over 100 km of pedestrianfriendly streets since 2014. Further, Chennai is quadrupling its efforts this year through the Mega Streets programme, inspired by which the State has expanded the programme to 10 more cities. As cities take proactive actions to encourage walking and cycling, they are also taking strong measures to reduce virus transmission on public transportation. Bogota, Auckland, and Singapore are marking seating and standing positions to ensure physical distance on public transport, and transit apps help track occupancy within buses. Masks are compulsory for staff and commuters. China’s Shenzhen bus group has established the Emergency Health and Safety Working group, and vehicles, terminals, and offices are regularly cleaned and sanitised. These solutions must be contextualised for India. In addition to sanitation measures, we need to find innovative ways to avoid crowding. The current crisis is an opportunity to reimagine a future where we create self-sufficient neighbourhoods with safe walking and cycling infrastructure. As well as build safe and accessible public transport for all sections of society. SPATIAL PLANNING Karen Coelho, Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai As in every disaster or crisis — whether floods, cyclones or this pandemic — areas with dense concentrations of the urban poor are impacted far more than the rest of the city. These are places where infrastructure and amenities are poor even in normal times. Erratic water supply, broken drains, patchy electricity, absent streetlights, inadequate classrooms and childcare centres, in addition to precarious livelihoods and few opportunities results in a high incidence of social pathologies like alcoholism, drug abuse, and youth crime. The large resettlement colonies in Chennai have all these problems, exacerbated by their distance from the city centre. The pandemic has highlighted again the need for building spaces that are not ghettos, but non-segregated mixed-class, mixed-use neighbourhoods that allow people to support each other. Such mixing would ensure that neglect and poverty is not locked into pockets, that vulnerable populations have access to the city centre and its resources, and they’re not neglected during a crisis.
The Programme Support Unit - DoUD, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), under the aegis of ‘Alliance for Urban Transformation’, Department of Urban Development (DoUD), Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP), organized ‘Dialogue with Development Partners for a collaborative response to COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh’. Development partners were invited through virtual meeting to share their initiatives and suggestions for supporting the COVID-19 response in cities Uttar Pradesh.This was the second meeting of the ‘Alliance for Urban Transformation – DoUD GoUP’, acting as a forum for state partners for scaling-up partnerships. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Kajal (IAS), Director, Directorate of Local Bodies, (Government of Uttar Pradesh) and was attended by 15 development partners which including the likes of UNICEF, UNDP, WaterAid, KPMG, E&Y, Oxfam, Tata Trusts, ActionAid, AIILSG and Aga Khan Foundation to name a few. The meeting was also attended city officials from Lucknow, Unnao, Bijnor and Chunar. Dr. Kajal set the context of the dialogue with addressing the need for a collaborative response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Uttar Pradesh and developing synergies among development partners in the state. Some issues deliberated by development partners in the meeting included relief work related to the vulnerable community, livelihood generation for the returning migrant daily wagers through skill development programs, using GIS / digital applications for tracking relief work, information dissemination through various means including public address systems, leveraging ASHA workers and SHGs in COVID-19 response activities, developing communication collaterals, capacity building & training of vulnerable section, support in personal protective equipment, hygiene related products, ensuring hygiene for informal settlements though mobile / contactless handwashing basins. CSE highlighted its commitment towards supporting COVID-19 response in the state by providing protective gear for sanitation workers, providing access to handwashing facilities for vulnerable people, dissemination of information related to COVID-19 response and build capacities of Self Help Groups and other local stakeholders for the fight against the virus. The meeting was concluded by Dr. Kajal who thanked CSE for initiating this dialogue and suggested developing a quick action plan for a collaborative response to COVID in Uttar Pradesh. All the development partners were urged to collaborate on some critical issues which include protection of all sanitation workers, livelihood opportunities and relief efforts for returning migrant workers as well as ensuring advisories issued by various ministries reach all concerned stakeholders.