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DownToEarthSCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT FORTNIGHTLY

16-30 APRIL, 2015

SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT FORTNIGHTLY Subscriber copy, not for resale `45.00

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E D I T O R S P A G E

DEBATES ARE essentially polarised and noisy. But for resolution and movement in life we need to go beyond the absolute positions. In an ideal world there should be enough trust and confidence that once we begin to move ahead, there can be reviews, assessments and

course correction. But this is difficult in the current scenario where the polluters, miners and dam builders wield more power than the rest. Institutions that would help resolve conflicts and take credi-ble decisions have been weakened. Trust is lost and the worst de-fence plays out.

However, it is also a fact that playing defensive is not working in the long run. Environmental movements are able to stall, but not stop environmentally disastrous projects. Worse, since no one is ready to go beyond her or his ab-solute position and discuss how a project would work if allowed, there is no improvement in the situation on the ground. All the energy is spent on blocking projects and once they are cleared the mission is lost. There is no emphasisor even ca-pacity in many casesto look at the alternatives that would mitigate environmental damage.

Take the number of clearancesforest, en-vironment, coastal, wildlifethat are granted by the Central and state governments. The focus has been on the process of clearance; to give it or not. This is when government after government has granted clearances as if there is no tomorrow. The rules are so con-voluted that they have become meaningless. The process is so com-plex that the same project has to be cleared by five to seven agen-cies, which have no interest in compliance of the conditions they would set. The system is so designed that we cannot invest in the im-provement of the environment. It is a travesty of good management.

Once the project is inevitably sanctioned activists and affected communities take the matter to court. The National Green Tribunal has provided another forum for such disputes. Peoples action is un-derstandable because they have little faith in the credibility of the decision-making systemthe environmental impact assessment is flawed and public hearings are abused. But even going to court ends up stalling the project, not stopping or improving it.

In this way when a dam, mine, power plant or a shopping mall is built, there is little focus on the conditions that would make it en-vironmentally better, if not the best. At the time of sanction, a list of conditions is laid out for the project proponent. But the committee, which sets the conditions, has no real interest in their implementa-tion. The project proponent knows that nobody will come checking

after the clearance is granted. So, the game goes on. The community in the vicinity of the project is left to face the

consequences. It can go to the highly understaffed regional offic-es of the environment ministry or the state pollution control board but usually does not have any real data or evidence. Even the state agencies have no real monitoring data. They have been so dismem-bered and weakened that they now depend on what companies tell them. Industry self-reporting is the common practice in environ-mental management in India. We just dont say it.

The last resort of the activist or the affected community is to go to court. This process is not easy. Courts require hard evidence to show that a project is not adhering to environmental conditions. We

need institutions that can collect data, analyse it, put it in public domain and use it to verify and im-prove environmental performance. Without this, even the action by Indias most well meaning and emphatic judiciary is in danger of failing.

Even when the courts take tough actionsay, in the case of mining in Ballary or sand mining in rivers or restaurants in upscale South Delhithey manage to put only temporary stops. The court needs viable remediation plans but nobody is re-ally interested in getting the management right. When a plan is presented and agreed upon, there is nobody to check implementation. So, as I said, the game goes on.

It is time we called a spade a spade. We should demand invest-ment in better technologies, approaches and conditions to reduce the environmental risk and then make sure this happens. This will need serious capacity in the regulatory agencies and in civil society.

It is not easy. Indiaand countries like ourswill require new technical solutions and approaches to solve environmental prob-lems. It is a fact that the already industrialised world had the lux-ury of money to develop technologies and to fund mitigation and governance, and they continue to spend heavily even today. We will never be able to catch up in this game. So, we need to build new practices of environmental management, which are affordable and sustainable.

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

www.downtoearth.org.in 3 16-30 APRIL 2015

03Editors.indd 3 08/04/15 6:24 PM

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vol 23, no 23; Total No of pages 60Editorial, subscriptions and advertisements: Society for Environmental Communications, 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062, Phone: 91-11- 29955124, 29956110, 29956394, 29956399 Fax: 91-11-29955879. Email: [email protected] 2005 Society for Environmental Communications. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited. Printed and published by Sunita Narain on behalf of Society for Environmental Communications. Printed at International Print-o-Pac Limited, B-204, 205, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi-110020 india and published at 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062.To subscribe, sms 'dte Subscribe' to 56070

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For the first time, the Centre has taken an initiative to inform people about daily air quality. The index that uses colour codes to indicate severity of pollution each day can go a long way in protecting public health

and catalysing pollution control measures, says Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment. What is needed next is to expand the coverage of air quality index from the 10 cities at present to other cities

Why Delhi's roads are death traps and what needs to be done to make them safe for pedestrians and cyclists

VIDEO

BLOGSPECIAL FEATURE

India gets National Air Quality Index

Our roads, our space

Rajasthan's camel law is not enough to save its camels as it doesn't provide economic incentives to their keepers, says Ilse Khler-Rollefson

World Health Day 2015 With food safety as the focus this year, WHO has recommended measures to make food safe for consumption. But these measures would fail to achieve the desired results in India if local factors like unregulated use of pesticides, increasing dependence on antibiotics and easily available and ultra-processed junk food are not factored in

SPECIAL COVERAGE

On web Don't get dazzled by these stars

On Facebook Cross hairs: Junk food and Delhi High Court ban

On Twitter Srinagar's lost saviours

POPULAR

4 DOWN TO EARTH 16-30 APRIL 2015

04web and credits.indd 4 08/04/15 3:34 PM

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Sewage farming is safeIt was shocking to go through the report "Is sewage farming safe?" (February 16-28, 2015). The order of the National Green Tribunal to destroy sewage-farmed crops around Bhopal and the subsequent action of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board need urgent review. The practice of farming-both agriculture and aquaculture-using sewage water is common

and well-known worldwide, including in India. Besides the success story of Gujarat, as reported in the article, there is another instance: people in the East Kolkata Wetlands, a Ramasar Site, have long been practising aquaculture using sewage (both treated and untreated) from the Greater Kolkata metropolitan area without any complaint. Pure sewage does not contain inorganic toxins like heavy

metals unless contaminated by other sources. I think the reported toxicity, if any, in

Straw for green power This is with reference to the editorial "Straw in the wind" (February 16-28, 2015). I agree that surplus straw, which is a valuable resource, should be put to far better use in villages for rural development. Anaerobic digestion of crop residues produces biogas and nutrient-rich manure. The biogas can be used for power generation in areas that are not connected to the grid. This will boost economic activities in the area. The manure produced can be used in the farms.

The technology has been found satisfactory at prototype level with rice straw and a few other crop residues. What is required to be done is to evaluate the technology by setting up large-sized demonstration plants in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, work out its techno-economic feasibility, including social and environmental effects, and then promote it in the region.

M SHYAM, DIRECTOR, SARDAR PATEL RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, VALLABH VIDYANAGAR, GUJARAT

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Bhopal's sewage is due to industrial effluents discharged into the sewerage system, either covertly or overtly. The real culprit in this case has not been identified. Maybe, the powerful industry lobby has been able to divert the attention of the regulators.

MUKTIPADA DAS

Study KeoladeoThis is with reference to "Vanishing Eden" (February 16-28, 2015). I visited Keoladeo National Park two years ago for a study under the UNESCO World Heritage Programme. I noticed that droughts and increasing numbers of invasive species, both terrestrial and aquatic, have affected the wetland's ecosystem. Though several measures were planned to revive the wetland, including bringing water from the Govardhan dam and the Chambal drinking water project, these are yet to produce results. A study needs to be done on why Keoladeo is deteriorating despite receiving proper funds and being managed properly.

SEJUTI SARKAR DE

Prevent, cure and care "Shifting care" (February 16-28, 2015) was very informative. In villages, people have a negative experience of private hospitals.

It has been observed that private hospitals act as purely commercial establishments, with total disregard towards the patients' financial status. Such hospitals usually advise frivolous diagnostic tests which are not even remotely required for treatment of the disease. Similarly, medicines

are prescribed from the costliest brands citing efficacy. Furthermore, private health institutions have hit upon a novel method to attract patients from rural areas. They organise free treatment camps which are merely a facade, and advise patients to visit their hospital for treatment. Helpless and gullible as the village folks are, they go to these hospitals and are charged exorbitantly in the name of best treatment.

The draft of the National Health Policy is silent about preventive care. Prevention is better than cure as the popular saying goes. So, in areas where certain diseases are endemic, the government must give preventive care tips to save people from miseries and fatalities.

L R SHARMA

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Will India wake up to freedom-from air pollution?

http://www.facebook.com/down2earthindia

In the consumption era, such concerns "practically" take a back seat. The main thrust is to consume every possible resource of this otherwise "green planet" fully and in the shortest period. Pollution? What is that?

SUMAN KUMAR

When acche din come, India will be free from every kind of pollution.

REZA MAHMUD

India is among the topmost contenders when it comes to emissions which lead to

air pollution.MAHENDRA SHERKHANE

India should reinvent on "eco-sustainability" and we must start implementing sustainable techniques as soon as possible.

NAVEEN KUMAR

Only India and a few other countries cannot resolve the problem. The united efforts of all nations and people of the world are needed.

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Punish plagiarismThe views expressed by Professor K L Chopra ("Top scientists misuse power, funds", March 16-31, 2015) are of immense importance in the context of Indian Science and the country's scientific community. His views are true in the sense that if we have to survive as a prestigious nation and knowledge power, we need to introduce "laws of punishment for Plagiarism" and transform our system slowly. The time is ripe as technology too is developed to check such plagiarism (softwares developed and used by international journals). A national effort is needed in this direction.

A K SONI

Beware of the dragonThis refers to "Tibetan landscape may soon disappear" (March 1-15, 2015). China has a severe water problem like many countries in this part of the world. Its resources of freshwater are one-third of the global average. To augment them, China plans to build around 100 dams to generate power from major rivers rising in Tibet and divert their flows to its north. Currently, many of the Himalayan rivers that arise in Tibet and flow into South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. If this frenetic dam-building goes on over the next few years, "the Himalayas may become the most dammed region in the world", according to Ed Grumbine, visiting international scientist

with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Kunming. China will then emerge as the ultimate controller of water. In the absence of a water treaty between India and China, one has to depend on Beijing's assurances which have not always been explicit and transparent. The fact that China's government is made up of engineers and that China has a penchant

for massive engineering projects like the Three Gorges dam should not be overlooked. These are issues that India should seriously discuss with China to ensure that rivers flowing towards India are not jeopardised as millions depend on these waters.

H N RAMAKRISHNA

N O T I C E B O A R D

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THE FORTNIGHT

Big zero for agricultureAgricultural growth

would be zero per cent this year after

unseasonal rains damaged the rabi crop

Vetted by the people

Nepal frames its climate change adaptation

plan according to the demands of its poorest

communities

Cold shoulder Private parties form a forest

certification body even as government gives event a miss

Profit over public healthGovernment halts order on large pictorial warnings on tobacco products due to pressure from tobacco lobby

16

Frequency not matching 20 years after it was decided that radio waves were the property of the people, the reality on the ground has not changed much

COVER STORY

NEW BUSINESS

24

28

14

Genuine intent or tomfoolery?Telangana plans to drain, clean and refill Hyderabad's Hussainsagar lake. But it is a deeply flawed idea, warn experts

Time for a change Kerala needs to stop classifying neera, the sap of coconut flowers, as country liquor, given its nutritional valueAwaiting

justiceFive months

after the mass sterilisation deaths in Chhattisgarh, the guilty have still not

been punished

18

20Devolution, really?The Centre has decided to transfer

Panchayat schemes to the states


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56

Lending a helping hand A unique initiative in Madhya Pradesh assists tribal students to opt for higher education options

HEALTH

GOOD NEWS

CLASSROOM

WILDLIFE

The breast milk debate

Will a child be smarter and wealthier if she or he is weaned

off at a later date?

A healthy, nutritious tuber

Purple yam or garadu is relished by both the tribes of Central India as well as

residents of urban centres like Indore

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TECHNOLOGY

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Toothy troubles Vadodara mulls a crocodile park as animal numbers and attacks on humans rise

Bone weakener Research shows that antacids make bones weaker as they interrupt calcium absorption

Ancient remains,

modern knowledge

Scientists are turning to ancient graves to

understand old and new malaises

SCIENCEREVIEW

Fatal farming Despite an agrarian economy, farmers in India are the most vulnerable to climate change

On ChhattisgarhWhat the state is, and what it could have been

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44

Just a secondNations debate the practice of adding an extra second to keep pace with the slowing Earth

FOOD

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50

The wait is over

Delhi finally gets a policy adopting open

source software

The AAP tangle

Can civil society offer a credible alternative

in electoral politics?


08-09Contents.indd 9 08/04/15 1:46 PM

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T H E F O R T N I G H T

70%people worldwide are dissatisfied with food policies at both national

and global levels

India stares at 0% agriculture growthU N U S U A L R A I N S brought by western disturbances have damaged 2.7 million hectares of crops this rabi season. This has dampened any hope in the agriculture GDP growth this year. Agriculture GDP, which grew at 2.2 per cent in last three years, was estimated to grow at 1.1 per cent this year after the kharif season was hit by drought. But analysts say the growth would

be zero per cent this year. Officials took the weather anomaly into account as they set out to prepare for the upcoming kharif season in the first week of April. Though initial forecasts of the India Meteorological Department suggest the monsoon would be normal this year, it is not certain going by last year's experience. El Nino may also wreak havoc with the weather pattern.

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Global Food Policy Report, 2015, International Food Policy Research Institute

11-13The Fortnight.indd 11 07/04/15 10:24 AM

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T H E N A T I O N A L Green Tribunal (NGT) has refused to lift the interim ban on mining in Meghalaya. In April last year, it had issued an interim order to stop rat-hole coal mining across the state and warned against illegal transportation of the mineral. NGT, however, has provided partial relief to coal miners by permitting them to pay royalty on the extracted coal within 21 days and allowed

transportation of the mineral until May 31. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma earlier told the Assembly that the state is developing a framework for safe and scientific mining and that NGT had asked the state to consult with the Centre before making final its coal mining plan. Mining is the state's highest revenue generator. The ban resulted in a revenue loss of `600 crore in the current fiscal year.

Nobody knows who kills rhinosI N A S S A M , 52 one-horned rhinos were poached inside Kaziranga National Park and 97 in surrounding Golaghat, Karbi Anglong, Sonitpur and Nagaon districts between 2009 and early 2014. Though 247 people have been arrested for poaching during the period, not a single one has been convicted so far. This is according to the response to a query under the Right To Information Act filed by wildlife activist Rohit Choudhury. As per

the police department's data, more rhinos have been poached in the past five years than ever before. Professional poachers are getting help from various insurgent groups who are supplying arms, trading in horns and even killing the rhinos. A P Rout, additional director general of police and in-charge of the Anti Rhino-poaching Special Task Force (STF), declined to comment on this saying he joined STF only two months ago.

Ban on rat-hole mining continues in Meghalaya

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A L M O S T A year after coming to power, the National Democratic Alliance government has declared its Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20. It focuses on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative and gives a major boost to exports. It has introduced two schemes "Merchandise Exports From

India Scheme" and "Services Exports From India Scheme", under which incentives and rebates will be given for the export of specific goods to specific markets. To revive the ailing Special Economic Zones

(SEZs), introduced during the earlier NDA government and that faced resistance from communities, will be covered under these two schemes. This will ensure that SEZs are able to reduce their operation cost and make profit.

P L A N T S H A V E a great affiliation to gravity. It defines their growth and ways of survival. But can they survive without gravity? Researchers with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will repeat their earlier Plant Gravity Sensing study at the International Space Station to understand how plants sense

their growth direction without gravity. They are studying thale cress which is well understood by scientists. The study will help increase farm productivity. It may also help gain insight into growing plants in space and understand mechanisms of diseases affected by gravity, such as osteoporosis and muscle loss.

I N D I A S U C C E S S F U L L Y launched its fourth navigation satellite, IRNSS-1D, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This is part of the constellation of seven satellites to be put in place to roll out India's counterpart to the US-operated Global Positioning System (GPS). India's aim is to start its own satellite navigation system. According to scientists from the Time and Frequency Division

of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), IRNSS-1D is equipped with three atomic clocks which will keep track of time and guide IRNSS-1D users. "During calamities, we have to depend on the American GPS. Now, we are moving towards developing our own navigational system," said senior scientist Ashish Agarwal of CSIR's National Physical Laboratory.

"If we are going to liberalise it (agriculture), let's do it before the next spike in prices" Bibek Debroy, member, NITI Aayog

Can plants grow in space?

India's own GPS on trackCalifornia faces worst ever drought

California is reeling from its worst drought in over 1,200 years, according to a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Jerry Brown, the governor, has imposed the state's first ever mandatory water use cut. The order forces 400 local water supply agencies to reduce their water use by 25 per cent. These agencies supply water to 90 per cent of California's residents.

A week earlier, Brown declared an emergency drought relief plan of US $1billion which includes providing food aid and setting up drinking water infrastructure. He termed the plan as preparation for the uncertain future.

Snow-topped mountains that account for 30 per cent of the California's water supply are witnessing a historic low in snowpack level: 8 per cent of the average in March. In 1977, when California was facing a severe drought and Brown was the governor, the snowpack level was 25 per cent of the average.

Trade policy to boost SEZs VERBATIM

IN FOCUS

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The Centre's decision to reduce Panchayati Raj Ministry's budget and transfer its

schemes to states has left the ministry bewildered about its job and caught states

unprepared for devolution of power JITENDRA | new delhi

P A N C H A Y A T I R A J

`60 crore for 250,000 panchayats

IS IT Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to devolve power to states and allow them to design their development programmes according to their priorities, or to make irrelevant a ministry that was created under the regime of the previous United Progressive Alliance government?This question is bewildering many after Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, in

his budget presentation, slashed the plan outlay of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj (mopr) to a meagre `94 crore from `7,000 crore allocated last fiscal. The budget allocated to the ministry this time is even lesser than what it had received in the first budget in 2005-06. The Centre has also transferred

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one of the ministrys flagship schemesBackward Regions Grants Funds (brgf )to the state, and drastically reduced the funds of the other, called the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (rgpsa), to ` 60 crore from ` 1,006 crore allocated last year.

Both the schemes were designed to strengthen local governance when the ministry was conceived in 2004. While brgf is being implemented in 272 backward districts of the country to fund development programmes through involvement of panchayati raj institutions, rgpsa aims to improve and strengthen their capacity.

Ministry sources and analysts say the schemes would fail and the ministry would become irrelevant without adequate funds.

Since panchayati raj is a state subject, it depends on the state how much power it wants to share with the local government. So the ministry advocates, persuades and incentivises states for devolution of power to the third tier of governance. It is true that a lot of our work needs expertise and not money, says S M Vijayanad, secretary, mopr. Without proper funds, it would be difficult to convince states for strengthening local governance or incentivise them for good practices, Vijayanad admits.

The drastic reduction in funds for rgpsa has particularly made the situation problematic, a senior mopr official told Down To Earth. A budget of `60 crore is meagre to strengthen 250,000 village panchayats across the country, he adds.

The Centre says its decision, based on the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, will flush states with huge funds for empowering panchayati raj institutions. The Commission had suggested increasing states share in the net proceeds of the Union tax to 42 per cent from the current 32 per cent, and make the funds available to local bodies, both rural and urban.

The increment of 10 per cent will translate into ` 2.87 lakh crore over the next five years, of which `2 lakh crore will be directly transferred to village panchayats; the remaining `87,000 crore will go to urban local bodies. The Finance Commissions had never recommended such

a large amount of money to local bodies and had always suggested disbursing funds as ad-hoc grants (see Devolution of fund).

The devolution of such huge funds has increased the responsibility of the ministry. We will now have to closely monitor the use of fund especially in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where the panchayati system is weak. We need to interact with states to create panchayat level planning and would also push for dedicated panchayat cadre that will be our vision, Vijayanand adds.

The devolution of funds, however, raises a pertinent question: are states willing to use the funds for empowering local governance?

Are states prepared?Mani Shankar Aiyer, the countrys first panchayati raj minister, appreciates devolution of funds for panchayats but says the government has misinterpreted the 14th

Finance Commissions recommendations and assumed that everything will fall in line once the fund is directly devolved to states. The Commission has only dealt with the financial aspects and has not taken governance into account while recommending the devolution of funds. The decision may be in conformity with the Constitution as panchayati raj is a state subject. But I am not hopeful as states are not enthusiastic about sharing power with panchayats. The government is losing out on a major opportunity to take panchayati raj forward, he adds.

There are others who hail the decision. I dont know whether states are ready for such devolution of funds or not. But panchayati raj is a state subject and the battle should be shifted to their door steps, says T R Raghunandan, former joint secretary of the Union Ministry of Rural Development. Raghunandan is now working towards strengthening local governance in Karnataka. In the past 10 years, the centralised approach to strengthen panchayati raj institutions have hardly helped. Non-profits that work towards sensitising the Centre should work with the state governments for better devolution of power, Raghunandan suggests.

V S Vyas, former deputy chairperson of Rajasthan Planning Board, agrees with Raghunandan and points out another problem with the centralised approach. The Centre usually follows one size fits all policy while preparing schemes for panchayat bodies, without taking into consideration local needs. The Centres decision to devolve the power maybe risky but is the need of the hour. We have to make the states ready to empower their local governance bodies, says Vyas.

Raghunandan says the decision of devolution should be treated as a move to realise decentralisation, which will help in the long run. After all, decentralisation is a policy not scheme. So treat this idea as policy and shift action to states. One cannot sit at the Centre and implement schemes. The ministry should transform itself into enlightened policy makers and become arbiter at the state level, suggests Ragunandan. n

4,3808,000

20,00063,051

2,00,212

10th

11th

12th

13th

14th

What states will receive as per 14th Finance Commission's suggestions

Funds recommended for local bodies has increased by over three times than last year ( `crore)

Local bodies of six most populous states will receive over half of the allocated budget this year (`crore)

Devolution of fund

Source: 14th Finance Commission Report

Bihar

MP

Maharastra

Rajasthan

Uttar Pradesh

West Bengal

35,775

21,01713,55515,035

13,633

14,191


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Private players set up forest certification body even as the ministry, which manages 90 per cent of the forests, gives it a cold shoulder KUMAR SAMBHAV SHRIVASTAVA | new delhi

Centre ignores certifying agency

F O R E S T S

ON MARCH 16, representatives of forest-based industries, non-profits working on forestry, auditors and state forest depart-

ment officials gathered at the swanky Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi. Amid much fanfare and media presence, they launched the Network for Certification & Conservation of Forests (nccf ), a national body that will set stand-ards and govern the process for certifying Indias forests and their products on sustain-able forest management. The participants, including representatives of international forestry agencies, hailed the move.

However, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (moef&cc), which is the custodian of more than 90 per cent of the forests in the country, gave the event a miss.

Forest certification is a market-based tool that is voluntarily accepted by more than 120 countries. It ensures that manufacturers of forest products conform to existing laws and other ecological, economic and social best practices, such as protection of biodiversity, maintaining sustainable harvest levels and respecting land tenure rights of tribals. Globally, two forest certification schemes are prevalentForest Stewardship Council (fsc) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (pefc). While fsc provides centralised certification against its unified standards across the world, pefc endorses national certification bodies with country-specific certification standards.

nccf will soon set the standards and mechanism for certification which will be evaluated by pefc.

Why forest certificationPrivate players in the country are pushing for forest certification because several developed countries have put a ban on non-certified timber and timber products. To thrive in the global market, many forest produce-based industries have been importing raw materi-al from certified forests from other countries lately, says an nccf member.

India is also the only country with a considerable forest cover that has not opted for a domestic certification. Some private players and forest development corporations in the past have got fsc certifications, but the percentage is inconsequential. Of the total 78.92 million ha forest and tree cover in the country, only 0.8 million ha of forests have been certified by fsc.

Interestingly, moef&cc has been planning to set up a national forest-certifica-tion body for the past decade. In 2008, it set up the National Forest Certification Committee (nfcc) to recommend an institutional mechanism to establish a forest certification system in India. The committee, in its report in 2010, said, India must not miss the opportunity of drawing upon Certification for Credibility, Sustainability and Justice in the forest arena of the country. In 2012, the then envi-ronment minister Jayanthi Natarajan

announced that the scheme was about to come through. Even a Cabinet note was drafted and circulated to start the scheme. But the plan did not materialise.

Though moef&cc has put two of its officials in the nccf board, the ministry seems to be distancing itself from the process of certification. We are not sure right now if certification is required. There are other priorities in terms of protection of forests which require more focus. While the govern-ments plans of establishing the forest certi-fication council are still in the pipeline, the industry is free to go ahead with its own certification mechanism, says Rekha Pai, in-spector general of forests with the moef&cc.

Hiding mismanagementmoef&cc sources say the ministry is opposed to independent scrutiny of its forests. A sec-tion of officials thinks forests departments have been successfully managing forests for over 150 years and there is no need of certifi-cation. A few are apprehensive that the coun-trys forests may not meet the high global


16-17Forests.indd 16 07/04/15 12:51 PM

standards for certification and invite unnec-essary criticism, says a senior forest official.

According to the Forest Survey of India (fsi) reports, forest cover in the country has increased by 3.3 million ha between 1999 and 2013. However, Down To Earths State of Environment Report 2015 highlights that this increase in green cover is basically due to private plantations outside natural forests. In the same period, India has also lost 9.4 million ha forest cover, which suggests massive deforestation in the government-owned forests.

The other argument forest officials give against forest certification is that it is a market requirement; the country hardly produces or exports timber from government forests. The reason given for this is the low

productivity of Indian forests and a Supreme Court ban of 1996 on felling of forests without working plans which forced the governments to prioritise conservation of forests over production.

The truth is that the government has failed to take up sustainable forest manage-ment. Forest departments have 76 million ha of forests under them, of which 17 million ha are designated for timber production, as per the Food and Agriculture Organization. fsi estimates suggest the annual productivity of Indian forests is 0.7 cubic metres (cu m) per ha, which means the forests should produce 11 million cu m of timber annually. In reality the production from government forests is 2.5 million cu m of timber a year, as per the 2010 report by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun.

If the government takes up certification, there would be motivation and pressure on the machinery to fix these loopholes in the forest management, says a forest official involved.

Maharaj Muthoo, president of Roman Forum who had been part of fsc and pefc

governing boards and headed the national forest certification committee, says demand for Indian timber will go up if the government manages its forests better. Once you have enough certified forests and wood produced from them, automatically the market would develop for the premium product. Remember, timber produced from certified forest man-agement does not harm the forest ecology at all. The revenue that you will start generating from forests will help build constituency for standing forests which we are losing in India right now, he says.

Despite the ministrys reluctance, nccf members are hopeful the process will benefit private plantations. Several plantation own-ers are ready to embrace the scheme. Even for-est departments and forest development cor-porations in Uttarakhand, Tripura, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are keen on taking it up. Once there is enough domestic demand for certified products and the government realis-es the value of certification, I hope even the government forests will be certified in large extent, says nccf chairman K K Singh. n

Forest certification is a market-based tool which ensures that manufacturers of forest products conform to existing laws and other ecological, economic and social best practices

Sources say the ministry is apprehensive that India's forests may not meet the high global standards for certification

KUM

AR S

AMBH

AV S

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VAST

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E


16-17Forests.indd 17 07/04/15 10:24 AM

ON NOVEMBER 10, news of 13 women dying and many others landing in hospital after mass sterilisations in Chhattisgarh made national and

international headlines. Subsequent in-vestigations, including by Down To Earth (Operation Cover-Up, 16-31 December, 2014), exposed state attempts to cover up the entire incident as well as deep flaws in Indias approach to family planning. Five months on, no justice seems to have been done. In fact, evidence points to the state government being responsible for the deaths.

The state government has repeatedly tried to shift the responsibility of deaths and illness among survivors to non-state agencies, saying that the drugs were contaminated with rat poison. But reports of the State Forensic Laboratory, Raipur, show that the deaths were not caused by rat poison. Viscera analyses of five of the 13 women who lost their lives at the sterilisation camp did not find poison in the body of the deceased, says a source who has a copy of the reports.

Viscera report is the final word in foren-sic science in investigations of deaths. The State Forensic Laboratory reports suggest

the deaths have not occurred due to any poi-son, let alone rat poison, says B L Chaudhary, forensic expert at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi. All postmortem reports sug-gest that the deaths occurred due to infection, caused by unhygienic conditions and medi-cal practices at the camp, he adds.

Test results of drugs used at the camp Ciprocin 500 (contains antibiotic ciproflox-acin) by Mahawar Paharma and Ibuprofen 400 mg (contains anti-inflammatory ibuprofen) by Technical Labs and Pharmafurther expose the callous attitude of the state government.

Soon after the incident, drug samples from the spot were sent to four laboratories-government and private-to determine cause of deaths and illness. The list includes the Central Drugs Laboratory (cdl), Kolkata, the National Institute of Immunology, Delhi, Sriram Institute of Industrial Research (siir), Delhi, and Qualichem Laboratories, Nagpur. All four laboratories reports, which are with Down To Earth, state that the med-icines used in the operations were substand-ard. A tablet is defined as substandard when it contains less than 80 per cent of what is

Five months after 14 women died in

sterilisation camps in Chhattisgarh, there is

no sign of justice being delivered to those who lost their kin.

Rather, they are being harassed for standing

up for the truth JYOTSNA SINGH | new delhi

Justice delayed, denied

S T E R I L I S A T I O N D E A T H SRE

UTE

RS

18-19Sterilisation deaths.indd 18 08/04/15 1:51 PM

S T E R I L I S A T I O N D E A T H S

claimed, explains an official with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (cd-sco), Delhi. Two reports indicate toxicity.

siir tested 50 tablets of Ciprocin 500. The results showed that each tablet contained only 295 mg, or 59 per cent, of ciprofloxacin. It also indicated toxicity. Four of the five mice who were administered with the tablets died within 24 hours. The laboratory conducted an additional test which showed the presence of zinc/aluminum and phosphide or rat poison. Its report, however, does not mention the amount, crucial to determine whether the deaths happened due to rat poison. siirs test on Ibuprofane also shows that the tablets were substandard, with 219 mg of ibupro-fane, and contaminated with rat poison.

Similarly, the report by the National Institute of Immunology, Delhi, shows that after administering very high dose of Ciprocin 500 (500 mg/rat) the animal suf-fered from acute toxic shock and died. The same dose of another standard medicine Ciplox by company Cipla, did not affect the rat adversely. A public health expert, on con-dition of anonymity, says such high doses can be fatal for animals. He points out that the women at camp did not consume such high doses. Amount is the key to the mystery of deaths and illnesses, he says.

The report by Qualichem Laboratories

established that the medicines were sub-standard. It is silent on contamination.

The cdl report also shows that Ciprocin 500 contained only 258.88 mg, or 51.78 per cent,of ciprofloxacin claimed. cdls report, however, does not mention contamination with rat poison. The Kolkata laboratory is not even equipped to test for contamination of zinc phosphide, or rat poison, says the cd-sco official. Why did the state administration send samples to a laboratory that cannot test for the probable cause of deaths espoused by the state itself?

Lack of seriousnessThe cdl report points to the lousiness of the Bilaspur Food and Drug Administration, which had handed over samples to the labo-ratory. While cdl received 200 tablets (10x20 strips), the official communication put the count as 1,000 (1000x1x500mg). cdl report also claims that the expiry date of September 2016 mentioned on the strip did not match with the expiry date of September 2015 mentioned in the official communication. Even though these details do not affect the test results, it shows that the authorities were not serious about the issue, says Sulakshana Nandi of Peoples Health Movement, who has been fighting for the rights of the victims.

Responding to Down To Earths queries, R Prasanna, who heads Health Department in Chhattisgarh, said, We cannot reveal an-ything as the matter is pending before a judi-cial commission.

State harassmentThe only serious step taken by the state gov-ernment so far is to set up a one-person Bilaspur District Sterilisation Camp Judicial Inquiry Commission headed by retired judge Anita Jha. But deposing before the commis-sion has been an ordeal for victims and their families. They had to travel long distances at their own expense. Ramanuj Sahu, for in-stance, had to travel 50 km twice to submit affidavit on behalf of his wife. The commis-sion did issue letters urging women to file af-

fidavits, but that was on March 3, 2015, the last date of the submission. Of 134 cases, only 51 have submitted affidavits. Most of the vic-tims could submit affidavits only after receiv-ing guidance from the Centre for Social Justice, a non-profit in Bilaspur. Gayatri Suman Narang, who heads the non-profit, says, The government did not put any effort in collecting affidavits. The room was found closed on several occasions. To add to their troubles, the commission since March 27 has started to cross examine those who deposed.

The affidavits outline the way surgeries proceeded on the two days of the camps. In one affidavit, a woman recounts how she gave thumb print on a paper, but the con-tents were not read out to her. In another af-fidavit, husband of a deceased woman says that he has not received the postmortem re-port of his wife despite asking for it several times. He says the surgeon reached the ven-ue only at 3.00 pm, leaving little time for proper sterilisation of 83 women in one day.

Apart from the judicial commission, the police is investigating the matter based on firs of the deaths. The state government has also initiated a departmental inquiry into the matter, but it is biased as all the members are from the health department, says Yogesh Jain, convenor of non-profit Jan Swasthya Sahyog. This is the reason, we have been de-manding a clinical inquiry since January. A clinical inquiry is done by a team, that in-cludes a forensic expert, epidemiologist, gy-naecologist, toxicologist, microbiologist, public health expert and local activists, and is considered unbiased. But the state govern-ment is yet to set up one, he adds.

The courts have also intervened in the matter. The Chhattisgarh High Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter and has asked the state government to submit a re-sponse. A public interest petition filed by Human Rights Law Network, Delhi, is pending in the Supreme Court. The apex court, on March 21, blamed the government for being unprepared in the matter. The next date of hearing is April 17, 2015. n

Women, who underwent sterilisation surgeries at a government mass sterilisation camp, had to be admitted to the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Bilaspur for treatment

Deposing before the commission has been an ordeal for the victims and families. Many victims had to travel hundreds of kilometres at their own expense

www.downtoearth.org.in 19

18-19Sterilisation deaths.indd 19 08/04/15 5:41 PM

CALL IT his farsighted idea to restore the health of a lake or plain blun-der, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is determined

to clean up the fabled Hussainsagar first by emptying it and then refilling it with rain-water. In February, Rao directed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (ghmc) to start pumping out the water and clean the 16th century lake before monsoon arrives.

While the authorities are yet to begin work, con-servationists say it is an impractical venture.

For one, emptying a lake that spans 141 hec-tares with a depth of over 500 metres is a humon-gous task, says Jasveen Jairath, founding convener of Hyderabad non-profit Save Our Urban Lakes (soul). Removing 22.6 billion litres of water requires round-the-clock pumping for up to 50 days, admits an official of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (hmda). This translates into hundreds of crores of rupees (see Impractical clean-up plan on p21). Since the government is yet to make public the detailed project plan, no one

knows where and how the lake water will be released. Conservationists say the water may be released into the Musi river, that flows 9 km south of the lake. In that case, the murky water of Hussainsagar will further pollute the Musi, the water of which is not fit for bath-ing, say soul activists.

We have emptied and refilled small ponds in Kolkata to restore the health of the water bodies, says Mohit Roy, environmen-

talist and president of Kolkata-based non-profit Vasundhara. But using the method to restore the health of Hussainsagar seems impractical. Ecosys- tem of small ponds is sim-ple while that of lakes is complex. Pumping out

Hussainsagar requires a complex manage-ment of the biodiversity of the lake, Roy adds.

Cleaning up the lake through this crude method is infeasible for another reason: it involves dredging out the sludge that has re-mained deposited on the lake bed for over 450 years. soul estimates that the lake built by Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah of Qutub Shahi dynasty for providing drinking water to the city could be holding 4.4 million cubic

Telangana plans to first empty Hyderabad's

great lake and then refill it with

rainwater. Experts say it is nothing but a

harebrained plan SUSHMITA SENGUPTA

| new delhi

C O N S E R VA T I O N

Dry cleaning Hussainsagar

A SERIES ON URBAN INDIA'S WATER BODIES

LakesUrban


20-21Conservation.indd 20 07/04/15 12:52 PM

C O N S E R VA T I O N

Hussainsagar

Banjara Hills

Musi riverMusi river

Secretariat

Osmania UniversityJubilee Hills

Yousufguda drain

Kukatpally drain

Picket drain

Banjara drain

Waterways

Disposal of sewage

Sewage pumping station

Sewage treatment plant (STP)

metres (cu m) of sludge. Given that earth-movers can dredge a maximum of 1 million cu m of sludge a day, it would take four years to complete the task. For transporting this amount, 220,000 trucks, each with a capaci-ty of 25 tonnes, need to be pressed into action.

Besides, de-silting is not a simple process, warns Hyderabad-based environ-mentalist K P Reddy. It is not feasible to de-silt immediately after emptying the lake as high moisture content of the sludge would not allow movement of earth-movers. Since physical and chemical composition of dredged material is complex, Reddy suggests that the government should conduct scien-tific studies about its properties, identify sta-bilisation mechanism, and then specify the mode of disposal. If disposed of without pro-tective lining, hazardous wastes and faecal matters present in the sludge would contam-inate surface water and groundwater.

But such a scenario seems unavoidable as there is little coordination between ghmc, responsible for keeping the lake water clean, and hmda, which works on catchment res-toration. The Superintendent Engineer (Lakes) of hmda, B L N Reddy says ghmc has not kept his department informed about

the restoration plan of Hussainsagar.Shailendra Joshi, principal secretary of

the Irrigation Department, cites another rea-son why Raos dream project would fall flat. Filling the lake only with rainwater is impos-sible as most of the runoff gets obstructed due to poor drainage network in the catchment. Joshis statements are corroborated by a study by Rammohan Reddy of Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University (jntu), Hyderabad, who found that the lakes surrounding area does not have a good network of stormwater drains. Even if hmda revives the entire catchment and redirects the runoff towards the lake, Down To Earths assessment shows it will take 10 days of continuous rainfall in the monsoon to fill up. But this is less likely as the region is increasingly suffering from rainfall deficit and recurrent droughts.

Moreover, chief minister Raos dream to restore the health of the lake is likely to re-main just thata dreamunless the author-ities manage the flow of municipal solid waste from surrounding residential and in-dustrial areas (see Dying lake). Every day, 78 million litres of sewage and 15 million li-tres of industrial effluents flow into the lake through four drains, as per Andhra Pradesh

Pollution Control Board (appcb) data of 2012-13. The two sewage treatment plants (stps) near the lake are insufficient to handle the wastewater load, say soul activists.

So, instead of undertaking an ambitious project, the need of the hour is to understand what plagues Hussainsagar. In last three decades, the lake has shrunk by 40 per cent, primarily because of encroachment by both public and private agencies, according to non-profit Forum for a Better Hyderabad. To save the lake, conservationists, including K L Vyas, convenor of Save the Lake Campaign, have moved the High Court of Andhra Pradesh several times, but to little avail.

In 2000, the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority issued a notification to protect the lake, but there have been instances where it gave in to the real estate lobby and allowed residential colonies on the catchment. In 2006, hmda initiated Hussai- nsagar Lake and Catchment Area Improve- ment project and set up stps and wastewater interception and diversion structures. It also installed fountains to aerate the lake to improve its water quality. But these measures are lying defunct. Maybe, Rao should revisit these unfinished plans first. n

Hussainsagar has shrunk by 40% over last 30 years. Instead of runoff water, it is now mostly fed by drains

Dying lake

T E L A N G A N A

Hyderabad

Impractical clean-up plan

220,000 trucks, each of 25 tonne capacity, would be needed to remove 4.4 million cu m of sludge over four years

22.7 billion litres of water needs to be pumped out. For this, water has to be removed round-the-clock for 50 days using pumps of 1,800 HP capacity

10 days of continuous rainfall in the monsoon can refill the lake. This is less likely as the region has lately faced rainfall deficit, drought

Map not to scale


20-21Conservation.indd 21 07/04/15 10:26 AM

People's cure to climate woes

THE POOREST districts in one of the most poor countries of the world have sug-gested ways to mitigate the prob-lems they face due to climate change.

Nepal, which is going through a political transition and drafting a Constitution, has made the most vulnerable sections of its pop-ulation a part of climate change adaptation planning.

High poverty rates and fragile ecology make Nepal extremely susceptible to climate change impacts. As per assessments done by the government, the mid-western and far-western regions, where small-scale agriculture is the main occupation, are highly prone to drought, landslides and changing rain patterns (see Precariously balanced). Compared to the rest of the country, the adaptation capability of these regions is also quite low. But despite the turmoil it is going through, Nepal became the first country in

the world to develop a bottom-to-top planning approach when it announced the National Framework on Local Adaption Plans for Action in November 2011. The implementation started in 2013 and is to be completed by the end of 2015.

Local Adaptation Plans of Action, or lapa, identify local needs, options and priorities, and incorporate them in national policy. The programme was conceptualised to ensure better implementation of Nepals National Adaptation Programme of Action (napa), which was launched in September 2010.

Local plans are prepared with inputs from the village/municipality level, using community wisdom.They are the wish documents of communities, says Som Lal Subedi, secretary, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (mofald), Nepal. For instance, drought-prone village Vishala in Dailekh district wanted the authorities to provide drought-tolerant seed varieties and construct a pond. These suggestions were accepted. A total of 70 local plans were prepared for 69 villages development committees (vdcs) and one municipality in 14 of Nepals poorest and vulnerable districts for implementation in 2013-14. The plan

Ecologically vulnerable Nepal has framed its climate change adaptation plan with the help of communities VINEET KUMAR |kathmandu

C L I M A T E C H A N G E


22-23Climate change.indd 22 07/04/15 12:52 PM

C L I M A T E C H A N G E

included 796 types of climate change adaptation activities (see Key solutions). About 45 per cent of lapa activities have been implemented till February 2015, according to government sources.

As far as budgetary allocations are concerned, they are being made as per napa guidelines which make it mandatory to disburse at least 80 per cent of the budget directly for implementation of the identified adaptation action at the local level. Of the total approved budget of 54 crore Nepali

rupees (npr), npr 49 crore were allocated in 2013-14 (US $1 equals npr 100.13). For 2014-15, of the total allocation of npr 73 crore, npr 57 crore has been granted.

Teething troublesThe process of formulating lapa was not easy. We faced a lot challenges in sensitising the community about the problems their region was facing and getting their inputs on the possible solutions, says Subedi. The government needed to figure out adaptation

programmes suited to different regions of the country, which is marked by undulating terrain, fragile landforms and unevenly distributed resources. Community involvement was also necessary to ensure that they support the plan.

The government took the help of ngos to reach out to communities and the preparation process was overseen by Nepals environment ministry. UK-based consulting firm htspe Ltd assisted in formulating local adaptation plans. The preparation of plans started in April 2012 and was completed the same year in September.

The implementation of lapa was overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in co-ordination with mofald. A plethora of government and non-government bodies were also involved. These included Nepals Climate Change Council, Ministry of Finance, district administrations, community-based organisations, ngos and indigenous groups. District development committees and vdcs were the key implementation agencies at the local level. The United Nations Development Programme (undp) provided technical assistance to the programme.

Gauging successIt is a little difficult to assess the success of lapa, say experts. Different countries have different circumstances, policies, and governance structures and it seems that local plans have a great potential to succeed. However, in Nepal it is still too early to say because result will take some time to be visible, says Shanti Karanjit, climate change policy analyst, undp Nepal.

However, it is clear that the programme has made communities an important stakeholder in the planning process rather than a spectator. The Local Adaptation Plans of Action being developed and implemented in Nepal are an excellent innovation that other countries should follow, says Saleemul Huq, director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development. Such initiatives create awareness in the community, and help in bringing climate change adaptation mechanisms to the mainstream. n

70 Local Adaptation Plans for Action are being implemented in 14 of Nepal's poorest and vulnerable districts

COU

RTES

Y: G

OVE

RNM

ENT

OF

NEP

AL

Adaptation activities indicated by communities in Local Adaptation Plans of Action in 14 districts of Nepal

Key solutions

43%Agriculture, food security, livelihoods, forest, biodiversity

9%Water resources, alternative energy

9%Infrastructure development

12%Climate-induced hazards, disasters

27%Capacity development*

*Skill development and income generation, planning, monitoringSource: UNDP Nepal NCCSP project document

Combined vulnerability

Very low

Low

Moderate

High

Very highRolpa

The 14 districts where local plans are being implemented are highly vulnerable to climate change

Precariously balanced

AchhamKalikot

Kailali

Bardiya

Bajura Dolpa

Humla

Jumla

Mugu

Dailekh

JajarkotRukum

Dang

Source: National Adaptation Plan of Action, Nepal


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TOBACCO CONTROL measures in the coun-try have been impeded by indus-try pressure. On October 15 last year, the Union Ministry of Health

and Family Welfare notified the Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules under the national anti-tobacco law to increase the size of pictorial warnings on the package of all tobacco products from the current 40 per cent to 85 per cent60 per cent of which should be pictures and 25 per cent text. The notified rules were to be effective from April 1 this year. But the government has put its decision on hold after criticism from the tobacco industry.

Dilip Gandhi, chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation of the current Lok Sabha, wrote a letter to Union health minister J P Nadda on March 2 saying that his committee was examining the notified anti-tobacco rules and suggested deferment of their implemen-tation till it arrives at an appropriate conclu-sion. The committee, in its report presented in Parliament on March 18, mentions that a few members of Parliament (mps) and indus-try organisations had expressed serious ap-prehensions about the adverse impact of the modified rules on the livelihood of tobacco

workers. The committee also questions the health ministrys authority to frame tobacco rules, saying that the ministry should seek views from other departments, such as labour and agriculture, since the socio-economic impact of these rules trespasses its domain. Following the report, the health ministry has decided to postpone the implementation of larger pictorial warnings, although no formal announcement has been made yet.

Public interest v profitHealth activists and experts have strongly opposed the move. On March 31, several mps, civil rights activists, doctors and patients met at the Constitution Club in Delhi to ex-press their disapproval of the governments decision. In the meeting, Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha mp from Pune belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party, sought the prime ministers intervention. It is disheartening to see that the government has decided to de-lay its earlier decision. India demonstrated global leadership last year when it announced the new rules mandating larger pictorial health warnings on tobacco products. Taking cue from us, countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also announced to increase the size of health warnings on tobacco products

to 90 per cent, 85 per cent and 80 per cent respectively, she said.

Activists believe that the committee headed by Gandhi has no mandate over the anti-tobacco lawCigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Actpassed by Parliament in 2003. The law allows the health ministry to frame rules in pursuance of tobacco control in the country, says Monika Arora, an anti-tobacco activist. P C Gupta from Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health says that the committee is an advisory body and the health ministry could have rejected its recommendations. It is clear lobbying by the tobacco industry. We have to see whether we want to safeguard industrys interests or 1 million people who die from tobacco- related diseases every year, Arora adds.

The World Health Organization (who) has warned that tobacco companies are undermining anti-tobacco efforts made by governments. At the World Conference on Tobacco or Health, 2015, held in Abu Dhabi on March 18, who director general Margaret Chan said she would like to see all tobacco companies shut down. Governments that

Government buckles under pressure from tobacco industry and halts order on large

pictorial warnings on tobacco products. Will profit prevail over public health?

SAVITA VERMA | new delhi

Don't ignore the

deadly sign

T O B A C C O W A R N I N G

VIKAS CHOUDHARY / CSE


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are trying to protect their citizens through larger pictorial warnings or by introducing plain packaging of tobacco products are being intimidated through lengthy and costly litigation, she added. Australias legis-lation on tobacco that mandates plain packaging is being challenged at the World Trade Organization by Philip Morris Asia, a multinational tobacco company whose products are sold in more than 180 countries.

A picture says it allA 2012 report of the health ministry links rampant chewing of tobacco to almost 90 per cent of oral cancer cases in the country. Every year, 75,000-80,000 new cases of oral cancer are reported. Public health experts say clear pictorial warnings about the harmful effects of tobacco are important in India, where education and awareness levels are low. Research by several tobacco control groups shows that regular tobacco users are inhibited by large warnings, while adolescents and children are prevented from initiation. Smaller warnings have not been found to be very effective.

But the parliamentary committee thinks

differently. Newspaper reports have quoted Gandhi saying there is no Indian study link-ing tobacco with cancer. Since cancer does not occur only because of tobacco, the Indian context should be studied in detail. Many people depend on bidi-making in states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, he had said. Health experts have snubbed his remarks, calling them ridiculous.

Even as the industry projects that it is working for the the cause of tobacco workers, it continues to exploit them. Bidi rollers live in abject poverty. Moreover, the trade is prac-tised in homes where children and pregnant women inhale tobacco dust. Many of them develop tuberculosis, says Pankaj Chaturvedi, a doctor at the Tata Memorial Hospital.

The debate over large pictorial warning on tobacco products has now reached the highest authority of the country. According to media reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also supported the health ministrys decision to increase the size of pictorial warnings. However, Down To Earth could not verify these reports. n

1975 Government of India passes legislation restricting production, supply and distribution of cigarettes. Introduces first text warning, `cigarette smoking is injurious to health', for all cigarette packets and cigarette advertisements

1995 Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation of the 10th Lok Sabha suggests strongly worded statutory warnings through pictorial depiction. Recommends such warnings in regional languages as well

1996-2002 Delhi, Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu enact state legislation prohibiting smoking in public places

2001 Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development recommends mandatory pictorial warnings, such as skull and crossbones, on cigarette packets and other tobacco products

2001-2003 Some states impose ban on the production and sale of gutkha and pan masala

2003 Parliament passes Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act

2006 Rules to enforce pictorial warnings on tobacco products notified, become effective from May 31, 2009

October 2014 Government notifies rules to increase the size of pictorial warnings on packages from 40 per cent to 85 per cent. These were to be effective from April 1, 2015

March 2015 Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation of the current Lok Sabha presents report in Parliament expressing concern about the loss of livelihood of tobacco workers. Following report, government defers its decision

Research in India shows that large pictorial health warnings on tobacco products inhibit regular tobacco users, while preventing adolescents and children from initiation

The debate over pictorial warning on tobacco products continues 20 years after it was first proposed

Tobacco trail


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IT'S LIKE doing the unimaginable for Vidya P T, a resident of Kuruvattoor village in Kozhikode district of Kerala. She tightly clasps onto the trunk of the coconut tree and starts climbing it. Two knives and a piece of bone remain tightly fixed

to her waistbelt; a small, sterilised pot hangs from it. On reaching the crown, Vidya tends to a spadixa young inflorescence of coco-nut palm. She removes the bright sheath around it, gently taps the flowers for a while using the bone, cuts the tip of the spadix, and ties the pot next to it. It would take 12 to 15 days before the flowers start oozing sweet clear sap into the pot. Then, for the next few months, Vidya would climb up and down the tree every morning and even-ing to collect the fresh sap or neera.

Vidya is one of the four women in a batch of 20 youths who are being trained as neera technicians by the federation of coconut pro-ducers societies at Payimbra village in Kozhikode. Over a hundred federations in Kerala are providing similar training. They want a new batch of neera technicians ready to cater to the growing demand for the delicious health drink, both across the country and outside.

Traditionally we used to extract a lot of neera. It was even given to pregnant women and children as health drink, recalls P Aravindan, president of Payimbra federation. But the practice was

Demand for neera, the fresh sap of young coconut flowers, is rising with advances in food preservation technologies. It's time Kerala stopped classifying it as country liquor M SUCHITRA | kozhikode, kerala

High on nectar

N E W B U S I N E S S

Vidya P T of Kuruvattoor village in Kerala receives training in neera extraction


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N E W B U S I N E S S

forgotten after the government classified neera as country liquor and placed it under the Kerala Abkari Act, 1967, that regulates trade in liquor.

In the past one year, neera is regaining its glory. There is a growing awareness about the health benefits of coconut inflorescence sap worldwide. In India, the Coconut Development Board (cdb), a Central gov-ernment agency, has started promoting it as a health drink. Neera is more nutritious than any other commercially marketed fruit juice in the country, says T K Jose, chairperson of cdb. Jose, who serves neera as a welcome drink to all those who visit his office, claims that sugar, jaggery and syrup made out of neera are also highly nutritious.

As per articles published in the Indian Coconut Journal of cbd, neera is a rich source of minerals and vitamins. It has substantial amounts of iron, phosphorus and ascorbic acid. Palm sugar, which is made by boiling neera, contains protein, 16 amino acids, Vitamin B, iron, potassium, magnesium, cal-cium and zinc. It can be useful for treating anxiety, depression and biopolar disorder. The most significant characteristic of neera and its products is low Glycemic Index (GI), an indicator of the extent of sugar absorbed into the blood. While table sugar has a GI of 70, sugar made from neera has a GI of 35. Foods with GI less than 55 are classified as

low GI foods, and can be used by people suf-fering from diabetes and high cholesterol.

With the global demand for low GI sugar rising, neera sugar and jaggery can fill this gap, says Sreekumar Pothuval, process-ing engineer at cdb Institute of Technology in Ernakulam district. Given the market potential of neera, they can enhance farmers income, create employment and revive Keralas rural economy, Jose says.

The change is already visible on the ground. Of the 19 coconut farmer-producer companies in Kerala, Palakkad Coconut Producer Company (cpc) and Kaipuzha Coconut Producer Company have launched their neera brands in the market. Our objec-tive is to replace unhealthy aerated drinks with fresh and healthy neera, says Joji M Thakkadi, chief executive officer of Palakkad cpc, which produces 500 litres of neera a day. It sells its product through 20 outlets and charges ` 25 for 200 ml. It also sells palm sug-ar at `350 a kilogram. Kaipuzha cpc sells neera through vending machines and charg-es ` 25 per 200 ml; bottled neera costs ` 30 per 200 ml. Kaipuzha cpc has a daily turnover of `10,000 and has set up a plant with a capac-ity to process 10,000 litres of neera a day at an expense of ` 1 crore.

Coconut farmers are happy about the re-vival of neera at a time when they are facing price fluctuations and monopoly by copra-

coconut oil traders. A coconut tree can yield 2-4.5 litres of neera a day, depending on the health of the tree, season and skill of the neera technician. Even if a palm yields two litres, we get a minimum assured income of ` 50 per tree a day for six months. If we leave the palm for nut production, we would get as much amount in a month, says C Chandran, a farmer in Kuruvattoor panchayat who has leased out 50 coconut trees on his homestead for neera extraction.

Neera is also generating employment for the youth. A neera technician receives a monthly salary of ` 10,000. This is over and above the incentive they receive for extract-ing each litre of neera and the insurance cov-erage for any accident, says Anitha Babu, a neera technician in Kozhikode district.

If 10 per cent of the 180 million coco-nut trees in the state is available for tapping neera, it can generate one million employ-ment and contribute `54,000 crore to the gross state domestic production, says Jose.

However, the state is yet to realise the potential of the sap. Between March 2014 and January this year, the state government has granted neera extraction licence to only 173 of the 345 federations in the state and is delaying the issue of fresh licences.

What prevents the promotion of neera is its wrong inclusion in the Abkari Act, which defines the non-alcoholic, unfermented juice as country liquor. This is akin to interpret-ing milk as curd since curd is produced from milk, explains Jose. He points out that the Abkari Act came at a time when no technol-ogy was available to preserve fresh neera. Now, technologies have been developed by institutions such as the cdb Institute of Technology, the Kerala Agricultural University, the Central Food Technological Research Institute and the Defence Food Research Laboratory for arresting the fer-mentation process. In fact, neera can now have a shelf life up to one year, says Reshmi Sajai, technical officer with cdb.

In 1939, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that making neera sugar as a cottage industry is a way to solve the worlds poverty. Indonesia and the Philippines market palm sugar with Mahatma Gandhi as their brand ambassa-dor with his words inscribed on the packets. Its time India wok up to its potential. n

Neera products are nutritious and have low GI value, which makes them suitable for diabetic patients

The spadix of coconut flower has to be tapped carefully to ensure high yield of neera

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PHOTOGRAPHS: AJEEB KOMACHI


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C O V E R S T O R Y

ON WRONG

Twenty years after the Supreme Court asserted that people have a right over radio waves, community radio continues to struggle. Instead of supporting the stations, the Centre now plans to carry out a listenership survey to gauge its impact and decide its future

ANUPAM CHAKRAVARTTY

COME FRIDAY and the telephones at Gurgaon Ki Awaaz, a community radio station, will ring off the hook. The reason for the deluge of calls is that its most popular weekly programme Chahat Chowk is aired on Friday afternoons. And the one-and-a-half hours programme, which talks about reproductive and sexual health, is driven by queries raised by its listeners.

We had started Chahat Chowk in 2010 with the plan of airing just 16 episodes, but we decided to continue with it because of the popularity. We receive queries throughout the week, and the number of phone calls from our listeners shoots to more than 50 on Fridays, says station director Arti Jaiman.

Gurgaon Ki Awaaz is arguably one of the few community radio stations in the country with 22 hours of broadcast daily. Jaiman says the show has not only dispelled a lot of myths about pregnancy and contraception, but has been successful in reducing the stigma associated with such topics in the rural area of Mullahera.

But despite its popularity, Gurgaon Ki Awaaz, like most other stations in the country, is struggling to keep afloat because of government apathy, competition from commercial radio channels and lack of funds.

For masses, community radio is us as against the big media, which is them, says Rajiv Tikoo, director, OneWorld Foundation

WAVELENGTH

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C O V E R S T O R Y

In 2014, India had just 170 community radio stations as opposed to the earlier plans of setting up 4,000 stations by 2010

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C O V E R S T O R Y

More than two-thirds of the community radio stations in the country are run by educational institutions and not by the community

Out of range

Stations operated by NGO/community

Stations operated by agricultural institution

Stations operated by educational institution

Odisha5

1

Kerala44

Maharashtra6

45

Madhya Pradesh7

6

Assam2

Bihar3

1

Andhra Pradesh1

3

Chandigarh4

West Bengal3

Telengana2

3

Uttar Pradesh7

212

Uttarakhand4

14

Chhattisgarh

12

Gujarat2

13

Delhi1

5

Haryana5

14

Puducherry3

Tamil Nadu5

121

Rajasthan3

5

Punjab11

Jammu and Kashmir1

Jharkhand1

Karnataka3

19

Himachal Pradesh2

Source: 2014 Compendium of community radio stations, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

is the number of states that do not have a single grassroots sta

16-30april

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