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June 2013

Vol 57

Chief Editor : Rajesh K. Jha


Senior Editor : Shyamala M. Iyer
Editor : Manogyan R. Pal

Joint Director (Production) : V.K. Meena


Cover Design : Gajanan P. Dhope
E-mail (Editorial) : yojanace@gmail.com
(Circulation) : pdjucir@gmail.com
Website : www.yojana.gov.in

Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides

Rig Veda

CONTENTS

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO INDIAN PLANNING


Ashish Kothari ..................................................................................5

WESTERN GHATS AND WILD LIFE PRESERVATION


P K Sujathan....................................................................................36

CLIMATE RISK: CRITICAL CHALLENGES


Anil Kumar Gupta...........................................................................11

PROBLEMS IN FLOOD-PRONE RIVER BASINS


Dinesh Kumar Mishra .....................................................................41
BEST PRACTICES

CHANGING DYNAMICS OF CENTRE-STATE FINANCIAL


RELATIONS
Pravakar Sahoo, Amrita Sarkar .......................................................18

PIPES OF PROSPERITY
Ranjan K Panda...............................................................................46

DO YOU KNOW? ........................................................................24

URBAN BIODIVERSITY :
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF NCT DELHI
Meenakshi Dhote ............................................................................49

CONSTRUCTING CHANGE BY ADVANCING


ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Radhika Khosla ...............................................................................26
INDIAS URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES: LAND
USE, SOLID WASTE AND SANITATION
Kala Seetharam Sridhar, Surender Kumar ......................................30

NORTH EAST DIARY


PANIDIHINGA PARADISE OF BIRDS
Mouchumi Gogoi ............................................................................55
PROTECT INDIGENOUS BIODIVERSITY AND KNOWLEDGE
Vandana Shiva ................................................................................60

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Disclaimer :
l The views expressed in various articles are those of the authors and not necessarily of the government.
l The readers are requested to verify the claims made in the advertisements regarding career guidance books/institutions. Yojana does not own responsibility
regarding the contents of the advertisements.

YOJANA June 2013

You are, Therefore I am


t may be a little surprising to know that the irst civilisation in the world to collapse due to
ecological factors was Sumer in Mesopotamia more than 4000 years ago. You may perhaps be
thinking that it was some natural disaster that led to the extinguishing of the Sumerian civilisation.
But the reality is different. In fact it was ,in a great measure, a man made catastrophe caused by the
increasing salinity in the extensive irrigation channels built by the Sumers for cultivation. Indeed
historical and archaeological evidence points out that ecological factors played a crucial role in
the collapse of a number of ancient civilisations like the Indus Valley, Greek, Phoenician, Roman
and the Mayan. Today again, a similar possibility is staring us in the face threatening to begin the
Endgame.

Apparently, the mankind has come a full-circle over this period so far as its relationship
with nature and the surroundings is concerned. It has been argued that the chief causes of the
environmental destruction do not lie in individual choices like higher consumption. These are
rooted in the social and historical realities arising out of the speciicities of the modern industrial world and the gamut of
economic relations arising out of it between individuals and the nations at large. Whatever view you may hold about the
causes of the environmental crisis we face today, there is no doubt that in the modern quest for conquering the earth we
are clearly in the danger of overstepping the critical thresh holds whether it is the fossil fuel consumption, exploitation of
rivers and under-ground water, Green House Gases emission and similar other indicators.
Environment is an issue that does not really obey the boundaries we have erected on the map. The interconnectedness
of the human existence on the earth is most clearly relected when we discuss questions of environment and ecology.
The long debate about environment and development is not yet settled even while the nations struggle to ind a model of
sustainable development without destroying the ecology. Despite the universal nature of environmental issues, when it
comes to equitable burden sharing of the carbon footprint left by the countries, the debate between per capita emission
approach and the total emission approach continues to be deeply contentious. It becomes an important fact in international
climate change negotiations when we ind that the developed western countries contribute more than 50 percent to the
total carbon emission in the world. It is dificult to convince a developing nation not to invest in setting up factories and
industries to improve the living standards of its citizens in the name of environmental concerns alone.
The range of issues concerning environment and ecology is truly complex and bewildering. From the existing
economic structures to our consumption choices, tribal rights over natural resources to imperatives of economic development,
common environmental resources of the mankind vs national priorities all have trade-offs and require choices to be made
for which there exists no consensus. The policy responses to these issues are often dificult to make and involve a long and
arduous process of consultation with the stake holders at multiple levels. The multitude of movements, many of which are
political and some times violent also, centred around the issues of environment relect on the one hand the lack of consensus
on these issue and on the other, the vibrancy and resilience of India as a democratic nation.
While we ponder over the issue of environment and sustainable ecology, we realise that the scale of transformation
of nature by man has been unprecedented, its rate of change staggering. The great thinker and proponent of Intermediate
Technology E.F. Schumacher asserted that the problem of environmental deterioration is not just technical but it stems
from the life cycle of the modern world, its most basic beliefs-its metaphysics. We must realise the essential unity of the
universe and the interconnectedness of the existence of all life forms, indeed all of nature. It is the time we adopted the
Zulu philosophy of Ubuntu which translates into You are, therefore I am.
q
YOJANA June 2013

ENVIRONMENTal PlaNNING
POlICy

Integrating Sustainability into Indian


Planning
Ashish Kothari

NDIAS ATTEMPTS
at integrating
environmental
sustainability into
economic planning have
so far been piecemeal
and hesitant. They have done
little to stem the rapid slide
into ecological devastation and
consequent livelihood, cultural, and
economic disruption. At the root of
this lies the stubborn adherence to
a model of economic growth that
is fundamentally unsustainable
and inequitable, even more so in
its globalised form in the last two
decades.

Peoples
movements,
civil society
organizations,
academic thinktanks, and
progressive political
leaders will have
to lead the way,
both by resisting
todays destructive
processes and by
building on existing
alternatives

The 12 th Plan process could


have been an opportunity to change
course, especially given its explicit
commitment to sustainability,
inclusiveness and equity. Indeed
there are some glimpses of a different
approach, e.g. making economic
activities more responsible in
their use of resources and in the
wastes they produce, promoting
urban water harvesting and public
transport, providing organic inputs
to agriculture use, encouraging
recycling, making tourism more

environmentally responsible
and community-based, moving
towards low-carbon strategies, and
protecting the commons (lands and
waters that are used by the public),
giving communities more secure
rights to use and manage these. Yet
the Plan falls far short of signiicant
reorientation, mostly staying within
the confines of assuming that
more growth will help achieve
these goals. It does not use any
available framework of sustainable
development, including the targets
that India agreed to at the 2002
World Summit on Sustainable
Development (Johannesberg). It
does not contain indicators to gauge
whether India is moving towards
sustainability, e.g. improvement
in per capita availability of natural
forests, reduction in the levels of
various kinds of pollution, improved
access to nutritious food and clean
water, or enhanced availability of
public transport. Environmental
considerations do not yet permeate
each economic sector.
There is in fact a palpable lack
of urgency with regard to the
ecological crisis we are already

The author is Founder-member of Indian environmental group Kalpavriksh, and coordinated Indias National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan process, has served on Greenpeace International and India Boards, He is also the author or editor
(singly or jointly with others) of over 30 books, the latest a detailed analysis of globalisation and its alternatives.
YOJANA June 2013

in. Natural ecosystems are under


stress and decline across most
of the country; some 10% of the
countrys wildlife is threatened with
extinction; agricultural biodiversity
has declined by over 90% in many
regions; well over half the available
waterbodies are polluted beyond
drinking and often beyond even
agricultural use; two-thirds of the
land is degraded to various levels
of sub-optimal productivity; air
pollution in several cities is amongst
the worlds worst; modern wastes
including electronic and chemical
are bring produced at rates far
exceeding our capacity to recycle
or manage. Annual Economic
Surveys of Government of India,
and the Ministry of Environment
and Forests annual State of
Environment reports occasionally
acknowledge the widespread
environmental damage; more is
found in independent reports such
as the State of Indias Environment
reports by Centre for Science and
Environment. A 2008 report by
the Global Footprint Network and
Confederation of Indian Industries
suggests that India has the worlds
third biggest ecological footprint,
that its resource use is already twice
of its bio-capacity, and that this biocapacity itself has declined by half
in the last few decades.
Economic globalisation since
1991 has significantly increased
rates of diversion of natural
ecosytems for developmental
purposes, and rates of resource
exploitation for domestic use and
exports. Climate change impacts
are being felt in terms of erratic
weather and coastal erosion, and
the country has little in the way of
climate preparedness especially for
the poor who will be worst affected.
6

Projections based on the historic


trend of materials and energy use
in India also point to serious levels
of domestic and global impact on
the environment, if India continues
it current development trajectory
modeled on already industrialized
countries.

to work out a new framework for


the post-2015 process, best suited
to Indian conditions. Here are some
ideas on what such a framework
could look like.

One opening provided by the


2013 Economic Survey towards
redressing the situation is the
following paragraph: From
Indias point of view, Sustainable
Development Goals need to
bring together development and
environment into a single set of
targets. The fault line, as ever
in global conferences, is the
inappropriate balance between
environment and developmentwe
could also view the SDGs and the
post 2015 agenda as an opportunity
for revisiting and ine-tuning the
MDG framework and sustainably
regaining focus on developmental
issues.

A fundamentally different
framework of well-being has to
be built on the tenets of ecological
sustainability, as much as of
equity. This is clearly pointed to
in the outcome document of the
UN Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20) of 2012.
A new set of global goals could
include:

Framed in 2000, the MDGs


set ambitious targets for
tackling poverty, hunger, thirst,
illiteracy, womens exploitation,
child mortality, disease, and
environmental destruction. They
are supposed to have guided the
developmental and welfare policies
and programmes of governments.
Countries are individually, and
collectively through the United
Nations, reviewing progress
made in achieving the MDGs.
Simultaneously discussions
have been initiated towards new
development frameworks that
could more effectively lead to
human well-being while ensuring
ecological sustainability. India too
needs to engage in a full-scale review
of its achievements (or failures),
which can become an opportunity

(2) P r o v i d i n g a d e q u a t e a n d
nutritious food for all, through
production and distribution
systems that are ecologically
sustainable and equitable
(currently part of MDG 1);

Elements of a New Global


Framework

(1) E n s u r i n g e c o l o g i c a l
conservation and resilience,
and the basis of equitable access
to nature and natural resources
to all peoples and communities
(respecting natures own rights)
(an expansion of current MDG
7);

(3) Ensuring adequate and safe


water for all, through harvesting
and distribution systems that
are ecologically sustainable
and equitable (currently part
of MDG 7);
(4) Safeguarding conditions for
prevention of disease, and
maintenance of good health,
for all, in ways that are
ecologically sustainable and
equitable (currently partly in
MDG 6)
(5) Providing equitable access to
energy sources in ways that
YOJANA June 2013

are ecologically sustainable


(as much as technically and
economically viable) (currently
missing from the MDGs);
(6) Facilitating equitable access
to learning and education
for all, in ways that enhance
ecological sensitivity and
knowledge (as much as cultural,
technical, technological, socioeconomic, and other aspects)
(an expansion of MDG 2);
(7) E n s u r i n g s e c u r e , s a f e ,
sustainable, and equitable
settlements for all, including
adequate and appropriate
shelter, sanitation, civic
facilities, public transportation
(currently partly in MDG 7,
partly missing)

In all the above, the special


needs of women and children
will need to be secured, through
rights-based and empowerment
approaches (currently in MDGs
3,4,5).
Such a framework needs to
be based on a set of universal
principles, including:
l The functional integrity and
resilience of the ecological
processes and biological
diversity underlying all life on
earth, respecting which entails
a realization of the ecological
limits of human activity, and
enshrining the right of nature
and all species to survive and
thrive in the conditions in
which they have evolved.
l E q u i t a b l e a c c e s s o f a l l
people, in current and future
generations, to the conditions
needed for human well-being
(socio-cultural, economic,
political, ecological, and in
particular food, water, shelter,
YOJANA June 2013

clothing, energy, healthy


living, and socio-cultural
sustenance); equity between
humans and other elements of
nature; and social, economic,
and environmental justice for
all.
The right of each person
and community to participate
meaningfully in crucial
decisions affecting her/his/
its life, and to the conditions
that provide the ability for
such participation, as part
of a radical, participatory
democracy.
Linked to the above, governance
based on subsidiarity and
ecoregionalism, with local rural
and urban communities (small
enough for all members to take
part in face-to-face decisionmaking) as the fundamental
unit of governance, linked
with each other at bioregional,
ecoregional and cultural levels
into landscape/seascape
institutions that are answerable
to these basic units.
The responsibility of each
citizen and community to
ensure meaningful decisionmaking that is based on the
twin principles of ecological
integrity and socio-economic
equity.

Respect for the diversity of


environments and ecologies,
species and genes, cultures,
ways of living, knowledge
systems, values, economies
and livelihoods, and polities,
in so far as they are in
consonance with the principles
of sustainability and equity.
l Collective and co-operative
thinking and working founded

on the socio-cultural, economic,


and ecological commons,
respecting both common
custodianship and individual
freedoms and innovations
within such collectivities.
The ability of communities
and humanity as a whole, to
respond, adapt and sustain the
resilience needed to maintain
ecological sustainability and
equity in the face of external
and internal forces of change.
T h e i n e x t r i c a b l e i n t e rconnectedness amongst various
aspects of human civilisation,
and therefore amongst any
set of development or wellbeing goals: environmental,
economic, social, cultural, and
political.

A Framework for India


Following from the above, the
following goals would comprise
a new sustainability framework of
planning for India:
Macro-economic policy: The
macro-economic framework must be
radically altered to put ecological
sustainability, human well-being,
and socio-economic equity at
the core. This would include
development of macro-economic
theories and concepts that put at
their core the twin imperatives
of ecological limits and socioeconomic equity. It would also
entail reorienting inancial measures
such as taxation, subsidies, and
other iscal incentives/disincentives
to support ecological sustainability
and related human security and
equity goals. A long-term national
land and water use plan needs to
be framed, based on decentralised
and participatory processes. Also
7

needed are human well-being


indicators, through appropriate
tools, to replace the current GDP
and economic growth-related
ones.
Political governance: Equally
important as above, a new polity is
needed. Principles and practice of
radical or participatory democracy
need to infuse all decision-making,
with the smallest rural and urban
settlements as the basic units,
and landscape level institutions
building on these. Panchayat,
urban ward, and tribal council
institutions would need not only
strengthening but modifications
to ensure they are functioning
at these basic units in which all
residents/members can take part.
Ways to ensure accountability of
representatives (e.g. through right
to recall) at larger levels, upto the
national level, have to be built
in. An immediate step could be
creating institutions of independent
oversight on environmental
matters, such as an office of an
Environment (or Sustainable
Well-Being) Commissioner who
has a Constitutional status similar
to the CAG or Chief Election
Commissioner.
Safeguarding the natural basis
of life: The integrity of natural
ecosystems, wildlife populations,
a n d b i o d i v e r s i t y, m u s t b e
safeguarded, by reducing and
eventually eliminating resource and
biodiversity loss, and regenerating
degraded ecosystems and
populations. This would include
providing rights to nature and nonhuman species in the Constitution;
expanding the coverage of areas
specially dedicated to or helping to
8

achieve biodiversity conservation


through fully participatory and
democratic means; integrating
conservation principles and
practices in land/water use activities
across the board, in both rural and
urban areas; and phasing out the
use of chemicals in agriculture,
industry, and settlements, that
lead to irreversible ecological
degradation and the poisoning of
wildlife.
Ensuring basic needs for
all: All people must have access
to safe and adequate resources
to fulfill basic needs, in ways
that are ecologically sustainable
and c ultur a l l y a p p ro p r i a t e.
This includes safe and adequate
drinking water to all, largely
through decentralised harvesting
and distribution systems; safe
and adequate food to all, focusing
primarily on agro-ecologically
sound practices and localized
production/distribution systems
including localized procurement
for the Public Distribution System
and other food schemes for the
poor; unpolluted air and safe
sound levels for all; safe, adequate
and sustainable shelter/housing to
all, facilitating community-based,
locally appropriate methods;
energy security for all, optimizing
existing production sources and
distribution channels, regulating
demand (denying, especially,
luxury demand), and focusing most
new production on decentralised,
renewable sources; and adequate
sanitation facilities to all families
and communities.
Ensuring universal
employment and livelihoods:
All families and communities
must have access to dignified

livelihoods that are ecologically


sustainable and culturally
a p p ro p r i a t e . T h i s i n c l u d e s
encouraging natural resource
based livelihoods (forest-based,
isheries, pastoralism, agriculture,
crafts, and quarrying) that are
already ecologically sustainable;
replacing unsustainable, unsafe
and undignified livelihoods in
all sectors by digniied, green
jobs (which according to ILO
would yield more employment
than conventional sectors); and
investing heavily in livelihoods
relating to ecological regeneration
and restoration.
Ensuring sustainable
production and consumption:
All production and consumption
must be ecologically sustainable
and socio-economically equitable,
using a mix of incentives and
disincentives. This means
converting and replacing
unsustainable agricultural,
fisheries, mining, industrial,
and other production processes
to sustainable ones; ensuring
extended producer responsibility
for sustainability at all stages from
raw materials to disposal/recycling/
reuse, through incentives and
legislation; curbing unsustainable
consumption including
advertising that encourages such
consumption (perhaps creating
an Above Consumption Line
measu re a s c o u n te rp o in t to
Below Poverty Line measure;
encouraging innovations in, and
making mandatory the use of,
technologies of sustainability
including those that reduce
resource-intensity of products
and processes, and discourage
YOJANA June 2013

(eventually eliminating) those that


are inherently unsustainable and
inequitable; and moving towards
a zero-waste society.
Ensuring sustainable
infrastructure: All infrastructure
development must be ecologically
sustainable and socio-economically
equitable. This entails integrating
practices of sustainability into
existing infrastructure, replacing
unsustainable practices with
sustainable ones (e.g. focus on public
instead of private transportation);
and ensuring all new infrastructure
is built on principles of ecological
sustainability.
Ensuring sustainability in
services and welfare: All service
and welfare sectors must integrate
principles and practices of
ecological sustainability. Health
services should focus on preventing
ill-health due to environmental
degradation (e.g. unsafe or
inadequate food and water), and
on curative practices that are
ecologically sound (including
nature-based indigenous systems).
Local and wider ecological,
cultural, and knowledge systems
need to be integrated into education
policies and practices, ensuring that
ecological sensitivity becomes a
part of every subject. Tourism and
visitation need to be converted
to practices that are ecologically
sustainable, culturally appropriate,
and local community driven.
Each of these goals will contain
speciic targets and actions, and
indicators to assess levels of
success and failure. A set of tools
are also needed that can help
in the assessments. There are
already several sets of indicators
YOJANA June 2013

and tools being used or proposed


around the world (including within
India), from which we could
develop a set of indexes that is
robust, relatively easy to calculate,
amenable to public understanding
and participation, and capable
of integrating complexity and
nuances. Some of the exciting
new work being done outside
India, such as the Happy Planet
Index proposed by the New
Economics Foundation, Bhutans
Gross National Happiness,
Environment Vulnerability Index,
and others could be examined.
Tools such as Ecological/Carbon
Footprints, National Accounts
of Well-being, Environmental
Accounting and Budgeting, and
so on could be combined to assess
progress towards sustainability and
equity. But this should not simply
become an exercise in numerical
target-setting, and mechanical
enumeration of what targets have
been met; it needs to integrate
into a holistic vision that has
sustainability, equity, and wellbeing as its pillars.
Overcoming the hurdles
There are several hurdles to
achieving the above: inadequate
understanding of the impacts of
human activities on the environment,
continuing tension between various
knowledge systems hampering
synergistic innovation, a political
leadership that for the most part lacks
ecological literacy, unaccountable
corporate and military power, and
a feeling of helplessness or apathy
amongst the general public.
If we are to surmount these
hurdles, we have to support and
learn from alternatives already
existing on the ground or in policy,

in India or globally. Information


already available on trends in
sustainability and unsustainability
should be collated, and further
information generated to ill gaps in
understanding. Public discussions
and consultations, involving all
sections and in particular local
communities in rural and urban
areas, should be initiated on the
contours of a new framework of
well-being. Such a framework
should underlie the 13th 5-Year
plan.
Of course, this will not happen
if left to todays political and
bureaucratic leadership, though
undoubtedly their role is vital.
Most crucial is public and political
mobilization and pressure.
Peoples movements, civil society
organizations, academic thinktanks, and progressive political
leaders will have to lead the way,
both by resisting todays destructive
processes and by building on
existing alternatives. Partnerships
with similar sectors in other
countries will help.
India already has thousands of
initiatives at solving food, water,
energy, health and other problems
through sustainable means; it also
has crucial policy breakthroughs
like the Right to Information Act.
But these are dispersed and often
isolated, not yet forming a critical
mass sufficient to bring about
fundamental changes in the system.
A framework vision of the kind
outlined above is beginning to
emerge from, and could help bind
together, these currently dispersed
processes.
q
(E-mail :ashishkothari@vsnl.com)

ENVIRONMENT aND SuSTaINablE ECOlOGy


ChallENGES

Climate Risk: Critical Challenges


Anil Kumar Gupta

RECALL MY first
national publication
in Yojana in June
1993 issue which
reviewed the
eficacy and status of
Indias environmental legislation,
following the strategic article
by then Prime Minister Late Sri
Narsimha Rao depicting the concern
on environment and extrapolating
it for sustainability of economic
growth. India has a prestigious
history on environmental fronts
be it the Stockholm Conference
in 1972 which was attended by
Late Smt. Indira Gandhi, or the
UN Conference on Environment
and Development, 1992 at Brazil
where Indias contribution and ecoconcerns also igured in shaping the
historic Agenda 21. It was in 1991
that the Honble Supreme Court
issued a directive for compulsory
environmental studies in all
undergraduate programmes in the
country. It is regretable that it hasnt
been uniformly implemented even
with the passage of two decades.
In another article on environmental
policy concerns in Yojana in 1996
February, I tried help prioritize the
issues for immediate concerns.

No model of
economic growth
can sustain for
long if it doesnt
respect ecology in
local and regional
context, and at
the same time the
environment as
broad concern
including the
inter-relationships
of natural,
human-made and
socio-cultural
environments

There are signiicant efforts to


promote green cover in urban areas
with noted success, but at the same
time vast tracts of natural green
cover of forests and rural areas have
been lost owing to increasing biotic
pressure, low regeneration and
devastating side effects of poorly
planned developmental projects.
India has a new water policy of
2012 now, but without subjecting it
to a formal system of environmental
assessment, despite having
globally accepted tool strategic
environmental assessment (EIA
of policies and plans) in practice.
I wrote in Yojana May, 2000 on
water policy and integrated water
management calling for a system
approach, which in turn also calls
for coherence of water, land, energy
and forest related policies with
the broad environment policy.
Fortunately the environment policy
of 2006 at least mentioned this.
The recent reinforced calls at
global level to integrate disaster
risk reduction and climate change
issues within the broad umbrella
of environmental management for
sustainability and inclusive growth
has attained momentum with the
UN led Partnership of Environment

The author is Senior Associate Professor of Policy Planning at National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi, and
President of Centre for Disaster Management, Environment and Sustainability, New Delhi.
YOJANA June 2013

11

and Disaster Risk Reduction (UNPEDRR).


C l i m a t e R i s k a n d I n d i a s
Environment
Whereas many regions are
likely to experience adverse effects
of climate change of which some
are potentially irreversible, in some
cases certain impacts are likely to
be beneicial as well. The World
Bank Study entitled Managing
Climate Risk: Integrating
Adaptation into World Bank Group
Operations identiied the result of
environmental changes in South
Asia as following:
l
Decreased water availability
and water quality in many arid
and semi-arid regions
l Increased risk of floods,
droughts, and water borne
diseases / epidemics
l Reduction of water regulation
in mountain habitats
l Decrease in reliability of
hydropower and biomass
production
l Increased damages and deaths
caused by extreme weather
events
l D e c r e a s e a g r i c u l t u r e
productivity, in isheries and
sustainability of ecosystems
The World Bank interpreted the
consequences of these impacts in
form of severe economic shocks,
which will exacerbate existing
social and environmental problems,
and migration within and across
national borders.
So far most policy interventions
related to climate change were
mitigation centric and broadly
based on geophysical parameters.
However, the focus is now
shifting towards vulnerability
12

reduction centric and adaptation


approach which at the same
time facilitates climate change
mitigation-adaptation convergence
with disaster risk reduction. The
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(2005) that emphasized livelihood
and food security as key challenges
of human vulnerability is an insight
to understand the significant
efforts of Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), in
particular the 4th Assessment Report
and the recent Special Report on
Extreme Weather Events (SREX)
to draw the concerns for South Asia
and more particularly for India.
A 4x4 assessment of climate
change impacts on India, organized
by Ministry of Environment &
Forests (2010) has concluded with
serious concerns on impacts on
agriculture, water security, health
and forests, more particularly in
Himalayan region and coastal areas.
The impacts have been observed in
terms of changing rainfall patterns,
intensity, number of rainy days,
hottest and coldest days, hot/cold
waves, sea level rise, cyclonic
storms, etc., whereas improper
land use coupled with ecological
degradation has aggravated peoples
vulnerability to these climatic and
the other geophysical disasters like
earthquake, landslides, etc.
Besides the availability concern,
quality of water (be it ground
or surface waters) is critical in
health and agriculture. Air quality
is deteriorating despite the
efforts governments made over
past decades. Waste management
situation in many cities of the
country has improved but is far from
satisfactory, and urban flooding
has become a common annual
menace.

Ecosystem Services: Economy


and Livelihoods
The environmental problems
in India are growing rapidly. The
increasing economic development
and a rapidly growing population
that has taken the country from
300 million people in 1947 to more
than one billion people today is
putting a strain on the environment,
infrastructure, and the countrys
natural resources. The Global
Assessment Report on Disaster Risk
Reduction: Risk and Poverty in a
Changing Climate (2009) identiies
ecosystem decline as a key driver
in exacerbating natural hazards in
the future. Indian economy is likely
to grow at 6.4 per cent rate in 2013
outpacing the 6 per cent expansion in
developing Asia-Paciic economies
in the same period. However, the
current projected growth is below
its own pace of the past. The global
economic slowdown starting 2008
has made us to review on the
limitations our ecological systems
and non-renewable resources
pose to our economic growth. We
need to analyze our iscal balance
sheets again for expenditures on
managing the challenges arising as
a consequence of environmental
degradation on different timescales.
India is now the worlds third
biggest carbon dioxide emitting
nation after China and the US. The
new emission data from the United
Nations published in early October
2010 is a probable cause of worry
for Indias climate negations in
the future. The ecosystem based
approaches for adaptation and
mitigation are the noble options
we still have. We need to evolve
approaches where we have
mitigation values for the adaptation
options and strategies as well,
YOJANA June 2013

and at the same time disaster risk


reduction as the beneit. We have
not only spoiled our wetlands and
river systems, but the entire landsoil system, making it chemical
intensive in its composition in quest
of immediate high returns.
Green revolution was needed
as India then needed food to feed
the people. Now the concept
of 2 nd green revolution has to
be built up with great caution
and concerns for sustainability.
Natural resource related activities
form major livelihood for Indias
population. Land, water and
bio-productivity cannot be dealt
in isolation. The Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment (2005)
refers to natural systems as
humanitys life support system
providing essential ecosystem
services for existence and socioeconomic well being. Twenty four
services are classiied under major
four categories:
a) Provisioning services, the
material that people extract
directly from ecosystems such
as food, water, and forest
products;
b) Regulating services, which
modulate changes in climate
and regulate loods, drought,
disease, waste and water
quality;
c) Cultural services, which
consists of recreational
(tourism), aesthetic and
spiritual beneits, and
d) Supporting services, such as
soil formation, photosynthesis
(food production, oxygen
generation) and nutrient
recycling.
Human Security and Disaster
Management
The World Summit on Social
YOJANA June 2013

Development (2005) noted the


reconciliation of environmental,
social equity and economic
demands as the three pillars of
sustainability. An imbalance in one
or more of these may exacerbate the
impact of a natural or impending
humanitarian crisis, resulting
in a disaster like situation. The
challenges of naxalism may be
understood in ecological terms of
forests, people and livelihoods,
which due to our failure to address,
have grown up to emergent state in
such areas. Environmental refugees
from the regions affected by
natural calamities, insurgencies, or
due to developmental interventions
like in case of large dams, or
migrants for livelihoods are one
of key humanitarian concerns
worldwide as well as in India.
P o o r, d o w n t r o d d e n a n d
marginalized people, landless,
or those occupying low cost but
hazardous locations for their housing
and occupations, are the ones most
and worst affected by natural
disasters like earthquake, loods,
drought, cyclone and diseases.
Relationships between environment
and disasters are inextricable. We
need to understand the ecology
of conlicts, vulnerability, human
behavior, and thereby of the
disasters, for their effective and
preventive management.
It is worthwhile to mention
that our initiative in India during
2008-9 on integrated environment
and disaster risk management,
when noticed by the United
Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), was followed by a high
level meeting at the UN Campus
Bonn in Germany, to evolve a UN
Partnership of Environment and
Disaster Risk Reduction. First
capacity building programme on

Ecosystem Approach to Disaster


Risk Reduction (ecoDRR) was
piloted in Sri Lanka and followed
by New Delhi in 2011 itself. Recent
release of Disaster Management
and Risk Reduction (2013) as
follow up to the Government of
India publication (NIDM) on
Ecosystem Approach to Disaster
Risk Reduction (2013), that related
to United Nations University
(UNU) bringing a special volume
entitled Role of Ecosystems in
Disaster Risk Reduction.
Issues of Critical Concern
Looking to the present state of
Indias environment and context
of climate-change, disasters
and corporate environmental
governance, following issues have
been identiied for critical concern
in academia and policy planning:
1.

Natural disaster
management: Number of
natural disasters continue to
rise in India and the region,
with heavy toll on human lives,
environment and economies.
Losses due to water and climate
related disasters far exceed
that of purely geophysical
ones. On the other hand,
chemical intensive economic
development has increased
the risk of industrial-chemical
disasters. Disaster management
needs to be a priority subject
for intervention as it has great
humanitarian aspects.

2.

E n v i ro n m e n t a l - H e a l t h :
Despite the need, the aspects of
environmental health including
those related with water,
sanitation, waste management,
t o x i c o l o g y, h a s b e e n
inadequately addressed due
to lack of policy intervention.
We need to have integrated
13

policy direction on preventive


and social health issues in the
country.
3.

Natural Resource Systems:


Be it a river, a wetland, forest,
land or soil, urban area or a
crop field, the management
of natural resources need to
be evolved with consideration
of these as system and with
the scientiic understanding of
resource rather than treating
them primarily as source.

4.

Environmental liability:
Environmental policy
implementation cannot be
effective unless the concept of
absolute liability is enforced
not only in context of industrial
hazards or pollution but equally
in relation to ecosystem
integrity, sustainability and
natural resources. Liability
should be integrated with
accountability and must also
include the Government,
monitoring agencies and
decision makers.

5.

State/District Environmental
Action Plans: We have
National Environmental
Protection Act (1986) but could
not regulate the mandate for
environmental action plan at
state, district and local levels.
This is an emergent need. Plan
should have a time frame,

6.

EIA and SEA improvements:


Environmental impact
assessment is an effective and
noble instrument of policy
and legal enforcement but,
however, is under question in
India due to its marketplace
image. It requires scientific
and academic community
to come forward together
to intervene and take up
research studies on validation

14

of such reports. Another


approach where EIAs are
done by Government agencies
responsible for decision making
may also be thought of, but
with ixing accountability for
their interpretations. Strategic
Environmental Assessment
(SEA) is a recognized tool for
environmental screening of
policies, plans and programmes
in practice in particular in
advanced countries. On
initiative of UNU and UNEP,
we have worked out a protocol
for EIA and SEA application
in disaster management.
Recently, Sri Lanka carried out
an SEA of its North Province
before launching post-conlict
developmental plan. We need
to learn and evolve to scrutinize
our economic and other
strategic decisions for their
impacts on different aspects
of environmental quality and
resources.
7.

8.

Environmental Audit:
Environmental audit in
mandatory terms is a formal
procedure in India, except big
industries and corporations
conducting detailed audits
v o l u n t a r i l y. P r a c t i c e o f
comprehensive environmental
auditing must be compulsory for
all industries, establishments
including housing complexes,
municipalities, and institutions
with signiicant water, energy
and material balance or
involving hazards.
Natural Resource
Accounting: The concept and
practice of natural resource
accounting or green accounting
was mooted and pilot studies
undertaken during 1990s.

However, the practice didnt


continue to grow. The concept
of green accounting and green
GDP must be integrated
with national and state
environmental action planning
as well as with developmental
planning.
9.

Economic evaluation of
environmental impacts: In
the absence of proper economic
evaluation, environmental
impacts and hazards are
not given due importance
in planning and decision
making. For example, the
environmental damages and
losses due to disasters and
environmental needs following
a disaster situation havent
been evaluated on economic
terms. This results in their
undermining. The practice of
ecological economics needs
to be promoted in research,
planning and monitoring of
developmental plans and
policies.

10. Ecological Auditing (EcoAudit): This is rather a new


tool, extended from the
principle evolved a decade
ago. This focuses on auditing
of natural resource systems
and environmental quality
aspects on ecosystem approach.
This takes into account the
ecosystem capacities, services
and related sustainability
parameters in the context of
internal, external and humaninduced factors.
Revisiting Economic Growth to
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity
to endure. In ecology it describes
how biological systems remain
diverse and productive over time.
YOJANA June 2013

For humans, sustainability is the


potential for long-term maintenance
of well being, which has ecological,
economic, political and cultural
dimensions. Healthy ecosystems and
environments are necessary to the
survival and lourishing of humans
and other organisms. Chennai based
Centre for Development Finance
has developed Environmental
Sustainability Index 2011 for
Indian states considering the
achievements, challenges, priorities
and present state of environment.
The study found the north-eastern
states as most sustainable whereas
the least sustainable states are
Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Punjab,
Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh.
Poverty, disparity and inequality
are key factors that aggravate
peoples vulnerability to hazard
be it of a natural, human-induced,
technological or socio-political
origin that may result in a devastating
situation or crisis. These factors are
in turn aggravated by ecological
deprivation and poor management
of natural resources, coupled with
infrastructure disparities brought in
by the techno-iscal intensiication.
No model of economic growth can
sustain for long if it doesnt respect
ecology in local and regional
context, and at the same time the
environment as broad concern
including the inter-relationships of
natural, human-made and sociocultural environments. Unless we
understand the ecological basis of
conflicts and evolution of local/
regional terrorism, we often fail to
ind sustainable ceaseire solutions.
Alternative models of sustainable
land use economies need to be
worked out taking care of climate
change adaptation and disaster risk
concerns as well.
Sustainability interfaces with
YOJANA June 2013

economics through the social and


environmental consequences of an
economic activity. Sustainability
economics involves ecological
economics where socio-cultural,
economic and health-related aspects
are integrated. Now, in the times
when we are calling for Integrated
district planning process, we
need to evolve the models and
protocols for ecological compatible
integrated planning at state, district
and local levels. At the same time,
it is important to recognize the
ecosystem relations between urban,
rural and industrial development
planning. Figure 1 shows economics
as a function within social arena of
the environment as recognized
by Scott Cato (Green Economics,
2009, Earthscan). Adams (2006)
enumerated the pressure balance
among environment, economics and
social functions under a sustainability
framework (International Union for
Conservation of Nature, Figure 2).
However, environmental economics
new focus is on the economic
valuation of ecosystem services

Figure 1: Economy as a function within


society and environment

in immediate and long-term


parameters that helps understand
need for ecological sensitive
developmental planning process.
In India as well, the concept of
Green GDP is upcoming which
should help promote sustainability
concerns into developmental
economics as well.
National Environmental
Protection Agency
Disaster management is a state
subject, whereas environment
is a broad concern divided and
shared between central, states and
concurrent lists, in the schedules of
Indias Constitution. In most cases
States enjoy the powers delegated by
Central Government. Therefore, an
apex agency should not be only an
authority to develop broad policies
and guidelines but also its own
standards, and need to be responsible
and accountable for their proper
and effective implementation at
the ground levels as well. We need
to learn from the United States
model of Environmental Protection
Agency. Pollution Control Board
concepts are obsolete and need to be
abolished to bring a cultural change
in environmental management, by
replacing it with Environmental
Protection Agencies with a uniform
institutional framework at State,
district and Urban local bodies
level. It is also important that a
standard ratio of scientiic, technical
and social experts is maintained in
these agencies at all the levels.
Policy Interventions: National
Environmental Council

Figure 2: Sustainability challenge is of


the balance in a win-win mode

Broad Paradigm Shift is needed


from fragmented and spontaneous
response or wait until emergent
approach to accountability and
liability based proactive culture of
prevention and infused mitigation
15

approach on environmental
protection affairs including
climate-change, natural disaster
management, chemical safety,
environmental health and overall
natural resource management
system. Prime Ministers Council
of Climate Change may be renamed
as Prime Minister s National
Environmental Council offering
an umbrella coordination of
Ministries like Environment and
Forests, Earth Science, Science &
Technology, environment related
divisions of DST, ICAR, ICMR,
DBT, CSIR, ICFRE, ICSSR, UGC,
National Biodiversity Board, etc.
and international organizations
like UNEP, IPCC, WMO, WHO,
UNDP, UNESCO, etc.
Development and promotion of
environmentally compatible models
for inclusive growth and sustainable
economic development at village,
taluka and district levels may be a
key objective. Intensive and effective
drives of capacity building and
awareness shall be needed to attain
its objectives. A policy guideline
on environmentally compatible
integrated district-planning need
to be developed. It is ironical to
note that India as a country 'though
loud enough in global platforms
of Stockholm and Rio de Janeiro'
has missed to represent ecology
in its constitution of strategic
and planning organizations like
Planning Commission, National
Disaster Management Authority,
National Investment Agency, etc.
The time has come when we need
to be sensitive to own long-term
sustainability and feel accountable
for all our deeds.
Education and Research
Environmental research in the
country is fragmented with much
of duplicacy, gaps and sometime
16

with conflicting conclusions.


The proposed National Council
and National University may be
mandated to share the strategic
responsibility of organizing and
coordinating with the relevant
agencies a broad network forum
to avoid these challenges. Some
of the states/UTs have integrated
their science & technology councils
with environment, and is a welcome
move. University and college
curriculum of environmental
studies need to be diversified
to meet specialized needs for
professionals on its sub-disciplines,
viz. environmental health, system
ecology, climate change, disaster
management, EIA, law & policy,
environmental economics, industrial
hazards, etc.

the areas of environment. In the


present times, when disasters,
climate change and health risks are
emergency challenges, a National
University on Environment and
Sustainability Studies (UNEST)
need to be established by the
Central Government to cater
the needs of quality research,
training and education leading to
masters and research degrees, and
will extend advisory support in
assessments, planning and policy
making. The institute may be
mandated also to host a forum
for organizations and institutions
working on environment, climate
change and disaster management
issues in the country, to facilitate
exchange of knowledge, skills, and
professional value addition.

Education and training in


environmental studies need be
diversiied with specializations at
University/college levels to focus
on emergency issues and challenges.
Our experts and Governments
have taken a great steps towards
environmental awareness of the
masses including college youth and
children, but could not mandate
a compulsory orientation of our
legislators and Government oficials
of all levels including sub-district
and local levels who built up the
administrative priorities of the
governance. This is one reason of
increasing conlicts between public
or civil society and Government
as their perceptions do not match
at all.

University Grants Commission


has supported Universities and
institutions on innovative course
and research programmes on
concurrent issues in environmental
sciences and notified a model
curriculum on disaster management
for all undergraduate course in the
lines of compulsory environmental
studies. Ministry of Environment
and Forests and Ministry of Earth
Sciences have also schemes
to support environment and
climate research. United Nations
Environment Programme has
expressed concern in promoting
the ecoDRR curriculum in Indian
Universities which has already
been included in other countries.
Recently, UNESCO has established
a high level academic institute,
first in Asia, Mahatma Gandhi
Institute of Environment, Peace and
Sustainability which will organize
and conduct courses and research
on environment, climate and
disaster related issues of Asian
q
concern.

National University on
Environment and Sustainability
For more than two decades,
there has been a demand for a
central institution on environmental
research and training which at the
same time shall award degrees
and professional certification in

(E-mail : envirosafe2007@gmail.com)

YOJANA June 2013

CENTRE-STaTE RElaTIONS
SPECIal aRTIClE

Changing Dynamics of Centre-State


Financial Relations
Pravakar Sahoo
Amrita Sarkar
FEDERAL SET up
is considered to be
an optimal form
of government as
it combines the
strength of a unitary
as well as a decentralized form
of government. The essence of
federalism lies in proper division
of powers and functions among
various levels of government
to ensure adequate financial
resources to each level of
government to enable them to
perform their exclusive functions.
In a federation, both developed and
underdeveloped federating units
find it advantageous to remain
within a federation due to various
reasons like uniied market facility,
security and inancial cooperation.
In India, federalism has evolved
from a highly centralized system
under the British regime-Lord
Mayo inancial resolution of 1871,
to a three-tier form of federation.

India has evolved


a noble kind of
federation which
is completely
different from the
accepted notion
of federation. The
evolved Indian
federalism is very
unique in character
and the Unionstate relationship
has also become
extremely complex
over the years

Evolution of Centre-States
Relations
The present federal iscal system
has not evolved in a day or two but
over a long period of time starting
from the late eighteenth century.

Though the Government of India


Act-1919 was a major breakthrough
in the history of evolution of
fiscal federalism in India, the
Government of India Act-1935
established a clear-cut demarcation
of subjects coming under the
Centre, States and, both Centre
and States. With the independence
of the country, the federal status
of India underwent a fundamental
change with clear division of
inancial powers and expenditure
responsibilities between Central
and State governments in the
Seventh Schedule of the Indian
constitution.
The undivided Indian National
Congress under Nehru (1947-66)
in the irst two decades led to a
strong central leadership and the
Centre developed the concept
of a patriarch controlling the
Indian federation. The Centre-state
relations were simply a relection
of relations between the state
branches of the congress party and
its central leadership. However,
over the last 60 years many changes
have been incorporated in the
Indian federation through different
constitutional amendments,

Pravakar Sahoo is an Associate Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University. Amrita Sarkar is an intern with
the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.
18

YOJANA June 2013

changes in criteria for devolution


of resources etc to fulfill the
objectives of iscal federalism viz.,
reducing fiscal imbalances and
ensuring provision of equal level
of public services like education,
health etc across all states at
similar rate of taxes.
The most important aspect of
iscal federalism is the division of
resources and functions between
different levels of governments.
The existence of iscal imbalances
is inherent in most of the
federations since the division of
resources goes in favour of the
central government to achieve
the objectives of stabilization and
distribution. Similar is the case
of Indian federalism where there
is a mismatch of resources and
expenditure responsibilities at
different layers of government.
T h o u g h i n t e r- g o v e r n m e n t a l
transfers take place to reduce iscal
imbalances and provide average
level of public services across the
sub-national governments, there
exist iscal imbalances and regional
disparities across the states even
after 60 years of independence.
The transfers from Centre to

States take place through three


channels, namely, Union Finance
Commission (UFC), Planning
Commission (PC) and Central
Ministries, of which the transfers
from FC are predominant. Gross
devolution and transfers (GDT)
comprises of States share in
central taxes (SCT), grants-in-aid
and gross loans from centre. Gross
Transfers to the states have been
rising over past decades except for
a dip in 2011-12.
The UFC and PC take
equalization as the most important
general objective while making
federal iscal transfers. Therefore
as required from time to time,
different UFCs and PCs keep
changing the method of federal
fiscal transfers to ensure the
objective of equalization. Different
approaches by different UFCs
have differential impact on the
resource transfers to the states.
The tax sharing is based on the
general criteria like population,
geography, backwardness, poverty
ratio, inverse per capita income,
distance formula, revenue gap
etc. After the seventh FC, the high
(almost 90%) weightage given

to population has been gradually


lowered and alternative measures
such as inverse formula and distant
formula have been given more
importance in sharing both income
and union excise duties. However,
these criteria have been multiplied
by the scale factor population
thereby giving more importance
to population.
The dependence of states on
Central transfers varies depending
on the capacity of the states to
generate own resources. For
high income states it varies from
one-fourth to one-sixth of their
revenues, for middle-income states
between one-third to one-fifth
(except for Chhattisgarh and West
Bengal where dependency is much
higher, almost 40-50%) and for
low-income states it is quiet high
ranging from 42-80%. In case of
Special Category States, these
Central transfers are very high
varying from 64.98% to almost
93% of their revenue receipts.
Haryana is the least dependent
State on central transfers, followed
by Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat
and Goa. Given the need of the
states, FC has been trying to

YOJANA
Forthcoming
Issues

July 2013
&
August 2013

July
Public Service Broadcasting
August (Special Issue)
Inclusive Democracy

YOJANA June 2013

19

Governments, India has 2.5 lakh


local governments, comprising
over three million elected
representatives which makes
India the largest democratic and
federal country. The signiicance
of the local bodies is measured in
terms of the percentage of local
governments to total public sector
expenditure and share of local
government expenditure to GDP.
Compared to other countries in the
world, India stands at the lower
end of the spectrum with a share
of local governments at only 5.1%
of total public sector expenditure
(Brazil-15%; OECD-20 to 30%).
In fact this share has declined by
over 20% in last ive years (from
6.4% in 1998-99). The constitution
spells out the task to the State
Fiscal Commission (SFCs) to
provide recommendations for the
PRI institutions, both urban and
rural, so that the consolidated fund
can be augmented accordingly.
However, it appears that most
SFCs do not take their instrumental
role seriously in helping to provide
the said services and in laying
the foundations for participatory
democracy in the country.
All UFCs have indicated several
shortcomings and omission and
commission of the SFCs. The main
reasons are non-synchronization of
the period of recommendation of
SFCs and UFCs; lack of clarity in
respect of the assignment of powers,
authority and responsibilities of
the local government; absence
of time limit to take appropriate
action; etc. The 13 th UFC has
made a signiicant change in the
devolution of resources to the
third tier by assigning a share of
the divisible tax revenue. This
share is on an average 1.93% of
YOJANA June 2013

the divisible pool of taxes for the


period 2010-15. However, this
devolution is a weak surrogate to
cover up the failure of 13th UFC to
employ a comprehensive measure
of decentralisation. The criticism
of THFC is the use of Census 2001
numbers for calculating population
shares of local grants-in-aid.
Though there is no substantial
information available about the
administrative and financial
eficiency of the PRIs in the state
to carry out the responsibilities,
it is generally believed that PRIs
cannot function on their own
due to lack of administrative and
infrastructural facilities. Given the
expenditure decentralization ratio
and revenue mobilization by PRIs
in the state, local bodies are not in
a position to carry out the assigned
expenditure responsibilities. Since
the amount of grants and share
in the taxes given through SFCs
is very low, central government
needs to transfer more funds to
the consolidated fund of the State
to fulfill the needs of PRIs. At
the same time, as more and more
of the states expenditure of the
rural/urban local government
is met by transfers from central
government the autonomy of the
states diminish likewise showing
clear signs of the dependency
syndrome. The magnitude and
trend of the percentage of the
central transfers to expenditure of
the local bodies in 2007-08 for a
few of the states are as follows :
Andhra Pradesh 51.8%; Assam87%; Bihar 90.7%; MP-65%;
Orissa-71.6%; Tamil Nadu- 39.4%
and West Bengal 47.8%.
Regional Disparity
There is wide variance in the
provision of basic services like

education, medical and other


infrastructural facilities leading
to discrepancies in major socioeconomic indicators like literacy
rate, infant mortality rate, poverty
ratio, and life expectancy etc. For
example the highest IMR (per
1000 births) can be seen in lower
income states such as Madhya
Pradesh (2009) 67, Orissa (65), UP
(63), Assam (61), Rajasthan (59)
respectively where as it is much
better in middle income and higher
income states. Similar is the case
of life expectancy and maternal
mortality rate. A few states were
able to attract investment (both
domestic and foreign) and do
better due to market reforms
as well as their fiscal abilities
to provide incentives and other
utilities during post reforms period.
Moreover, substantial changes in
sectoral origin of income without
appropriate re-distribution of
population has created inequality
both across the states and also
within the states. Infact, India
is currently in the first phase,
the phase of increasing income
inequality, of the inverted U of
Kuznets curve. Therefore the role
of central transfers to states is very
important for ensuring provision
of public services at a similar
rate of taxation. It seems that the
central transfers or centre-states
financial relations has not been
very successful in fulilling the
the main objective .i.e. to ensure
equal provision of public services
across sub-national government by
reducing iscal imbalances.
13th Financial Commission
With the increasing inequality
and requirement for fiscal
discipline and macroeconomic
21

stability, the scope of the 13 th


UFC was much wider than any of
the preceding UFCs. Besides the
usual tax devolution and grants to
ill the gaps in non-plan budgetary
expenditure, it was expected to
recommend several other grants
for local bodies, grants dealing
with environmental and nonenvironmental issues, and also
design and implementation of the
GST. It has placed the centre and
more so, the states, in a multitude
of conditions to micro-manage
their iscal system. These include
iscal consolidation, disaster relief,
design and implementation of GST
and specific problems accruing
to specific states. If properly
implemented, the conditionalities
can be very effective in rationalizing
the spending priorities of the States
to ensure provision of minimum
amount and standard of public
services. However, complying and
enforcing the conditions is a major
challenge and some states have
questioned the conditionalities
in terms of their iscal autonomy.
THFC has enhanced the vertical
devolution from 30.5% to 32%
of the divisible pool of taxes.
The horizontal distribution of
this transfer is categorized as
area (10%), population(25%),
iscal capacity(47.5%) and index
of iscal discipline(17.5%). Even
after attaching high weights to
iscal capacity index, the horizontal
formula has failed to increase
aggregate share of devolution to
low-income states, which remains
stagnant at around 54% over the
period of past three UFCs. This is
while the shares of middle-income
states have declined from 29.28%
in 11th UFC to 25.8% in 13th UFC
and share of high-income has
22

increased from 9.75% to 11.19%


during the same period.
Wi t h t h e o b j e c t i v e o f
maintaining long term stability
in the relative share of centre
and states in the total revenues,
13th UFC have set the target for
transfers from all sources at 39.5%,
marginally higher than the 12th
FC (38%) which would be close
to 4% of the estimated GDP.
The centre is receiving huge
revenues from sources such as
telecom auctions of which the
states get no share. There is also
increase in the number of centrally
sponsored schemes involving
huge expenditure which exceeds
the set limit. All this is going to
reduce the relative share of the
states sharply (Rao, 2010). The
approach followed by 13th UFC
is not very different from the past
UFCs as the recommendations are
made on the basis of projections
made on actual revenues and nonplan revenue expenditures on a
base year rather than estimating
the iscal capacities and the needs
of the state for determining the
transfers, which is not right.
Deviating from past UFCs,
13 th UFC estimate entitlements
based on iscal capacity accords
the factor a weight of 47.55 of the
total estimation. This approach
does not solve the issues regarding
the earlier gap-illing approach
and in fact has both conceptual
and methodical glitches. The
arguments given by 13th UFC in
this regard are not convincing and
it could have done well by using
a better measure of iscal capacity
than simply taking the average
tax-GSDP ratio of the state as the
norm (Rao, 2010).

The objective of the transfers


is to enable the states to provide
comparable levels of services
at comparable tax rates. But the
13th UFC does not make enough
efforts to fulill this criteria and
in fact continues with the gapilling which has in the past always
affected the equity and incentives
of the states adversely. Unlike the
recommendation of 12th UFC of
debt write-offs and rescheduling
linked to iscal adjustment, 13th
UFC conditions on the states do
not entail any incentive payments
except in the case of those that
did not pass iscal responsibility
legislation as required by 12th FC.
Thus there is a issue in design and
implementation.
Further, the 13 th UFC report
and recommendations have been
criticized on many grounds. 13th
UFC has recommended different
iscal adjustment path for Kerala,
Punjab, and West Bengal which
are states with high iscal deicits.
Among the 11 special category
states, different iscal adjustments
have been suggested for Jammu
& Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland,
Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Mizoram.
The 13 th UFC base year for
estimating iscal discipline path
is selective which is not fair and
subjective in nature (Rao, 2010).
On the other hand, existence
of fiscal capacity distance and
an index of fiscal discipline in
the same horizontal distribution
formula is a contradiction to
achieving horizontal equity. This
is because while the first tries
to increase the iscal capacity of
the states, the second limits their
expenditure according to their
revenue. 13 th UFC prescribes a
GST model for the country which
YOJANA June 2013

does not fall in Finance Commission domain. Further,


it assumes that GST would be revenue neutral to both
centre and states, thereby ignoring to incorporate the
impact of GST on the rest of its recommendations.
Fourteenth Finance Commission
The role of 14 th UFC is mandated with more
burdensome responsibilities in iscal, economic and
social areas. The 14th UFC has been asked even to
suggest measures to raise tax ratios of both Centre
and States, improve performance of public sector
enterprises, tackle challenges in ecology, environment
and climate change. Also it is supposed to suggest
measures to amend the FRBMA keeping in view its
shortcomings. It has to address the rising trend of
widening inequality in government spending across
states and take action towards iscal autonomy, which
has been substantially eroded over the years by the
implementation of iscal consolidation path since the
10th UFC. It has got the job to assess the impact of
GST and device a compensation mechanism for both
centre and states and take the states in conidence, so
that it can have higher acceptability.
Overall, though efforts have been made towards
a full-fledged federation, India continues to have
greater vertical iscal imbalances at different levels of
governments and horizontal iscal imbalance across
the levels of governments. India has evolved a noble
kind of federation which is completely different
from the accepted notion of federation. The evolved
Indian federalism is very unique in character and the
Union-state relationship has also become extremely
complex over the years. The role of PC, constitutional
mechanism and working of various institutions will
determine the future of Indian federation. The rising
inequality in an increasingly market economy demands
scientiic approach for iscal transfers from Centre
to states so that the objectives of iscal federalism of
equality and the provision of providing public goods
across states is ensured. There are few issues which
remain in the domain of centre-states inancial relations
such as multiple channels of transfer; limited scope of
UFC transfers; methodological weakness and too much
reliance on the gap-illing approach, and multiplicity
of objectives failing to focus on main objective of
reducing disparities.
q
(E-mail :pravakarirst@gmail.com
pooja_amrita@ymail.com)

YOJANA June 2013

23

DO yOu KNOW?
What is carbon trading?
Carbon Trading refers to
the buying and selling of the
right to release carbon dioxide
or greenhouse gases into the
environment by various countries.
The carbon trade across the
world began in 1997 with the
signing of Kyoto protocol in
Japan by 180 countries. The
Kyoto protocol called for 38
industrialised countries to reduce
their greenhouse gas emission.
Growing environmental
pollution across the world has
been a cause of concern to
everyone. Rapid development
and industrialisation have only
added to the problem. Carbon is
an element stored in fossil fuels
such as coal and oil when these
fuels are burnt, carbon dioxide is
released.
Carbon trading is like any
other market trading. Carbon
has been given economic value
allowing people, companies or
nations to trade it. If a company
purchases carbon, it gets the right
to burn it. Similarly, the country
selling it, gives up the right to burn
it. The carbons value is based on
the ability of the carbon owning

country to store it and prevent it


from release into the atmosphere
What is Participatory Note?
Participatory Note (PN) is an
instrument issued by registered
Foreign Institutional Investor (FII)
to investors abroad, who want to
invest in Indian stock Markets
without registering themselves with
the market regulator, the Securities
and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI). Trading through PN is
easy because these are like contract
notes which are transferred through
endorsement and delivery.
PN are said to constitute 15-20
percent of cumulative investments
by FIIs. In 2007 SEBI had proposed
curbs on PNs. This led to immediate
reaction and the markets came
cradling down. In view of this
sharp reaction, the proposal was
shelved.
PNs are mostly used by
overseas High Net worth
Individuals (HNIs), hedge funds
and other foreign institutions.
These instruments allow them to
invest in Indian markets through
registered. Foreign Institutional
Investors. (FIIs). These save time
and costs associated with direct
registrations According to a news

agency report, SEBI data shows


foreign investment into Indian
markets through PNs rose to
1.64 lakh crore rupees (USD
30 billion) in February 2013.
In January 2013 PN investment
in Indian market was 1.62 lakh
crore rupees. Investment into
Indian shares through PN was
Rs 1.77 lakh crore rupees in
November 2012 and 1.75 lakh
crore rupees in October 2012 on
policy reform measures taken by
the government and its initiative
to address tax related issues.
The quantum of FII investment
through PNs increased to six
month high at 12.33 percent in
February 2013 from 11.83 percent
in previous month. This was the
highest igure since August 2012.
Until recently PNs used to
account for more than 50 percent
of total FII investments but
their share has fallen after SEBI
tightened its disclosure and other
regulations for such investment.
Since 2009 PNs constitute 15-20
percent of FII holdings in India,
while it used to be 25 to 40 percent
in 2008. During 2007 PNs share
was as high as 50 percent.
q
(Compiled by Hasan Zia, Editor,
Yojana, Urdu)

Young biologist wins Green Oscar for saving Arunachal hornbills


A young wildlife biologist who converted bird hunters into their saviours in remote forests of Arunachal Pradesh was
awarded the 2013 Whitley Award, also known as Green Oscar, in London on Thursday. Aparajit Datta was among the
eight conservationists from across the world to win the prestigious award and shared 2,95,000 pounds as the prize money.
Datta leads a programme to conserve hornbills in the Indian Eastern Himalaya at the Nature Conservation Foundation
(NCF), an NGO established in 1996 to promote science-based wildlife conservation in India, said a statement by the
Whitley Fund for Nature.
Hornbills are prominent birds of Asian tropical forests and Arunachal is home to ive hornbill species. But their killing
by locals for meat and habitat loss because of shifting cultivation had threatened their existence deep inside forests.
Many tribals were not aware that due to their predominantly frugivorous diet, the brightly coloured birds with loud calls
have always been considered important agents of seed dispersal in the tropical forest. A small and poor tribal group in
Namdapha National Park, called Lisu, were hunting the birds and logging for their fuel needs.
24

YOJANA June 2013

private decision makers. Two groups


in particular are critical to this
effort: state and local governments,
and real estate developers.
First, in the current policy
climate, state and local governments
are beginning to promote energy
efficiency initiatives. Indias
National Action Plan on Climate
Change (2008) points to building
eficiency measures as essential to
carbon emission reduction. Several
national missions that focus on
scaling building efficiency have
also been initiated, such as the
National Mission on Sustainable
Habitat and National Mission
on Enhanced Energy Efficiency.
Effective execution of these national
and state level programs will be the
key determinants of their success.
State and local governments
are vital for setting standards
and supporting market leaders
to accelerate energy efficiency.
States across India are recognizing
the importance of taking steps
in this direction, for instance, by
advancing plans to make building
energy codes operational. The
Bureau of Energy Efficiency
launched the Energy Conservation
Building Code (ECBC) for India
in 2007. The ECBC establishes
minimum requirements for energyeficient design and construction
for buildings with a connected load
of 100 kW/120 kVA or more and
provides guidelines for building
design, including the building
envelope (walls, windows),
lighting, heating, air-conditioning
and electrical systems.States
such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra,
New Delhi, Odisha, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and
West Bengal have all committed
to advancing plans to make the
ECBC operational in 2013 for new
construction. Across the country,
YOJANA June 2013

the tremendous benefits to be


gained from ECBC adoption are
being recognized by these states, as
seen in the following graphic. Clear
frameworks such as the ECBC
can provide a necessary baseline
for measuring energy efficiency
beneits and success at the state and
country level.
Leadership by state and local
governments is crucial to effectively
overcome barriers and transform the
building market to be cost-saving.
Making the ECBC mandatory
and implementing an effective
compliance mechanism will ensure
that all newly constructed energyguzzling buildings meet at least
a minimum level of eficiency in
their energy use. Along with the
adoption of the building energy
code, an enabling environment
for code implementation and
compliance is equally important.
This is particularly relevant for the
India. State governments can create
environments that are conducive
to code compliance by following
a number of best practices. For
example, the ECBC can be
adapted to the states local climate
conditions, so that it is applicable

to the climactic conditions of the


geography in which it is being
implemented. States can also form
local steering committees that
oversee ECBC implementation and
ensure that the code is incorporated
into the regions local laws. Another
key factor is creating a skilled
workforce with the knowledge
base needed to check for quality
control and effective building
energy code implementation. States
can develop this human capital by
training municipal officers and
empanelling professionals such
as architects and engineers on
code technicalities. Universities,
professional organizations and nonproit groups can assist in providing
such training. Government agencies
can also award developers with the
most eficient building to drive
market competition, and consider
providing policy incentives to both
developers and tenants or buyers
who implement energy eficiency
in new or retroitted construction.
In all cases, having structures in
place for monitoring energy use
and code-implementation are key
to the successful uptake of eficient
construction by the community.

se eral states ha e a ou ed pla s to ake the ECBC operaio al y


for all e
o
er ial o stru io , i ludi g: A dhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Harya a, Kar ataka,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajastha , Ta il Nadu, Utar Pradesh, a d West Be gal.
Haryana

New Delhi
Uttar Pradesh

Rajasthan

Gujarat

West Bengal

Orissa
Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka

Tamil Nadu

27

uRbaN ENVIRONMENT
DISCuSSION

Indias urban environmental challenges:


Land use, solid waste and sanitation
Kala Seetharam Sridhar
Surender Kumar
T IS expected that by
2030 about half of the
Indian population will
be residing in urban
areas. This pace of
urbanization is already
being accompanied by problems
of water supply, sewage disposal,
municipal waste, the lack of open
landscaped spaces, air and water
pollution, and public transport,
along with others. Most of these
environmental problems have their
origin in unplanned development
of cities leading to higher use of
resources such as land and water.
Many times, there is not even
consensus as to which challenges
are more important and need to be
addressed. It is therefore necessary
to have an understanding of Indias
serious urban environmental
challenges along with empirical
evidence, to enable policymakers
to examine them.

Each state and city


needs to formulate
its own sanitation
strategy and their
respective city
sanitation plan
respectively in
overall conformity
to the national
policy

Leading urban environmental


challenges India faces
Major environmental challenges
in Indian cities as follows:
1. Changes in land use/land cover:
As urban population increases,
the demand of land for various
urban activities also increases.
Forests need to be cleared,

2.

3.

grasslands ploughed or grazed,


wetlands drained and croplands
are encroached upon due to
expanding cities. This is a
challenge because it reduces
green covers and increases the
consumption of fossil fuels
and GHGs emissions, and
leads to increase in surface
temperature
Solid waste generation,
collection and its management:
This is a major challenge
because a large amount of
solid waste is left by the side
of streets, to decay, which
is a major source of health
concerns. Further, there are
no appropriate mechanisms
to collect and dispose off the
waste thus generated.
Poor sanitation: This is a
challenge because there is
still a large proportion of
population which practices
open defecation; hence this
plays a role in the pollution
of surface and groundwater
sources.

Seriousness of the challenges


Changes in land use/land
cover: There is some evidence
that there is steady erosion in the

Kala Seetharam Sridhar is with the Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore and Surender Kumar with the Department of Business
Economics, South Campus, University of Delhi
30

YOJANA June 2013

WIlDlIfE aND ECOlOGy


RECOMMENDaTION

Western Ghats and Wild Life Preservation


P K Sujathan
What I would like to say is scripted by God in trees, lowers and clouds. So, I will not desist from planting trees for fear
that the universe is nearing its end.
-Martin Luther King

ESTERN GHATS,
as the name
implies, refers to
the impregnable
Ghats located at
the western side
of India. It is the beautiful, critical
and invaluable bounty of nature. It
is believed that Western Ghats is
roughly 500-700 lakh years old i.e
older than the Great Himalaya. It is
the habitat and biological hotspot
of 5000 lora, 16 never ever seen
endemic birds, 179 omnivorous
species and 191 pure water ishes.
It is 1600 km in length and 900
meters in height and stretches
from Thapthi river of Gujarat to
Kanyakumari of TamilNadu. It is
pervasive throughout 6 states of
India viz Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
and Kerala. The toppest peak of
Western Ghats is Anamudi found in
the Idukki District of Kerala. The
major seven clusters of Western
Ghats are Agasthyamala, Periyar,
Anamala, Nilagiri, Thalakkaveri,
Kudhramukh and Sahyadri. The
direct and indirect needs of around
thirty crore people of these six
states for drinking water and
irrigation are invariably met by
Western Ghats.

Above all,
Social forestry
with a stress on
exploitation of
renewable forest
resources may also
be encouraged.
Earnest efforts
should also be taken
to minimise the
fragmentation of
wild life habitat

Ta k i n g i n t o a c c o u n t t h e
ecological mainstay and traditional
signiicance, Western Ghats have
been added to the enviable list of
UNESCOs world heritage sites
on July 1, 2012 at a meeting in the
Russian city of St. Petersburg. Being
a treasure trove of biodiversity, the
Ghats irrevocably needs tender
treatment and unfailing protection.
Thirty nine sites of the Ghats have
been selected as heritage sites by
the World Heritage Committee. The
Committee viewed that the Ghats
represents geomorphic features
of immense importance with
unique biophysical and ecological
processes.
However, it is dolesome to
note that the Ghats is subjected to
rigorous exploitation of mankind.
The ecological imbalance and
the irregular rhythm of nature is
mainly attributed to the unfettered
axing of trees and thus paving the
way for the desertiication of the
zone. The concomitant occurrence
of lood and drought, soil erosion,
landmining etc are the deleterious
fall-outs of the deforestation drive of
mankind. The Red Data published
in 2012 signal that the lora and

The author is Research Oficer, District Planning Ofice, Civil Station Palakkad, Kerala
36

YOJANA June 2013

fauna of the Ghats is increasingly


depleted and decimated over the
years. Silent Valley, one of the
must see destinations in a mans life
also belongs to the Ghats and is on
the verge of premature death. The
major threats are
a. Unscientific methods of
ishing such as electro ishing,
dynamiting, industrial
efluents, introduction of exotic
species (the food preference of
exotic species is similar to that
of endemic species and will
adversely affect the progeny
of endemic species.)
b. I l l e g a l m i n i n g i s f o u n d
rampant especially in Goa and
Karnataka. Mining activities
badly necessitate enormous
quantum of water which in turn
causes siphoning off water into
mining pits. Naturally, there is
dearth of water for farming and
drinking.
c. Indiscriminate sand mining
and the proiteering of sand
maia also tell upon the health
of the Ghats.
d. The large scale thermal plants
such as cement, iron and steel
in the states of the Ghats
heighten the temperature of

e.

f.

nearby regions by dissolving


toxic chemicals from air.
In addition, thermal power
plants emit Fly ash containing
lead and mercury which is
deposited in river and thereby
turn detrimental to the
reproductive cycle of ishes.
N o t s u r p r i s i n g l y, t h e
unprecedented increase in
farm houses in the hill become
more consumers of energy as
construction fervor is on the
upbeat in the Ghats region.
As a result of the aforesaid
nefarious activities, sacred
groves are malevolently
weeded out and thus displacing
and dispossessing the tribals.

Western Ghats Development


Programme
Having understood that
preservation of the Ghats and
its wildlife is the need of the
hour, the Govt of India, following
the mandate of the National
Development Council, promulgated
the execution of the Western Ghats
Development Programme in the
Fifth FYP (1974-79). Although, at
the outset, emphasis on and priority
for was accorded to the expansion

of economic activities, there was a


paradigm shift from the Nineth FYP
onwards wherein watershed based
development approach became the
watchword. The key objectives,
therefore included
a. To make use of land and water
in the vicinity in a judicious
manner so as to tide over
soil erosion, drought etc and
thereby improve availability of
water, food, fodder and fuel.
b. To execute in letter and spirit
watershed based development
programmes with the help of
watershed society.
c. To select a vibrant Programme
Implementing Agency to
prioritise the implementation
of locally felt needs.
d. To optimize the use of natural
resources and assure the safety
of forest.
e. To establish proper linkage
between watershed committee
and Financial Institutions.
f. To assure equality and social
justice for the destitute and
women.
g. To foster watershed based
research programmes.
h. To bring about entry point
activities such as protection
of pond and water tank,
infrastructure development,
construction of food bridge,
digging common well,
electrification, construction
of open auditorium, irrigation
pumpset, drainage etc.
Modus operandi
implementation

of

As part of its execution, a


watershed committee comprising
of the president of the local body
concerned as the chairman or
the chairperson and agriculture
YOJANA June 2013

37

officer as the convener would


be constituted. The committee is
required to gather information on
the watershed with the help of the
resource map of the Panchayat.
Thereafter the problems of the
watershed area such as poverty
eradication, improvement in
infrastructure, trends in agriculture
production etc and their suggestions
and solutions would be charted out
on a priority basis with the help
of local people. On this basis, a
draft action plan comprising the
following areas would be prepared
threadbare.
a.

Why action Plan?

b.

Information on the watershed


area such as its total length,
location, features of the soil,
slope of the land etc.

c.

Major objectives of the


scheme.

d.

Tr a in in g an d a w a r e n e s s
programmes, administrative
expenses etc

e.

Preparation of watershed
master plan, topo sheets,
cadastral map etc

total outlay, 80% would be the


share of WGDP, 10% is the
contribution from local body
and the remaining 10% would
be the contribution of the
beneiciaries. It is also possible
to construct footbridges the
cost of which, should not
exceed Rs2 lakh.

f.

Period of implementation
(usually three years)

Madhav Gadgil Committee


Report

g.

Approval of the governing


body of the respective local
bodies.
Finally the District Level Coordination Committee, the
apex committee at the district
level under the chairmanship
of the District Collector would
accord inal endorsement for
the action plan. Out of the

Madhav Gadgil, famous


ecologist, was deputed to be the
chairman of Western Ghats Ecology
Expert Panel. The main objective
of the Committee is to study the
ecological and environmental issues
hovering around Western Ghats and
give salutary recommendations.
Prof Gadgil submitted the report in
August 2011 to the Union Ministry

Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ)


Zone #1
Zone #2
Do not give new licenses for mining.
Mining

Where mining exists, it


should be phased out in 5
years.

Existing mines should be


under strict regulation and
social audit.

Zone #3
Allow New mining license
only if scarce minerals not
available on the plains.
Existing mines should be
under strict regulation and
social audit.
Allow new industries but
with strict regulation and
social audit.

Polluting Industry (Red/


Orange)

Do not allow new industries. Existing industries must switch


to zero pollution by 2016 or else close them down.

Non polluting industry


(green/blue)

Allow, but with strict regulation and social audit

River projects/dams

No river projects higher


than 3 meters.

Power plants

Do not allow new power plants.

Transport

No new railway lines and major roads, except where it is


highly essential (e.g Goa),

Tourism

Avoid new highways, Expressways


Waste management, trafic, water and energy use to be strictly regulated.

Not higher than 15m

Any height allowed but


with detailed environmental
impact assessment.
Existing power plants
may be allowed with strict
regulation and social audit.
New plants allowed only if
theyve zero pollution.
Allowed, but only with
strict regulation and social
audit.

www.mrunal.org

38

YOJANA June 2013

of Environment and Forest. He submitted Ecologically


Sensitive Zones (ESZ) into three zones.
Zone 1: Needs highest protection.
Zone 2: Needs intermediate protection.
Zone 3: Needs moderate protection.
The Committee recommended to constitute
Western Ghats Ecology Authority. This will have
jurisdiction over the Western Ghats districts in six
states i.e. Karnataka, Maharashtra, T. Nadu, Goa,
Gujarat and Kerala.
Kasthurirangan Committee
The Kasthurirangan panel was set up by GOI to
study the Gadgil committee report on Western Ghats.
The Committees report was brought to light on
18/04/2013. Some of the crucial recommendations
are
a. There should be complete ban on mining
activities in Ecologically Sensitive Areas
(ESA).
b. The ongoing mining activities should be banned
within 5 years or as and when mining lease is
expired.
c. 90% of the natural forests left in the Ghats to be
conserved under the ESA provisions.
d. The Panel did not recommend an outright
rejection of the Athirapally hydroelectric
project in Karnataka and Gundiya
Dam in
Karnataka.
e. The forest area falling within the ESA covers
4156 villages and so the villagers should be
involved in decision making on the future
projects.
f. The township or construction over the size of
20,000 sqm in the ESA to be banned.
Conclusion
Establishment of National Parks and National
Sanctuaries is the best way to foster ecofriendship and
develop green growth. Above all, Social forestry with
a stress on exploitation of renewable forest resources
may also be encouraged. Ernest efforts should also
be taken to minimise the fragmentation of wild life
q
habitat.
(E-mail : idofsujathanpk@gmail.com)

YOJANA June 2013

39

ENVIRONMENT aND RIVER SySTEM


STaTE-SPECIfIC

Problems in Flood-Prone River Basins


Dinesh Kumar Mishra

ATER LOGGING
is one of the major
problems of land
degradation in
India. Unscientiic
management of
soil, water and crops in irrigated
lands and obstruction of natural
drainage systems by various
developmental activities are
the main factors responsible for
disrupting the balance of inlow
and outlow of water, leading to
water logging. While irrigation has
increased by leaps and bounds, its
attendant problem of water logging
is now plaguing substantial area
of agricultural lands. says the
Report of the Report of the Working
Group on Flood Management and
Region Speciic Issues for XII th
Plan. Water logging is a problem
that has not received the attention
it deserves leading to the loss
of agriculture, one of the major
employment source in the flood
prone areas of India. We shall go
into some details of the problem
with special reference to Bihar.

It was imperative
on the part of the
government to work
on improving the
drainage, widening
the span of culverts
and bridges and
remove impediments
to the low of
water to the extent
possible

BiharA Profile Bihar


(population of 103.8 million-2011
Census) with a geographical area
of 94,163 sq km has a population

density of 1102 persons per sq.km.


It is rated one of the highest lood
prone state in India with normal
rainfall of 1205 mm and 53 rainy
days annually.
Water logged North Bihar
North Bihar, the plains located
north of the Ganga in Bihar, is
interspersed with eight major
river basins; the Ghaghra, the
Gandak, the Burhi Gandak, the
Bagmati, the Adhwara group of
rivers, the Kamala, the Kosi, and
the Mahananda. The Ghaghra and
the Mahananda enter the state
from Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal respectively. All other
rivers entering North Bihar, with
the exception of the Burhi Gandak,
come from Nepal. This river too
has considerable catchment area
in Nepal.
The flat terrain and the huge
variations in water volume in the
rivers cause extensive looding in
the North Bihar plains. Ground
slopes vary from 22 centimeters
per kilometer near the Indo-Nepal
boundary to 7.5 centimeters per
kilometer near the conluence of
the rivers with the Ganga. The
difference between minimum and

The author is Convenor, Barh Mukti Abhiyan, Bihar and an expert on India's river system.
YOJANA June 2013

41

maximum flows in Himalayan


rivers is high. During normal
years, the rivers carry between 10
and 20 times more water during
the monsoon than in winter, but
during times of intense rainfall
in the catchment areas they may
increase in size a hundred-fold.
Water logging raises its head
himalayan rivers contain large
amounts of sediment during the
monsoon. The heavy downpours in
the mountains scour the slopes and
turn the swift waters into a muddy
brew. As they reach the plains and
lose momentum, the rivers deposit
their loads and begin to meander.
Rivers like the Kosi have been
notorious for changing course.
Available records suggest that the
river was lowing about 160 km
east of its present course some 200
years ago. The lateral movements
of rivers cause erosion and loss of
land, formation of land depressions
called chaurs that remain water
logged for years before they
become productive. There is a
series of 49 chaurs in East and
West Champaran running from
northwest to southeast suggesting
that the Great Gandak must have
been passing through that route in
past. The case of the Bagmati, the
Kamala and the Mahananda is no
different either. This has made a
considerable portion of the land in
Bihar waterlogged, a phenomenon
that has been exacerbated by
development. Natural drainage has
been impeded by embankments,
canals, roads and railway tracks.
Oficial records suggest that nearly
9.42 lakh hectares (lha) of land in
Bihar, 8.36 lha of which is located
in North Bihar, suffers from water
42

logging. This constitutes about 16


per cent of the total area of North
Bihar which has a population
of 66.09 million people (2011
Census) and an area of 52,312 sq
km implying a population density
of 1263 persons per sq. km. It also
implies that over 10 million people
are hit by water logging even if the
rainfall in the state is normal or
deicient. Economy of North Bihar
is predominantly agricultural and
if the land remains water logged,
it cannot be ploughed and if it
cannot be ploughed no agriculture
is possible over it. This throws the
farmers engaged in agriculture
out of employment and it results
in massive migration to greener
pastures within the country and
abroad.
British Legacy: Developing
Irrigation, Ignoring Water
Logging:Development of irrigation
in early nineteenth century in India
by the British had shown good
results to start with in drought prone
areas of the country. They tried to
develop the same in the flood
prone areas also. They wanted to
control loods in the irst instance
and once flood is controlled,
spilling of water through river
banks would be checked and that
will create the need for irrigation.
They wanted to make money on
both the counts, providing lood
protection followed by agriculture,
so as to maximize proits. They
failed, however, miserably in
Orissa and in Bengal. Attempts to
tame the Damodar in mid-1850s
by embanking the river led to
the rise of the river bed, water
logging on the flood protected
countryside, drainage congestion,

malaria and frequent breaches in


the embankments. They found
that if an embankment protects the
countryside, say for ten years, and
breaches in the eleventh; all the
beneits accrued over ten years are
offset by that single incident in the
form of relief and rehabilitation.
They never ventured to control any
heavily silt laden river thereafter.
Failure of providing irrigation in
looded basins cautioned the British
about venturing in irrigation. In
1871-72, the Lieutenant Governor
of Bengal summarily rejected the
proposal for an inundation canal
from the Gandak in Champaran
citing example of tampering with
the Damodar in Burdwan district
saying that the proposed canal
would add to water logging and
spread malaria, the farmers will
use the canal water only at the time
of scarcities which were not very
common in Champaran those days,
the canal was unlikely to meet its
expenses and the interest over
the capital might not return. This
proposal was put once again before
him during the famine of 1874 but
he did not concede the demand.
However, some smaller projects
like the Saran Canals and Teur
Canal were taken up following the
famine of 1874. Even these canals
could not be run profitably as
elsewhere because water was not
needed in all the years and there
was no reason for the farmers to
pay for the services they were not
availing.
Embankments along the rivers
put by zamindars along these rivers
were also causing obstruction
to free passage of water into
the rivers and subsequent water
YOJANA June 2013

logging. Two more canals were


taken up in North Bihar following
the famine of 1896, the Tribeni
Canal and the Dhaka Canal, both
in Champaran, and they never met
the expectation that they were built
for. These canals were laid in west
to east direction while the land
sloped from north to south. The
result was that the canals caused
extensive water logging if they
remained in place during the rainy
season and caused huge damages if
they breached. There was no third
course available. The British only
expressed their concern over water
logging in the lood-prone areas
but they never took up the issue
seriously to ind a remedy as it was
not rewarding to them. So much so
that when Robert Green Kennedy,
a young engineer working with
the irrigation establishment of
the British (West Punjab-now
in Pakistan), found in 1873 that
only 28 per cent of canal water
released from headwork reaches
ields and the remaining 72 per
cent seeps into the ground and
raises water table and resulting in
water logging. He was transferred
to the battle ields of Afghanistan
for revealing state secrets.
The tradition continues
No lessons were learnt from
those projects and when projects
like the one on the Kosi and
the Gandak were taken up in
the middle of 1950s and 1960s
respectively resulted in same
miseries that were faced by the
British over hundred years ago.
Water Resources Department
(WRD) of Bihar suggests that 1.82
lha of land is waterlogged east of
the eastern Kosi Embankment.
YOJANA June 2013

Another report of the Special


Task Force on Water logging
(1988) of GoB says that 90,450
hectares land below the 145 feet
contour line is waterlogged west
of the western embankment of
the Kosi. North of this contour
line another 33,749 hectares is
reported to be waterlogged in
Saharsa, Samastipur, Darbhanga
and Madhubani districts. This
figure does not include chaurs
( land depressions) measuring
less than 50 acres (20 hectares).
Thus, a total of 1.24 lha of land is
waterlogged west of western Kosi
embankment bringing the total
water logged land in the Kosi basin
alone to 3.06 lha. The Kosi Project
(1953) had an irrigation target
of 7.12 lha but it never irrigated
more than 2.13 lha of land and
this happened only once in 198384. A recent study conducted at
IIT Mumbai suggests that 2.11
lha of land is water logged under
the Gandak Command. Second
Irrigation Commission of Bihar
(1994) feels that out of the total
water logged area of 9.42 lha
in the state, 2.5 lha is beyond
redemption.
There is not much of difference
between the approach of the British
and the post-independence scene as
far as water logging is concerned.
This is not the case with Bihar
alone. The other states like Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Assam,
West Bengal, coastal Odisha etc are
equal sufferers of this menace.
What water logging means to
people In technical terms, when
the water table in the ground rises
so high as to reach the suction
zone of the roots of plants, oxygen

supply to the plant is cut off, its


growth is hampered and output
dwindles. The roots also suck the
salts that are dissolved in water.
Most of the water sucked up by
the roots is transpired by the leaves
leaving the salts known as reh on
the earths surface rendering it
unit for cultivation. This is what
water logging does to the land.
But unwanted water does much
more. It converts fertile land into
stagnant pools of water. Water
encircles and engulfs villages,
making them inaccessible and
unapproachable: boats must
replace bicycles and bullock carts
as the mode of transportation. It
reduces a landlord into the owner
of a waste land cast with water. It
converts rice crop into a crop of
frogs, crabs and snails. It turns a
farmer into a daily wage manual
worker, and the manual worker to
an unemployed destitute and edges
him out of his village to look for
employment elsewhere. It pushes
the family into an endless wait
for money orders from distant
places. It deprives parents of the
care they are entitled to from their
sons. Massive migration of labour
and all the problems related to
such migrations are an obvious
corollary to this situation.
Can something be done to
face the problem? Clearing water
logging is not as glamorous job
as providing irrigation. While
dealing with water logging one
has to accept that the problem is
man-made as drainage has always
suffered the cost of unplanned
development as all the economy in
any building work is observed in
providing drainage. Construction
43

The 1958 landuse classiication


indicates area under agriculture,
urban,ridge and orchards,waterbody
and lood plains of river. In 1996
this classiication constituted urban,
agriculture,forest,river/waterbody,
wasteland, farmhouses, open land,
plantation, open scrub, quarry,
wildlife sanctuary and roads. Here
again the major transformation has
been the conversion of cropland to
urban built up area. Attempt has
been made to maintain the forest
cover quantitatively ,however
qualitatively the density has gone
down. Some agricultural lands have
been sold to make farmhouses,
where a large variety of exotic
species thrive. Documentation of
lora and fauna during this period
indicates introduction of exotics
and hardy species. Proliiration of
smaller and hardy mammals seem
to have started.
Master Plans of Delhi
The Master plans of Delhi both
1962 and 1981 had also proposed a
network of green spaces within the
urban limits to meet the recreation
needs of the people and to function
as lung spaces. These had their
genesis in the London County Plan
prepared by Sir Abercrombie and
Haussmanns plan for Paris and
Ebenezer Havards garden city.
MPD-2001 had proposed 8,722
ha as area under recreation which
was @ 9.7 sq.m per person. Further
conversion of recreational areas to
other uses could only be carried
out under special circumstances.
Although, the green area in Delhi
is managed by different agencies,
DDA has the largest role to play
with over 5050 ha (aprox.) under
YOJANA June 2013

its jurisdiction. The green cover in


the capital is 19% of the total area
which is much larger than other
cities.
The level of hierarchies in the
planning of greens by DDA as per
PDP 2001 are Regional Parks, District Parks,
Neighbourhood Parks, City
Forests, Historical Landscapes,
Sport Complexes, Landmark
Greens, Green Belts, Tot Lots etc.
In planning and development of
Regional Parks, City Parks care has
been taken to reduce all artiicial
landscaping; therefore areas under
the Ridge and areas possessing
remnants of natural growth come
under this category. The other
categories of greens work towards
creating an overall socio-physical
environment for the city serene
gardens, bustling picnic huts, lively
musical fountains and joyous play
ields along with childrens parks.
E c o s y s t e m a n d O rg a n i s m a l
Diversity of Delhi
Delhis Ecosystem Diversity
can be classified into a variety
of ecosystems. The ecosystem
diversity has been based on the
physiographic characteristic of

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Delhi and has been divided into six


categories detailed in the table-1:
The process of urbanization
has modified most of the above
ecosystems- lowlands have been
encroached by urban development,
natural forests have been denuded,
many storm water drains have been
covered up or stopped abruptly,
and lakes and ponds have been
filled upon or converted into
garbage dumps. Apart from the
modiication of the spatial extents
of these ecosystems, qualitatively
the ecosystems have degraded. The
species composition and vegetation
densities in the forests have changed.
The water quality of existing lakes,
drains have deteriorated. Infact
the water quality of River Yamuna
has been classiied as E (CPCBs
nomenclature for Designated best
use, indicating the river water to be
unit for any use).
Interestingly enough, it is
observed that of the recorded
Delhi fauna, there are 24 species
belonging to Schedule I of the
Wild Life (Protection) Act,
1972 and 15 species of these
also feature under Appendix I
of CITES. All these belong to
vertebrates except one-which is
an invertebrate (Lepidoptera).

Table-1
LOWLANDS
- Flat agricultural/ horticulture,
grazing lands
HILLS,
- Rocky outcrops with arid
vegetation
FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
- Dry deciduous arid forest of the
Ridge.
VALLEYS
- Natural storm water drains.
FRESHWATER
WETLANDS
- Lakes and ponds.
RIVERINE ECOSYSTEM - River and lood plains
51

Among the vertebrates 6 species


were Mammals, 11 species of birds
and 6 species of reptiles-belonging
to Schedule-II. This is itself is
suficient to be more conscious of
Delhi environment and conserve
the bio-diversity wealth. Delhi
has the distinction of possessing
the largest number of bird species
compared to other metropolitan
cities in India. This could be also
due to the presence of the major
Asian lypath of birds along the
River Yamuna.

Table -2: Landuse and habitats (meso scale)


S.No.
Use Zone
Habitat ** Category
1
RESEDENTIAL
Primary Residential Zone
Open scrub
Mixed Residential Zone
Unplanned/Informal Residential Zone
2
COMMERCIAL
Retail Shopping Zone
General Business Commercial District/ Cliff &caves
centers

Wholesale, Godown, Warehousing,


Regulated Markets.
3

Habitat Scales for Biodiversity


Assessment
4

Habitat disaggregation would


vary depending on the scale of
the study. The area of NCT Delhi
is 1483 sq.km., which is a meso
habitat. The urban area of Delhi
is 582.85 sq.kms.; is also a meso
habitat. At the scale of NCT Delhi,
only major ecosystems can be
identified and assessed or their
biodiversity value. However, at the
scale of urban Delhi and planning
zone level i.e. Zone A to P (11.6 sq.
km.to 229.8 sq.km.), which are also
meso habitats, landscape elements
such as patch; corridor and matrix
can be recorded.

Landuse and Habitats


At the NCT level (Meso habitat)
and Urban Area level (Meso habitat
) the landuses can be further
classiied into habitats (Table-2).
The landuse of urban area of Delhi,
is available from the master plans. A
review of the Master Plan approach,
in 1996, brought about the Urban
Development plans formulation
& implementation guidelines
(UDPFI Guidelines). The landuse
classification as suggested there
52

MANUFACTURING
Service and Light industry
Open scrub
Extensive &Heavy Industry
Special Industrial Zone
Hazardous, Chemical and Noxious
PUBLIC &SEMI-PUBLIC
Govt./Semi Govt./Public Ofices
Cliff &caves
Govt. Land(Use Undetermined)
Open scrub to woodland
Educational &Research
Open scrub to woodland
Medical &Health
Open scrub to woodland
Social, Cultural& Religious
Open scrub
Utilities &Services
Open scrub
Cremation &Burial Grounds
Open scrub to woodland
RECREATION
Playgrounds, Stadium, Sports Complex
Open scrub to woodland
Parks &Gardens (Public open spaces)
Open scrub to woodland
Multipurpose Open Space (Maidan)
Open scrub to woodland
TRANSPORTATION &COMMUNICATION
Roads
Railways
Airport
Open scrub
Sea port &Dockyards
Bus Depots Truck Terminal & Freight
Complexes.
Transmission &Communication
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture
Open scrub
Forest
Woodland
Brick Kilns &Extractive Area
Water Bodies
Wetland
SPECIAL AREA
Old Built-up Areas
Heritage & Conservation
Scenic Value Areas
Open scrub to woodland
Village Settlement
Other Uses

Source; UDPFI guidelines** This classiication is subject to change depending on


availability of scientiic data. At present it is somewhat subjective

YOJANA June 2013

in have been analysed to arrive at


habitat typology.

Table-3
Air pollution sinks within open and green
spaces (performed by parks, city forests )

It has been observed that habitat


quality within similar landuse zones
varies with respect to
l

Density of Development
eg. Single family residential
(bunglows, plots) or Multi
family residential (lats, group
housing)
Ground Coverage of Buildings
i.e. the effective open soil/
unpaved area available as
habitat for lora and fauna.
Age of the locality - Preindependence development
has mature trees, native
species, Post 1962 Master
Plan developments have quick
growing, lowering trees and
exotics.
Size of the Landuse Zone
since each landuse is a Patch
as per landscape element
classification, landscape
metrics, such as patch size,
perimeter to area ratio etc.
would effect the species
composition therein.

Regulation
Functions

It follows therefore, that detailed


analysis would be required to
estimate the contribution made by
various types of open/green spaces.

Regulation of the hydrologic cycles (performed


by open spaces and water bodies)
Supports the biological diversity in the city
in many areas. (parks, open spaces, water
bodies, certain built up areas)

Urban
Open/
Green
Spaces
Of Delhi

Prevents soil erosion and sedimentation in


certain areas (planted areas)
Regulation of the local and global climate
(planted areas)
Carrier
Functions

Provides food and raw materials in terms of


vegetables, lowers, fruits .(Agricultural ields
,orchards, gardens)
Conservation of energy in the city through
controlling the micro climatic variations
(parks, forests and waterbodies.)
Provides recreation and tourism in many
areas. (parks, water bodies)
Integrates urban man to the nature
Produces oxygen (green areas.)

Production
Functions

Recharges the ground water tables in many


areas. (open spaces in potential recharge
zones)
Provides medical resources. (many trees,
plants used as home remedies)
Produces raw materials for some of the human
activity,

Environmental role of Habitats


In the case of Delhi, if we
analyze the natural resource proile
to understand the extent to which
they contribute to environmental
protection, the role of urban open
spaces seems to be most important,
as indicated in table-3:

Control of runoff and looding. (performed


by open spaces and wetlands)

Aesthetic information.
Information
Functions

Spiritual and religious information


Cultural and artistic inspiration.
Scientific and educational information
source.

A preliminary exercise to the above


would be an understanding of the
attributes of various landuses and
their potential to contribute to the
above functions. It would also be
worthwhile to attempt to study the
species richness and biodiversity

index of some of them, to appreciate


their biodiversity status and corelate the same to environmental
quality and thereby making a case
q
for their conservation.
(E-mail:meenakshidhote@gmail.com)

Readers may send in their views/suggestions on the articles published in Yojana at the
e-mail:yojanace@gmail.com
YOJANA June 2013

53

NORTh EaST DIaRy

PanidihingA Paradise of Birds


Mouchumi Gogoi

IODIVERSITY
P R O V I D E S
material and nonmaterial wealth in
the form of food,
fiber, medicine,
happiness, peace, and so on for
human communities. Loss of
biodiversity means jeopardize of
prospect and progress of human
society.

Assam is a part of global


biodiversity hotspots, rich with
innumerable biotic diversity.
Panidihing (270 4.5/ N to 270 10/ N
latitudes and 940 25/ E to 940 40/ E
longitudes) - a unique and important
bird area is a Protected Area (PA)
situated in Sibsagar district of
Assam. The Bird Sanctuary (BS)
was constituted with a total area
of 33.93 sq. km. The location
of the sanctuary is 19 km northeast of the Sibsagar town. The
National Highway-37 is running
just 9km south of Panidihing. And
the nearest airport Rowriah (Jorhat)
is about 75 km towards east. It is
surrounded east, north and south by
peopled villages. The Brahmaputra
River lows in the north-western
side of the PA. On the other hand
river Dishang lows in the southern
part of the PA. Panidihing Bird

Sanctuary established on 10 th
August, 1999 by a State Government
Notification. The sanctuary is
well known for many bird species
which are very endangered and
enlisted in the threatened species
list. It is important to note that
this bird sanctuary has also been
revealing ecological and geotourism
value. But it is observed that this
biologically rich sanctuary has lost
its earlier status of ecological and
geotourism signiicance in recent
years due to misuse and unwise use

of its biodiversity. The problems of


channel shifting and bank erosion
of the river Dishang are the major
problems for the Sanctuary the past
years. Therefore, for the sustainable
development of the sanctuary, it
is high time to take some positive
and serious steps to protect the
biodiversity of the area, specially
the birds diversity. Panidihing

has significant geo-ecological,


economic and social importance
in North-East India in general and
Assam in particular.
What Panidihing is Famous
For?
At present, there are 21
important protected areas and 46
IBAs in Assam. It is known that
820 bird species are observed in
different parts of the state, which
include 280 migratory species.
Panidihing sanctuary is very
rich in biotic diversity as mainly
because of congenial climates,
lat fertile alluvial plain and water
bodies. The geographical position
of the sanctuary is in between
the Kaziganga National Park
and Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere
Reserve; as a result the migratory
birds at the time of their journey get
rest, ind foods and shelters here.
The sanctuary is well known for
mainly for water birds. Panidihing
was once the home of around 165
birds species, of which 96 were
identified as local and 69 were
listed as migratory species. But, in
recent past the numbers of species
have been seen in the sanctuary
surprisingly gone down for many
reasons. Important bird species

The author is Assistant Professor of Geography, Moran College, Assam. Dr. K. Kalita is Assistant Professor of Geography
Tinsukia College, Assam
YOJANA June 2013

55

observed in Panidihing are-White


Stork, Black Necked Stork, Lesser
Adjacent Stork, White Breasted,
Fishing Eagle, Common Crane,
House Crow, Jungle Crow, Open
Billed Stork, Paddy Bird, Spotted
Billed Pelican, Gray Heron, Barn
Owl, Spotted Owl, Small Blue
King Fisher, Common Gray Horn
Billed, King Crow, Black Crown
Night Heron, Yellow Bittern, Red
Headed Vulture and White Goose
etc. On the other hand, a number of
threatened species are also observed
in Panidihing (Table).
B e s i d e s , b i r d s s p e c i e s
Panidihing Sanctuary is also rich
for its local ishes (viz. Amphipnous
cucia, Channa striatus, Channa
orientalis, Channa amphibian,
Channa marulius, Colisa lalius,
Channa punctata), trees (viz.
Dalbergia sissoo, Bombax ceiba,,
Lagerstroemia speciosa, Dillenia
indica, Barringtonia acutangula,
Zizyphus jujube, Acacia catechu)
and grasses (viz. Erianthus
ravaneae, Phragmites kerka,
Imperata arundinacea, Imperata
cylindrical, Typha elephantine,
and Meyraudia reynaudiana). It is
important to note that the sanctuary
is also famous for its wetlands. Some

of the important wetlands (locally


known as Beel) are located inside
Panidihing are-Phulai, Balijan,
Ghoka, Singorajan, Dighali,
Jorjoria, Gela Demow, Uzantoli,
Lalitankur, Sogunpara, Kandulijan,
Goroimari and Kekurakhati. These
beels are the congenial habitat for
the waterfowls. The Mising, Kalita,
Nepali, Ahom, Deori, Mazdur
and Koibarta communities of the
surrounding villages (Majumelia
Gaon, Somorajan, Sorogua Gaon,
Bakulduba, Demowmukh, Lepai
Gaon, Samukjan, Dighaldariali,
Milankur ,Uzantoli, etc) are some
way depend on their livelihood
on the Sanctuary. However, it
does not imply that they are totally
dependent on Panidihing. Fishing
Communities, animal rarer and the
irewood collectors are some way
rely on the sanctuary. The villagers
in and around of the sanctuary play
impotent role in maintenance and
balancing the sensitive ecology of
the area.
Panidihing Needs Attention!
Panidihing is the home of as
many as 165 species of birds
species is facing a numbers of
problems in recent years.

Threatened Species of Panidihing


Sl.no
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Species
Endangered
Critically Endangered
Vulnerable

Near Threatened

Source: Field data & different literatures

56

Name
Greater Adjutant
Oriental White-black Vulture
Slender-billed Vulture
Spot-billed Pelican
Lesser Adjutant
Black-breasted Parrot bill
Swamp Florican
Greater Spotted Eagle
Pallass Fish Eagle
Bears Pochard
Darter
Black-neck Stork
Ferruginous Pochard

As many as thirteen (13) species


of Panidihing are enlisted in
the threatened species list. Of
which, Greater Adjutant is
listed as endangered species
and Oriental White Black
Vulture and Slender-billed
Vulture are listed as critically
endangered species.
Panidihing is mainly famous
for waterfowls, because of
its congenial habitat and
availability of substantial
wetlands. About 12% are
of the PA is covered with
wetlands. It is found that there
are fourteen (14) numbers of
Beels (wetlands) located inside
PA, which is of different size
and depth. These beels are also
the home of different variety
of local fish, which are the
important sources of food for
the waterfowls.
Easy and economic mode
of communications are still
lacking in Panidihing for better
monitoring, management and
implementation of plans,
policies and procedures.
Floods, siltation and erosion
are the recurring phenomenon
of the sanctuary; hence, it is
disturbing and also slowly
altering the ecology of the
sanctuary.
Grazing, firing and illegal
ishing inside the PA is common
scene in Panidihing. As many
animal rearing, milk producing
and ishing communities are
living around the PA, therefore,
grazing and illegal ishing are
still common practices inside
the sanctuary
Encroachment of many pockets
of the sanctuary for agriculture
and shelter is still going on.
This practice is yet to be
YOJANA June 2013

can be developed by linking


the important tourists spots
of Sibsagar district with
Panidihing to boost-up the
wildlife & of the area. For
promotion of tourism of the
area, state government should
take different steps to promote
tourism of the area with the
help of local people of the
area. Prints, electronic and
other media services could be
used to highlight tourism of the
area.
Allocation of sufficient
funds by the State & Central
Government, Government
undertakings, Industrial
Farms, Wildlife Funding
Agencies, Private Enterprises
and NGOs can support directly
or indirectly for the proper
management of the Sanctuary.

58

The Oil, Tea, Timbers and


Coals Companies of the area
may take some bold steps
towards the development of
the sanctuary.
Public awareness and
education regarding wildlife
conservation is need for
biodiversity conservation.
Public awareness can be
imparted through organization
of public meeting, awareness
camps, street play, movie show,
various competitions among
school childrens and popular
talks etc. The government
organization, agencies and the
NGOs of the area may take
various programmes in this
regards.

The increase of rapid


population and the lack of their

proper knowledge about the


importance of biotic diversity
have been threatening the biotic
diversity in many parts of the
world. The protected areas of
the world are facing numbers of
problems day by day mainly due to
natural and anthropogenic causes.
However, every problem has also
their solutions along with them.
Panidihing Bird Sanctuary is also
going through certain problems
in past years. Its avifauna is also
not out of danger from various
corners. However, to preserve and
conserve the avifauna, particularly
the waterfowls of Panidihing,
implementation of scientific
management strategies and
research activities are the need of
q
the hour.
(E-mail :Dr.Moug@rediffmail.com)

YOJANA June 2013

Incidence of Anemia In India


STATE

India

69.5

55.3

57.8

24.2

Andhra Pradesh

70.8

62.9

56.4

23.3

Arunachal Pradesh

56.9

50.6

49.2

28

Assam

69.6

69.5

72

39.6

78

67.4

60.2

34.3

71.2

57.5

63.1

27

Bihar
Chhattisgarh

Goa

38.2

38

36.9

10.4

Gujarat

67.7

55.3

60.8

22.2

Haryana

72.3

56.1

69.7

19.2

Himachal Pradesh

54.7

43.3

37

18.9

Jammu & Kashmir

58.6

53.1

54

19.5

Jharkhand

70.3

69.5

68.4

36.5

Karnataka

70.4

51.5

59.5

19.1

Kerala

44.5

32.8

33.1

Madhya Pradesh

74.1

56

57.9

25.6

Maharashtra

63.4

48.4

57.8

16.8

Manipur

41.1

35.7

36.4

11.4

Meghalaya

64.4

47.2

56.1

36.7

Mizoram

44.2

38.6

49.3

19.4

Nagaland

65

61.2

68.1

33.9

Orissa
Punjab

66.4

38

41.6

13.6

Rajasthan

69.7

53.1

61.2

23.6

Sikkim

59.2

60

53.1

25

Tamil Nadu

64.2

53.2

53.3

16.5

Tripura

62.9

65.1

57.6

35.5

Uttar Pradesh

73.9

40.9

51.6

24.3

Uttarakhand

61.4

55.2

45.2

29.2

West Bengal

61

63.2

62.6

32.3

A & N Islands

Chandigarh

D & N Haveli

Daman & Diu

57

44.3

29.9

17.8

Lakshadweep

Puducherry

Delhi

1-Percentage of Children of age 6-59 months who are anemic


2-Percentage of ever married woman of age 15-49 years who are anemic
3-Percentage of pregnant woman of age 15-49 years who are anemic
4-Percentage of ever married men of age 15-49 years who are anemic
Source: http://www.medindia.net/health_statistics/diseases/Anaemia.asp

YOJANA June 2013

which are rich in iron were sprayed


with poisons and herbicides. Instead
of being seen as iron rich and
vitamin rich gifts, they were treated
as weeds. As the Monoculture of
the Mind took over, biodiversity
disappeared from our farms and our
food. The destruction of biodiverse
rich cultivation and diets has given
us the malnutrition crisis, with
75% women now suffering from
iron deiciency. Many of our iron
rich foods are becoming Forgotten
Foods.
Banana : The Kalpatharu, the
Food of the Wise
India is considered as one of the
centres of diversity and origin of
the banana. Banana is referred as
Kalpatharu (The Divine Tree of
Life or Wish Fulilling Tree) due
to its multifaceted uses in food,
medicine, culture..
India is the largest producer of
banana in the world and also in
Asia, and contributes 22.15 percent
to global production from 7.4 %
area (2009)
Banana lowers are one of the
most important forage for Bees.
Indigenous bee colonies thrive and
develop on Banana crop. The main
advantage is that the banana crop is
a continuous process and there are
always lowers that support bees,
even during monsoons. However,
the modern varieties like cavendish
that are grown on mono cultures for
which they destroy the lowers to
get higher size and yield of Banana,
that is dangerous to bees.
Like GM crops that have posed
dangers to bees, the GM Banana
would be causing double damage
to the bees in India as they are the
major food source. What kind of
impact the GM banana will have on
bee biology and what kind of traces
61

will be found in honey is a matter


of great concern that has greater
impact on ecology, biodiversity and
human health.
The Bee is a indicator of
diversity and GM banana can
lead to destruction of honey bees.
Already 75% honey bees have
disappeared. Einstein had warned
that when the last bee disappears,
humans will disappear.
Considering the nutritive value
and fruit value of bananas, it is the
cheapest among all other fruits in
the country. Banana is the most
important fruit crop in India and
accounts for 31.7 per cent of the
total fruit production.
Health beneits of banana (without
genetic engineering)
l Bananas are rich source of
energy since it contains sugars
such as fructose, glucose and
sucrose.
l Because of its iber (pectin)
content it relieves constipation
and diarrhoea. Banana with
Curd is recommended for
Diarrhea because it provides
energy , has Kaolin Pectin,
while curd has natural
Lactobacillus , both acting
synergistically It maintains
electrolyte balance of the
body because of its content of
potassium.
l It is found from research
that bananas can prevent age
related loss of sight to a certain
degree.
l Bananas help absorption of
calcium from the gut thereby
preventing osteoporosis.
l They maintain kidney health
and help in prevention of
cancer of the kidney.
l Bananas control hyper acidity
and heart burn.
62

GMO bananas are a waste of


time and money , an unnecessary
risk and a strategy to take control of
the banana in its centre of diversity
and in the region with highest
production and consumption
The Indian Department of
Biotechnology has signed an
agreement with the University
of Queensland to do research/
field trials to develop GMO
bananas for saving Indian women
from childbirth death due to iron
deiciency over the next 4-5 years
and launch the GM bananas within
6 to 10 years in India.
Partners for the GM banana
project will also include Australias
National Agri-Food Biotechnology
Institute, Indias National Research
Centre for Bananas, the Indian
Institute of Horticulture Research,
the Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre and Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University.
Indias Biotechnology Industry
Research Assistance Council
(BIRAC) will provide AUD$1.4
million (US$1.44 million) towards
the QUT component of the project
and INR80 million (US$1.43
million) towards the cost of the
Indian component.
Bananas are rich in nutrition but
have only 0.44mg of iron per 100
grams of edible portion. All the effort
to increase iron content of bananas
will fall short the iron content
of our indigenous biodiversity.
According to the BARC scientists,
they can achieve a 6 fold increase
in iron content in GMO bananas.
This makes it 2.6mg, which is
3000% less than iron in turmeric,
or niger ,or lotus stem, 2000% less
than Amchur (mango powder). The
safe, biodiverse alternatives are
multifold.

Given the public health


emergency of iron deficiency,
and the inefficacy of the GM
banana in providing adequate iron
compared to indigenous biodiverse
alternatives, the GMO banana
project is an irresponsible waste
of money, and a waste of time. It
will take 10 years and millions of
dollars to complete the research
to not reach anywhere close to
the options biodiversity gives us
today. But meantime, governments,
research agencies, scientists will be
diverted from biodiversity based,
women centred, low cost, safe, time
tested, democratic alternatives. The
National Banana Research Centre
has already put GM bananas in its
2030 vision !
While the GM banana brings
no beneits, it does bring numerous
risks and costs.
First, the GM banana ,if
adopted, will be grown as large
monocultures, like GM Bt cotton,
and the banana plantations in
the banana republics of Central
America. Since government and
Aid agencies will push this false
solution, as has happened with
every miracle in agriculture ,our
biodiversity of iron rich foods will
disappear. This will further destroy
biodiversity, and further aggravate
malnutrition of different kinds.
The idea of nutrient farming
of a few nutrients in monocultures
of a few crops has already started
to be pushed at the policy level. The
inance Minister announced a Rs
200 crore project for nutri farms
in his 2013 budget speech.
Humans need a biodiversity
of nutrients, ,including a full
range of micronutrients and trace
YOJANA June 2013

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