Will the BJP government save the Jarawas from a BJP MP?

Before the polls, Andaman MP Bishnu Pada Roy spoke of mainstreaming the Jarawas and throwing their sanctuary open to settlers. Now he is all set to deliver on his promises.

FirstPost, 21 July, 2014

Remember the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that shot to infamy in 2012 when a British publication reported how local touts and policemen conduct human safaris in the Jarawa reserve in Andaman where tourists “toss scraps of food to half-naked tribal people and order them to dance”?

More than a decade ago, the Supreme Court had ordered closure of the illegal road – NH 223 – cutting through the Jarawa reserve. The 2004 Jarawa Policy also called for a supplementary route to reduce traffic on the ATR. Subsequently, March 2015 was set as the deadline for opening an alternate sea route between Port Blair and Baratang.

Andaman Trunk Road. Pic: AD Blasoni/Survival 

The highway is still very much operational ferrying tourists, the A&N administration is in no hurry to develop the alternate sea route and now local MP Bishnu Pada Roy has announced plans for widening of the ATR and constructing two new bridges to facilitate more traffic through the Jarawa reserve. The BJP MP also promised to bring the Jarawas into the mainstream and ease restrictions in the buffer zone around their reserve to allow commercial activities.

Only this January, President Pranab Mukherjee cautioned against attempts at assimilating the Jarawas into the mainstream. “Though they (the Jarawas) do not know what Parliament is and what is the job of a Member of Parliament, it is his job to protect them in their own environment and in their own circumstances. In the name of so-called development, you should not completely destroy them,” Mukherjee urged the sitting BJP MP at the inauguration of the Andaman & Nicobar Tribal Research and Training Institute in Post Blair.

In the past, such attempts at assimilation have led to the complete disappearance of entire tribes and communities. Forced settlement destroyed the Great Andamanese tribes that are represented by no more than 53 survivors today. In 2010, we lost Boa -- the last member of the Bo, one of the 10 Great Andamanese tribes -- and with her the knowledge and language of her people. A few months earlier, another ancient language of the archipelago – Khora – passed with Boa’s neighbour Boro.

The 400-strong Jarawas are also going the way of their ancient, almost-extinct neighbours—the Great Andamanese and the Onge. The Sentinelis are the only exception, thanks to the impregnable coral reefs that make landing on their little island treacherous and to the tribe’s belligerent response to outsiders. They survived the 2005 tsunami on their own even though their island was tilted by the onslaught.

The mainstream has not bothered to learn from the wisdom of these ancient people who have survived in one of the world’s most hostile places for over 30,000 years. Instead, the sole inhabitants of the archipelago till about 200 years ago have been reduced to less than 0.1 per cent of the present population by rapid extermination and influx of settlers.

Sadly, the political consensus in the A&N today is to pack the Jarawas off to some islet and open up the lush reserve, the last repository of natural resources here, to the hungry mainstream. Be it BJP’s Roy or his predecessor Congress’s Manoranjan Bhakta, local MPs have always championed the cause of easing the restrictions in and around the Jarawa reserve.

Jarawa women. Pic: Survival International

This January, eight Jarawa girls were abducted by a group of settlers. Then, local media quoted a Jarawa youth complaining about poachers who routinely enter the reserve to lure Jarawa women. “The outside boys pressure them to do a lot. They pressure them with their hands and fingernails when the girls get angry… They have sex with the girls… They drink alcohol in the girls’ house. They sleep in the Jarawa’s house. They smoke marijuana and then chase the girls,” he said, naming the offenders.

But instead of booking even those caught red-handed under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Act (1956) that denies bail, the authorities easily let the culprits off. For the record, the population of the Great Andamanese collapsed due to a range of alien ailments — syphillis, measles, influenza — contracted on an epidemic scale from early batches of convicts jailed on the island and their equally wayward custodians.

Incidents of confrontation between the Jarawas and settlers who live close to the reserve are becoming frequent. The conflict began long back when the Jarawas raided orchards owned by the settlers who had encroached upon Jarawa forests. Between 1998 and 2004, the interaction became somewhat friendly when the Jarawa youth learnt to barter honey and venison for alcohol and tobacco. During this period, all government hospitals bordering the reserve opened special wards to treat Jarawas for infections.

Fortunately, the ancient tribe decided to retreat to their forests after 2004. But the new addicts still depend on the outside world for their fix. As long as the highway keeps bringing the increasingly-less-alien world deep inside their shrinking sanctuary, they will remain vulnerable to exploitation, sexual and substance abuse and diseases.

While the global community is anguished, the local administration seems to have decided the Jarawa’s fate. Earlier this month, Theva Neethi Dhas, secretary, Tribal Welfare and Shipping, A&N, washed his hands of the alternate sea route, describing it as a commitment of the Centre. And Lt. Governor AK Singh conceded that “there are no boats to spare for the route” even if it is accomplished.

With the BJP MP keen to deliver on his poll promise of plundering the tribal sanctuary in the name of mainstreaming the Jarawas, only an immediate central intervention can safeguard them. Hopefully, Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram will take note and alert the prime minister.

Will environment be the casualty of PM Modi's new efficient governance?

Making policy decisions is not just about speed but judiciousness. Even the most efficient government must allow itself time to weigh the implications of every move it makes.

FirstPost, 14 July, 2014

In its first month, the Narendra Modi government has tried to fashion itself into a mascot for efficiency. Asked to deliver tangible results, ministers have set themselves competing deadlines. The bureaucracy has been unshackled and made accountable for time-bound movement of files. The workaholic prime minister is leading by example. Everybody who is anybody in the government is putting in extra hours six days a week.

Much of this is good news. For example, responding promptly to public grievances, cracking down on hoarders who fuel food inflation or ensuring cleanliness in government premises and services require nothing more than political resolve and swift execution. But there are other areas of governance where the distinction between right and wrong is far less obvious.

Unlike the examples cited above, many policy decisions of the government involve moral or rational questions. One way of ensuring efficiency by cutting down decision-making time is to gloss over a range of nuanced positions and go by one’s pet conviction. When the conviction is personal, a health minister wants to discourage contraception and sex education. When it’s institutional, an environment minister trashes ecological concerns to offer blanket clearance to all projects of the armed forces in the higher Himalayas and virgin islands.

PM Narendra Modi. FirstPost/AFP

An informed, well-thought-out decision may not be the quickest one but it is more likely to stand the test of time. Doing away with so-called roadblocks and stalling instruments such as Group of Ministers also signals centralization of power within the cabinet. The prime minister is supposed to take the final call but it is only democratic that his colleagues get a say in critical policy matters. Unless, of course, the prime minister always knows best and his colleagues have no experience, expertise or wisdom to offer.

The much-hyped policy paralysis during UPA-II was not so much due to protracted deliberations over key decisions as due to the government's refusal to junk the untenable. Hellbent on bulldozing both reason and ethics, the growth hawks of the UPA eventually had their way more often than not but justifying the unjustifiable took considerable time.

If anything, the new dispensation seems to be even less apologetic about its growth-at-all-costs agenda. And with its single-minded, time-bound steamrolling, there is no room for even perceived divisions within the government over policy decisions because nobody seems to have the time, scope or gall to point out, even consider, anything that might be seen as hampering the prime minister’s efficiency mantra.
On the contrary, the ministers are pressing forward with agendas based on one-sided briefings from the bureaucracy and the industry. The latest is VK Singh, Minister for Development of North Eastern Region, who dismissed "most objections" to construction of the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri hydel project on the border of Arunchal Pradesh and Assam as driven by “vested interests”.

“There has been a lot of propaganda that the project is harmful and unsafe for Assam. I know the groups who have been resisting completion of the project. I know the interests involved. What is immediately needed is to put the correct facts out for the people to understand,” Singh said in Guwahati on Saturday.

What are these correct facts? "It is a run-of-the-river project. My own assessment is that it is not going to cause any danger,” he said, adding that people should be told how Tehri dam saved Rishikesh from getting wiped out during the Uttarakhand flash floods. For the record, Tehri dam only delayed flooding, that too because it was early storage season, which devastated much of Uttarakhand last year.

As for the Lower Subansiri project, its reservoir will submerge a 47-km stretch of the river. It will hold back water for about 20 hours daily before releasing the load for maximum power generation during peak demand hours in the evening. As a result, downstream flows in winter will fluctuate between 6 and 2,560 cumecs. The river will trickle for 20 hours before swelling with monsoon-like surges for four hours, every day, risking the lives and livelihood of lakhs of villagers.

Following mass protests, the state government had commissioned a downstream study by experts from IIT Guwahati, Dibrugarh University and Guwahati University, only to launch an ad campaign against the panel’s report that found the dam unviable on geological grounds alone. A subsequent study ordered by the Planning Commission also flagged the same concerns.

Having announced last month that work on Lower Subansiri project -- stalled following local resistance in 2011 -- would commence immediately, Power minister Piyush Goyal had to assure an agitated Assam BJP leadership on 5 July that the government would not make any move without taking all stakeholders on board.

Singh, however, has little regard for his party’s past commitment to scrap the ill-conceived project or the expert committee’s report. “I don’t know what exactly the BJP had said on Lower Subansiri hydel project during the election campaign. I have not seen the expert groups’ report. But having discussed with officials at NHPC and the power ministry, I am aware of the ground realities,” he claimed on Saturday.

Inexplicably, ministers in the new government consulted only a few officials to make up their mind in less than a month to back a project that would impact lakhs of people for decades to come. Unfortunately, this is no exception and has become the default approach to policy making. The downstream population in Assam is unlikely to give up the fight. But remote snowscapes, forests or islands have no people’s movements or political patrons to defend them.

The new government’s urgency to show a sense of purpose is commendable. But good governance is not about losing patience or sight of the long-term consequences of chasing immediate goals.

Didi’s Casting Trouble

Mamata Banerjee’s increasing dependence on popular actors in political roles has begun to backfire. But does she have a choice?

Sunday Economic Times, 7 July, 2014

As the deadline for filing nominations for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls drew closer, Mamata Banerjee was getting restive. The Bengal chief minister was scouting for stars and convincing former actors did not prove difficult. But Didi was still looking for a big catch.

Prasenjit Chatterjee had already given her the slip. The biggest star in contemporary Bengali films was in no mood to contest elections at the peak of his acting career. Jeet, the other star male lead, was getting into business collaborations with the Mumbai industry and unwilling to risk it all.

But Dev, the young sensation in commercial Bengali films, had no choice. He was an import from Mumbai by Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), the biggest production house in Tollywood. For the SVF, whose massive political clout and successful forays in real estate are believed linked to the Mamata government, it was probably payback time.

The evening before Mamata announced her candidates, SVF director Shrikant Mohta brought Dev along to a private function hosted by television producer Shibaji Panja at Kolkata’s St Paul’s Cathedral ground. Among the guests were Mamata and her key ministers. It was here, say sources, that Didi told Dev he was her chosen one for the Ghatal constituency and that his acting career would be taken care of.

A tentative schedule was chalked out and Mohta agreed to release his top biller, who was then busy filming a few SVF projects, for a few days of campaigning. After all, a mega-mall built by SVF in south Kolkata was expecting some concessions from the Kolkata municipal corporation run by the TMC and from Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, a staunch Mamata loyalist.

The actor was reluctant though and, according to sources, messaged a Kolkata journalist that he was still “coming to terms” with the development hours after Mamata announced his candidature. He was not allowed to speak to the media till a “tutoring session” was conducted by Mamata’s right-hand man, Mukul Roy.

Other than Deb, Trinamool fielded Suchitra Sen’s daughter actress Moon Moon Sen (Bankura), yesteryear heroine Sandhya Roy (Midnapore), former India captain footballer Baichung Bhutia (Darjeeling), former footballer Prasun Banerjee (Howrah), theatre activist Arpita Ghosh (Balurghat), Saumitra Roy (Maldah North) of Bengali music band Bhoomi and singer Indranil Sen (Behrampur). But why did Mamata pick so many film stars and non-political candidates for the polls her party was anyway supposed to sweep? Perhaps, she didn’t have a choice either.

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Film star-driven politics has largely been the preserve of the southern states. The first actor to join the electoral fray in Bengal was Anil Chatterjee, remembered for his understated, free-flowing performances in several Ray and Ghatak films. In 1991, he won from Kolkata’s Chowringhee Assembly constituency as a Left-supported independent candidate. That year, internationally-acclaimed actor Victor Banerjee lost his deposit as a BJP candidate from Calcutta Northwest. Actor Anup Kumar too lost as a CPI-M candidate from Cossipore constituency in 1996.

The first major electoral success of film celebrities from Bengal was in 2009 when Tapas Pal (Krishnanagar) and Shatabdi Roy (Birbhum) rode the Pariborton wave to the Lok Sabha. In the 2011 Assembly polls, Mamata roped in Debashree Roy, one of Bengal’s all-time favourite heroines, who won from Raidighi. Actor Chiranjeet, singer Anup Ghosal and theatre personality Bratya Basu also became Trinamool MLAs. This January, Mamata appointed veteran actor Ranjit Mullick as sheriff of Kolkata. In February, former Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty became a Rajya Sabha MP for the TMC.

Mamata displayed her celebrity fetish even as the railways minister under the UPA government. Theatre actress Shaonli Mitra was appointed head of the Committee on Heritage and Culture in 2009. Veteran theatre activist Bibhash Chakroborty, poet Joy Goswami and classical musician Ustad Rashid Khan were also members. Painter Subhaprasanna was handpicked as chairman of Passenger Amenities Committee to decide, among other things, the railways menu.

“Our committee did good work in reviving certain assets, such as large auditoriums, built by the British as part of the railways infrastructure. But I cannot comment on other railway panels or the merits of selection (of members),” says Bibhash Chakroborty who is somewhat skeptical about the trend of fielding celebrities as election candidates. “While they add their star appeal to the acceptability of the party they represent, there is the risk that some of them can be perceived as politically non-serious.”

Chakroborty won’t get drawn into the debate but Mamata’s celebrity appointees have fuelled regular controversies. In 2010, she was forced to review the activities of some intellectuals after Subhaprasanna allegedly tried to raise money using her name for a TV channel project that was later shelved. In September 2013, Mamata issued showcause notices to Tapas Pal and Shatabdi Roy for anti-party activities and made them apologize. She also suspended Rajya Sabha MP entrepreneur-journalist Kunal Ghosh once the Saradha scam threatened to rock her government.

Last month, the appointment of actresses Locket Chatterjee and Nayana Bandopadhyay, wife of TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, to the State Women’s Commission drew sharp reactions from chairperson Sunanda Goswami herself. “I am not very sure what background the actors have in women’s activism; at least I have never seen them anywhere,” she told the media.

The fact that Sunanda happens to be the wife of senior RSP leader Kshiti Goswami did not take away from her criticism of Bengal’s new political tradition — Mamata had appointed another actress, June Maliah, to the commission in 2011.

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Many perceive Mamata’s weakness for celebrities as an attempt to create the impression of a broader leadership base of her essentially one-leader party. As the Left was entrenched in every field of life in Bengal, she found it necessary to seek cultural resonance for her brand of street politics. A bunch of miffed Left-leaning intellectuals, including singer Kabir Suman, poet Joy Goswami and playwright Bibhas Chakraborty, who joined the anti-Left Nandigram movement in 2007 were her early allies.

But not too many intellectuals, even those who joined the chorus against the state-sponsored violence, broke ranks to side with Mamata. Moreover, Didi soon realized that politically aware cultural stalwarts like Kabir Suman had a mind of their own and would not submit to her autocratic ways. So, both by compulsion and design, Mamata opted for lesser icons from presumably less cerebral and more popular spheres, such as sports, commercial cinema or TV.

While her more recent acquisitions have been suitably servile, they do not lack in mass appeal. Didi parades a retinue of stars and performers on stage in most of her public rallies. Like Dev, most of them have obvious compulsions for humouring the all-powerful chief minister and her party with far-reaching control.

When it came to elections, Mamata generated a lasting buzz by nominating a Moon Moon Sen or a Baichung Bhutia that gave her some relief from being the sole focus of the Bengali media. Besides, like the BJP that opted for a few celebrities to compensate for organizational weakness and lack of suitable political candidates in Bengal, the TMC also needed some star power in a few pockets of uncertainty.

The party did not feel secure at all in Bankura till Moon Moon Sen campaigned against the constant backdrop of her legendary mother. The appeal of the Suchitra-Moon Moon-Mamata combination drew large crowds and inspired local party workers. The charm offensive worked and Sen defeated eight-time CPI-M MP Basudeb Acharia by nearly one lakh votes.

Moreover, Mamata picked a star wherever she had to field an outsider in the absence of a consensual political candidate. Take Ghatal, for example, where party workers were divided in their allegiance to Mukul Roy, Didi’s most-trusted aide and former union railways minister, and local strongman Shubhendu Adhikary, the party’s poster boy during the Nandigram movement. Sending Dev to Ghatal ensured that party workers from both camps gave their best.

Similar experiments worked well for the TMC except in two constituencies where outsiders Saumitra Roy and Indranil Sen, both singers, lost largely due to factionalism. Theatre activist Arpita Ghosh also faced strong resistance in Balurghat in the early days of campaigning. All three, pointed out a senior TMC functionary on condition of anonymity, were largely urban phenomena and struggled because they had no pan-Bengal appeal.

“But all our film stars, including sitting MPs, have romped home because they inspired local party workers to put in their hundred percent. Sandhya Roy won even though she could not campaign enough due to sweltering heat. Shatabdi Roy owes her re-election to the poll management skill of the Birbhum district leadership. Even Tapas Pal retained Krishnanagar and his 2009 margin,” explains the TMC functionary.

But these organizationally useful and politically low-maintenance star acquisitions are proving to be liabilities for the party’s image. “From what I heard of them, singer Babul Supriyo (BJP MP from Asansol) sounds politically aware and mature. The other celebrity politicians are there just to be counted in the party tally,” says Chakraborty.

Till last week, Mamata’s chosen stars were guilty of spectacular indiscretion. Shatabdi Roy demanded to be elected in return for letting voters watch her films for free in her constituency for five long years before threatening to stop all development work in areas that did not vote for Trinamool. Moon Moon Sen declared she drew inspiration from Julius Caesar and wanted to bring nobility back to politics and use glamour to serve the people. Dev compared the experience of joining politics to being raped, elaborating that one must enjoy what one cannot resist.

Then Tapas Pal decided to write his own script and stunned the country with his candour and bravado, apparently in a bid to get back into the CM’s good books. Maybe it’s time for Mamata to ponder if her more than embarrassing gallery of stars is worth the damage.

Reporter’s Diary: A well wisher in Jharkhand

GRIST Media, 4 July, 2014

“You are back!” the friendly IAS officer exclaimed in mock admonishment. I had called him a few weeks ago when I was in the forests of Palamu during Holi, soaking in the spirit of abundance in this strife-torn and impoverished land, and reviving a few old contacts. The officer did not quite appreciate what he called my “pointless forays” into interior villages. “There are too many guns here and free-flowing mahua (country liquor) during the festival doesn’t help one’s judgment,” he warned.

Now that I was back there to report on the elections in Jharkhand for Yahoo! Originals, he was dismissive of my excitement, typical of a reporter in poll season. We shared a good meal before he reminded me to avoid VIP or police vehicles while travelling through Latehar and Palamu. Press vehicles were rarely targeted but the Maoist rebels ambushed politicians and security forces repeatedly on this stretch where a large section of the forest road network is “perpetually mined”.

But getting hold of election contestants in this large constituency can be a nightmare. One’s best chance of ensuring an unhurried discussion with candidates is to get in their campaign vehicles as they cover long distances to reach out to voters. After one such ride, the election convoy made a pitstop at a village and I switched cars. As my driver turned the AC on, there was a tap on the window.

During one of the visits to
Palamu and Latehar 

I looked up to see two young men in short-sleeved shirts and gamcha (handspun towel) wrapped around their head. They asked the driver to step out. In the next few minutes, one of them quizzed me sternly, his head craned inside the car, about my credentials and what business I had there. The other stood within breathing distance of the driver by the bonnet, grilling him in a dialect I couldn’t quite understand. Then, just as suddenly, both disappeared.

My driver was a little shaken and refused to hang around to give the convoy a head start. I had had a number of similar experiences in the past, but was not sure who our inquisitors were or if I had satisfied them. We stopped for some tea from a nearby shack before taking an alternative route to go about the day’s plan rather uneventfully.

In the evening, I got a call from the IAS officer. He asked me if I was doing alright before warning me not to hitch rides with election candidates again. How did he know? He wouldn’t tell. But I could sense the glint in his eyes. Were those his men who questioned us? “Why? Scared you, didn’t they? Now your driver will ensure that you fall in line.” Before I could mutter a few curses, I heard him cracking up. “Will you be done bytomorrow? I will be returning to Ranchi via Daltonganj in the afternoon. Come with me.”

I couldn’t join him. But we met briefly as he passed by. Forget beacons or hooters, he was not even travelling in a government vehicle.

Why water surges are killing people in India

Have India's hydropower dams become death traps?

BBC News, 3 July, 2014

Many feel that demand-driven production of electricity makes these dams release huge quantities of water in rivers without warning, regularly endangering the lives of those downstream.

Last month more than 20 students on a college trip were swept away by a massive release of water by the Larji hydropower project on the Beas river in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Barely two weeks later, 10 men were marooned for more than 12 hours by a similar surge of water in the Damodar river in the eastern state of Jharkhand before they were rescued by local villagers.

The men were taking a bath in the middle of a trickling summer river after a cricket match when water released from the Tenughat dam 55km (34 miles) upstream sent them scampering onto a platform constructed to break the water flow.

One of them managed to swim across and alert villagers while the rest hung on in the swirling waters till help reached them late in the night.

Spate of incidents

Few have been as lucky.

The Beas tragedy was the 10th such incident in the last decade, and sixth since 2011.

• On 18 April, three girls bathing in Teesta river at Bardang in Sikkim were swept away by water released from a hydropower project reservoir. While two were rescued, an 11-year-old was never found.

• On 27 March 2013, five members of a family were drowned in a surge of water in the Bhavani river near Uppupalam in Tamil Nadu, caused by the release of around 6,000 cusec [cubic feet per second] of water from the Pilloor dam, 20km (12 miles) upstream. Water was only knee-deep when they entered the river, claimed a lone survivor.

• In two incidents on 8 January, 2012, nine people drowned in the Cauvery river in Erode, Tamil Nadu, when 8,000 cusec of water was released from the Vendipalayam Bhavani Kattalai hydro project barrage.

• Three men drowned in Netravati river on 6 December 2011 following a sudden surge from the Shambhoor hydropower project near Bantwal in Karnataka. Local protesters claimed that erratic water releases from the power project had killed eight others since 2009.

• The Maneri Bhali hydel project on Uttarakhand's Bhagirathi river has been blamed for at least five deaths, in 2006, 2007 and 2011, every time due to release of water without warning.

• On 1 October 2006, at least 57 pilgrims were washed away while walking across the Sind River in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh as the Manikheda dam upstream opened the sluice gates in Shivpuri district.

• On 7 April 2005, more than 70 pilgrims drowned at Dharaji in Madhya Pradesh when the Narmada swelled with 690 cusec of water released from the Indira Sagar power project. The victims were among thousands who had gathered by the river for an annual religious fair.

Ten men were marooned for more than 12 hours by a surge of water in the Damodar river

On each occasion, huge volumes of water were released to meet the power demand that typically peaks during evening hours but can also soar anytime in the day, depending on the load on the power grids.

Without an effective warning system, this practice runs the daily risk of catching people off guard as trickling rivers come to spate within minutes.

Indifferent

With millions of Indians dependent on rivers for their livelihood and daily chores, it is a minor miracle that only so many lives have been lost so far, say experts.

Authorities appear to be indifferent to the problem. India's federal ministry of power did not respond to phone calls or emails from this correspondent.

After the 2011 Bantwal tragedy in Karnataka, dam officials said they had nothing to do with the deaths, refused to pay compensation and maintained that a warning system would be put in place only if the district administration instructed them to do so.

After dozens of cattle were washed away due to sudden discharges by the Ranganadi hydel project in the north-eastern state of Assam, project authorities issued a circular in June 2006, saying, "The gates of Ranganadi diversion dam may require opening from time to time… The corporation will not take any responsibility for any loss of life of human, pet animals and property damage."

But critics say the hydropower companies must take responsibility.

"Every hydropower project must put out a well-defined operating procedure in the public domain, taking into account how a series of projects on the same river influence one another," says Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.

"Hourly water data should be released every day. Possible timings of release and corresponding water levels need to be marked on the river banks. Authorities should inform the administration before release and install sirens and hooters to warn people."

The Ganges river near Haridwar after release of dam water upstream

"Saving lives is the least hydropower projects can do," says biologist Lakhi Prasad Hazarika, "given that the random water flow fluctuations destroy livelihoods such as fisheries, agriculture, grazing, driftwood collection and sand and gravel mining almost irreversibly."

And that is not to mention the ecological damage. "These daily floods affect ground-nesting birds, amphibians and even mammals that use the riverine islands," says Mr Hazarika.

Such disasters, points out Mr Thakkar, should be anticipated at the planning stage.

"Power projects should be restricted to locations such as deep mountain gorges and must not be permitted where rivers enter floodplains or biodiversity-rich stretches," he says.

Gadkari says family not involved, brother-in-law asks does Constitution bar us (from business)?

The Indian Express, 1 July, 2014

Responding to the report in The Indian Express on Tuesday that Union Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari’s promise to legalise e-rickshaws could also benefit a company linked to his family, both the BJP and the government claimed that neither Gadkari nor “any member of his family is associated with any e-rickshaw manufacturing firm.”

The statement said that Gadkari “has no commercial interests whatsoever with the e-rickshaw manufacturing sector nor has he got any link with Purti Green Technologies (PGT) Pvt. Ltd, which, according to reports in a section of the media, has shown interest in manufacturing battery-run rickshaws.”

However, Rajesh Totade, brother of Gadkari’s wife Kanchan Gadkari and director of PGT, had a slightly different take. Speaking to The Indian Express today, he said: “We are a small player. There are several other companies manufacturing e-rickshaws. And we have been in it for past four years. Does the Constitution of India bar relatives of a politician from pursuing anything they want to do? If that is not the case, then how can media be the judges of what we should do and what we shouldn’t?”

Incidentally, Gadkari had sidestepped this issue on Tuesday, when The Indian Express asked him whether his announcement that he would amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 raised questions of conflict of interest given that PGT said it was waiting for the amendment to manufacture and market e-rickshaws.

Currently, the law exempts vehicles under 250 W with a speed limit of 25 kmph while a typical e-rickshaw has motor wattage up to 650 W. Totade had told The Indian Express that PGT was waiting for the amendment — promised by Gadkari at a June 17 rally in New Delhi — to come through so that it could manufacture and market e-rickshaws.

Incidentally, Gadkari had avoided any reference to PGT in his reply to this newspaper and instead said that “no particular manufacturer has got monopoly over its production.” PGT was registered on January 28, 2011 and got a licence to manufacture e-rickshaws from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Gadkari, who was a director in Purti Sugar and Power Ltd, one of the group’s ventures, had stepped aside on August 27, 2011, months after PGT was set up. In a press note, Totade said, “Nitin Gadkari and family members have absolutely no commercial interests in our company. Reports in a section of the media trying to link Nitin Gadkari and his family with PGT Pvt Ltd are misleading and factually incorrect.”

Totade’s elder brother Kishor Kamlakar Totade is one of three directors of Softlink Technologies Pvt Ltd along with sister Kanchan Gadkari née Totade. Prasad Prabhakarrao Kashikar, the other director of PGT, is also director of Chaitanya Constructions and Builders Pvt Ltd along with Nitin Gadkari’s son Sarang Gadkari.

As for manufacture of e-rickshaws by CSIR-licensed firms, PGT could not have marketed its battery-run rickshaws despite being licensed by the CSIR because the licence was to manufacture rickshaws as per specifications of the CSIR-developed rickshaw with a 240 W motor.

Union Minister Gadkari to revoke ban on e-rickshaws, family firm wants to make them

The Indian Express, 30 June, 2014

A fortnight ago, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the government would change the law to overturn a ban on e-rickshaws in the capital and launch the “Deen Dayal scheme” under which potential buyers of the vehicle would get a loan at 3 per cent interest.

This was not only good news for an estimated 1 lakh operators who currently ply their trade in a legal grey zone — with no regulation on either standards or safety — but also for a company in Nagpur closely linked with Gadkari and his family.

Purti Green Technologies (PGT) Private Limited, registered in 2011, is one of the companies of the Purti Group founded by Gadkari — he was chairman until 2011. PGT is one of seven companies licensed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to manufacture and sell battery-run rickshaws in 2012. PGT director Ashok alias Rajesh Totade, Gadkari’s brother-in-law, told The Indian Express that the company has been waiting for this exemption on motor wattage so that it can start manufacturing and marketing battery-run rickshaws.

It’s exactly this exemption that Gadkari referred to in his speech at a rally on June 17. “E-rickshaws having motor up to 650 W will be regarded as non-motorised vehicles. The transport department and traffic police cannot challan them,” he said, promising to amend the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988, that, currently, exempts only vehicles under 250 W with a speed limit of 25 kmph.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Totade said: “We would not get into anything illegal as there was this question on motor wattage. But now with the Centre planning to change the (Motor Vehicles) Act, we will be ready to launch our product in the market.”

Responding to an email from The Indian Express asking if his announcement raises questions of propriety and conflict of interest, Gadkari said: “These rickshaws are being manufactured by various companies and no particular manufacturer has got monopoly over its production nor is any one banned from doing so…As far as encouraging banks to provide loan to e-rickshaw owners at 3% is concerned, I have already written to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Union finance minister Shri Arun jaitley to do the needful,” he said. (For full reply, see Excerpts from Nitin Gadkari’s response to questions by The Indian Express below)

With Gadkari talking of 2 crore e-rickshaw units across the country and the average price of a battery-run rickshaw estimated between Rs 70,000 and Rs 100,000, manufacturers like PGT are waiting to rush in.

Gadkari’s interest in e-rickshaws isn’t new. In January 2013, he showcased one of the PGT battery-run rickshaws with NCP leader Sharad Pawar by his side at Agro Vision 2013 exhibition in Nagpur. In October that year, at a Purti function, he announced that a part of the cost to buy these rickshaws would be borne by the Purti Group and the Deen Dayal Trust run by it.

That trust is, in fact, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Institute of Medical Science, Research and Human Resources, and is chaired by Gadkari himself.

When contacted, its director Viral Kamdar told The Indian Express: “Gadkariji told me that our trust could bear some of the cost of Purti’s rickshaws, along with some other trusts, so that the buyer’s burden of bank or government loan is reduced. We had a talk some time back but details of the scheme are yet to be worked out.”

“This rickshaw project has been a dream of Gadkariji,” said PGT director Totade. “We are not into rickshaws so much for making money — we have bigger businesses — as to end an inhuman practice. Our models are totally indigenous and better suited for Indian roads than Chinese rickshaws being sold in Delhi. We spent more than three years in R&D. Our subsidy scheme didn’t take off because of legal restrictions. Now, thanks to the bold decisions of the new government, we will enter the market.”

Ashok alias Rajesh Totade is Nitin Gadkari’s brother-in-law. Ashok’s elder brother Kishor Kamalakar Totade is one of the three directors of Softlink Technologies Pvt Ltd along with sister Kanchan Gadkari née Totade. PGT is registered at the address of the Totade brothers.
Prasad Prabhakarrao Kashikar, the other director of PGT, is also director of Chaitanya Constructions And Builders Private Limited along with Nitin Gadkari’s son Sarang Gadkari.

PGT, incidentally, was one of 12 companies that responded to the Uttar Pradesh government’s invitation for Expression of Interest in supplying battery-run rickshaws in October 2012. The UP government had tested sample rickshaws from these companies including two from PGT in 2013 and selected six firms, including PGT.

However, none of the six companies bid when a tender was floated in December 2013 and subsequently cancelled for technical reasons. Fresh bids, say UP government sources, will be invited once the Centre amends the MV Act.

‘No one has monopoly over production nor is any one banned’

Excerpts from Nitin Gadkari’s response to questions by The Indian Express

Purti Green Technologies Pvt Ltd, one of the companies of the Purti group that you chaired till 2011, has shown interest in manufacturing and selling battery-run rickshaws. Given that PGT will benefit from a change in the law regarding motor wattage, do you think your decision to amend the MV Act raises the question of impropriety and conflict of interest?

The interests and welfare of over two lakh e-rickshaw drivers and their families has been upper most in mind of the Narendra Modi government while reviewing the notification that was issued during the UPA regime by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on April 24 to the e-rickshaw pullers, rendering them illegal…
The notification was depriving the poor e-rickshaw drivers of their employment and livelihood to their families.
Besides, the e-rickshaws are eco-friendly and can be driven by women and people with disabilities. According to our estimates more than 10 lakh families are dependent on this mode of transport…
Thousands of e-rickshaws have been operating in Delhi NCR & some other cities across the country for a number of years. These rickshaws are being manufactured by various companies and no particular manufacturer has got monopoly over its production nor is any one banned from doing so. In fact manufacturers are welcomed to come forward in this field so that we could get away with the man-driven cycle rickshaw.

On June 17, you also announced a Deendayal scheme to provide government loans to potential buyers of battery-run rickshaws at 3% interest. Last October, you announced a similar scheme for the buyers of Purti rickshaws through your Deendayal Trust in Nagpur. Do you think announcing this scheme as a union minister raises the question of impropriety and conflict of interest?

Our ideologue Pt. Deendayala Upadhayaya propounded the philosophy of integral humanism and Antodaya (emancipation of the downtrodden). I proudly declared the e-rickshaw scheme after his name. It is our humble tribute to our great thinker.
As far as encouraging banks to provide loan to e-rickshaw owners at 3% is concerned, I have already written to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley to do the needful for the welfare of the e-rickshaw drivers so they could become owners of their vehicle.
I will welcome all NGOs & social enterprisers across the country to join this campaign of promoting e-rickshaws and helping the owners to get them loans from the banks at 3%.

Lessons from the success story of Great Himalayan National Park

This treasure trove of nature now has a world heritage site tag to flaunt, as a testimony to its ecological worth and conservation efforts. Will the fairy tale hold under pressure for infrastructure building?

FirstPost, 30 June, 2014

On 23 June, UNESCO decided to put the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) Conservation Area in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh on the World Heritage List, acknowledging it as one of the world’s most important and significant natural habitats for conservation of biological diversity, containing threatened species of outstanding universal value.

Set up in 1984, GHNP (754.4 sq km) was formally declared a national park in 1999. Two wildlife sanctuaries —Sainj (90 sq km) and Tirthan (61 sq km) —were notified in 1994 and together they form the Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, spanning 905.4 sq km.

More than 15,000 residents of 160 villages in the buffer zone are dependent on GHNP’s natural resources. The glacial and snow melt waters from the park become the westerly flowing Jiwa Nal, Sainj and Tirthan rivers and the north-westerly flowing Parvati river — all headwater tributaries that feed the Beas and, subsequently, the Indus river.

Home to rare species such as the Western Tragopan, Chir Pheasant, Snow Leopard, Himalayan Musk Deer, Asiatic Black Bear, Himalayan Tahr, Blue Sheep and Serow, the park supports 8% of all plant species, 10% of mammals, 21% of birds, 7% of reptiles and 9% of amphibians. Many of these are endemic and globally threatened.

GHNP is also contiguous with the Khirganga National Park (710 sq km), the Pin Valley National Park (675 sq km) in trans-Himalaya, Rupi-Bhabha Wildlife Sanctuary (503 sq km) in the Sutlej watershed and Kanawar Wildlife Sanctuary (61 sq km). The world heritage site tag will hopefully draw more attention to this contiguous protected area of very high conservation value stretching across nearly 3,000 sq km.

To begin with, GHNP was free of human habitation. But people from nearby villages moved in and out to graze their sheep and goats and collect herbs. In 1999, the administration paid Rs 1.8 crore to 369 families to settle these rights.  For several others, who did not have such traditional rights but depended on the park for their livelihood, the forest administration began income generation programmes. Subsequently, many villagers benefitted from alternative livelihood activities, particularly ecotourism.

The process of resettling three villages from Sainj wildlife sanctuary and providing monetary compensation to settle grazing rights in Tirthan is still under way and facing some resistance. But there is no dearth of local goodwill for GHNP. This May, 70 members of the community-based ecotourism cooperative society were among those who wrote to UNESCO in support of GHNP’s claim.

The reasons are not hard to find. The park authorities have not denied the locals access to their many sacred sites inside the park. During festivals, villagers enter the park to pray and make offerings to their deities, accompanied by forest guards who ensure no poaching or littering takes place. Unlike many other forests and national parks across the country, here, no complaint has been lodged by local people concerning access to religious sites in the past 12 years.

Alongside, the GHNP management has followed a strict policy to safeguard the fragile Himalayan ecosystems, guided by the Wildlife Institute of India and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. There is no motorable road inside the park. This has kept the number of trekkers at just around 1,000 per year — the hardy few who will hazard the15km trek from where the roads end in Sainj, Tirthan, or Jiwanal Valleys.

While trekking within the park has remained regulated and low impact, cultural tourism and moderate trekking is encouraged in the buffer zone and boosts the local hospitality industry, in turn inspiring community efforts for better protection and participatory management of GHNP.

“This, indeed, is a very significant moment in the conservation history of the Western Himalayas,” says Sanjeeva Pandey, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who served eight years as GHNP’s first director. “There are so many small sacred groves commemorating saints who came here to meditate in the great sanctuary of Himalayas. This inscription as a World Heritage Site is an honour to the indigenous traditional conservation practices as well as those sacred places.”

Amid celebration and hope, one cannot but wonder what is in store for this magnificent wilderness in the near future. So far, GHNP has been lucky, thanks to its demographic advantages and fine management. But that could turn into a ticket for infrastructure development as well — free as the area is of human habitation and subsequent costs and complications of rehabilitation. There has been talk of hydro-electricity projects on the Sainj and Tirthan rivers. A critical part of the national park was denotified soon after it was set up in 1999 to make room for the Parvati hydroelectricity project. No, even GHNP is not out of bounds for development.

But that was before GHNP became a world heritage site, did you wonder? Before seeking security in the global spotlight, GHNP should watch how the future pans out for the Western Ghats, another world heritage site and one of the world’s eight richest biodiversity hotspots. The UPA government undermined the Gadgil committee report by appointing another panel under K Kasturirangan to water down the original recommendations, only to defer implementing even the compromised stipulations. On 7 July, the new government is supposed to submit its position before the National Green Tribunal on the issue. Any guess where they will draw the line?