September-October 2008 Edition |
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Rita and Umesh Anand
India's future is being scripted in its cities. People have been moving to urban areas in increasing numbers to escape a stressed out rural economy. The quality of life Indian cities offer has acquired a new importance. Not only do they have to be sustainable for their own viability, but also for the sake of rural areas on which they have a deleterious effect. How Indian cities perform will define not just the country's economic progress, but its social and political stability as well. A great challenge and opportunity presents itself in choosing technologies and systems that accelerate growth, but are at the same time inclusive and environmentally sound.
The model for urban India has so far come from the energy-intensive American way of life. Though faced with serious problems of poverty, we have designed our cities primarily for those who are well off. Growth through motorisation has been the goal as is evident from efforts to have broad roads and suburban living and promote cars as personal transport. The way Indian cities have been shaped has influenced real estate markets and made housing mostly unaffordable for the vast majority.
A chance now presents itself to look elsewhere for more sustainable solutions such as those available in Latin America, Asia and Europe where cities are making contemporary journeys to their points of origin and redefining urban equations. An honest look within could be hugely beneficial. It is true that India lives in its villages. But it has always historically also lived in great cities like Delhi, Kanauj, Pataliputra and so many others which evoked admiration among travellers. The grid system, drainage, water, stylish architecture all existed. Cities were what modern planners recommend today: dense, mixed-use and easy to walk through. It is also worth considering that by default we have perhaps escaped the American dilemma. In certain aspects Indian cities are already half way to solving their problems.
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Enrique Penalosa
The way cities are created determines our quality of life and forges our behaviour, our values for centuries. If land is saved for a great park it will provide joy to millions for hundreds of years. If park land is not saved but built upon, there will be much less joy in society. Latin American urbanisation is the most recent the world has seen. And it holds lessons for Asia, mostly lessons about what should not be done. But demographics will not be too different. In the transition period the percentage of people living in Latin American cities grew from 40 per cent to 80 per cent and the urban population increased by more than 500 per cent.
If anything similar happens in Asia, the population of most large cities will increase by at least 300 per cent over the next few decades. The number of people living in Asian cities is projected to rise by 45 million inhabitants annually during the next three decades. More than 70 per cent of the built area in most 2050 Asian cities does not exist today; there is only agriculture where great cities will soon rise. It is a huge opportunity to create different and better cities than those of the most advanced countries, to imagine new designs and organisational schemes and avoid the mistakes made by advanced Western cities. Unfortunately nothing as yet suggests that Asian cities will be better than their counterparts in advanced nations – and many might be much worse.
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Anupam Mishra
It is difficult to predict what the cities of the future will be like. But we can predict the future of our cities big and small because we live in them and know from one day to the next the direction in which they are headed. In a sense we are co-travellers with these cities on a journey in which we are as responsible for what happens to them as we are victims of their decay. Cities are all about people. Not so long ago all our big cities were not so big.
Even if they had a geographical spread much the same as today's, they were really small and well defined, with people connecting and interconnecting as members of a community do. It is the story of Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore. But in the explosive growth that the past two decades havewitnessed, not only have populations gone up, but cities have gone through a personality change. The small big city where once everyone knew everyone has become the impersonal urban engine with parts working in unison but oblivious of each other.
Gone from these cities is the sense of being manageable, the bonding and spirit of community. The transition from village to town and town to city is both internal and external. In the absence of social leadership, it comes with several aberrations and wayward manifestations. People thrash around as they seek equilibrium. In the absence of an overarching vision for our urban centres and the destruction of their emotional core, the equilibrium is mostly never found.
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Jehangir Rashid
Srinagar
THE Amarnath Yatra has always epitomised love, peace and brotherhood among Hindu pilgrims and Kashmiris who make arrangements for them. This year too Kashmiris extended their support to the smooth functioning of the yatra.
Despite stray reports of stone-pelting on vehicles carrying Amarnath Yatra pilgrims, the annual pilgrimage to the holy cave has taken place with Kashmiris offering their cooperation. Speaking to Civil Society, yatris expressed concern over the lack of facilities. They said the state government is not serious about providing facilities and is, in fact, causing them great inconvenience through the Army.
“We are intensely frisked by the troops. It almost seems that we are not taking part in a religious pilgrimage. Going by the degree of such measures put in place, we get the feeling that we are visiting a war ravaged area and not one of religious importance,” said Vinod Kumar, a resident of Gujarat. There were many others who held the same view. Some of the yatris said that the government is just making a show of concern over their safety and security.
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Civil Society News
New Delhi
On June 13 when Dr GD Agrawal, the eminent 76-year-old environmental scientist started a fast unto death to protest indiscriminate dam building on the Bhagirathi Ganga river, many wondered whether his gesture would be in vain. The government, by and large, turns a deaf ear to such protests.
Two groups, who could not be more unlike each other, took up the cause. The Alumni Association of IIT Kanpur and the All India Association of Sadhus met the Union Government and lobbied with the state government of Uttarakhand. And, surprisingly, Dr Agrawal scored a major victory. Both the Union government and the state government of Uttarakhand responded promptly. Work on three dam projects on the Bhagirathi river upstream of Uttarkashi was suspended. The Centre and State promised to maintain the perennial flow of the river under all circumstances. The Centre also agreed to appoint a ‘high level’ committee to study the impact of stream flow and its abstraction on local ecology and environment.
Two of the three proposed projects on the Bhagirathi, the Bhairav Ghati of 381 MW and Pala Maneri of 480 MW, are state initiatives. In fact, Rs 80 crore has already been spent on the Pala Maneri project. The third – a 600 MW unit at Lohari Nagpala – is a central government effort.
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Biswajit Padhi
Bhubaneswar
THE National Highway (NH) -60, part of the government’s Golden Quadrangle project, is being blamed for causing north Orissa’s most furious floods. “Never before have we witnessed floods of such magnitude,” said Sudarshan Das, a development activist. “More than 1,200 villages in the three districts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj have been swept away.” According to the Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) over 887 villages were marooned. Balasore district was the worst affected. Around 900. 000 people in 165 gram panchayats of 14 blocks found themselves stranded. Relief efforts were tardy. The district administration found it hard to use country boats because of fast moving currents of water. Power boats were in short supply. Most rescue efforts ended in failure as did the dropping of food from the air. The National Highway-60 was breached in three places. An important bridge which connected north Orissa to Kharagpur in West Bengal was swept away.
Arun Dey, the vocal MLA from Balasore district, went from village to village to organise relief and rescue operations. He is angry that the local administration could not handle floods of this magnitude. But, he says, the main culprit is the National Highway-60. At many places the height of the road was raised to 30 to 40 feet by implementing agencies just to increase the amount of work and thereby mint profits, he alleges. The old Grand Trunk (GT) Road used to run almost parallel to paddy fields on both sides and it never created floods of this nature, he says. The NH-60 connects north Orissa to Kolkata and Chennai. After entering Orissa it continues over the old GT road till Nidhipanda. From Nidhipanda to Basta, it takes a detour from the original road. “There were many causeways and culverts on the old GT road allowing water to flow freely,” said Dr Priyanath, a scholar from Balasore.
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