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Why waste

Lessons in waste management from twobig cities of India, Pune and Bengaluru

water

specialday


DownToEarth

VOL 22, NO 21; To ta l No o f pages 68Editorial, subscriptions and advertisements: Society forEnvironmental Communications, 41, TughlakabadInstitutional Area, New Delhi 110 062, Phone: 91-11-29955124, 29956110, 29956394, 29956399 Fax: 91-11-29955879. Email: [email protected] © 2005 Societyfor Environmental Communications. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited. Printed and published by Sunita Narain on behalfof Society for Environmental Communications. Printed atInternational Print-o-Pac Limited, B-204, 205, OkhlaIndustrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi-110020 INDIA and published at 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062.

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FOUNDER EDITOR: Anil Agarwal

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: Sunita Narain

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Richard MahapatraART DIRECTOR: Ajit Bajaj

REPORTING TEAM:Aparna Pallavi [Nagpur]M Suchitra [Hyderabad]Sayantan Bera [Kolkata]Alok Gupta [Patna]Ankur PaliwalJyotika SoodKumar Sambhav ShrivastavaAnupam ChakravarttySoma BasuJitendra ChoubeyKundan PandeyJyotsna Singh

COPY DESK: Aruna P SharmaSonalika SinhaSnigdha DasAditya Misra

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PRODUCTION: Rakesh ShrivastavaGundhar Das

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Down To Earth • March 16-31, 20144

MARCH 16-31, 2014

DOWN TO EARTH EDITORIAL DOES NOT ENDORSE THE CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENTSPRINTED IN THE MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

20THE WASTE CHALLENGETwo cities, Pune and Bengaluru, are taking steps to manage their piling waste. Pune’s strategyof segregation, organised waste collection and biogas production is offering valuable lessons inwaste handling, while Bengaluru is stinking despite big investment in infrastructure

09GM is back Moily revives regulatorybody for GM crops; industry lobbies do awaywith state clearances

FRONTPAGE

18Picture imperfect

A college campus in the picturesque SoorSarovar Bird Sanctuary

near Agra flouts wildlife norms

SPECIAL REPORT

March 16-31, 2014 • Down To Earth 5


DownToEarth On the Webw w w . d o w n t o e a r t h . o r g . i n

3 EDITOR’S PAGE

6 LETTERS

NEWS

12 UPA’s poll sop for tribals: 150 days of work under MGNREGA

SPECIAL REPORT

14 Abandoned asbestos mine in Jharkhand causing lung disease

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

40 Seven heat hot spots identified in Delhi

42 Researchers create nanotherapy to treat lung cancer

FOOD

44 Heti flower can spice up a dull platter in Maharashtra during spring

INTERVIEW

46 Marc Van Montagu on why the world needs GM crops

COLUMN

51 Academics back India’s IP laws, rebut US’ hollow claims

WATER DAY SPECIAL

52 The reasons and solution to India’s water crisis

REVIEW

58 Complex character of uncelebrated genius Alexandre Yersin

CROSSCURRENTS

60 Unethical wildlife photography can do animals more harm than good

64 MEDIA

66 LAST WORD

COVER DESIGN : AJIT BAJAJ

54From bureaucrat to ‘green terrorist’ Former government teacher, Yishey D Yongda, makes ither life’s mission to turn Sikkim into a zero-waste zone

w w w . d o w n t o e a r t h . o r g . i n

AnalysisELECTION 2014: GOVERNMENT V GOVERNANCEAs India goes to polls beginningApril 7, a look at how governmentwelfare programmes fared and the factors that will influence poll outcome

� PHOTO GALLERY � BOOKS AND FILMS � BLOGS � FOOD � DTE REWIND

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plus.google.com/+downearthmagazine/posts

InfographicWOMEN’S DAY SPECIALMost women in rural and urban India walk to fetch waterfrom the nearest source which may be over a kilometreaway. A look at how much they have to walk and wait tofetch water for their homes

Special coverageANIL AGARWAL DIALOGUE: RENEWABLE ENERGY &ENERGY ACCESS Highlights of all that happened at themeet and a glance at some initiativesthat are helping communities accessenergy with support of banks, government and other agencies

www.linkedin.com/company/down-to-earth-india

NewsMOST INFANT DEATHS IN INDIA OCCUR ON FIRSTDAY OF BIRTHThe country accounts for 29 per cent of the global deaths ofnewborns on the first day of their birth

PROFILE

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

WaterWalkathon

JYOTIKA SOOD

AFTER Union Minister for Environmentand Forests Veerappa Moily’s recentdecision to revive the long-defunct reg-ulatory body, Genetic EngineeringAppraisal Committee (GEAC), agro-biotech industry is now lobbying for theremoval of state clearances for projectsto research and commercially producegenetically modified (GM) crops in the country.

Former environment ministerJayanthi Natrajan had suspendedresearch and development of GM cropsin 2012 when she decided not toapprove decisions taken by GEAC.Natrajan also stopped the meetings ofthe regulatory body.

In India, institutions and companiesneed to take a clearance from GEAC andthen get a no-objection certificate (NOC)from the state where it plans to conducttrials. The state clearance was intro-duced by former environment ministerJairam Ramesh in 2011 after Bihar,Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

refused field trials of GM crops arguingthat agriculture is a state subject. (see‘States’ entry ruffles GM lobby’, DownTo Earth, September 30, 2011)

“NOC is the next target for the minis-ter,” says a senior official in the environ-ment ministry. “The matter is also likelyto be discussed during the GEAC meetingon March 21.” Talking to Down ToEarth, GEAC co-chairperson Hem Pandesaid, “The meeting would be more ofstock taking and setting an agenda forthe next meeting as committee mem-bers have not met for a long time.” Herefused to elaborate.

Agrobiotech companies’ collectivebody Association of Biotech LedEnterprises–Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG), forum for agricultural scientistsNational Academy of AgriculturalSciences (NAAS) and public researchinstitutions such as Indian Council forAgricultural Research (ICAR) have inten-sified their demand for the removal ofstate NOCs in the last two months. Theyalso want that the GEAC permissionsshould be for a longer period of time

than the existing two years.ABLE-AG, which comprises major

multinationals such as Bayer, BASF andMonsanto, and domestic companiessuch as Advanta, Mahyco and J K Seeds,met Moily on January 23, just a weekbefore the minister told media that theenvironment ministry will support GMcrops in India. The industry body alsosubmitted three letter to the minister inthe last two months. In one of the lettersdated February 20, ABLE-AG said, “…..this requirement of NOCs from state isresulting in lack of certainty and delaysin planning for field trials. Even other-wise, this requirement of NOCs by GEAC

is ultra vires (to) the Rules for theManufacture, Use Import and Export &Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms,Genetically Engineered Organisms orCells, 1989 under which the GEAC wasitself established.” “We would requestyour good self and GEAC to reconsiderthe matter of requiring NOCs from eachstate…we request for an immediatereversal of this additional requirementbeing imposed by GEAC.”

Moily bats for GM trialsAfter he revives regulatory body for GM crops, industry demands removal of state clearances

� F R O N T P A G E

Activists protest against genetically modified crops

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ALOK GUPTA, Chaibasa

During a film shoot at the beauti-ful Roro hill in Jharkhand’sChaibasa district, the villain

takes out his gun to kill a young man.The moment he shoots, onlooker RangoDeogam bursts into laughter and yells atthe camera crew, “You are shooting adeath scene on the hill of death.”

The shoot is stopped because of hisoutrageous act and Deogam is escortedout when he starts coughing blood. The 65-year-old resident of the Rorovillage then clears his throat and says,“That’s death.” Deogam is not the only one in the Roro village who iscoughing blood. An estimated 200 peo-ple in the 14 villages near the Roro hillare dying slowly from a lung diseasecalled abestosis because of an aban-doned crysotile asbestos mine in thearea. “The exact number of the victimscan only be known after an extensivemedical camp is held in the affected vil-lages,” says Punit Minz, convener ofBindrai Institute for Research Study and

Action (BIRSA), a non-profit that hasbeen working in the area for the pastdecade to educate the residents aboutthe problems with asbestos.

Guidelines floutedThe crysotile asbestos mine—which wasowned by Birla’s Hyderabad AsbestosCement Products Limited (HAPCL)—was operational for 20 years between1963 and 1983 at Roro hill. It wasabruptly closed after the mine ran intohuge losses.

HAPCL has since then changed itsname thrice and is now called HIL and isowned by C K Birla. The company web-site says it provides green solutions.

The company, which employed over1,500 workers at the site, chose not toinform the workers about the healthhazards because of exposure to asbestos.If the company would have sensitisedthe people, it could have saved theworkers who are suffering from asbesto-sis, which is curable if diagnosed early.Asbestosis is a chronic disease thataffects the functioning of lungs.

Advanced asbestosis leads to heart orrespiratory failure.

The development of asbestosis isslow and the disease becomes criticalabout 15 years after the first exposure toasbestos. Also, excessive exposure canresult in death within 10 years.

“The company never told us aboutthe health hazards of asbestos. It alsonever conducted medical checkups forthe workers for the fear of gettingcaught. Most of us came to know about the disease long after the minewas shut down,” says Deogam, whoworked with the company for five years.“There used to be lots of dust. By theend of my shift, I would look like a whiteghost,” he adds.

Mining experts and local NGOsworking with the victims allege thespread of the disease increased becausethe company flouted basic safety normswhile the mine was in operation. “Theydid not follow procedures like mixingasbestos-containing waste material witha wetting agent to check spread ofasbestos,” says Madhumita Dutta, anindependent researcher who studied theimpact of the plant on the people in2002. The company also did not installmandatory warning signs at the intervalof 100 metres from the site or put fenc-ing at the disposal site.

What is even more alarming is thatmore than 30 years after the mine wasshut down, the villagers continue to suf-fer from asbestos-related diseases

� S P E C I A L R E P O R T

Hill of deathMore than 200 people in 14 villages near Roro hill in Jharkhandare dying slowly because of an abandoned asbestos mine

Asbestos dust from the defunct mine hasturned the Roro hill white

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� S P E C I A L R E P O R T

KUMAR SAMBHAV SHRIVASTAVA, Agra

Aflock of spoonbills roostsmotionlessly on a small island inKeetham lake near Agra as

hundreds of cormorants join them,their wings spread out. An eagle looksover from a tree-top while a flock of pel-icans splashes the water. A few metresaway, flamingos prepare to take flight.Within minutes the sky is filled withhundreds of them flying in curvy pat-terns, perhaps heading towards theirnests. Everything makes for a picture-perfect evening at the Soor Sarovar BirdSanctuary, except that towards itssouthern border, the sun sets a littleearly as a sprawling college campus castsits shadow over the lake.

The Sharda Group of Institutions(SGI) allegedly violated the law to occupyland inside the bird sanctuary. Despiteor ders from the forest department and the Allahabad High Court to vacatethe land more than a year ago, the college continues, in connivance with

the state autho ri ties.The Uttar Pradesh government, in

1991, declared the Keetham Lake,around 18 km from Agra, and the sur-rounding land as Soor Sarovar BirdSanctuary, named after the reno w nedBhakti movement poet Surdas. It is considered to be an important birdhabitat in north India. It supports morethan 160 species of birds, including theglobally threatened lesser adjutant,greater spotted eagle and Sarus crane,the state bird of Uttar Pradesh, and thenear-threatened species like black-necked stork, painted stork, orientaldarter, oriental white ibis, spot-billedpelican and Dalmatian pelican.

Violating rulesNational Highway 2, which connectsDelhi to Agra, forms the southern bou -n dary of the Soor Sarovar Bird Sanc tu a -ry as per the 1991 notification. SGI bou - ght private land stretching from NH2 toKeetham lake in the mid-1990s, got theland use changed from “agriculture” to

“commercial” and constructed its firstcollege, the Anand Engineering College,in 1998. Between 1998 and 2012, thegroup started three more colleges, oneeach for architecture, pharmacy andeducation, and constructed allied facili-ties. The campus today hosts more than5,000 students, hostels, a stadium, labsand administrative buildings.

The Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA)of 1972 mandates that once a sanctuaryis notified by the government, no rightcan be acquired in or over the landfalling within the limits of the sanctuary,except by succession or way of will.“Once even the intention of constitutinga sanctuary is declared by a notificationof the state government, buying or selling the land or changing its use within the boundaries of the sanctuaryis illegal,” says Ritwick Dutta, an environment lawyer.

In addition to WLPA, a SupremeCourt order of 2000 prohibits any non-forest activity inside a wildlife sanctuarywithout its permission. In 2006, the

Bully among birdsA college campus in Soor Sarovar Bird Sanctuary flouts wildlife norms

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