PIMS to correct wrongs of Paper

The dumping is seriously impacting the economic viability of Indian paper mills. Moreover, this trend jeopardizes the income and employment of thousands of people including farmers engaged in agro-forestry and supplying wood to the industry, besides leading to a loss of revenue for the government. According to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India, imports of paper and paperboard in India increased to 742.45 million dollar in 2021 from 482.94 million dollar in 2020, which suggests the pace of import growth.

Considering the concerns of the domestic industry, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has now rightly introduced Paper Import Monitoring System (PIMS) by amending the import policy of major paper products from ‘Free’ to ‘Free subject to compulsory registration under PIMS’, which will come into effect from 1st of October, 2022. The PIMS will be applicable on import by a domestic territory area unit on a wide range of paper products covering 201 tariff lines, such as newsprint, handmade paper, coated paper, uncoated paper, litho and offset paper, tissue paper, toilet paper, cartons, labels, account books, bobbins, parchment paper, carbon paper etc. However, paper products like currency paper, bank bond and cheque paper, security printing paper among a few others, have been excluded from mandatory registration.

The introduction of Paper Import Monitoring System (PIMS) is well intended to curb imports under ‘Others’ category tariff lines. The previous regulation was marred with loopholes allowing dumping of paper products in the domestic market by way of under-invoicing, entry of prohibited goods by mis-declaration and re-routing goods through other countries in lieu of trade agreements. Countries like China and Indonesia, which have considerable amount of excess domestic production capacity, have been using this opportunity to push their excess inventory into India at very low prices, which attract either zero import duty under the India-ASEAN FTA or a preferential import duty under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement. This had given a surge to the paper import at the cost of the domestic paper manufacturers who are operating under challenging conditions caused by Covid-19, import and price related issues among others. A large quantity of paper products is imported under the ‘Others’ category tariff lines only.

This move of the Government of India is set to pave the way for the promotion of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar’ initiative in this sector too. Further, despite digitalization and Covid-19 related shock to the paper industry, the paper consumption in the country is likely to grow at 6-7% annually and may reach 30 million tonnes by 2026-27 by industry estimates. The per capita consumption of paper in India is very low in India comparing with developed countries, holding immense potential for the growth. India consumes around 5% of the global consumption, while its population is almost 16% of the globe. Now with the increasing focus of the government on education and literacy coupled with continuous growth of the retail industry, quality packing of FMCG products, pharmaceuticals, textiles, booming e-commerce and other segments, the consumption is expected to pick up fast. The domestic paper market presently estimated to be of Rs. 80,000 crore, is expected to expand fast.

State of Sustainable Development Goals amidst Pandemic

The latest SDGs related United Nations’ report has painted a grim picture of how things are taking shape globally, forcing crores of people into extreme poverty caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Assessing the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN has said that the pandemic has pushed 9.3 crore more people worldwide into extreme poverty in just 2020. A good number of more people might have been pressed into the same situation in 2021 and during the first half of 2022 also, however their figures are not available. The problems have been compounded because of the climate crisis and increased number of geo-political conflicts including the one between Russia and Ukraine, creating serious supply chain crisis and putting all the 17 sustainable development goals of 2030 set by the UN into jeopardy.

According to the UN report, geo-political conflicts have forcibly displaced over 10 crore people as of May 2022. The skyrocketing prices of food, fuel, fertilizers and several other essential items, caused by the international conflicts, have further aggravated the situations, cutting the projected global economic growth for 2022 by 0.9%. It becomes a priority for developing states across the globe to begin thinking of strategic welfare programs to support their bottom lot, find innovative solutions to strengthen the existing logistics structure within their economies and become more vigilant on financial matters and spending.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is one such welfare programme launched to alleviate the pain and sufferings caused by Covid-19 pandemic and to feed the country’s poorest citizens by providing grains through the PDS system. The government has spent Rs. 2.60 lakh crore so far and another Rs. 80,000 crore will be spent over the coming months till September 2022. According to a report by the dept. of Food and Public Distribution, the initiative stands out as the largest food assistance program anywhere in the world during the pandemic in terms of the number of people covered, which is more than 10% of the world population. Along with food assurance, financial benefits and healthcare expenditure are also being taken care of by the government, and continuous efforts are leading to positive results as far as poverty-reduction is concerned. Due to many inter-connected new steps & initiatives, India has seen a sharp decline in extreme poverty in recent years, prompting even the top multilateral organizations like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) appreciating India’s efforts towards reducing extreme poverty. A World Bank working paper says that extreme poverty fell by 12.3% points to 10.2% in 2019, from 22.5% in 2011.

Health, hygiene and mental health, especially in the post-COVID world, have become imperative to take care of for the entire globe. Deaths from Tuberculosis and malaria have increased. The global prevalence of depression and anxiety has increased by around 25% in 2020 with women and young people being the most affected ones. The burgeoning crisis has also caused an increase in dropouts and it is expected that around 2.4 crore students from pre-primary standard to university level, may not be able to return to their educational institutions because of these crisis and conflicts.

Hence, setting the world on a new trajectory appears much more essential than ever before. Governments across the globe must take the necessary measure to mitigate the situation by taking the UN report seriously and take the required measures to achieve 2030 SDGs targets because the worsening situations are threatening human survival. The report is also a reality check on the devastating impacts of the multiple crisis on the lives and livelihood of crores of people with equally focusing on the solution part.

Menace of Plastic Waste

The whole world, including plant and animal species, is trying to survive the health extremities in one form or the other, mostly being caused due to bad and unfit environment. Plastic menace is certainly one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st century. Tiny plastic particles are swirling around the oceans, ending up in landfills, and are responsible for harmful imprints on the environment, and perhaps human, animals and plants health. If facts are to be presented, there are about 8.3 billion tons of plastic in the world – some 6.3 billion tonnes of that in the trash! This horrifying knowledge should naturally lead the world to think of solutions and begin implementation right away.

With the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 coming into existence, the scourge of plastic particles spread from plains to the mountains to the ocean trenches, can be expected to be controlled in the days to come. If researches are to be believed the average person in modern society breathes in and drinks hundreds of very tiny particles of plastic every day, which causes a number of deadly diseases like cancer, birth defects, brain damage and others. Plastics have even blighted animals and bio-diversity. We may easily see scores of cows and other animals eating plastic items out of the open garbage. Similar is the case with the water bodies, where fish, turtles and other marine animals mistake plastic for food, which threatens our lives also as we eat many of these things. Moreover, when plastic items remain in the environment for long, they turn into microplastics, first entering our food sources and then our body. Besides, submicroscopic particles of broken-down plastic float in the air and can easily be inhaled. These micro-particles can pass from the digestive system of our body into the bloodstream and spread throughout our body, including the blood-brain barrier.

Over the past decades, plastic items have replaced the natural materials earlier used in manufacturing paper, glass, cotton and other things. The almost ubiquitous use of plastic led to extreme plastic pollution, which is not just an environmental issue but has a lot of grave repercussions for humanity.

Single-use plastic is intended to be used only once before being disposed of or recycled, accounting for almost one-third of all plastic produced globally with 98% manufactured from fossil fuels. Now single-use plastic has been banned completely in India and any kind of flouting it like – manufacturing, import, stocking, sale, distribution and use of the items invites punishment under the Environment Protection Act 1986, which permits jail of up to five years or a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.

Worried by the declining environment and its grave results being reflected in rising temperature, governments across the globe have taken remedial measures in recent years. 124 countries including India, signed a resolution brought in by the United Nations Environment Assembly to draw up an agreement, which will make it legally binding for the signatories to address the full life of plastics from production to disposal to end its pollution. Bangladesh became the first country to ban thin plastic bags. Now more than 68 countries have plastic bag bans in place.

Though, it’s a fact that today preparing modern electronic, medical and other devices are impossible without plastic, as it reduces weight, transportation and other logistical costs, for sustainable development and continuity of life and nature, phasing out plastic uses is essential.

This time for Green Hydrogen

The story of the Gondwana continental drift is worth a read. Gondwana was an ancient supercontinent that broke up about 180 million years ago. The continent eventually split into landmasses we recognize today: Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. Yes, India, once was a part of this massive landmass and detached itself to join with the Asian plate. This grand collision gave rise to the formation of the Great Himalayas, silicates of which consumed massive amounts of CO2 from the earth’s atmosphere, thus, making it cooler. The Himalayas have forever played a contributing role in finding a balance out of the nature and also in maintaining a rich, stable climate for the Indian subcontinent. However, it is rather ironic how India, that once played such a key role in maintaining life on earth, today possesses an air filled with green house gases.

The urgency to take aggressive action to fight climate change has never been so greater in human history. Warming temperatures are causing unhealthy changes in weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature, besides posing serious risks to all forms of life on the earth. Owing to abrupt disruptions in nature in recent years, water is fast becoming scarcer in more and more regions, droughts are stirring destructive dust storms across continents and expanding deserts are reducing land for growing food, costing billions of dollars to the humanity. In such a serious situation, Green Hydrogen appears to be an effective answer to all this.

A new report by NITI Aayog highlights that green hydrogen can substantially spur industrial decarbonisation and economic growth for India in the coming decades. Harnessing Green Hydrogen for deep decarbonisation provides a pathway to accelerate the emergence of a green hydrogen economy, which is critical for India to achieve its net-zero ambitions by 2070, set by PM Narendra Modi in the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

The National Hydrogen Mission came out of this resolve only, which aims to make India a hub for the production and export of green hydrogen. This also aims to make India energy independent before the country completes 100 years of its independence in 2047. Currently, the country spends over 160 billion dollar of foreign exchange every year for energy imports, which are likely to double in the next 15 years if remedial actions are not taken.

However, the need to achieve size and scale to push down costs of green hydrogen, is equally important. Given the right policies of the present dispensation at the Centre, India can emerge as the least cost producer and bring down the price of green hydrogen to one dollar per kg by 2030. While hydrogen can be produced from multiple sources, India’s distinct advantage in low-cost renewable electricity also lies in the fact that green hydrogen is set to emerge as the most cost-effective form as also suggested by the report. The hydrogen demand in India could grow more than fourfold by 2050, representing almost 10% of global demand. Given that the majority of this demand could be met with green hydrogen in the long term, the cumulative value of the green hydrogen market in India could reach US 8 billion dollar by 2030.

The encouraging aspect with India is that it has unique advantages of its unique ecosystem and the stage now appears to be set for the country to become a global champion in green hydrogen. In India, proactive collaboration among innovators, entrepreneurs and government agencies, green hydrogen has the potential to drastically reduce CO2 emissions, fight climate change and put the country on a path towards net-zero energy imports. The emerging situations are sure to help India export high-value green products also. In this way, India may become one of the first major economies to industrialise without carbonising. Green hydrogen produced by renewable energy through electrolysis of water, will be crucial for achieving decarbonisation of harder-to-abate sectors such as fertilisers, refining, methanol, maritime shipping, iron & steel and transport as green hydrogen can potentially provide a replacement of fossil fuels in industrial processes.

Life Under Water for Planet Preservation and Sustainable Growth

Covering around 70% of the Earth’s surface, Ocean is the planet’s largest biosphere and is home to around 80% of all kinds of lives. It generates 50% of the oxygen, absorbs 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions and captures 90% of the additional heat generated from different sources. Clearly, it is a vital buffer against the evil impacts of climate change. The Ocean produces food, jobs, minerals and energy resources for humanity to survive and thrive.

Climate Change has adversely affected the temperatures across the globe with intense heatwaves gradually changing weather patterns and disrupting the fine balance of beautiful nature. Warming temperatures pose a number of risks to human and all other forms of life on the earth in the form of frequent droughts, heat waves, storms, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans.

As the world looks to find solutions to this rising problem, The UN Ocean Conference promises to be an answer. The Conference, being held from June 27 to July 1, 2022, recognises the fact that oceans are critical to combat climate change, boost economic growth and reduce biodiversity loss across the globe. It brings up a unique opportunity to boost collective efforts and find science-based solutions to effectively address the challenges of Climate Change.

Human acts of thoughtless exploitation pose unprecedented threats to the oceans, therefore the UN has set targets of ‘Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water’ that emphasize a lot on preserving and protecting it.

To preserve lives on land & below the water, the Ocean conference addresses some of the most defining issues of our time like climate change, food insecurity, diseases, pandemics, diminishing biodiversity, economic inequality, conflicts and strife. The conference also stresses the need for an integrated, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach, as well as enhanced cooperation, coordination and policy coherence at all levels. It emphasizes the critical importance of effective partnerships enabling collective action and reaffirms the commitment to the implementation of Goal 14 with the full participation of all relevant stakeholders.

Solutions for a sustainably managed ocean involve green technology and innovative uses of marine resources, which also include addressing the threats to health, ecology, economy and governance of the ocean such as acidification, marine litter and pollution, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and the loss of habitats and biodiversity. Hence, the conference calls upon all stakeholders to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Co-hosted by Kenya and Portugal, the Ocean conference comes at a critical time when the world seeks to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires major structural transformations and common shared solutions. More than 130 countries are participating in the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon from the 27th of June to the 1st of July 2022. Heads of Government with leaders from the private sector, the scientific community and other partners are trying to chart out a new pathway that would ensure the protection and conservation of the ocean and its resources. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also taken a lead in these global endeavours.

The strategic, economic, geopolitical and resource-rich significance of the Indian Ocean occupies a center-stage in a century that has seen trade, multilateralism and security outweighing all other areas of concern. The resource-filled oceanic depths, bare and untapped, are like a candy to the world, that has exhausted almost all the land and atmosperic resources and is left with no fruits hanging low enough. Indian ocean, particularly, is often at the center of discussion across the globe, as it is here that some of the most important trade routes of the 21st century make their way into. And over the past few years, India has rightly been able to guard its part of the high waters with responsible patrolling, new maritime and strategic policies, rollout of ambitious missions to explore sea resources, strengthening of maritime security setup and forces at its coasts and ports, etc., all garnished with its strong foreign diplomacy, collaborations and dialogue.

India recently launched its ambitious First manned ocean Mission ‘Samudrayan’, for which, a deep-submergence vehicle called Matsya 6000 is being indigenously developed in the country. With the launch of this Unique Ocean Mission, India joins the elite club of nations such as the USA, Russia, Japan, France, and China to have such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. Not only has this opened a new chapter for India to explore ocean resources for drinking water, clean energy, but it has also marked India as one of the leading crusaders of Blue economy.

Preserving languages – use it or lose it

Extinction of a Language is not merely phrases and letters lost in the mists of time, but a form of cultural suicide as with a language gone, mankind loses out on great skills, learnings, wisdom, ideas, innovations, artistry, and first-hand ancestral experiences and inventions. In a remarkable development, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution on multilingualism. The resolution promoted the UN’s Department of Global Communications to use both official and non-official languages, including Bangla, Hindi, and Urdu, in its communications.

This could become a reality given India’s efforts since 2018 to get these languages to have a stature that they deserve, putting special focus on the use of Hindi at the United Nations. “Hindi @ UN’ project was launched in 2018 with an objective to enhance the public outreach of the United Nations in the Hindi language, and to spread greater awareness about global issues among millions of Hindi-speaking populations around the world,” said India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador TS Tirumurti.

Language is the most potent and important invention of ingenious mankind. Languages are the tool to code the stories of human endeavours evolving over edges and are the best source of scientific and practical knowledge, wisdom, values and awareness of surroundings. The diversity of languages around the globe beautifully signify the versatility, uniqueness and robustness of human societies. India is blessed with a heritage which nurtures diversity and its languages.

Diversity is what defines nature and human diversity leads to more holistic growth. Even same kind of crops, if planted on the same land over and over again, makes the land unfit for agriculture and nonnutritive. Connected with the world by three oceans and more through the passes of mountains, the Indian Peninsula has welcomed foreign establishments, cultures, rules, leaders and faiths, adding more to India’s diverse heritage and cultural wealth. India is a kaleidoscope of umpteen varieties of cultures, food, traditions, artistry, religious beliefs and languages, products of the long history and unique geography of this land. Such a distinctive mix makes India’s diversity unparallelled in the world. Over the millenniums, the laws of diversity have permeated into the very core of the nature of the Indian subcontinent.

Today, more than 19,500 languages or dialects (analysis of a census released in 2018) that are spoken in India as mother tongues, help it to think and act for all, strategically, economically, socially, geo-politically and spiritually. This official addition of Hindi and Bengali at UN also makes perfect sense in a world where after Mandarin, Spanish & English, Hindi stands at the 4th-most widely spoken language globally (~4.429% of World pop.) followed by Bengali which ranks 5 in the list (~4.00% of World pop.). Also, for now, a UN News-Hindi audio bulletin (UN Radio) has also begun to be released every week.

The key to keeping languages alive is either through practice, or preservation or both. While Digital recording and incorporation of many local languages across the world are helping to preserve lingual remains, manual revisiting can also lead to revival of these languages which can be done through speaking, using it as medium of education, encouraging and promoting more and more of literature work and Media Content in these languages, etc. Hyperlocal Journalism through digital means can greatly result in quick upturn.

India’s 5 prong action to save soil

‘Save Soil’ is turning into a global movement. Projected data due to loss of biodiversity, poor top soil linked food shortage and malnutrition is very scary. It is an urgent requirement for leaders of the world to rejuvenate 15-20inches of top soil of the planet. In this context, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the occasion of the World Environment Day, he also stressed on the efforts that have been taken in last few years in order to rejuvenate the soil of India. PM Modi conveyed that to save the soil, the government has focused on five main things. First- How to make the soil chemical free. Second- How to save the organisms that live in the soil, which are called Soil Organic Matter in technical language. Third- How to maintain soil moisture, how to increase the availability of water till it. Fourth- How to remove the damage that is happening to the soil due to less groundwater. And fifth, how to stop the continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests.

All these five focal points have helped in health retention of soil through innovative schemes and initiatives which are based on collaboration, education and mordernisation. In 2015, the government launched the Soil Health Card, which is a printed report that is extended to the farmers for all their land or holdings. The card provides every farmer with soil nutrient status of his land and teaches him accordingly about the dosage of fertilizers and essential soil amendments that should be maintained for good soil health. Government also employs experts to help the farmers in carrying out the corrective measures. Thanks to this scheme, many Indian farmers now get a proper soil health record which assists them to undertake planned cultivation and largely prevents risks of crop failure that used to be very common before. So far, a total of 22,71,21,456 Soil Health Cards were issued to farmers between 2015-2019 across the country, whereas 11,531 new soil testing labs (491 static, 107 mobile, 8811 minilabs and 2122 village level labs) and strengthening of 829 labs have been sanctioned to the states. The massive success is indicated in the fact that since 2015, around 6.04 lakh demonstrations, 36,928 farmers’ trainings and 7,425 farmers’ melas have been organized/conducted under the programme. Village level rural development workers like Krishi Sakhis, Pasu Sakhis are even involved in educating farmers on right use of fertilizers.

The government has also been endorsing organic farming and use of Nano fertilizers that play a vital role in enhancing the efficiency of nutrients and in reducing soil contamination. The concept of ‘Low cost organic farming’ under the Schemes Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) & Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), is also being promoted for quite some time. Apart from financial support, capacity-building for organic farming through trainings and seminars / awareness camps has been integral part of these schemes. For maintaining soil moisture, mega promotion of intiatives like PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana, ‘Per drop more Crop’ campaign, etc. have worked wonders. Mass awareness through these has resulted in increasing water use efficiency at the farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies, i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Use of drones for irrigation and controlled fertilizer spray is a recent addition in the newfound efforts to preserve soil nutrients and maintaining balance.

Lastly, for controlling continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests, the government has rolled out strict initiatives to educate people and motivate them to go green. Some heartfelt initiatives also include the ‘Har Med Par Ped’ scheme to encourage tree plantation on farm land along with crops/ cropping system to help the farmers get additional income and make their farming systems more climate resilient and adaptive. Further, while National Afforestation Programme (NAP) is being implemented for afforestation of degraded forest lands, Green India Mission (GIM) aims at improving the quality of forest and increase in forest cover besides cross sectoral activities on landscape basis. In order to reclaim and develop barren lands, several location specific bio-engineering measures have also been developed to check soil erosion due to run-off of rain water. Concerned Indian Institutes have also developed reclamation technology, sub-surface drainage, bio-drainage, agroforestry interventions and salt tolerant crop varieties, etc. to improve the productivity of saline, sodic and waterlogged soils in the country.

Mass movements for Clean India, Hydrated India

“Brothers and sisters, you must be getting shocked to hear the Prime Minister speaking of cleanliness and the need to build toilets from the ramparts of the Red Fort… I want to make a beginning today itself and that is – all schools in the country should have toilets with separate toilets for girls…” these were the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he delivered his first-ever I-Day speech in 2014. The ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ (SBM), which seemed like a far-fetched dream has actually turned out to be such a massive reality, a national movement, an unprecedented success.

It was through this mission that all the villages declared themselves open defecation free as on 2nd October, 2019. This time frame of five years was enough to invoke a national conscience. The fundamental messaging has been so strong during SBM 1.0, that the mission which started with a physical undertaking of building toilets could also rightly foster the subtle sense of maintaining cleanliness with a selfless intent and ‘seva bhav’. Thus SBM 2.0 started with an unprecedented vehemence in India. From paying from their own pockets to fix hygiene related issues, to waste management, to cleanliness drives, to cleaning water bodies and beaches, various communities and individuals from across the country began taking up social, political, financial and all other kind of challenges to do wider good by providing for and helping society, thus adding to the growing success of the mission.

PM Modi often narrates such Swachhata stories in his monthly radio programme. Today’s edition of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ too highlighted instances of cleanliness efforts. PM Modi mentioned about efforts of devotees who are worshipping in the Dham of Baba Kedar these days. He said that the devotees are also performing the ‘sadhna’ of cleanliness as some are cleaning areas near the place of stay, while others engage in cleaning garbage along the travel route. PM also mentioned about Rudra Prayag’s Shriman Manoj Bainjwal who, for the last 25 years, has been running cleanliness campaigns and been engaging in making holy places plastic free. PM Modi also urged listeners to make constant efforts for cleanliness and tree plantation and inspire others to do the same.

Many other sub-initiatives under the mission have also resulted in mass awareness. A nationwide “Plogging” drive, which is a combination of both Fit India Movement and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, was launched around 2018-19. A special plog run was organised in 2019 to mark the 5th anniversary celebration of SBM which was held in over 50 cities across India. Earlier in 2018, Bengaluru Plog Run got registered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the participants’ effort had led to 33.4 tons of plastic waste collection in under 12 hours. Another effort is the ‘Swachh Survekshan’ ranking exercise which is taken up by the Government of India every year to assess and laud rural and urban areas for their levels of cleanliness and active implementation. Another addition in this row is the ‘Swachhata Start-Up Challenge’, a game-changer move launched by MoHUA-AFD to provide an impetus to innovative start-ups to come forward and drive catalytic transformation in the sanitation and waste management sector. Awareness campaigns for causes like ‘Waste Management’, single-use plastic, sanitation coverage in rural areas, etc. are being run aggressively across the nation.

Further, India recently witnessed the inauguration of its first “Amrit Sarovar” at Patwai, Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. This has kick-started India’s journey to coin a historic transformation as it targets to develop and rejuvenate 75 water bodies in each district, a massive drive which would lead to fresh creation of 50,000 water bodies in the country. Such a burgeoning zeal for cleanliness is not newfound but a result of years of pursuance through showcasing good will, good work and a sure vision.

Wealth Opportunities in Waste

Statistics show that by 2025, the value of the global waste management industry is expected to hit US $530 billion from US$330.6 billion in 2017. Rising population, economic activities and increasing urbanization have propelled the massive increase in global waste generation, which creates myriad of problems, especially in cities. The World Bank estimates that waste generation will increase to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050, marking an approximate 70 percent increase from 2.01 billion tonnes in 2016.

By 2027, India is set to become the world’s most populous country as per projections of the United Nations with 7 new megacities. At this exponential population and urban growth rate, landfills almost 90% of the size of Bengaluru would be required for dumping if the waste remains untreated. Though, rapid urbanization presents a humungous challenge with the right policy framework and action, which can be turned into a golden opportunity.

‘Waste to Wealth’ is an effective solution to rising waste all across the globe. This unique idea of waste management brings scientific processing of waste to the forefront to build a zero landfill and zero waste nation, involving latest technology, government agencies, urban local bodies and users to seek relevant solutions. Unscientific disposal of mixed waste in open dumpsites generates harmful greenhouse emissions and contaminate soil and groundwater causing health and environment hazards. Diverting thousands of tons/year of fresh waste from entering landfill and generating valuable resources out of the waste, is the objective behind this idea. Further, showing a scientific solution for closing of open dumpsites and improvement in the living conditions of nearby settlements by preventing spread of water and air borne diseases is also a major goal of this project.

The ‘Waste-to-Energy’ and Waste Management market in India is also set to become a $14 billion opportunity by the year 2025. The population of 1.3 billion currently generates 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste a year. The scale of opportunity may be gauged from the fact that India has the potential to generate 3GW of electricity from waste by 2050. The ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission is one of the nine scientific missions of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PMSTIAC), which aims to identify, develop and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials and extract resources of value. The Identification and support to the development of modern technologies promises to create a clean and green environment. Now the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the eighth edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) – SS 2023 under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 with ‘Waste to Wealth’ as its theme or driving philosophy, reiterating its commitment to move towards a circular economy in waste management while tapping the immense scope of recovering value from waste. The idea also promises to assist and augment the Swachh Bharat and Smart City projects by leveraging science, technology and innovation to create ready reckoners that are financially viable for waste management, thereby streamlining waste handling in India.

The benefits of effective waste management are immense. India presents an opportunity in numerous sub-sectors of waste management including municipal solid waste, electronic waste, bio- 2 medical waste, agricultural waste and others. Additional weightage has been given to source segregation of waste, enhancement of waste processing capacity of cities to match the waste generation and reduction of waste going to the dumpsites. Indicators have been introduced with additional weightage on emphasizing the need for phased reduction of plastic, plastic waste processing, encourage waste to wonder parks and zero waste events.

Relevance and Prudence for Sustainable Growth

Fiscal prudence is pre-requisite to sustainable growth, a lesson that the island nation of Sri Lanka is, unfortunately, showcasing from it’s ongoing economic upheaval. Every commitment, economic, strategic, bilateral or otherwise, has to be made taking into account the financial, political and growth realities of the country. In order to become advanced, powerful, empowered, glamorous, well-equipped, and similar adjectives, a nation must first strive to become relevant, a mantra being rightly followed by democracies like India. Relevance has now become the ultimate aim, everything else follows.

The island nation of Sri Lanka is in shreds, with protesters taking to the streets in defiance of curfews and cabinet ministers resigning en masse amidst crippling inflation. The South Asian republic has become a classic example of a twin deficits economy, with national expenditure exceeding national income and imports greater than exports. Though, It has sought loans from the Asian Development Bank, India and China to survive the crisis, it would be back-breaking for the country to carry a debt that mounts to billions now, due to accumulated borrowings, record inflation, lack of foreign currency, crucial sectors witnessing a sharp fall in demand thanks to the pandemic. Alleged government mismanagement is another parallel factor that has dragged Sri Lanka into not just an unprecedented economic crisis but also a massive political turmoil.

The Sri Lankan government over the last decade borrowed vast sums of money from foreign lenders to fund public services, which has landed the nation in a debt trap when hit by disasters, both natural, such as heavy monsoons, to man-made, including a government ban on chemical fertilizers that crippled farmers’ harvests. In addition to this, a severe shortage of foreign currency has left the country unable to pay for essential imports, including fuel, leading to debilitating power cuts that lasted up to 13 hours.

The crisis has turned real severe in matter of days, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa now under a pressure to resign as protests escalate across the country. Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, one of the major contributors to its economy, which was already on a slow-down, reviving slowly after the COVID outbreak, has now been hit hard yet again. The Sri Lankan rupee is fast depreciating against the dollar and foreign debt is mounting. Government’s income has also taken a big hit due to a drop in tourism that has given rise to gas and fuel shortages, leading to massive power cuts. As a result, citizens of Sri Lanka have been facing the brunt of shortages and soaring inflation, waiting in lines for basic goods, skyrocketing prices of basic amenities, shortage of fuel and a defunct administration. This soon led to aggressive protests by the citizens and forced President Rajapaksa to declare national emergency in the state on April 1, followed by blocking of social media platforms across the nation.

To address the worsening situations, the country had to seek support from IMF and neighbour India. A consignment of 40,000 MT of diesel under Indian assistance through a Line of Credit of $500 mn was handed over to Colombo by India on 2nd April. Earlier in January, India had confirmed a $400 million currency swap with Sri Lanka while deferring another $500 million due for settlement to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU). India continues to provide fuel and goods assistance to the crisis-hit nation as it grapples to bring the situation under control. Sri Lanka has been provided with more than 270,000 MT of petrol and diesel by India so far. India also announced another $1 billion as a credit to Sri Lanka to help shore up the sinking economy of the island nation. The $1 billion lines of credit to Colombo will help in keeping their food prices and fuel costs under check.